Ahhh...a good day!

Today I woke up, before my alarm began buzzing about, feeling refreshed, not dreading the thought of getting out of bed wishing for 15 more minutes. The coffee was perfectly brewed (I love coffee but I'm not the best at measuring it out) and the sun was shining. I was ready for work early enough to have some extra time to actually WATCH the news (usually I have to turn up the tv to an ungodly level and listen as I rush around) AND do a load of laundry.

I was a little apprehensive about my work assignment today. I had to face Freshman...all day. But what a lovely surprise I received. The little kiddies did not turn out to be the typical immature bunch 9th graders are often colored to be, they were well behaved respectful students! Of course there were a couple rotten apples in the bunch but of the approximately 80 or so students I had today only 2 or 3 acted like nuts. Furthermore, the video the teacher left for me to show was actually interesting AND entertaining. Amazing!

During my lunch break I decided to venture to the BMV to get plates for the new car. I figured I had a better chance of not waiting so long if I could make it before the after-work rush. I was in and out of there in under 5 minutes and the lady that waited on me was genuinely nice!!! I always thought that a bad attitude was a prerequisite for the job since usually the workers are unfriendly and rude.

I came home from work and several things were out of place. I HATE a mess. So I thought, I'm going to do what the magazines suggest and give the "speed-clean your house" a try. Again, I'm amazed. I managed to whip my house into shape in under the 15 minute allotted time slot. I always laugh at those articles and wonder if the people who write this stuff had an experienced cleaning service, team of 10, come in to do all the work. Apparently, the impossible is sometimes possible.

In the process of letting the dogs out for their afternoon potty break, little Scrappy Doo managed to sneak out. Again. But he came right home! He made no attempts at the ankles of any kids walking home from school nor did he steal any dog toys from adjacent yards. He did tease Toby dog next door. But two out of three ain't bad! Good boy, Scrappy!

To top it all off, I asked the kid, "How was school today?" He replied with a big grin and told me, "Good! It was really good!" The conversation continued with a recap of the day's events. Usually I get nothing more than a shoulder shrug or an "It was...ummm... OK. I guess." Nine times out of 10 he tells me that he didn't even learn anything new. Man this is getting weird!

I'm starting to wonder if there is going to be some type of natural disaster or something this evening. No, I'm not going to dwell on the "what ifs". Not today. I think I'll go curl up on the couch, watch Happy Feet and maybe enjoy a nice glass of vino! I'd better go to bed early before anything can ruin this lovely day.

Ha!

I found this on a friend's myspace page and thought I'd share it with everyone :)

Those Days Are Gone

Remember the days when you could walk into the local high school and all the kids pretty much looked like someone from Saved By the Bell? Well, maybe not exactly, but pretty darn close. You could always count on seeing certain groups of students... the jocks, the nerds, preppies. At least when I was in school the majority of students fit into those categories. Welcome to 2007. Maybe I am just naive to believe that kids really aren't that different from 10 years ago when I was a high school senior. Boy, I couldn't be more wrong!


I had the pleasure of teaching at the local high school two days this week. I'm amazed at what I see and hear every single time I enter the building but this week...wow!!! I heard the "f-bomb" dropped more times than I could possibly dream of counting and far more times than I'd care to remember. It seems as though f#*k is as common as "hello". This expletive has apparently become a staple in high school student dialect. The kicker? Not once did I hear a staff member tell a student not to use that type of language. Has it really become so much a part of everyday life that as adults we've chosen to ignore this type of behavior?


I saw 2 young girls flaunting their pregnant bellies. I'm not talking about wearing a cute maternity shirt, I'm talking bare bellies hanging out! When I was a student (at this same high school) bellies were not allowed to be shown. You'd be sent home to change if you were showing too much skin. But as I look around at the girls with their breasts hanging out, mid drifts showing and boys with underwear out for all to view, more than half of the student body would be sent home daily. Maybe it's just too much work to enforce a dress-code? More importantly, where are these kid's parents when they leave the house everyday? The school system I work for is in desperate need of uniforms!


I saw two girls making out in the cafeteria Friday morning. Lovely. It's bad enough to see opposite sex couples groping each other in the halls as though they're starring in an x-rated movie. But the girls, that was a shocker! And no, I'm not homophobic.


I saw a girl wearing a pair of 4 inch stiletto heels that I myself wouldn't dare attempt to walk in at the age of 29. I always thought high heels were reserved for prom and homecoming during this period of a young woman's life. For me, it was a right of passage. I must really be out of touch...


Several times I encountered students in which I was unable to determine their sex due to a whole new group of kids out there calling themselves "EMOS"? I think it means something about being emotionally disturbed, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. But this group consists of boys who wear make up and girls clothing. And the girls, I don't know what the hell they're doing! All I know for sure is that it makes for a difficult time when you're faced with choosing between a masculine or feminine pronoun. Look at the class roster, right? No, that doesn't always help, too many kids have uni-sex names. When I was in school we had a similar group, they were called "freaks"! And not nearly as popular as EMOS seem to be. When did being emotionally disturbed become cool?


Let me go back to the way the girls dress a moment. I saw a girl, I'm going to guess her age to be about 14, who knows. She was wearing a mini-skirt, fish net stockings and black high heeled hooker-boots. You know, the boots that rise to the bottom of the knee? Well...there is a reason those boots are called hooker boots. Enough said.

For Me?

Last night I'm cuddled up on the couch ready to dive into a trashy romance/thriller novel (yes, I like the smut) when the dogs start going nuts. All three, barking, barking, barking. I have a quick peek outside to see the UPS man wandering about delivering packages. I take a moment to wonder if I've ordered anything lately and decide the answer is no since he's several houses away. So I make an attempt to shut up the poochies and return to the couch when I hear the doorbell ring. Given that I've already dismissed the idea of the UPS man bringing me a surprise, I decide it's a kid. Irritated, for being interrupted for the second time in 3 minutes, I get up to answer the door. Low and behold... what do I see...a package! For me?! I grab it quickly and have a look. My address but not my name. That's weird. I pick my brain trying to come up with sort of name recognition and wonder if this belongs to a neighbor. No one comes to mind so I'm going to open it, it was left at MY door, right? I open the box, find a card that reads, "Sorry this is so late. We wish you both a lifetime of happiness and love. Love always, The Johnsons." I get soooo excited that a friend I've recently began communicating with again (because she moved away and we'd lost touch) sent me a late wedding gift. Wow, how sweet!!! I now move on to the box inside of the box. It's a lovely red box with a beautiful cream bow and I can't wait to see what's inside...a wonderful set of high polished silver picture frames. How nice! They're going to match my house perfectly! Then I notice another small box. This one contains a personalized name plate. Cool! I open it up and it's been engraved with "Perkins". Hold on...my name isn't Perkins!?!?! Hmmmm....maybe she just made a mistake. It's possible that she was unsure of what my married name is, right? Perplexed, I decide to give my neighbor a ring. Marcy has lived on our street for at least 30 years, maybe she knows who the Perkins are. After all, the address could have just been off by a number or so and there are tons of "Johnsons" in the world. Maybe it isn't for me after all. But she doesn't have a clue who they are either! While I'm talking with my neighbor, I find the packaging slip and it specifically says the order was placed by the Johnsons I know and from the state MY Johnsons live in. That's confirmation enough for me! It's mine, I get to keep it! Later I decide to give Toni (Johnson) a call, just to be sure and to "thank you". When I ask if she sent me a gift, being the sweetheart that she is, she says she's not sure. Maybe she did, she needs a minute to think. Then I tell her about the name on the package and she immediately burst into laughter. Yes, she sent the package, and no, it wasn't for me!!! She was doing a little secret shopping while her hubby was away and made a mistake while being in such a rush so he wouldn't know about the purchase. Well, Toni is far too polite to actually say the latter, but that is how I interpreted the her story! Anyway...I delivered the gorgeous frames, that would've have meshed soooo nicely with the decor of my home, to their rightful owners today. It was hard, I'd fallen in love, you see? I already had their places picked out and I knew just what photos would would be placed in each...*sigh*


P.S. Toni is not my friend's real name. She asked that her identity be withheld in order to protect her from any further embarrassment among our circle of friends :)

Meet the Family

Sunday is traditionally a family day in our house. So I thought I'd share my family.
Part of it anyways. Here are my doggies!!!

This is Lacie and Scrappy. Lacie was out first dog. She is a 4 year old American Bulldog, big baby!! In this picture I think she was about 2 years old. Scrappy was 6 months old or so. Scrappy used to cuddle with Lacie all the time but now he just terrorizes her because he believes himself to be the boss. Scrappy has little big man syndrome :)





This is Scooter at 9 months old. Another American Bulldog. He's much bigger now, eats like a horse and isn't done growing yet! We took him in about a year and a half ago because his previous owner didn't have time to take care of him. I went to see him, fell in love and he became out 3rd and FINAL addition to the pet part of our family.




And finally...Scrappy Doo, the 3 year old Jack Russell. By far, Scrappy is the most mischievous dog of the bunch. He sneaks outside at every possible opportunity to chase squirrels, chipmunks and poor little Radar, the Papillon who lives a few houses down. Scrappy has also been known to let himself out of his crate to run wildly around the house collecting any objects in his path, steal toys from other neighboring dogs and open bags of chocolate to feast upon. The little dog is lucky to be alive considering some of his past adventures!

10 Things That Make Me Tick

There are some things that just send me over the edge, immediately. I thought I might share a few in attempt to rationalize my thought patterns...


1. It's 3:30 p.m. I'm real close to being from work. I've just made it around the curve in the road to my house only to find that my mother-in-law is parked in my spot in the driveway. After I've parked on the road and am lugging my crap into the house she comes out saying "Oh! I'll move!" Why the hell didn't she park on the road to begin with?


2. I've just spent all day scrubbing and shining the hardwood floors. Someone stops by, walks in and goes straight for the kitchen with their shoes ON even though there is a nice little rug and two boot trays right at the front door waiting for shoes. This never happens if the floors are dirty to begin with!

3. I wake up in the middle of the night and need to use the restroom. I stumble, blindly (I'm lost without my glasses/contacts) to the toilet to find the seat has been left up only after I almost fall in.

4. The phone rings. I answer and hear my least favorite question, "Are you busy?" I reply with a firm "YES!" only to be asked "Can you do something for me real quick?" Why bother inquiring if I'm busy if you're going to ask me to stop what I'm doing anyway?

5. I go to the store. It's time to pay. I don't have enough money. I call my beloved husband, Jason, to find out if he took any money from my purse before he left for work. He just giggles and says, "You got robbed!"

6. My husband going in my purse.

7. Honey? Have you seen my____? Yes, it's on the_______. No it's not. I just looked. Ok, let me check. Guess what? It was on the_______ exactly where I told you.

8. My alarm is set to go off at 7:30a.m. My husband knows this yet calls at 7:20a.m. to ask, "Are you up yet?"

9. J: Hey, do you want to go to dinner out to dinner tonight?
Me: Sounds great!! What do you feel like eating?
J: You pick.
Me: Ok...how about ________?
J: Makes a face.
Me: What about_______? That sounds good.
J: Naaahhh.
Me: How about we just order a pizza.
J: Ok, but I want GOOD pizza.....

10. I'm next in line at the check-out. A cashier opens a register one lane over and says, "I can help the next person in line if you'd like to step over." The bitch behind me scrambles over to the newly opened line and then has the nerve to look over at me and say "Oh, I'm sorry, were you next?" Like she really didn't notice that I was standing in FRONT of her NEXT in line!

Maybe I need to work on my coping skills. Learn to not sweat the small stuff. Pick my battles. Call it what whatever you like. But until I learn to master the aforementioned techniques, these things really tick me off!

A Good Deal?

Splurge vs. steal...
Several times this week I've seen a segment on the Today Show telling us how to "get the look for less." Although I appreciate the effort, I'm not sure that I'm buying into the hype. Sure everyone likes a good deal, but come on...is $228 for a pair of pants really a steal? Sure it is, when you put them next to a pair that cost $1305! Seriously, who spends that kind of money on pants?! The cute brown leather Kenneth Cole boots I recently purchased from the clearance rack for $25 is a what I consider a steal. Not to mention the 3 adorable dresses I found at 20 bucks a pop...that is a bargain!!! Please, someone tell me, am I just out of touch with what things cost these days because I love the thrill of the hunt for a good deal? Or maybe I'm not part of the target audience that the Today Show is attempting to reach. Regardless, if I spent $200 on a pair of pants, no matter how fabulous they claim to make my ass look, I'd be in therapy working through the guilt of post purchase dissonance for the next year.


PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: FOR ANY READERS IN MY AREA...DILLARDS IS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. GOOD DEALS GALORE!!!!

Why Is This So Acceptable?

I had to attend a baby shower yesterday. YUCK! Let me just say that I really loathe these types of gatherings, especially baby and wedding showers. Why is it so appropriate to to make a list of wanted items, send potential guests a list of these items and EXPECT to receive these items while everyone has to sit there and watch the mother or bride to be open them? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind buying the gifts, shopping is my cardio. However, I really could care less about the event surrounding the "opening" ceremonies. Particularly when the food is bad. Furthermore, if the gift recipient happens to be a good friend or family member, you have to listen to them rehash the whole ordeal for weeks, sometimes months, afterwards.

Anyone who is a Sex and the City fan will remember the episode of Miranda's baby shower. She didn't want baby storks plastered everywhere, no crustless cucumber sandwiches, she didn't want to open gifts in front of everyone, and to top it off she wanted fried chicken served! That is my kinda party! Because really, you can only ooohh and aaahhh for so long over the same gift. I must admit I do enjoy watching the face of the person who bought the perfect carrier with the cute little froggie mobile when someone else bought it too. When a gift is opened, and appears to be one of a kind, the purchaser feels proud. Then the second one is opened and purchaser #1 still feels proud while purchaser #2 tries to hide the disappointment and quietly thinks "Didn't that idiot see that the registry said only one froggie carrier was wanted?!?!" Yet... purchaser #2 smiles politely and offers the option of returning the gift. I just love that part! Is that mean?

Anyway...because asking for gifts is so widely accepted in certain situations, I was thinking of beginning a new tradition...you are all invited to my house for a shoe party. The theme is Manolo Blahnik and I wear a 38.5. Please RSVP regrets only (those not in attendance WILL be bad-mouthed) and refreshemts that no one really likes will be provided. Any takers?!