Friday, October 30, 2009

C.J. Spiller

Lorelai and I both have big crushes on C.J. Spiller.



He is AMAZING...really and truly! Lor has been stalking him around campus for going on two years now. Last year, a friend of hers literally ran into him as she walked out of a door. When she told her daddy about it, his first response was in the form of a question..."You didn't HURT him, did you???!!"


This is homecoming weekend and as Lor and her friends made their way to the 53rd annual Tigerama rally this evening, they found themselves smack dab behind the football team. Lor marked her prissy little self right up to C.J. and got the hug and photograph with him that she's been after. I'M JEALOUS!!! When she called to tell me about it, she was practically hyperventilating!


Clemson is playing Coastal Carolina tomorrow afternoon, and it should be a big win for the Tigers. Hank's mother has never been to Clemson and has been dropping hint after hint that she'd like to go and see where Lor goes to school, so Hank is taking her with him tomorrow. I'm staying home and getting my Christmas list in order. Mark my words...everything will be purchased and wrapped by December 1. YES IT WILL!!!

Have a good weekend...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Looks

Roy has been practicing a look of his own. I think I've met my match!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Random Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon

I don't want to go back out into the rain to the school board meeting at 6:30. It's not that I mind the meetings OR the rain independent of each other. I'd just rather not go back out IN the rain.

Ned's housemate Scott has an IPhone and we've been wondering if Ned might like one too. Scott seems to enjoy the applications and uses some of the apps as communication tools as he isn't as verbal as Ned. On the other hand, Ned isn't much into gadgets and I fear that he would just set it aside. I've been trying for the longest to talk him into a digital camera but he always says no. Any thoughts?

I'm a tad bit hungry. We've started a five week "biggest loser" competition at work and are divided into two teams. I can get sucked into a competition in a heartbeat and REALLY want my team to win...(but I'm hungry!!!!)

Roy and I had to have a talk yesterday and for about 15 minutes I really thought he understood that he had been much too hard on me last week. Then he made me doing something called "planks." I'm not sure I like Roy. I had to give him my "look" a time or two...didn't seem to phase him. That look ALWAYS works. ROY ROY ROY...where do you come from that you are immune to the LOOK?

Gotta go put the work clothes back on...at least the rain has let up for a few minutes. Upward and onward!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Rowdy Girls at the Farm

Perhaps we should give ourselves a new name as we all went to bed by 11 PM both Friday and Saturday nights. Anyway...we had a fabulous time. Louis and Sue drove up from Jacksonville and Will and Meg drove down from Columbia. We all met at the farm for the weekend. I was still dragging a little bit but time relaxing with old friends can be a wonderful cure, let me tell you.We are incredibly casual and just sit around for hours at a time laughing and talking about everything under the sun. We interrupt the sitting and talking for eating and taking naps. I did take the girls over to visit mother and Ned for a little bit. Mother proudly walked them from one end of Green Grove to the other showing them everything about her new "home." She mentioned that she thought she ought to learn to play pool. Who KNOWS what that is all about! Can't you just see her with her personal pool cue in a little carrying case? LOL


At 3:30 on Saturday afternoon we situated ourselves out on the deck. Hank pulled his truck around and turned on the radio so that we could listen to the Clemson Miami game and enjoy some refreshments out in the pleasant weather. OH MY STARS, I about had a heart attack by the time we WON (YAY YAY YAY) in overtime. It was a heck of a game!! Clemson ROCKS!


We enjoyed BBQ chicken, macaroni pie and slaw on Friday night...Belgian waffles and peppered bacon on Saturday morning...Assorted beverages and snacks during the game and a delicious lowcountry boil on Saturday night...Sunday morning brought a yummy farm breakfast of country ham, grits, eggs, biscuits, and leftover shrimp and sausage. I'm a little embarrassed at how casual we truly were, what with the milk, juice, and water jugs on the table. I would never have done that here at home. I need to stock up on a number of serving pieces and whatnot for the farm kitchen.



Have a great week!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

In the Land of the Living

I've been down and out. First Roy tried to kill me on Tuesday afternoon at my first trainer session, then I came home and was sick as a dog all night long. Could hardly move yesterday, not sure whether because of the sore muscles courtesy of Roy or the 101 degree temperature I was running. ..I guess it was both. No fever this morning but I am staying home. I wouldn't want to be responsible for this one getting around the office. I'm in a bit of a snit though because I had lots to do this week, plus The Rowdy Girls and husbands are getting together this weekend and I'm the hostess. I do NOT want to cancel.

It's funny how getting sick goes. As an educator, one comes in contact with everything in the world. Even though I'm in an office now, I do get out in schools quite a bit. I'll have a bad year and catch everything that comes along, or so it seems. Then I'll have five or six years where I'm healthy as a horse...then another bad year. Yay for the good years.

I am terribly behind on my blog reading. I'm afraid to open google reader because I know the number of unread blogs is going to be ridiculous. The good news is that I don't have anything else to do today but sit around SO, I'm going to get on that reading right now.

Stay well out there in blogland!!

Monday, October 19, 2009

If you can't laugh at yourself...

As we headed for Clemson last Friday afternoon, I asked Hank if he'd packed our orange ponchos. No...he replied...because it isn't going to rain.

We had to buy two blue ponchos (the orange ones were sold out everywhere) on Saturday morning because it WAS raining. And it was cold.

As we walked toward the stadium, I asked...Did you bring the umbrella? No...he replied...because it is going to stop raining. About five minutes later, he decided to go back to get the umbrella. And the blanket that I had the good sense to throw in the back seat.

Lorelai decided to sit with us and we had the best time. We aren't as boring as she thinks we are. Even though it was wet and chilly, it was a fabulous game and Clemson pounded the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
Which leads me to today and the reason that Lorelai isn't going to get anything for Christmas but switches. She took a photo of me during halftime as I sat there with the blanket on my lap and my arms inside the poncho. I look like a giant 500 pound woman blob. When I said in the last post that I'd gained weight I didn't mean THAT much weight.

So...for your viewing enjoyment (and because I can laugh at myself) the photo of the big blue blob...


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Taking Control...Poor Roy

BIG wake up call when I reposted some things about me and realized that I'd gained back most of the weight I lost a year or so ago. I am NONE to proud of that and aim to do something about it and NOW!

I went off the rails when Todd the Trainer bailed on me last year about this time, so actually, considering that I haven't exercised worth a toot in the past year, I did pretty well to gain ONLY 20 pounds. Still and all, I'm disappointed in myself...very very disappointed. To make matters worse, I have absolutely no desire to exercise. I don't like it. I don't get the whole "oh I feel SO good after I exercise" thing. I don't feel good. I feel TIRED...and hot...and sweaty. Yuck!

SO...I told Hank this morning that my mission before I came home from work this afternoon was to engage a new trainer and that I did. It's sad that I need to employ a complete stranger to hold me accountable, but it is what it is! Only thing is his name doesn't start with a "T" so that's going to blow my alliteration thing. Roy...his name is Roy...what can I do with an "R"...

Roy Really Rocks...Roy Rules the Roost...Roy Rants and Raves (that one will probably be pretty close to the truth)...Roy's Ridiculous Routines...Roy Rubs me wRong...

Anyhow...we start on Tuesday afternoon right after work and will meet twice a week. Poor Roy...he has NO idea what he's in for.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Things About Me

OK...so I'm still "blocked." Here's another repeat (with a few updates) from early on in my blogging life. Some of you probably never saw it...

Some of the most interesting posts I've read since I started blogging are the ones where folks write "7 Random Things About Myself" or "100 Things About Myself"...I can probably come up with more than seven but not likely up to 100. Let's see...

1. I have a Masters Degree in Educational Administration and am a district office administrator. I got there by way of being a music teacher and church musician. I play the piano, organ, and sing reasonably well.

2. I glom onto a new hobby and become obsessive, but only for awhile and then I move on to another new hobby and become obsessive about that. Lately, I've switched back and forth between interior design, quilting, scrapbooking, and now blogging. I read all the time...that really isn't a hobby for me, it's just a way of life.

3. I've been married to the same sweet, wonderful, patient man for 26 years.

4. I've lost 30 pounds since January 1 of this year. Since I originally wrote the post I've gained 20 of those pounds back. I'm very annoyed with myself.

5. I'm incredibly judgemental regarding the wearing of white shoes after Labor Day. Athletic-type shoes do not count. White skirts and pants need to be put away too. Seersucker can be worn until the first official day of fall.

6. I had the same college roommate for all four years and we remain close to this day.

7. I have serious control issues...that would be a whole other long list for another time.

8. I make the world's best pecan pie.

9. I adore Jimmy Carter. I know he's said some things recently that have put people off a little bit but nobody is perfect and I still maintain that he has served as a fine statesman since his term as POTUS.

10. If I could take an extended vacation, I'd choose to go on a road trip and visit as many southern main streets as I could. I'd visit the little shops, eat in the diners, and stay in the bed and breakfasts. I'd start in Oxford, MS and go to Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner.

11. I'm fascinated with Washington, DC...the Capital and White House, the monuments and museums. I can feel the history.

12. I've never once entertained the thought of using an illegal substance.

13. We own a farm several counties over...the property came into our family through a land grant sometime around 1740, give or take.

14. I like my job, my boss, and the people I work with (mostly). OK ...so you know that things have been a little stressful in the last six months but I'm feeling better. All the "rules" are new but I'm beginning to get the hang of them.

15. I've never lived alone. I went from my parent's house to college. I graduated from college in May then moved back in with my mother for two months until I got married in July.

16. I love sweets and the sweeter the better. Potato chips and the like don't tempt me at all.

17. My most favorite pass time is telling other people what they should do to make their lives/situations better. Do as I SAY, not as I DO! LOL

18. I go through the same morning routine Monday through Friday unless something unusual is going on. Wake up, bathroom, shower, coffee, Today Show and blog surf until the first commercial break around 7:20 AM, brush teeth, make up, hair, drive to work eating protein bar on the way. Not so much with the protein bars anymore...hence the weight gain.

19. My most favorite movie in the whole world that was ever made is The Big Chill. The funeral home in my little hometown provided the hearse for the funeral scenes, and the florist in my little hometown where my mother-in-law used to work did all of the flowers. I was in a wedding one time in the church used for the funeral scene.

20. My daddy passed away when I was 19 during the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college. He was retired from the Army Reserve and was a Postmaster.

21. I helped coach Legare's high school mock trial team back in the day (OK, I didn't actually give legal-type advice....it was more a "room mother" type situation but it was an important role.)

22. My first car was a 1982 Buick Regal...burgundy with burgundy cloth interior and, get this...a state of the art 8 track tape player. I thought I was something in this world!

23. I was "Miss My Hometown" 1980

24. I worked in a bank during the summers during college doing whatever job was needed while people took vacations. I was everything from teller, to receptionist, to bookkeeper. I never got bored.

25. I took piano lessons for 14 years and tap dancing lessons for 5 years. Can't tap worth a darn.

26. I adore Dancing with the Stars and would take ballroom dancing lessons if I could talk Hank into it. I've sort of lost interest in Dancing with the Stars...but I'd still like to take ballroom dancing lessons.

27. If I won the lottery, I would hardly ever drive my own car again. Maybe a fun sporty convertible car for absolutely perfect weather for kicks, but for routine stuff I'd have a driver to put me out and pick me up at the door. Oddly, I don't think I'd want to quit my job but I wouldn't take a salary. I'd have a personal trainer come to my house instead of going to the gym and I'd have a massage and a facial at least once a week. I do so love a massage and a facial!

28. I hate yard work. Yet I want my yard to be "yard of the month" at all times. Thank goodness for Hank who LOVES to work in the yard.

29. I'm not terribly fond of housework either. Yet I want every room in my house to look like a feature in Architectural Digest. Thank goodness for Daisy, who comes to clean every Friday.

30. I don't really mind cooking if people will just TELL me what they want to eat. The menu planning is what I don't like.

Monday, October 12, 2009

I Got Nothin'

Blank....totally blank...

I hate it when this happens!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Lorelai, the Flower Girl

Every now and then I like to repeat one of my favorite posts from days gone by. This one is from September of 2008. Enjoy!!!

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When Lorelai was two and a half, my cousin's fiance called to ask if she would be the flower girl in their wedding. Of course, I thought she'd make the cutest flower girl ever, but I was worried about her age...she would not be quite three and a half by the time of the wedding. We decided to give it a try. We read stories about being a flower girl, went to our church to practice...I'd sing "here comes the bride" and she would walk and pretend to drop flower petals.

The wedding weekend arrived and let me tell you, it was all about Lorelai. We were at her beck and call and she got her way about EVERYTHING because I was did not want her to get upset. That was certainly not my usual parenting style by any means, but this was somebody's WEDDING for pete's sake.

The rehearsal went well. She wasn't sure about walking down the aisle in front of all of the people until the organ began to play. She looked at me and said with a joyful look on her sweet little three year old face, "Beethoven???" I was stunned, but recovered quickly and replied, "Yes, BEETHOVEN...and they're playing it JUST for YOU so GO!!!" and off she went. (Legare had been watching a little video we had at home "Beethoven Lives Upstairs"...who knew Lor was paying attention? Never mind that it was Purcell the organist was playing and not good old Ludwig.)

The wedding went off without a hitch. She stood there like a big girl and the only unscripted thing she did was take off her little gold bracelet, sit it on the altar for about five minutes, then pick it up and put it back on.

We moved to the wedding reception. My mother, Hank and I were talking and visiting while watching Lor out of the corner of our collective eye. All of a sudden I looked over at the buffet table to see her reach up, feel around (even on tiptoe she could barely see what was on the table), grab a little cheesecake square, take a bite out of it, THEN reach up again and put it back on the table. OH MY STARS...I grabbed a plate and around the table I went, collecting half-eaten hors d'oerves and sweets from where she put them after having a taste. Funny now...NOT funny then...I was mortified!

But you know, she was still the cutest little flower girl ever in my book.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Lee Majors Rechargeable Bionic Hearing Aid

Younger readers won't "get" this post, but I just saw a commercial on TV that I'd never seen before....




Really????


Seriously!!!!


I guess the Six Million Dollar ears ain't what they used to be.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Don't Want to Repeat This...

Do you ever get a few bars of a song stuck in your head? I do...often. Yesterday, Lor had the radio on while we were in the car and a fragment from the Beyonce song, Single Ladies, kept playing inside my head all afternoon and all night. Legare found my Facebook post VERY funny and sent me this video...This isn't the part that I kept hearing but it is kind of funny (if you weren't the one in the video, I suppose). It's very short...


Sunday, October 4, 2009

A Beautiful Afternoon

Hank is on a shrimping expedition, so Lorelai and I larked out for King Street this afternoon for a little shopping. Retail therapy aside, it was one of the most beautiful afternoons weather-wise that we have had in ages. Sunny, no humidity, a light breeze blowing...a real blessing after some of the wretched hot and humid days in recent memory.



I learned the hard way that if shopping for myself, I need to go it alone. If Lor goes, then it is a given that it is going to be all about her...don't tell her, but it's fun for me either way. We walked and talked and she found a couple of outfits and a pair of shoes. Afterwards, we enjoyed an early dinner at High Cotton and headed back home. Since she managed to work the Clemson system to her advantage this semester, she doesn't have any Monday OR Friday classes, so she gets to enjoy a long weekends EVERY weekend. I'm deeply and profoundly jealous.

Hope that your weekend was a good one...

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Birthdays

Thanks SO much for the birthday wishes on Friday! I had a lovely day, if you don't count having to go to work. There were cards and flowers and lunch out and nice little surprises all day long. Hank made his signature dish, shrimp and grits, for supper and we just took it easy and got things ready for Ned's party this afternoon. It's been great having Lorelai at home this weekend.

Mother called early in the evening to say "Happy Birthday" then she got wound up. It seems that she'd called Ned's house yesterday afternoon to see if he wanted to come over to visit and he DECLINED!! He told Miss Vernelle to tell mother that he'd "see her tomorrow afternoon." She was SORT of laughing about it and saying how glad she is that he's so content, but I think it hurt her feelings a little bit. I hated to tell her but he's BETTER than content. He is deliriously happy, loving every moment of this new found freedom. That boy...I swanee...he's something else.

When we arrived at Ned's this afternoon to get the party set up he was as excited as I've ever seen him. We had a good crowd of family members drop in, as well as Dave (Ned's housemate) and his parents and staff members, Miss Vernelle and Belinda. Hank took Ned to the farm for the night and Lor and I came on back home. We're going to try to get a little bit of shopping in tomorrow afternoon.

My photos didn't come out the best...there seemed to be something "off" in just about every one of them but I found a few that will do.





That about does it for Birthdays 2009. We are DONE until Hank's rolls around in April 2010.

Hmmm...Hank and Ned are at the farm...Lorelai is eating dinner out with a friend. What's a mom to do when she's home alone??? I'm thinking leftovers, the sofa, and the television. See you later, my friends...

Friday, October 2, 2009

Happy Birthday to ME!!!


I'm 48 years old and proud of it!!! Now if I could just get this Tiffany-inspired cake and a little blue box to match with something shiny and sparkly in it. A girl can dream!!
(photo of cake from cakecentral.com
Friends at work are taking me out to lunch and I'm going to treat myself to a pedicure right after work, then home to get things ready for Ned's party tomorrow afternoon and some relaxation! YAY!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Three Quotation Thursday

"If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door." - Paul Beatty

Be honest! Who among us wouldn't like to take that giant walking cane and yank a few people off of our "stage" every now and again? Right now and without hesitation, I can think of three people. I don't wish them ill. I just wish they'd go spread their special brands of "joy and sunshine" somewhere else.


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"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'" -- C.S. Lewis

It's kind of amazing when you think about it...the things that bring us together into new friendships.

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"If you think education is expensive, Try Ignorance!!!"
Andy McIntyre


This is for the people who keep cutting our education budget...another 4% cut just this week. Make a BIGGER investment in education, then your costs for welfare programs and jailhouses will be a lot less. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but what do I know...oh WAIT...I am an educator.