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Summer Funnin'

I cried "uncle" today, begging tearfully for summer fun to grant me a day off. Between all the days we've been away (planned and unplanned), plus my self-appointed job as Official Children's Summer Social Director (the pay is terrible- sometimes it even COSTS money out of my own pocket), I'm tired. My eyes are literally burning from the tired. Or it could be from the Central Texas pollen count, but it sounds more dramatic if I blame it on being tired.

And speaking of burning, Y'ALL. It's desert hot here. We're considering developing some kind of asbestos clothing to prevent us from walking outside and catching fire from the heat. I think the risk of spontaneous combustion would be greater than the risk of mesothelioma. Seriously.

Anyway, today's plan, Operation Everyone Just Be Quiet, went pretty well. I spent most of the morning on the couch pretending to fold laundry. Can it be called "pretending" if no one is really watching? Or caring? Basically, I sat on the couch surrounded by piles of laundry that needed to be folded and put away and every few minutes I tore my eyes away from the Today Show or the internet and thought, "I should fold this laundry." It was very effective.

I also successfully threatened the boys that they would have to do extra chores if they got too rowdy. To support my fake laundry-folding initiative and to maintain some peace, they were strictly instructed to either watch TV or read books.

Listen, I'm all for kids completing chores simply because they are a part of a family and everyone is expected to pitch in regularly with no expectation of reward, but what's good parenting without sending some mixed messages to kids every once in awhile? For today, quiet and rest reigned supreme over intentional parenting. Don't judge.

Missy was at school all day because we have to pay for part-time care during the summer in order to save her full-time spot for fall. And if we have to pay for it, she might as well go. She likes being with her friends anyway and I have 33% less arguing at home when she's there, so win-win!

I have no plans for tomorrow either, but I'm pretty sure I've ridden the Quiet Train as far as it will go. But if it gets any hotter outide, I may have to demand a raise.

I'm still kickin'. And so is she.

Am I the only one who finds that the longer I put off doing something, the more difficult it is to figure how to approach the "doing" of it when I finally make up my mind to do it once again?

Maybe I should have just thrown in the towel on this blogging stuff, but I still find myself writing blog posts in my head even after all these months of never typing a single word on this blog. Usually, I have enough self-discipline to just shut down those writing thoughts altogether, knowing that there are too many other things competing with my time and energy.

But then there's today. And while I don't need a forklift to haul in all the money I make "authoring" ye olde blog (which is 0 dollars and 0 cents, by the way), I AM a proud mother who shamelessly uses her blog to show off her children's accomplishments.

Like my daughter's first recital.



and



You are welcome.

Everything would have worked out if it weren't for those meddling kids

The next time I plan to host my daughter's birthday party the day before Halloween, someone just shoot me and put me out of my candy coated misery.

Or how about this- the next time I plan to host my daughter's birthday party the day before Halloween, and I stay up until 3 AM making all the decorations and food for the party the night before that, someone just shoot me and put me out of my hot-glue-and-powdered-sugar coated misery.

Why yes, I'm exhausted today. Why do you ask?

Needless to say, I bit off a little bit more than I could chew in the Fun Department over the weekend.

When I got home from work on Friday, we dressed the littles in their costumes and headed over to a fall festival held at a local church, where we saw some of the most adorable costumes I have ever laid eyes on. And that's saying something, because my babies have been all kinds of adorable over the years in their Halloween finest.

A few of my favorites at the festival were a Snoopy and Woodstock pair and another teeny girl dressed like Raggedy Ann. I wish I had photographic evidence, but taking pictures of children with whom you have no verifiable relationship is generally frowned upon. So you'll have to take my word for it.

When we got home Friday evening, I started preparing all the food and decorations for Missy's birthday party on Saturday. Since the party was the day before Halloween, and because I love finding excuses for my children to wear their costumes more than once per season (it makes me feel like I get my money's worth), we were throwing a Halloween-themed birthday party for her.

And since I'm Mrs. Procrastinator Extraordinaire, the only items crossed off my To-Do checklist prior to Friday was "Research Ideas" and "Gather Supplies."

In other words, I knew I was in for a loooooong night.

For the next 6 hours (9:00 PM -3:00 AM) I made vampire bats, mummies, ghosts, witches' shoes, spiders, spider hatchlings. I had tons of help from J, who never complained, even when I sent him to The Store because I was in a panic for fishing wire. He drew faces and folded paper and taped bats together. I couldn't have done everything without his involunteerism.

(By the way, I warn you never to begin a craft that calls for fishing wire AKA invisible string. It's IMPOSSIBLE to tie invisible string. IMPOSSIBLE, I SAY.)

I turned string cheese into monster fingers, which meant literally CARVING out the knuckle joints. I also cut out approximately 6,274 bat/cat/pumpkin shapes out of flour tortillas for chips. We only own 1 cookie sheet, but everything was such a blur by the time I got around to baking these, that I can't even begin to hazard a guess how long it took me to finish them.

What I can tell you is how many times I was afraid the smoke detectors were going to go off in the middle of the night: Two.

Come to find out, I don't think we have smoke detectors.

After a short 4 hour nap, I got up "early" and make the hot dog mummies, the bones (that ended up looking like dog treats, so not very Halloween-y), and the icing for the cake.

Jason is the resident cake decorator and I think he hit another homerun with this one:

Because this post is already too long and uninteresting, I'll spare you all the party details except to say it was a success! After lunch and a real nap, I spent the rest of my day in my pjs watching sports on TV.

It's like I don't even know myself anymore.

But the Rangers were (are) playing in the World Series while my beloved Baylor bears were playing the University of Texas in a nationally televised game.

The BU/UT match-up originally garnered national TV time because of how great UT was supposed to be, but as the season evolved, people were starting to take notice of Baylor! I'm thrilled to report that the bears laid some smack down, holding UT to only 1 touchdown (and a whole bunch of field goals). Baylor even came from behind to win the game.

And I thought I would cry happy tears. ECSTATIC tears!

Sunday was a great day of worship, rest, and a fun night of trick-or-treating. We hit up a few houses as a family, but as more trick-or-treaters flooded the sidewalks, J stayed home to pass out candy while I supervised the kids door-to-door.

When we exhausted our candy-laden resources, we headed home and grilled hot dogs outside while we welcomed more treaters. Cade declared it the best Halloween ever. It makes me SO happy knowing we're creating happy family memories together.

Even if we are just meddling kids.

My Piper

How did it happen so quickly? When did this little 7 lb. 4 oz. peanut

with these tiny feet

and these teensy hands


turn into such a big little girl?

My sassy silly sweetie. The precious little missy who I believe understood every word I spoke to her when she was just a tiny infant. The girly twirly angel who loves mayonnaisse on bread (no meat) and never has enough play phones or purses. Daddy's princess who can never wear enough pink and idolizes her big brothers.

My heart.

Happy birthday Piper T! I love you!

I gambled and lost

The chance of rain on Saturday was 50%. The chance of my alma mater moving forward with the LARGEST HOMECOMING PARADE IN HISTORY was 100%. The chance that three littles would be crushed if we didn't attend...well, I didn't even want to gamble with that one. Especially since Micah pronounced his undying love for Baylor Homecoming just the day before.

But Jason was out of town (See how carefully I guarded that secret by not posting until he returned? But he's home now. And he packs heat, so back off!), so it was just going to be the children and me.

Me. With three children. One of whom inevitably has to go to the bathroom, but none of whom I can trust to go alone. In a crowded outdoor area. Where you cannot leave your spot for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER or risk it being invaded by sugar-crazed children desperate to sacrifice life and limb for an oversized Tootsie Roll or a 2-pack of SweetTarts because their parents likely graduated from this universit.........

So you understand my predicament.

Whether it was lack of sleep (I tend not to sleep well when Jason isn't home. And by "not sleep well", I mean stay up with all the lights on until my eyes refuse to remain open a single millisecond longer) or a full-on attack of allergy symptoms that caused me to lose my mind, we'll never know. But I packed a container of cinnamon rolls, 3 thermoses full of drinks, 2 Nintendo DSs to pass the time, 1 camp chair for mamaw because my backside can't take the concrete, 1 Diet Pepsi for fuel, and a partridge in a pair tree, loaded up the van and we moved to Beverly.

And I thought, "If it starts raining, we'll just leave."

I believe the phrase you are looking for is, "Famous last words."

Since my brilliant rain plan was "just leave," I didn't see the use in packing any jackets. Or even an umbrella.

It turns out that there's a 0% chance of being able to "just leave" when you're on the opposite side of the parade route from where you parked your grocery-getter. And you're surrounded by thousands of spectators, not to mention that the other side of the parade route is about 10 families deep. And you have 3 littles, a large bag, and a camp chair in tow. No matter how spectacular the parade floats, we definitely would have been the bigger spectacle.

My stories are soooo predictable.

We reached our usual spot on campus about 8:00. The parade started in downtown at 8:30, but wasn't expected to reach campus until close to 9:00 (thus, the reason for the DSs). The skies were still cloudy, but the rain appeared to be holding off. As though God himself looked down upon our little celebration and held back the rain.

Then the swing dancers on campus of a Baptist University must have really ticked him off because it wasn't long before I felt a few sprinkles.

"It's only sprinkling," I thought wishfully.

And then it began to rain in earnest. But in the spirit of Homecoming, brotherhood, and all that jazz, the nice couple behind me moved forward just enough to cover me with their oversized golf umbrella. So I will forgive the husband for being Overly Obvious Commentary Man.

(Dude, we all have the same parade program as you. And we graduated from a fairly scholarly university, so I'm pretty sure our reading skills allow us to comprehend the written line-up. But if we can't follow the line-up, each entry/float is clearly labeled, so there's little opportunity for suspense. Thanks for your assistance, though.)

Piper made friends with the prepared-like-a-girl-scout college freshman (I know she was a freshman by the singular fact that she had no idea from which direction the parade would be coming) sitting next to us and promptly situated herself squarely in the unsuspecting girl's lap under the protection of the girl's umbrella.

The good news is I have a new babysitter.

The boys alternated between squeezing under our portion of borrowed rain cover and diving for subpar candy.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long. I'm guessing the swing dancers came to the end of the parade route.

My pants legs were a little damp, but in the end none of us were any worse for the wear. I wish that we had been able to go to the game, since Baylor won and is now bowl-eligible for the first time in 15 years!

Despite the rain and my rare form of genius, it was a great weekend for sports! The Rangers are going to the World Series! The Bears are eligible to play in a bowl game! The Hogs won (that's for you, mom)!

Here's hoping your week (and mine too!) is also full of wins! And well-laid plans. And dry pants legs.

I'm back with more of nothing

When Jason and I lived in a (much) smaller town, we used to visit our local "Super" Store. If we hit The Store on the wrong evening (usually Sundays), they often would be out of entire sections of food. Like bread. Or milk.

You know, the "extras."

We had some words to describe The Store and "super" was never one of them.

It probably goes without saying (but my writing is so phenomenal that I'm going to say it) that we often threw up our hands and wondered why we even bothered shopping there.

Well. It turns out that writing a blog is a lot like that. Seems that if you don't write often, you don't get much activity. No content = no visitors.

Fascinating. Who knew?

I don't consider myself a writer and I have no real ambition for my blog. I don't want a book deal or a big advertising account. Two things I do know: 1) I love reading great blogs and 2) I love it when people read mine.

Unfortunately sometimes I just don't have the words to put together to uphold any kind of commitment. But dang if I don't know where to start when I am ready to reenter the fray because so many things have happened. Which leads to feelings of being overwhelmed which then causes me to avoid blogging some more. Thus, a vicious cycle of blog avoidance ensues.

This same cycle often applies to housework and laundry.

I have some issues.

But today I'm ready to break the cycle, even though I still don't know where to start. Do I wrap up our summer that officially ended for me over 2 months ago? Do I throw the end of summer out the proverbial window and recap all our back to school shenanigans, including a story about the time I almost broke down into tears in the school supply aisle of The Store? Or do I synthesize all of it into bite-sized stories until I've caught up to present day?

Since a goldfish's memory is slightly better than mine, the latter is not going to happen. I guess I'll just start fresh from here. And when I count on this blog to help me reflect on the best times and favorite memories from 2010, August through October will pretty much be a blur.

Which is totally appropriate because I think September and October bought some funky Five Finger Shoes and challenged one another to some sort of sprint to see which month could fly by faster.

I'm keeping score and October is winning.

Church Notes

Due in part to his status as the eldest child and in part to his superior level of responsibility (superiority is relative when compared to a 6 year old space cadet and a 3 year old diva), Micah has earned the privilege to sit on the front pew of the sanctuary next to Jason each Sunday morning during worship, meaning he sits alone once J gets up to preach. Recently, Micah has begun recording copious notes while listening to his father's sermons.

Clearly, he learned that skill from me.

Tonight, I stumbled upon his filing system for his notes while cleaning out his chest of drawers. Each page was carefully folded into 16ths and thoughtlessly tossed into a giant heap in the top drawer next to some misplaced gloves, unmatched socks, and sundry odds and ends.

Another skill he gleaned from my superb organizational ability.

Because we can all use some Biblical edification, I share his truths with you.

"Jesus Christ sees you everywere. do't run away from Jesus christ"

"God is faithfull and he will do wut he says. he will not do you roung."

"no one is pirfict. only god is good."

"hope in Jesus christ and keep doing the right thing."

"walk in faith and Love and you will go to Heaven and see Jesus Christ our Lord."

"do't worship a thing. worship god. only worship god. worship the Lord god Jesus christ."

"When Jesus Christ is not Doing waut you want it is good. another page says somting abot this."

"ask god to forgive you" (This particular note is addressed "to India." I suppose he feels the entire country needs to be called into repentance?)

"do't run away from God Jesus Christ. worship him. If you do't you will die so worship him. do't worship things."

"Jesus over looked our sin and layed down his life so we will be safe."

"the person who Loves his brother will live."

"Jesus will turn bad into good."

"Jesus Christ is good. god is a good god. Lison to him and it will be good.

Amen.

Summer is going to kill me

Please remind me tomorrow, when I wake up and can't move a muscle to get out of bed, that the cause of my temporary disability is due to all the "fun" that was had at the water park today.

The children had FUN. I had "fun," mainly because there were 68 stairs up to the platform that housed the starting point of the 2 water slides. And because we climbed up that set of stairs approximately 184 times, only to be deposited right back down where we started.

My math skills may be rusty, but my mental calculations tell me that 68 x 184 = 2,476,423 steps (when you take into consideration that the amount of effort it took to climb those steps increased exponentially with each subsequent trip).

My quads say that number feels just about right.

Linky Love 07.06.10

If you're looking for a fun thing to do with your kiddos this summer, this 30 minute jam recipe from Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer will fit the bill. We made this today (although I don't think I used the right kind of pectin, so we have some delightful strawberry syrup) and the kids loved it! It's so easy, despite my own stupidity.

In light of our own recent celebrations of freedom, please do not forget that slavery is still alive and thriving, even in our own "free" country. You can find out more about the tragedy of human trafficking here. You can also support businesses like Sari Bari whose mission is to help women rescued from slavery make a living wage.

Finally my newest blog discovery is Style Your Life. She has great outfit ideas and most of them are so affordable!

Enjoy!

Independence

When we lived in a different town Fourth of July was quickly becoming my second favorite holiday, just behind Christmas. Since we moved to a town where most of the people we know are students who don't profess to consider our city "home" July 4th has been a wee bit lackluster. This year being no exception.

We worshiped at church in the morning followed by our monthly fellowship meal with the congregation. My contribution to lunch was the traditional 4th of July meal of pizza casserole, minus the pepperonis which, although purchased just yesterday, had already gone bad.

After church, Jason and his buddy went fishing while the children and I took a nap and then I tried (unsuccessfully) to convince them that inside voices are a Good Thing when you are playing INSIDE. My ulterior motive was to keep the noise level down to an appropriate decibel so that I could watch the Criminal Minds marathon I DVR-ed on A&E without turning the TV up so loud that it drew their attention.

We had leftovers for dinner, and when J got home we set out to watch the fireworks. When we got to our usual spot (and by "usual" I mean the same place we watched them last year) at the parking garage and were saddened to discover that the police were not allowing cars to actually PARK on the top. This was Kink #1 in our plan for World Domination Operation Watch Fireworks.

Our familial operations often take on Top Secret Titles. Our code is hard to crack.

Because we were planning to use the truck bed in lieu of lawn chairs, and we had no lawn chairs, we chose the most comfortable-looking patch o' concrete and settled in. Actually, I settled in, Jason stood up, and the little ones took great pleasure in chasing and stomping crickets.

Don't feel sorry for the crickets. They totally had it coming.

Once the fireworks got started, J and I discovered Kink #2 in Operation Watch Fireworks. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that we seated ourselves in front of Over-Enthusiastic Fireworks Commentary Man. OEFCM commented on 89% of the fireworks displayed throughout the 15 minute spectacular.

"Ooooh, that was a green one!"

"Wow, that one was sparkly."

"That one was 3-D!"

(Sidenote: I'm not sure what type of alternate dimension this guy occupied, but pretty much my whole life is in 3-D. Including 100% of the fireworks I've ever had the privilege of viewing.)

"Cool, that one was red and purple."

"Look, that one had a star in it!"

And so on.

I might not have minded so much if he had actually had fresh pyrotechnic material to share. Rather, he just stated the obvious.

Micah declared each firework the new "record-breaker," but I could never get a straight answer from him regarding the standard by which he rated each one.

So the day wasn't fantastic. Please don't mistake my whining about our painfully ordinary day for lack of gratitude for those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom we enjoy every day by God's grace alone. I'm thankful for our independence and for those who protect it daily. Happy (belated) Fourth of July, everyone.

I wish I'd been there

Y'all. J and I have friends who attend this church! How cool is this?



I wonder how long it took those young 'uns to realize WHO that was? Hilarious!

It's Summer...What else can I say?

My nigh-to-one-month bloggy silence was not a planned hiatus, and it's been an interesting change. Not that I haven't started writing approximately 73 various blog posts in my head, but summer has put a significant halt to all activities not related directly to my children and/or my household.

If I'm being honest, I'll admit that the idea of making loads of cash by blogging is appealing on the surface, but it's times like these that make me SO THANKFUL my little no-name blog with its ones of readers is under zero pressure to churn out posts on any sort of "regular basis." Unless by "regular basis" you mean "whenever the heck I feel like it, GAH!"

(By the way, it is FAR beyond my comprehension how bloggers with below-school-age children can make any time for blogging EVER. Much less multiple times per day. You have my utmost respect, because clearly you must never sleep.)

Lately, if I haven't been alternating between loads of washing clothes and loads of washing dishes, I've been walking a fine line between keeping my children busy enough that they can't argue with one another and not keeping them so busy that they're exhausted and start arguing with one another.

As if.

In a nutshell, the last 4ish weeks have found me in a sunscreen-applying, pool-swimming, library-enjoying, cable-fixing, bathtub-repairing, pool-swimming, birthday-party-planning, errand-running, cake-baking, birthday-party-executing, sugar-coma-recovering, shelf-painting, craft-space-organizing, gift-buying, birthday-party-attending, closet-cleaning, suitcase-packing, conference-attending, friend-visiting, pool-swimming, pre-teen-camping, pool-swimming, book-reading, crappy-food-eating, weight-gaining, internet-connection-desiring, suitcase-unpacking, TV-watching frenzy.

FRENZY!

While that's not an exhaustive list, my activities have decidedly NOT included twitter-following or blog-reading. My most sincere apologies to my blog/twitter buddies. I understand if you never wish to cast your eyes upon my blog again.

I'm trying to catch up, but 4 weeks is like 10 years in the virtual community. I may have to declare Google Reader bankruptcy and click the dreaded "mark all as read" to get a necessary fresh start.

Speaking of fresh, I have clean laundry to fold and put away. Catch you in a few. More weeks, that is.

Bcause I don't have much to say right now

**The following is basically a reprint of an email I sent to a friend. She encouraged me to post it here, and since I don't have anything else to talk about right now, I thought this might be beneficial to someone. At least more beneficial than my usual drivel about nothing. I've seen a few posts about Swagbucks recently, and thought I'd give you a bit of a different perspective.**

Swagbucks.com is a search engine, like Google or Yahoo. The major difference is that when you search using the swagbucks website, you earn, well, swagbucks. These SBs, once accrued, can be traded in for various merchandise, with the most popular items being gift cards to places like Amazon or iTunes.

I spent a LOT of time thinking swagbucks were a waste of time, but I've slowly come around to the idea that it can work for me, if not to the extent that it works for bloggers with more readership (not that you have to be a blogger to use SBs, but I'll get to that in a minute). There are bloggers that I read who claim to have bought ALL their Christmas presents with SBs. I probably won't get to that point, but $30-$40 in Amazon gift cards is nice enough to make it worth it, in my opinion.

Once you've signed up for SBs, there are 3 things you need to do EVERY DAY to get 3 SBs. It might not sound like much, but 3X365= 1095, so it's worth it in the long run. 900 SBs gets you $10 at Amazon, which is basically a free book or CD, so why not? Here's what you do:

1) Install the toolbar. I almost always get 1 SB each morning just for opening my browser b/c I have the toolbar installed.

2) Under "Ways to Earn" on the SB homepage, go to the daily poll. You answer the daily poll and get 1 SB.

3) Under "Ways to Earn" on the SB homepage, go to "Special Offers." You can click on the link on the right that says something about "no obligation offers" and skip through all of those. No personally identifiable information is required, so just click "skip" on all of them and you get 1 SB at the end. Sometimes there are 6 or 7 and sometimes there's only 1 or 2, but just click away until you get to the end. You'll get 1 SB.

A few other tricks/tips I've learned:

1) You'll usually get SBs when you search in the AM, then again in the PM. I get 7-10 SBs when I win, sometimes higher (14-15). This morning I got 8 on my 2nd search. However, I probably won't get anymore until later today. It's generally a few hours before I'll get anymore from searching. I always use SB as my default search engine just for the possibility that I'll get some SBs, but I usually only get them in the AM, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening.

2) I've found that going to "page 2" of my search results often nets me SBs. If I search and don't get SBs the first time, I ALWAYS click to the 2nd page of search results and often get them then. I've also found that if I click a link from the SB search results and then click "back" to get back to the search results, I will get SBs.

3) I frequently check a blog called we-love-swag-bucks.com and they often post when a swag code is released. Follow them on Twitter, b/c they generally (but not always) tweet when they post a blog, too. But I still check their blog several times a day. Sometimes there will be codes on the SB Facebook page or on Twitter, and WLSBs posts to let you know so you don't have to try and follow SB all over the social media sites. I also check the "swidget" on my own blog b/c sometimes there will be swag codes available that WLSBs doesn't catch or post about. I always try to get the swag codes (at least one, sometimes 2 or 3 per day). I've heard that if you sign up for the SB email newsletter, you will get a code when it comes, but I haven't received a SB newsletter in my inbox yet (I think they come monthly?).

4) IF you get referrals (people who sign up for SBs under you) you get however many SBs they get, one for one, up to 1000. This is where having a large blog readership comes in handy. I think this is the most profitable, yet most difficult, way to get SBs. If you have a ton of readers and you post about SBs, you can include a link for ppl to click to sign up under you and when they start searching and winning, you win, too. I am of the opinion that those who win hundreds or thousands of dollars of merchandise/GCs are those who get tons of referrals. So far, I have 2 referrals (one is my mom) and neither one of them has won a single SB yet, so that's not exactly working out for me.

5) You can also win SBs by purchasing through their links (kind of like ebates, if you are familiar with that). Obviously, though, it can take awhile to get those credited to your account (30 days, maybe?) b/c I bought some stuff on iTunes through SB a couple of weeks ago and I still haven't rec'd credit. So we'll see about that...

6) One drawback is that the search engine isn't that great. You have to be careful what you click b/c there are usually 4-5 "sponsored by" links that come up as legitimate search results. You always have to look at the url before you click the result to see if it says "sponsored by" b/c those usually aren't what you are looking for. Sometimes I revert to google after I've tried SB, which adds time to your search, but it's negligible. I always search SB first, ALWAYS, and sometimes I make up searches to win SBs. OK, I USUALLY make up searches if I think it's a time when I can win SBs.

The moral of this epic tale, is that, not counting referrals, it can be worth it over time to use SBs. I've tried to be faithful to using it (having the toolbar installed helps tremendously) and, since I'm a huge nerd and started keeping track of how many I get each day, I discovered I average about 30 SBs daily.

Yes, it takes a few extra minutes (seconds, really, but those seconds definitely turn into minutes), and the search engine doesn't yield perfectly accurate results, but slow and steady wins the race. Or at least wins the Amazon GCs.

**This post contains referral links for Swagbucks.**

A few final AI thoughts

Yo, yo, yo, Dude. Listen, listen. Tonight's AI finale was some good lookin' out, Dawg. Good lookin' out.

Listen, listen, yo, much like Randy Jackson, I don't have any new words to describe Crystal's and Lee's performances on Tuesday night. But it doesn't feel right to just leave things hanging out there, so I put together a few final comments regarding the finale in list format (but in no particular order):

1) Pants on the Ground made me SO HAPPY. Maybe my second favorite part of the entire show.

2) Boy, was I ever relieved when Janet Jackson's performance was over. I was so worried she was going to throw out her back or fall and break her hip that I couldn't relax and enjoy "Nasty," which was, sadly, one of my favorite songs in elementary school. What were my parents thinking?

3) How awesome is Christina Aguilera? Apparently too awesome to sing more than 3 notes with the peon AI contestants. But her "awesomeness" is not going to stop me from downloading "Fighter" this weekend to add to my workout playlist.

4) My favorite part of the night? All of the former idols (minus David Cook... where was he??) singing together, plus a few former contestants joining in the celebration. I surprised myself by recalling more than a few names of those contestants.

5) Was it just me, or did Kelly Clarkson look like she'd have rather been cleaning a truckstop bathroom than singing up there on that stage?

6) Again, was it just me or did anyone else think of Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon on SNL doing "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" when Siobahn and whoever else was singing with The Brothers Gibb?

7) I was pleased to see Bret Michaels "taking it easy" after his brain hemorrhage and possible stroke.

8) LEE FTW!!!!!

9) I just don't know if I'll watch next season without Simon. AI will not be AI without Simon Cowell. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll give it a shot, but I'll be thinking about Simon the whole time.

10) I really wish I had a tenth thing to say to make my list a nice round number, but I don't

Sturgmom, OUT.

What did you think?

I can hear summer calling my name

And it's sounds a lot like Satan beckoning from the pit of hell.

Don't get me wrong.

I love having unending days off with my children, and spending the hours breaking up fights, putting disobedient children in time-out, reminding them to stop tattling and be sure to use their inside voices, listening to all the whining and complaining that we can't stay at the pool for 5 more minutes b/c it's so hot outside that mama is about to spontaneously combust, and the smell of singed flesh and hair would be enough to send everyone else running home, so why put strangers through that kind of cruel and unusual punishment because IT IS SUMMER AND SUMMER IS ALL ABOUT HAVING FUN, DANG IT.

Oh, I'm only kidding. A little.

I really do love being off for the summer. Since I have to work (for financial reasons. As in, my husband is a student and a pastor. As in, the 2 most underpaid jobs in existence (and yes, being a student is a job. A job you pay dearly for, unfortunately)), at least it's in a field that gives me a (measly) 7 weeks off each year.

Granted, those are unpaid weeks, but since my 10 month paycheck is divided into 12 monthly installments, at least it feels like a paid vacation.

And, granted, those 7 weeks off are during the time of year so thick with Texas heat and humidity that you think longingly on the day (or two) that you needed a coat AND scarf last winter and a lone tear rolls down your cheek.

But other than that, it's fabulous!

I have big plans for my family this summer. I'm declaring it the summer of boredom busters and I've got a variety of activities on the docket.

However, before the fun, I have 2 weeks of work after the boys' last day of school. I asked my mom if she would be willing to come to our house for a couple of weeks to take care of them. She made a counter-offer and suggested they go to her house during that time.

Meaning Jason and I will be 100% childless for 11 full days.

After accepting her offer, I'm still not sure whether to execute a toe-touch out of excitement or cry myself to sleep while my pillow soaks up my salty tears.

They have a plethora of activities on their social calendar while they're up there. Riding horses, going to the zoo, swimming, Jump Zone, and so on. And I'm sure I can come up with 1,001 projects that will be approximately 127% easier to complete without 3 extra helpers.

Or I might just end up sitting on the couch, shell-shocked by the peace and quiet and nothingness.

Come to think of it, that doesn't sound half bad.

AI Recap: Top 3

I'm struggling with formulating some original thoughts regarding AI and, to be honest, I've got nothing.

And the title of "Recap" is a misnomer, and has been since the beginning. I should call it random reviews.

So, I'm taking the lazy way out and moving forward with a bulleted list.

Actually, there will be no bullets. The only "bullets" I own are those in a stick shape made of glue that melts. More accurately, this list is numbered.

1) I was sorry that I didn't recognize more of the songs from last night. I'm sure they were well-sung, but I wouldn't know because I was familiar with only 1/2 of them: Daughters, Come to My Window (of which I'm not a fan), and Hallelujah.

2) Crystal is the most consistent contestant, but she's not the most watchable.

3) Casey is the most watchable, but probably the least consistent.

4) Regardless of #2 and #3, I like Lee the best. And I have the text votes to prove it.

5) When did the AI text voting police start monitoring phone numbers for time zones? I got a text last night at 10:00 CST informing me "Voting is currently closed for your time zone." WHAT?!?! In all fairness, I suppose my 2 hours was up, but when did the Powers That Be start caring? Because, that message? Never saw it before and my text voting practices have not varied.

6) How beautiful was Lee's performance of "Hallelujah"? I was surprised that I liked it as well as I did because Jason Castro's performance is one of my favorite AI performances of all time. I didn't think Lee could top it.

He did.

You know what? I'd love to see Casey and Lee as the Top 2. But I'm pretty sure it will be Crystal and Lee. I hate to see Casey go, but someone has to, right?

In which I channel the magical powers of Martha Stewart

(Just so you know, before you waste your time reading only to be disappointed in the end, this post is worthless without pictures.

And I don't have any pictures.

Yet, I type on. Leaving me to wonder at my newfound heights of mediocrity.)

A few weeks (or, as I prefer to remember it, days) ago, Cade came home from kindergarten with a script for his class play, in which he'll make his stage debut as Squirrel #2 in the wildly popular adaptation of "TheThree Little Kitten Who Lost Their Mittens."

No, you're not the only one who doesn't remember nameless squirrels making an appearance in the literary version of the tale. These kindergarten teachers are playing fast and loose with their artistic license. Something about wanting ALL the children to have a speaking part.

Attached to the back of the script was a list of "easy" costume ideas. Because everyone has the makings of a rodent costume lying around their house. All you need is a brown shirt and some brown pants! How simple is that?

A lot less simple than it sounds. Because unless you have the time (and the inclination) to scour a thrift store multiple times a week, plain brown shirts and plain brown pants are not something you can go pull off the rack at the local discount store in MAY. When everything is turquoise and purple and yellow and green and summery-colored. And pants? They've been off the shelves since February in this warm-weather state.

What our store did have, though, was gray shirts. And what our home closet did have was gray shorts. And since I'm pretty sure I've totally seen a gray squirrel at some time in my life, Squirrel #2 graciously agreed to be gray.

However, the tail still stumped me. And Jason, who's job it was to implement any tail idea I could envision. I'm the brains behind the project.

And by brains, I mean the one who just talks about being so stressed out because how am I supposed to make a squirrel's tail, anyway, when the only idea I had included some kind of fake fur fabric that doesn't exist at any of our local craft or discount stores and now it's Sunday night and the costume is due at school TOMORROW for dress rehearsal and I'm all out of ideas!

Jason's the man who makes it happen. And he's usually a big part of the brains as well. He listens to my hare-brained ideas, comes up with one that's actually do-able, and brings it to fruition.

My plan for the tail ended in the craft section when I couldn't find the necessary supplies. Jason decided to wander around the store for inspiration. He considered a pool noodle. We looked at feather dusters.

Then, I saw this

Only it was gray. And it was a dog bed. And I knew it would be PERFECT for a squirrel costume.
Once we got home, I cut the padded rim off and held a flawless tail in my hands. The bottom "mattress" part became a furry squirrelly belly that I hot glued to a t-shirt.

I can't sew, but I do have mad hot glueing skillz. Who needs needles, threads and stitches when you have melted glue and a gun?

Jason fashioned the tail MacGyver-style, using some plastic cable ties and a few well-placed stitches. He actually took home economics in high school.

If only I'd known back then that dance team and show choir wouldn't get me through elementary school with my own offspring, things might have turned out so differently.

My original plan was to sew the tail to the back of Cade's gray shirt, but instead I fell back on my trusty hot-glueing skills. Because it was getting late and I was tired and impatient.

Hot glue = instant gratification.

At the end of the day, I was more than pleased with the final product. I can't wait to show you the finished version in this tale of the tail.

But you'll have to wait until Friday.

****UPDATE*** Today is the dress rehearsal for "The Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens" so Squirrel #2 was required to wear his costume to school. Therefore, I have the opportunity to flaunt my subpar photography techniques. I'm only limited by the fact that I don't know my shutter speed from my aperture. And that I use a phone to take 95% of my pictures. Other than that, they're the essence of art.

Linky Love 05/13/10

We're getting off to a great weekend here in the House of Sturg! Our dear friends are visiting from out of town and we're planning a big cookout for tomorrow evening. Delicious food and delightful friends promise to be the stars of the next 2 days!

Because I'm feeling so happy, I want you to feel inspired as well. Here are a few things from around the web that you NEED to know about. Don't go another day without clicking these links!

Kristen from We Are That Family is hosting an adoption blog carnival. Families with plans for adoption are linking up their blogs and fundraisers, and that's where YOU come in. Please go visit the links, spend time in prayer for the families and prayerfully consider making purchases from the adoption fundraisers. One of my favorites is Hope Suds. "Do laundry. Save Orphans."

Angie Smith's book I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy is available as a free ebook download through Barnes and Noble. If you have an iPhone, you can even download a Barnes and Noble reader for FREE.

If you're on Twitter, can you please read this piece of advice from Anne Jackson? And follow it? Thanks! It's a few months old, but still COMPLETELY relevant.

Finally, I plan to make this gluten-free, egg-free dessert for our guests tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it will inspire me to get back of the elliptical machine STAT.

Y'all have a lovely weekend!

AI Recap: Top 4

Is it terribly indicative of the lameness of my life that my LAST post was an AI (non)recap? Or maybe it means that my life is so full of meaningful ventures that I simply do not have time to chronicle the sum of it.

You'll never know.

I'm still hanging in there for each episode of AI, even though my fondness for Glee is quickly surpassing my affinity for AI. I'd almost rather fast forward through the AI performances just to see Sue Sylvester mocks Mr. Shu's overuse of hair products while Finn and Rachel bust out a power duet.

Speaking of duets (I'm the master of the segue), how 'bout those duets on AI last night? INCREDIBLE! I love the song Falling Slowly a million times over and I loved the Crystal/Lee version a million times over. Casey and Mike rocked the harmony on that Bryan Adams song, although it was painfully obvious that Casey is the superior guitarist. But, this isn't a guitar talent show.

The individual performances were strange choices, I thought, but I enjoyed the show overall.

Lee: He makes singing appear effortless, but he was "pitchy" last night. I think "Kiss From a Rose" must be one of THE most difficult songs to sing of all time, so considering that, I thought he did well. But he is sort of Kris Allen redux.

Mike: When I think of popular songs from movies, the one that comes to mind (after "My Heart Will Go On") is that Michael Jackson song from Free Willy. Yes. If I could sing any song from any movie, Free Willy would be right up there in my top 2000. I thought Mike's vocals were good, but it was a bit theatrical for my preference. And obscure.

Casey: I liked Casey's version of Mrs. Robinson, even if the "banter" from the judges shot my Comfort-O-Meter into the red/danger zone.

Crystal: I don't really have anything else to say about Crystal that I haven't already said 35 times. She was good, as always. I'm not as convinced as I once was that she will win, but she doesn't have anything to worry about regarding a recording contract. Good for her and her feathery hairpieces.

I spent the time I was watching Glee texting votes for Lee and Casey 2 or 400 times. I love the simplicity of the "vote" text on the iPhone. Paste, send, paste, send, lather rinse repeat.

Who's going home tonight? No idea.

I predict Mike or Casey, and I'm hoping for Mike. Not because I don't think he's great. I've just wanted Crystal, Casey and Lee to be Top 3 all along.

But everyone know the real top 3 are Rachel, Finn, and Puck. Awesomeness.