The Help

I don't usually review the books I read, but I'm going to recommend "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It was published in 2009 so is still only available in hard back and might be pricey (I borrowed a copy), but it is really, really good! Set in Mississippi in the early 1960's as integration is just starting to take hold, it is the story of black maids who tell their stories of working for white families to a white woman. That may not sound like much, but it is a GREAT story as it unfolds. Funny, sad, and page-turning good. Even the "terrible awful" in the story is terribly funny. This book is like "Blind Your Ponies" by Stanley Gordon West for me. I'll be giving it out for Christmas to those of you who haven't read it. It's a keeper. Thanks Karen, for lending me your copy. I'll get it back to you as soon as the king finishes it. Let me know if you need it sooner!

Saturday Night

Last night the king and the kids went to watch the Culbertson Cowboys take 3rd place in the state basketball championship. It's the best this team has done since Grandma attended school there, and they had a good time cheering on these small towns.

I can't help thinking it's gotta be pretty cool for these kids to play in this big arena.

Meanwhile, everyone who wasn't at that game was apparently at Texas Roadhouse to help me celebrate my birthday with some friends! It was an hour wait last night, but call ahead seating is the BEST! A good time was had by all.

Paintball Fun

Grandma's brother has been in town this weekend, with his grandson, for a basketball tournament. Yesterday Grandma called to see if the prince would like to do some paintballing with his distant cousin and some friends. The prince was all for that! He rounded up Sir Daniel--who, by the way, had spent the morning at the county spelling bee and made it through the 4 round (you can be smart AND a paintball master)--and away the five boys went, to mix it up a bit!

Getting the gear together.

At this place, for $25, you get all the gear

and enough paintballs to last 2-3 hours.

Good fun!

Ready for action!

The prince came home with 3 nice welts on his arm and plenty muddy, but otherwise unscathed. Sir Daniel did not fare as well. He was ambushed while in a trench and took one to the head, ending up with a nice headache later in the day.

Watch out...

Blogger won't let me put spaces between my paragraphs--this happens sometimes, and I don't know why it does, and it really bugs me--so be careful with the next post if you're a Survivor fan. I couldn't put a big space between my intro paragraph and the rest of the post which does give away some of what happened last night.

Last Night's Survivor

While I'm not going to mention, specifically, who got voted out, I am going to talk in general about the show and might give away which tribe had to vote someone off, so if you haven't watched it, you might not want to read this yet.

While we have 3 villains and 1 hero still left in our pool, I find myself really rooting for Boston Rob, who isn't even one of our people. I really like him a lot (even though he's now gunning for Russel--one of 2 of our people I think has a shot at winning), and just keep being really impressed with how well he does at EVERYTHING.

Last night, I found myself rooting for the villains at the challenge because we have more of them left in our pool! Phew. It worked. And our one hero--JT--was safe last night. They finally got smart and voted out a strategic player. HELLO people!!! Took you long enough.

I've decided it's really hard to be a couch quarterback. It stresses me out, but I really think it's because usually, at this point in the season, I'm still trying to figure out who all the players are, and this season I already know them all. I LOVE that!! I wish every season could be people I know. Maybe they need to do it like Dancing With the Stars. Maybe only famous people should go on the show from now on!

By the way...even though Coach is one of our players, I wouldn't have cared it he went home last night. What a CRYBABY. I loved it when Rob told him to, "Be a man." ;)

Until next week...

You Don't Have to Blog on Your Birthday

I try to blog daily. I thought about taking today off since it's my birthday. In then end, I decided it needed to be said that I had a great birthday.

I'm so glad my mom endured 3 DAYS of labor with forceps for me all those many years ago! She sent me a swell bday gift too! Money for VEGAS, BABY! Not to mention she's meeting me there next week.

Today all the children at school were very good. I didn't even have to kick anyone out of class (and I usually do at least 3 times a week). A group of sixth graders (the princess NOT included) sang happy birthday to me. The king sent me flowers and is taking me to dinner tomorrow night along with the kids and skunk boy. I'm having dinner with the girls on Saturday night. I got nice gifts from some of my friends. My sister-in-law gave me some awesome socks. And I got calls, texts, and video texts from some of my favorite people--including the king who may just win American Idol, should he ever try out.

I was busy driving the mom-taxi tonight but did have time to stop at Albertsons to buy myself a cake. I couldn't choose so I bought myself TWO! Is that wrong? I don't think so! A regular cake with yummy, greasy frosting, and a Snickers ice cream cake for later this weekend. Don't judge me people!

Finally, may I just say that I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. It is the best gift of all--to be loved. And having said that, I'm a bit "afear" of the BIG birthday that's only a few years away. Start saving now, my friends, because I feel an extended trip coming on, and you're all invited! It's the only way I'll be able to deal with the pain of aging!

The Second Before the Pain Hits

Notice two things:

1. No one is really protecting the toddler in the middle who seems to be reaching for the bat. We are all about self-preservation in moments of doom.

2. See the girl in the first row who is totally oblivious to the flying bat? That would be me! I go to games to socialize and people-watch. By the grace of God I have not been hit by some flying object!

??Spring??

Signs that spring may be on the way:

I have driven to work in daylight for the last couple of weeks.

Our streets are mostly dry now though the snow banks still have along way to go to melt away.

For the last 2 nights we have slept with a bedroom window open.

It reached into the low 50*s yesterday.

My geranium (which is currently inside near the sliding glass door) is flowering again.

The prince has a track meeting next Monday.

I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, but...maybe...

And don't forget that we move the clocks forward in a couple of weeks!

Waffle Drama

I was going to title this "Waffle Mania" because I heard the prince's alarm clock go off at 5:50 (he usually gets up about 6:15). He was getting up early to make himself some waffles. He then went into the bathroom and the princess came upstairs--about 10 minutes earlier than usual. Really, all this for waffles??? I guess so. Except that's where the drama comes in. While he was in the shower, she started making the batter. Nice sister. When he got out of the shower he was none-too-happy to see her "helping"! Seriously??? She was making a double batch. So the fight was on. Now he's cooking, she's downstairs, and I might have to eat all the waffles. It's too early for all this drama!

Grandma to the Rescue!

Today Grandma called to make sure we were home because she had something for us. Last Monday that something happened to be a pumpkin pie, so we were pretty excited for our surprise. When she arrived, the prince answered the door and said, "Yes! Grandma brought dinner!" When I came around the corner there she was with a waffle maker and waffle batter! Phew! I won't have to worry about getting one of those for my birthday. I already had dinner plans, but the prince can make himself waffles for breakfast! Thanks Grandma! You're the best!

No, Thank You

Tonight the prince mentioned that he sure wished we had a waffle maker. Then he got that "I've got a GREAT idea" look on his face and, looking at me, said, "I know, we can get you one for your birthday." NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!! I don't want a waffle maker for MY birthday. After pointing that out to him emphatically I said, "How about if we get you one for your birthday?" He was cool with that. Phew--dodged a bullet in the old "if you have to use it to cook or clean it doesn't count as a gift" department!

First You Have To Get Through 8th Grade!

One of my 8th graders is a chronic misser-of-school. Though he'll tell you he has many ailments, the truth is that he's a big ol' crybaby (that's my professional diagnosis), and his mom lets him call the shots. Whatever...not my judgment to make, I guess. Anyway, he's on his second carnival ride through 8th grade--had to repeat it this year after missing about 1/2 the year last year. Two weeks ago he was absent all week. This past week he was absent all but one day. On the day that he was there I gave him a very long (overwhelming to him, I sure) list of his missing assignments. A few minutes later I checked on him, to see which assignment he was working on. He wasn't. He was filling out his high school enrollment form. HELLO!!! First you have to get through 8th grade. And it's not looking good for him right now!

Survivor

SPOILER ALERT--IF YOU DIDN'T SEE SURVIVOR LAST NIGHT (2/25), DO NOT SCROLL DOWN!! COME BACK LATER!!

Coach-Villain

Danielle-Villain

JT-Hero

Jerry-Villain

Russel-Villain

We lost our first player in the Survivor pool last night when Randy was voted out. It didn't take them long to get rid of "the old guy." They were dumb too...why aren't these people taking out strategic players????

Did you ever want to kiss a pig?

Vegas...

T minus 17 days and counting...

Algebra

My new favorite algebra formula:

y=mx+b

Good times. The 8th graders are rockin' it.

If you don't remember it, that's okay. I don't remember it either, but I've relearned it.

Good times!

DWS

I'm all caught up on my reality tv for another week. But check out who they just announced for the next season of Dancing With the Stars! I don't usually watch that one, but I might have to tune in this time!




Scroll down, I didn't want to ruin the surprise!

Gotta love Photoshop!

Growing Up 2

The princess will have you know that she is now 5'2". I have no real proof of that, but she seems to think it is so. And here she is, a couple of weeks ago, passed out on my bed on a Saturday afternoon after a hard dance work-out. (Don't tell her I posted this photo!)

17 Years!

The king and I are married 17 years TODAY!!

Yippee for us.

And I'd do it all again, but I would change the following about our wedding day:

I would have chosen another month or stayed in Billings so as not to have to be married in a snowstorm and than have to drive back to Billings.

I would have hired a photographer.

That's it.

All the rest, I'd do over again!

Growing Up

A couple of nights ago the king mentioned that the prince is now taller than he is. He then stood back-to-back with the prince to show me that this was so. And it was true. In fact, the prince is now taller than the king BY A HAIR!

That's hilarious to those of you familiar with the amount of hair one has and the lack of hair the other has!

How Can You Tell When People Have Had Enough Snow?

Got it.

Jello? Got it.

Pudding? Got it.

Ramen noodles? Got it.

Ice cream? Got it.

Yep, we're ready.

It's braces-tightening day.

6th Grade Funny

I asked one of my students what they did in Science today. He said, "We were presentating."

Presentating: the act of doing a presentation????

I had him look that word up in the dictionary. It wasn't there! :)

Eye Trouble

I think I have an eye problem.

After the three-day weekend, I just can't SEE myself going to work today!

Snow Day

No school for the princess or myself today so we headed up the mountain to ski while the king toiled away and the prince was at school. It was snowing up there, a little windy, but the temp. was mostly hanging around 30* so all was right with the snow world. Good times.

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy the day with your sweetie!

Snow Everywhere

I try not to blog every time it snows now, because it just keeps snowing. But I did want to let you know that the king heard on the radio today that right now EVERY state in the country, with the exception of Hawaii, has snow somewhere in it! That's it. I'm moving to Hawaii.

Olympic Moment

The prince was watching the Olympics a little while ago. He was watching Apollo Ono in a qualifying round. I heard the prince say, "Go America!" in his deepest voice. It was cute. And Apollo won that round.

Week One

PHEW! Just had a chance to watch the first episode of Survivor, and all our players are still in. Here's what I thought of that first episode:

1. Jerri and Coach--ewwwww

2. I had forgotten how funny Tyson is.

3. I couldn't even remember who Sugar was until she started crying.

4. They were all fools not to take out a strategic player.

5. Did you see the previews for next week??? OHHHHHHHH soooooooo goooooood!

I love this show!

Books

Judging by that book list on the side, I'm only reading female authors! It's not intentional. It's just worked out this way. I just finished Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown. If you're into suspense novels with lots of plot twists...she's your girl. Incidentally, my next read is The Help by Kathryn Stockett--another female writer. I can't wait. It's getting rave reviews from all my peeps! But maybe I should go clean the house or pay some bills or get my groceries first. Or maybe I should run out to Mary Beth's because I forgot it at her house yesterday! :)