The week in review--or what I remember of it...

As I recall,  it didn't start snowing until AFTER the first run of buses.  So, of course, we had school.  It looked like a pretty good snow.

At least enough for Little Miss and Loverboy to build a car snowman.  It was completely gone by the time I got home.  Bummer.  We started a new project that evening--a salt dough alphabet.  More pictures to come.  As I was taking the letters out of the oven, there was a surprise on top of one of the pans:

Where this carbonized corndog came from is anyone's guess.  I'd caught a whiff of a faint "off" odor in the kitchen, but could never sniff it out.  All of the usual suspect (vegetable crisper, soggy undersink cabinet) had checked out fine.  And how it got on TOP of the pan that I put in the oven...oh, well.  I'm pretty sure I don't want answers to any questions regarding this.  Ick.  In a way, though, it was uniformly black and shiny...almost pretty in a creepy, wrong way.   If only I could have harnessed the pressure of Loverboy's...blood pressure...perhaps when he contemplates politics, healthcare, gun control.  I could have had quite a diamond here.  And now I'm thinking, what does it say about me that I would find this interesting enough to photograph (several times with varying light) and blog about.  Moving on...

I woke up Wednesday not feeling right.  But by the time I knew it was really wrong, it was too late to call in a sub.  Being a trooper, I thought I could make it.  When I got to school and went to sign in, the secretary at the front asked if I needed her to find a sub for me.  I must have looked as green as I felt.  I only have two morning classes and thought I could power through until a half day sub could come in.  I almost made it.  The stomach bug--there is no powering through it.  The rest of Wednesday, through Thursday morning, I slept.  Little Miss and Loverboy vacated the premises for most of the day.

It looks like it was a pretty day.

Naturally, I felt fine Thursday--in time for the TAKS security training faculty meeting.  Joy.

And now it's Friday!!  And all of my grades are in for the six weeks!!  Except for the transfer student who came in yesterday from Australia and I have no grades for.  She wasn't in class today.  It's possible my fifth period scared her back down under. 

Loverboy's taken all these pictures, with the exception of the carbonized corndog.  I'm pretty sure this is from today, since she was still in the Spongbob pajamas when I got home.  It was payday, so I had to go give a quarter of my paycheck to Walmart afterschool.  Thank God for rotisserie chicken, instant mashed potatos, gravy from a packet and canned green beans.  Amen.  And thanks to Loverboy for doing an amazing job cleaning and organizing the house!

Family

It's a Snuggie!  Just what she's always wanted!

Someone needed a Little Miss "fix" I think.  Molly had to pick up Aunt Toni at the airport yesterday.  Today she and Papa had to go to Athens--I think something to do with my grandmother's will/estate.  So she came bearing gifts this evening.  Some were even Christmas gifts!  We were trying to beat the snow/ice storm Christmas Eve after my grandmother's funeral, so we couldn't stick around for the Christmas festivities.  It may be even more fun to get Christmas gifts in late February anyway.  Molly also came bearing some pictures/letters of my grandmother's that my sister, Cathy Sue, has sifted out for us.  She included my parents' wedding invitation, the only one in existence as far as Mom knows.  Molly also brought my father's highschool letterjacket--1947 vintage I believe.  Actually,  older than Molly!  There was also an album of pictures I'd taken at my brother's wedding in California, including several of my Aunt Becke Sue.  She's been gone two years this past Saturday.  And now I'm typing myself into a bleary-eyed funk.  Too much sad.  Anywho...I hope we all find a way to stay connected and have Athens-family get togethers.  Which reminds me--a big hi-diddly-ho to my Aunt Karon--the only person to ever leave comments.  Love ya bunches!

Loverboy took Little Miss to Dr. Knockout today.  Really--our pediatrician is quite lovely, in addition to being the perfect doctor for us.  Loverboy never balks at pulling doctor visit duty.  No stomach bug, just baaaad allergies.  So more medication, including steroids for a few days--and I swear they give Little Miss roid rage--and the dreaded breathing treatments.  An ordeal for us all.  But she is back to herself today--trampolining and all.  In fact, I think she wore Loverboy and Emily out.  This scene was about 7:00 tonight

More snow in the forcast for us tonight/tomorrow.  Will the combined prayers of students and teachers be answered?  We'll find out in about eight hours....

A change of plans

Alas, my dreams of two bridal expos in one weekend was not meant to be.  Little Miss's been puny with allergies for a couple of days.  When she coughs, usually, she barfs.  I suppose everyone has a flaw.  Since Loverboy had to the Heart of Texas to help his mama with computer issues, the bridal show was a no go.  And now I'm not sure she doesn't have a stomach bug on top of the allergies.  More barfing than usual.  And she felt miserable.  We spent the day on the couch with Spongebob and iCarly.  She'd rally every once in while and whine that she wanted to go out and bounce on her trampoline.  Snotty nose, vomiting, headache--but still wanting some bounce time.  I can hear Molly gasp as I type this.  No, mu-ther, I didn't let her.  She's sleeping peacefully now.  Hopefully we'll get a solid night's sleep and be rarin' to go.

SaraBeth brave the show without me.  And there was a photobooth service booth there.  They must already be everywhere.  Goodbye dream.

The bridal show photobooth

Having never been to a bridal show/expo/whatever, plus never having wanted to go to one, I wasn't sure what to expect.  But to support my semi-engaged (that's a long story I'll let her share if she gets her own blog) friend (we'll call her SaraBeth) I was willing to part with some Saturday time and seven bucks.  To be honest, it was nice to have grown-up girl time and lunch at Mimi's that didn't involve mac & cheese--I can recommend the naked french onion soup and garden salad with low fat citrus vinegarette, yum-o and low WW points, BUT beware the muffins!  I only ate half...and it was goooooood.  Anyway, it was sort of like the state fair,  or a home and garden show.  Instead of hot tubs and solar yard lights there were travel agencies and tuxedo rentals.  Some dresses on impossibly thin, impossibly young girls.  Purveyors of cake--only two giving out samples.  And chocolate fountains--with blue goo.  I don't care if it's really white chocolate--it's blue!  Or whatever color coordinates with your scheme, no doubt.  But really, blue?  On strawberries?  Even I would pass that up at a reception.  Sorry if I offend anyone, but I stand firm on this conviction.  Accept chocolate in it's natural pigmentation!! 

There was someone pushing Scentsy products--and I immediately called my sister-in-law, Sunny, to alert to this brilliant marketing opportunity.  She's selling Scentsy products and they are FABULOUS!  I have one at home and one at school (the kids really start getting ripe by 4th period).  I can get her email address for you if you're interested.  BUT the biggest,  bestest, most impressive thing of all at the bridal show was--the photobooth!!  I don't go to a lot of weddings, and maybe this trend is already on it's last leg, but a photobooth at your reception!!  LOVE it!  You can rent a black and white or color one.  It prints a double strip so guests get one and the other is popped into a scrapbooky thing where the guests write their good wishes, whatever...don't you just love it?!  Made the whole day worth it.  Of course, SaraBeth is really just planning on going to Vegas (which I wholeheartedly recommend--shout out to Little Church of the West!).  I think she's trying to acclimate herself to the idea of a wedding, her wedding.  And as luck would have it, our local bridal expo is tomorrow!  Two bridal expos in one weekend.  I'm really going to see if there's a rent-a-photobooth operation around here.  I could add a paypal button here to raise funds to help Mama Nockinbird start a business...let me know what ya'll think.

I don't think Loverboy has a scanner anymore, so I can't share the hilarity of our photobooth experience, but Little Miss and I staged our own "home" version.

Sticking out of the tongue--photobooth classic.

Trying rabbit ears.  She's five and had no idea what we were talking about when we said make rabbit ears for the next picture.  Are we really that lax?  Sad when the truly important lessons fall through the cracks.  But we're caught up now!

We're pirates.  Note the hook and squinty "ARGHH."  Pirattitude.

Scared.

Now, fear not, gentle readers...I may have been running around collecting ideas on ways to get brides to part with their money (and going to Barnes and Noble and Mimi's...and Sam's), but I take my family duties seriously.  I came home and went straight to work.  There were homemade stuffed peppers made and, in the theme of the weekend, proposal cookies.

I made these the first time after we'd been married for several months, a year, something like that.  Loverboy took one bite, got down on one knee, which he had not even done the first time around, and proposed.  Hence, proposal cookies.  Super easy:

Heat the oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Break apart enough graham crackers to lay a single layer, filling the pan.  Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter.  Add 3/4 cup brown sugar.  Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until it boils.  Let it boil 2 minutes.  Add 1 tsp of vanilla and stir it up--but be careful, it bubbles and hisses and pops when you add the vanilla.  You can add some pecans here, too.  We love pecans, but prefer these without.  Pour the caramelly mixture over the crackers, spread with a spatula until it's more or less even.  Bake about 15 minutes.  I usually take the foil out of the pan and let them cool a few minutes then break them apart. 

Someone beat me to the breaking apart stage.

Return tomorrow  here for more exciting tales from the bridal expo...

Pigtail cuteness

While detangling after a shower, that for once in a great while we got through with enough hot water, a request was made for pigtails.  Who am I to deny such cuteness, even if it's about to be slept on. 

We did find time for a book of hidden pictures and a few Richard Scary tales--"A Tale of Tails," "Whisper in My Ear," and "Feed Hungry Hilda Hippo" are the current favorites.  I can remember reading/being read to the hippo one.  There's a drawing of ice cream with the most high-gloss red cherry on top--for some reason that's the image that always springs to mind when I think of Richard Scary.  That and bears in pajamas.  Anyway, I like that all three of us will  have childhood memories of the same book. 

We had to watch a little Olympics at her request--though she couldn't decide if the speed skaters were boys or girls.  I had to wait for the announcers to tell us as well.  Not even the names were helping.  I guess you give up boobs when you have no body fat.  Never been a problem for me. 

After getting Little Miss to bed, I realized it's Wednesday!  That means yesterday was Tuesday!  That means I missed LOST!!  The final season, the one that's supposed to give us answers, and I totally forgot about it.  I just finished watching it online.  Is this whole thing going to boil down to good vs. evil, God vs. Satan, and free will?  Really?  What about the polar bears?  Widmore?  I just want some answers, but I don't want lame ones!!

Happy Mardi Gras, non-edible babies!

Although we didn't toss any beads, flash any chichis, or drink ourselves into a gutter-wallowing stupor, we did celebrate Mardi Gras in Maison Barnes tonight--with gumbo and king cake!

Thoughts of dinner are what got me through the day at school.  I lectured on the Holocaust all day and had to sit through the same depressing (to put it mildly) video footage four times.  Add to that a surprise ARD meeting...let's just say the good times, they did not roll.  At least I haven't had any Holocaust deniers in class to deal with in the last several years.  I'm bringing myself down here...the gumbo was deeeelicious!  My sous chef had almost all of the chop work done for me when I walked in the door.

As I was swirling around trying to get the tummy yummies ready,  this warning caught my eye.  I still can't decide what's more hilarious/disturbing--the non-edible baby itself, or that the non-edible baby is shoved inside a cake!  Which, by the way, it is not.  Poor little thing is taped to the top of the box.  I had to jam the little non-edible sucker into the cake myself.

And guess who was king of Mardi Gras--

She was not pleased to find out that means she has to have the party and bring the king cake next year.  But rules are rules.

And now the bonzai has a new good luck piece--

I think I'm going to give up non-edible babies for Lent.  And late night king cake snacking.

Snow! Olympics! Chinese New Year!

What a whirlwind of fun!  I can't stop with the exclamation marks!  They are my puncuation weakness!  L!O!V!E! T!H!E!M!

Is my exuberance hard to understand?  Let me explain...Early dismissal Thursday because of the SNOW!  NOT ice, mind you.  Honest to goodness, hardly ever see it, snow. 

There was much pelting.

A lot of snowflake sampling.  Papa even made us his rare winter speciality--snow ice cream.  How long has it been....

Emily loved the snow, even in the form of flying snow balls.  She kept burying her nose in it.  Her squirrel buddy holed up somewhere and ditched her for a couple of days.

We were supposed to start three hours late Friday, but the phone rang just as I was getting up with the most blessed pre-recorded message any teacher can hear--SNOW DAY!!!

We were already up, so out we went.

I've heard we were a little short of the 1964 county record...but look at all the snow!  I know, I know...I've lived in northern Minnesota, but everything's relative.  And to us, in north central Texas, this is a lot of freakin' snow!

I've taken a ridiculous number of snow pictures.  I'm thinking of having window clings made out of them...to put up for next Christmas.  Sort of a winter wonderland fake out.  Of course, we did have a icy/snowy Christmas eve/morning this last year.  But what are the odds?  Especially with global warming (that one's for you, Loverboy!  Did your head explode?  HA!)

Where to begin?

Snow angels!  With a puppy pawprint border.

And serious snow men.  Not the ones we usually have to settle for...made with snow collected from the top of Loverboy's car.  Granted, these are not the cleanest snow people.  Quite a bit of leaves and grass burrs.  And my technique is very rusty.  But still...

Little Miss was thrilled.  I can't help wondering when she'll ever get a chance for snow play like this again.

Loverboy and Emily were exhausted from all the fun.

So everyone was tucked in early Friday night. leaving me to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies.  I'm a sucker for the Olympics.  I haven't seen any medal ceremonies yet, so I haven't gotten much good crying in yet.  But I have found several blogs about Olympic knitting, or Knitlympics, or variations on the theme.  Cast on during the opening ceremonies and knit along as you watch.  I didn't officially join in any.  Most want you to work on a challenging project, and I don't have any I'm stocked and ready to go with.  BUT, I do have a sock kit that's been hanging around for five years...almost as long as Little Miss is old.  I've knit lots of socks before, so it's not a technical challenge.  The challenge is just to actually start it...and get it done.

I'll be honest.  I bought it for the tin.  I'm a sucker for packaging.  Plain Jane, olive wool men's socks--a repro WWII "knit your bit" kit from the American Red Cross.  But I'm in!  It's easy enough that I can still watch the moguls and pairs skating and not miss any of the wipeouts action.

Today's Valentine's Day--and that's great and all.  Loverboy, Little Miss and I are lovey-dovey anyway,  so handmade cards, or one purchased for Little Miss with golden retrievers on it, was plenty to mark that holiday for us.  None of us need anymore chocolate.  BUT today is also Chinese New Year!  Yeah!  Another new year--I need to re-resolve a few things (Weight Watchers, ahem).  So we feasted on egg rolls, pork dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, chicken/vegetable stir fry, fried rice, almond cookies, and those (evil) delicious nutella wontons--with cherries added.  Another holiday where I try to kill myself with five hours in the kitchen.  The upshot is I'm so sick of the food that I don't eat that much...except the cookies and nutella/cherry wontons. 

Molly and Papa joined us. 

I'm not sure what traditional Chinese gifts are--but Anne got ZhuZhu pets.  I could open a Toys R Us in my living room.

Oh! And this is all that was left of our amazing snow as of this morning...

...they'll be back again...someday...

Since then...

A whole new world has been opened for this dynamic duo.  Pictures can't capture the wonder, the glee, the material free-for-all, the huge dollars (in the three figures!), the future planning.  Roller skates for a stuffed dog,  that's all I need to say. 

After dragging them out of Build-a-Bear, Little Miss spied the toddler playground--it was closed for cleaning much to her chagrin.  I'm afraid she's too tall for it already.  THEN she spied some kind of bungee harness/trampoline kid bouncy thing.  The line was looooooong and we had other stops to make while still trying to make it home in time for the Superbowl.  Of course, we had to stop for a pretzel right across from this child's fantasy contraption.  A little torture with your strawberry lemonade?  I feel certain she's going to like going to this mall in the future.  And I'll have someplace to dump her and Loverboy.  This may work out for me.  Anyway, we snacked next to this fountain and tossed pennies in for wishes. 

She's taken to posing.

On the way out, Molly treated us to TWO new pairs of shoes EACH.  Jackpot!!  While I went with basic black Clark's for work, Little Miss has developed an affinity for hightop sneakers.  She wore these all day yesterday apparently.  They remind me of Rainbow Brite's shoes.  We hit GardenRidge where they had a fifty cent book clearance.  We missed the first quarter of the game.  I like the Oprah/Dave/Leno commercial and the Doritos dog/guy in the shock collar the best.

She and Loverboy spent a couple of (cold) hours in the sticker patch that is our back yard.  I'd like to (have Loverboy) till up the whole shebang and plant a serious vegetable garden.  But I'm afraid my thumb is green only in my garden fantasies.  A lot the outdoor time was spent on Ol' Bouncy.  210 bounces--WITH daddy counting, so you know it's accurate!

They did a lot of kicking around the soccer ball.  A very effective way of picking up stickers from the backyard.  In fact, I think this ball was abandoned in our yard by kids who kicked it in and gave up fighting the stickers to get it back.  Finders/stickers keepers.  She's wearing her black hightops here, by the way.

The world, turned upside down (in a Mama knit hat).  I still haven't found a way to rotate pictures here. 

After Daddy-made dinner, you KNOW it involved mac & cheese, we played with a birthday gift game.  Little Miss won rounds one and three, Loverboy the second.

We love family game night!