Randomness....

Just a little randomness from our lives...

Anyone who knows us will roll their eyes at this one. Thanks to Steph and her save-every-animal attitude, we have a new kitty. Last week she came home from the restaurant with a little surprise..a kitten. She found it wandering in the middle of the highway and decided that we had plenty of room for her (insert sarcasm here...) We kept her in the barn for a few days because we didn't want her to mix with our other kitties before getting checked out from the vet. I must admit that I was smitten with her from the beginning. To sum it up, after getting shots, "fixed," and declawed, we brought her home yesterday. She is very loving and cuddly, but let's just say that Baby and Rosie haven't quite adapted to her yet--they are a work in progress! :)

Stephanie named her Katniss...any literary fan will recognize the name from The Hunger Games...we both love the character Katniss.

Since I am talking about Steph and all her animals, her are two pictures from school....she gets to feed her love for all four-legged creatures there...just don't bring any more home! :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Linking with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday..

It has been a terrible week at school, so looking for things to love is going to be quite a stretch. We had terrible news at my school this week, so me and my colleagues have been walking around in a funk. Add that to the fact that the students are acting totally insane (that's what happens the week after Spirit Week) and you get one crazy, hectic, Calgon-take-me-away week.

I'm going to try to squeeze some positives out of it, though....

1. Does anyone remember this commercial?



It's one of my favorites and makes me laugh whenever I think of it. Well, yesterday I was totally frustrated with my classes because I had to keep repeating myself over and over. We are doing research projects in the library and for some reason the kids were not listening (see above!).  I would tell one group one thing and then have to repeat myself to another group two minutes later. Meanwhile, half of the first group would get distracted and ask me the same questions again.....Can you say "Beat my head against a wall?" All of a sudden this commercial popped into my mind....some days I feel that teaching is a lot like herding cats. No matter what I do, the stuudents don't listen and do the complete opposite...sigh....I guess it's a good thing I like cats...sometimes...:)

2. The next one is bittersweet...today Sophie had Dress-Down Day at school (they get to wear "normal" clothes instead of their school uniform). She wore her first pair of skinny jeans and tall boots. Let me explain why this is a big deal. I'm a huge proponent of little girls looking like...well, little girls. While I love beautiful dresses and bows, I do realize that they aren't practical for school. After much pleading, I finally relented and bought "cool clothes." (By the way, how do third graders know what's "cool" and what's not?) I couldn't believe that she looked so "growny" (a Southern term stolen from my grandparents!). While I'm happy that she is interested in looking fashionable, it makes her look like a "mini teenager" instead of my little girl. I guess that I have to face the fact that she is growing up...her Daddy, on the other hand, isn't quite there yet! :)

In these pictures, she is pretending to be a model...so is Bingo!

3. Found these at Trader Joe's this week....yum! It's a sure sign of Fall when they have these on the shelves. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Trader Joe's?

 

I always buy these yummy brownies whenever I go there, too. Does anyone else love the chocolate/sea salt taste combination like I do? Caramel and sea salt is not half-bad either!



Another reason to love Trader Joe's...the mini shopping carts!

4. I love this picture of Steph and one of her four-legged friends.

5. I love Zulily! I guess it's a good thing that I no longer have a small child to shop for! They do have deals for other things though... Erin Condren  was 50% off this week! :)

I'll leave you with some sweet quotes and a few funnies...here's hoping that the rest of the week is much better....





Haha...just kidding...sort of...:0)



My thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street Movement....

Fall and Halloween Decorating....

I absolutely LOVE fall...it is my favorite time of year. First off, I love the cooler weather. It is such a welcome relief after the sweltering North Carolina heat (even though it is still ridiculously hot here--today it was in the 80s!..ugghhh) I also love the decorating--oranges, browns, and yellows are the primary colors in my house, so I really love adding more. They remind me of all the things that I like to enjoy this time of year--football, pumpkin patches, the NC State fair, delicious soups, etc. Decorating for this time is fun for me also because it is relatively stress-free. I don't have any of the  pressures that I do at Christmas (you know, the competing-with-the-Jones problem), so I am able to sit back and enjoy it more. I also don't tend to go overboard (like I have been known to do for other holidays :)

(sorry that these pictures are super dark--I'm still learning about settings...)

This spider is specifically for Steph since we know that she loves them soooo much! lol

Looks like the spider caught something in her web! :0)

Happy fall, y'all!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm loving Wednesday...

There is a lot to be excited about this week! Here goes...

1. Fall television starts this week. I'm trying to decide what new shows to watch (yes, I know that these decisions are of world-wide importance...lol). So far I have heard a lot of hype about Sarah Michelle Gellar's new show Ringer. I dvr-ed it, but haven't watched it yet.

Disclaimer: I think it is important to interject that I'm horrible at choosing shows to watch. For the past three years, the shows that I have decided to follow have all been cancelled mid-season...ugghhhh...

I'm also excited about the return of Survivor tonight...Angelo and I have watched almost every season, and we still find it quite enjoyable (not to mention that I love Jeff Probst!)...



Do you look forward to fall television as much as I do? Which shows are you anticipating the most?

2. I'm loving that the show Toddlers and Tiaras is finally getting the negative publicity it deserves. Don't get me wrong, I (sort of) watch it, but I find that it gets more and more despicable each week. This past episode featured a young girl dressed up as the Julia Robert's prostitute character in Pretty Woman...really? Disgusting...The week before that, a four-year old dressed as Dolly Parton--boobs, butt, and all...what are these "mothers" thinking?? I have read some great articles about the sexualization of young girls in the media this week (particularly this one from CNN), and I find that it is a sickening trend. Clothing stores are just as guilty as the networks. I personally do not buy Sophie the provocative clothing sold by such stores as Justice and The Children's Place (back when Steph was young, I actually bought most of her clothes there because they were once age appropriate). I can just imagine thousands of pedophiles sitting around their televisions at night watching this show or ogling over the the young girls modeling these clothes. I feel strongly that TLC (which by the way is supposed to be The Learning Channel) has a moral obligation to cancel this show. Parents also need to speak up and stop supporting companies that exploit young girls.

3. I have two new blogs that I love. As you can probably tell, I am blog obsessed. I love to blog, but I love reading them just as much (you can read about some of my favorites here). I'm such a stalker! I recently found two that are quite fun...

The first is about Brittany and Scott, newlyweds who are currently sailing around the world. I would absolutely love to do that! Windtraveler details the places they go, their experiences on their cozy home-on-the-water, and their adventures at sea. Brittany just recently posted that she is pregnant! I cannot wait to see how they deal with this latest development! I am so living vicariously through this blog!

The second blog that I like is fascinating and truly inspirational. Baseballs to Bows tells the story of a family that has three sons, yet still decided to adopted two young girls from China. Jennifer details their life with amazing photos and testaments. I highly recommend it, especially if you are feeling that your own life is chaotic and disorganized. Imagine if you added two young girls, one of which does not speak English yet! Amazing...

4. And...the most exciting event of the week?? After much anticipation and running to the mail box everyday for a week, I finally got my Erin Condren Life Planner in the mail. I read about it on some blogs a few weeks ago and decided that I wanted it. I scoured the Internet for coupons and broke down and got one...it took almost as long to decide which design I wanted! The verdict?  I LOVE it. I can already imagine myself as the most hip, organized woman on the planet...lol! Seriously, I love organizing, planners, and stationary and this has all three in one. It was also packed spiffy, and it felt like Christmas opening it this morning. (Ignore my messy desk at school and the bad IPhone pics!)

And finally I will leave you with a few images of what I love the most...my family. Every Monday we go to Raleigh to take Stephanie and Thomas out to eat for what Sophie has dubbed "Mexican Monday." It's a nice relaxing break for all.

I love these last two pics because it shows Sophie (in her own State tee) practically running to her sister's dorm!

Have a great week!