Can you guess which one she chose?
Last night, I accompanied my best friend and helped host her daughter's 7th birthday party. Off we go with five 7-year old girls to party hearty. First stop...Pizza Hut. Have you ever gone into a Pizza Hut on a Saturday night around 5pm. I suggest you don't. We had a little wait, but soon got seated at a table, surrounded by deafening loud talkers and screaming children. Add our five to the mix and whoa! Of course, during the lull between salad and waiting to be served our pizza, every one of them has to go to the bathroom. My friend takes them all to the one-unit potty while I wisely wait at the table, enjoying the 46 seconds of silence until the waitress brings our dinner. As I start serving the pizza slices, all the little girls come back to the table, one by one. About 5 minutes later, a "shot" is heard throughout the restaurant. Everyone in the place grows silent. All heads turn our way. Yes, it was one of our girls, playing with one of those firework poppers under the table. Sorry folks, false alarm, no drive-by here. The shooter breaks down into sobs under the hood of her coat.
Ok, let's get out of Pizza Hut...everyone gets a quarter on the way out to hit the machine that shoots out cheesy plastic rings that little girls love. Believe it or not, there wasn't that much fighting about who wanted which ring!
Off to the skating rink we go! Out of the five girls 1.5 of them can roller skate. We spent the first hour watching them all go around the kiddie rink, holding on to the railing for dear life. The first attempt for one of them to go to the big rink ended up with me getting a bag of ice from the snack bar to avoid the potential fat lip resulting from the head on collision with another skater. Back to the kiddie rink. My friend says "can you hold my bag, I'm going to get skates". Well, I'm not going to be the only one not skating! "Get me some too, will you?" Where did those words come from? Who said that? She comes back with men's skates because apparently all of the skaters this evening are wearing my size. I think they've been renting the same skates since I was in high school. Take a look at these beauties:
I have to say, when I was in high school and college, I was an excellent skater. Went skating every weekend, could do some tricks, you know...good skater! Fast forward to the year 2009. Not so good. It is not like riding a bike. I blame the skates, or my friend who picked the skates. It certainly can't be that I've lost "my groove" in the last 25 years or so, can it? As I waddle to the kiddie rink with my head held high, my best friend in the whole world takes my camera out of my purse and proceeds to capture the moment in eternity. Thank goodness, the majority of the pictures came out blurry due to our inability to figure out my new camera. There is one however that made it through...
Can someone please explain to me WHY I refer to her as my best friend? As the evening wears on, and I watch my friend sashay around the rink without a hitch, I am determined to get off of the kiddie rink and head over with all of the other big-girl skaters. I was so proud of myself when I left the rink after three loops with only a flushed face, sweaty armpits and a slight wheeze. That pride was soon swallowed when I grabbed my camera to get a pic of the girls, headed over to the sidelines and elegantly completed a half-twist, semi-somersaulted, slightly bowed tumble to the floor. Luckily I landed on my knee and not my camera.
Finally, the evening comes to an end. I remove my tacky, fashion-lacking men's skates to find a nice blistered area below my ankle. I hike up my jeans to assess the damage to my knee. Huh. Blue already. At least it's a pretty shade of blue. We gather up all of the little darlings, pile them into the SUV and head to my friend's house where I decline an invitation to go in and share in the slumber party festivities. On our way home however, I did point out to her that when I asked her to be my buddy for Kelsey's birthday outing, it included a weekend at the beach, sun-bathing and shopping. I politely explain that I'm thinking it's not real fair that all I came home with was a blister, a sore knee, some leftover popcorn and a little less dignity. She chuckled and got out of the car. Hmmm...off to dictionary.com to look up the meaning of "best friend".
This is what I noticed today while taking a shower. I tend to get bored quite easily, so I was perusing the bottles for something to read when I realized that all but one of the products in our shower were either named after or claim to have some kind of food in them. Look...
So we have coconut, iced tea and choco-chip mint body washes, vanilla mint tea shampoo and apricot face scrubs and shaving cream. I thought that maybe it was just a coincidence, so I went to the linen closet to check the supplies. Nope, there was cucumber soap, apple shampoo and strawberry body wash to name a few. Is this just the trend, am I subconsciously drawn to food products or is it something that I'm just noticing? Things that make you go hmmmm....
Last night, Noel and I wandered over to the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center because a sign was posted outside that the "Art Show" was open. Once inside, we realized that the students from a local Catholic High School were the artists that had their work on display. There were drawings, watercolor paintings, photography, stained glass projects and other items set out for public view. Admission was free and you could provide a donation towards future art projects. It was so nice to see.
I like to participate in things that help our community, whether it be shopping at the local farmer's markets, donating at local food banks and homeless shelters, attending high school plays or purchasing yummy food at neighborhood block parties.
For instance, recently I was upset at the school board for our local high school. They had fired the football coach, who happens to be a graduate from the school with lots of experience, and hired someone from across the state, with a lot less experience. I'm sure they had their reasons for letting go the coach, that's their decision, but when you look for someone new, how about taking a peek in your own backyard. These are our neighbors folks, we should be looking out for them, especially in these difficult times.
Started early today because I had a kid in crisis to meet with from last night so...
My morning consisted of meeting with 6 different kids: a sex offender, a bike thief, a teenage girl that lives to smoke marijuana, an arsonist, a drug dealer and a car thief. You know what they all had in common? They are all kids that are pretty much looking for the same things. Acceptance, love, respect, confidence, structure, guidance and acknowledgement is all they're after.
Anyway, went out to lunch with my husband at the local Chinese buffet. Not bad, not great.
Meeting held at work this afternoon. We were informed that no matter what, it looks like they'll be cutting two employees. We won't know until the end of next week who will be losing their jobs.
In the meantime, got a few calls from the Foster Placement Agency...we were supposed to have a boy come and stay with us for the weekend, but that fell through. Then we were back-up for a seventeen year old girl who may or may not be placed for the weekend..she wasn't. We were then scheduled to take a sixteen year old girl in a few weeks for the night.
Emotional day...yep. Trying day...yep. Difficult day...yep. But when we all came together at home tonight, I got a kiss from Noel, Alex is having a blast playing Guitar Hero with a friend, Kelsey and Allen are making dinner and Sadie has finally recuperated from a difficult vet visit yesterday. Life is good.
As most of you know, I am a penny-pinching, money-saving fanatic. I love me my bargains! Every day I would search the web, my email, etc for the best bargains that are posted and any money saving ideas I came across. Well, I ended up creating another blog to save all of the ideas, recipes, freebies, links and projects in one place. Plus, this way I can share with other blog readers. In today's economy, we can all use a helping hand in saving money! Anyway, if you'd like to take a peek...head on over to http://www.finefrugality.blogspot.com/ and take a peek.
First I'd like to say that I am just ashamed at how much "stuff" we have accumulated in the 10 years we have lived in this house. It is one of my goals to go through each and every room, each and every dresser and closet and get rid of all the crap! I will feel so liberated! Now, the only problem...how do I stop myself and everyone else I live with from bringing more crap INTO the house?
I sure don't!!
Last night Kelsey and two of her friends participated in a fashion show for prom gowns. It was hosted by one of the bridal shops in the area. They had a lot of fun strutting around and showing off the gowns. Each girl got to model four gowns. Here's some of the pics:
Afterwards, we all went to dinner at
Cracker Barrel. It was a great family night
out and I'm glad Kelsey got to participate in
something that was just plain fun.
Well, the kids didn't have school because of an ice storm that made it's way through our area. Gee, they were just heart broken! Anyway, I went into work late because I hate driving in the stuff. As I headed out to the field to see clients this afternoon, I realized just what a monochromatic day it really was! Sooo very gray. This pic shows you just how "blah" the day was:
I did not enhance this photo at all. If you look really close, you can see the green of the grass along the road's edge. And those bushes are covered in ice. Just yucky.
Kelsey asked if I could stop and get some bananas after work, so I grabbed my coupon holder and off I went. I'm so glad I did! I ended up getting some other things and with the sales and coupons, saved 57.47% on my bill.
All of that for $8.77. Gotta love saving a buck or two! Not bad at all considering the cereal alone sells for $3.45 a box!
Oh, and guess what?? Kelsey was contacted by a local bridal shop today and asked if she would model some of their prom gowns in an upcoming fashion show this weekend! She's pretty excited! I'll post pictures after the show!
I just learned of a program at St. Jude's Hospital (I'm a little slow, I'm sure some of you already know about this)...but if you send in used cards (Christmas or any kind) before the end of February, the kids can recycle them and sell them to benefit the hospital. So what are you waiting for? Gather all of those cards you have laying around and send them off to:
St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005
Don't forget...they can be ANY kind of used greeting cards! Come on, you know you're going to throw them out anyway! Why not help the kids instead?
If you want to learn more about St. Jude's Hospital, here's a link to their blog: http://stjudesranchforchildren.typepad.com/ There's even a link on there that you can use if you want to purchase some of the recycled cards. Give it a look-see!
After work today, I headed off to my favorite discount grocery store...Surplus Outlet. There I was able to get a ton of things for a very small amount of money. Their prices are unbelievable! Check this out...Individual Welch's Orange Juice bottles...$.39 each. Are you kidding me? They're $1.59 everywhere else!
I ended up with a cart full of items including milk, orange juice (6 individual bottles), celery, broccoli, trail mix (4 boxes), rice cakes, toilet paper (4 packs of double roll), bread, fresh spinach, Cooper cheese, bottled water (6 pack), frozen chocolate treats, bottled green tea (6 individual bottles), a huge jar of jalapenos (64 ouces), snack pack crackers, cranberry sauce, 2 lb onions and pumpernickel snacks. I mean, look at all of this stuff:
If you can't see it, it says $39.43!!! Gosh, I love when I get good deals! 
I'm glad we decided to foster. Of course I'm happy that we can help the foster children themselves, but I have a feeling it's going to give my own kids experiences they would never have otherwise. You know, an understanding of what other children's lives are about, a deeper look into the world. At least I hope so.Well, another year has begun and I want to wish everyone a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2009. Noel and I are very much looking forward to the year and all of the changes, beginnings and adventures that it will bring.
We had our friends Rhonda and Scott over for New Year's Eve dinner (steak on the grill that was out of this world!). Alex and her friend were here for the evening as well as Rhonda and Scott's little girl Emma, who also brought a friend. Kelsey, Allen and two other teens joined us after midnight. We were going to head to the event they hold down town "The Coal Drop", however it was bitter cold and windy, so we gave Emma and her friend good ol' pots and pans to bang and spent the turning of the new year with Dick Clark.
You know, we like to do our part in giving what we can to charities, so this month we have a pet-themed blog because we are donating to the ASPCA. Our county offices are hosting a donation drive, so it was easy to choose! Why not drop those unused dog dishes, leashes, toys or doggie treats to your local animal shelter? They can always use things like brooms, towels, blankets, hoses, dish detergent and buckets too. Think about it, won't you?
Or, you can drop a couple
bucks to support the ASPCA at
http://www.aspca.org/
You already know that we own the best dog in the world, Sadie, but did you know that we are also the proud owners of a beautiful Beta by the name of Fitcher? Kelsey won him at the Bloomsburg fair this past year. Needless to say, we didn't think he'd be with us very long, but lo and behold...here he is three months later:
Today Kelsey returned to work and Alex went to Jordan's house for the night. So, it was just Noel and I for dinner. I made the traditional pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and molasses bread. I will be the first one to admit, I HATE making mashed potatoes. It takes forever to prepare them and mine always turn out lumpy. But today, I came up with a new system for preparation. I made an assembly line that took me from peeling all the way to ready-for-the-pot. It worked out really well and took no time at all!
Clean up was a breeze too. Whoever does not own one of those choppers....go...run to the store and purchase one. I've had mine since last Christmas (present from Kelsey) and I use it all the time! LOVE it! Oh and guess what?? My mashed potatoes were the bomb! No lumps! Mom told me I was buying the wrong kind of potatoes, so I switched and she was right! (Don't tell her, I'll never live it down!)
Fun thing of the day....my laundry chute! It is so convenient and makes a terrible job so much easier. Pick up the trap door in the bathroom closet floor, toss your clothes down and off they go to the laundry room! The fall into a basket behind two doors that are right next to the washer.
Can it get any easier? Well, yes...how about a dumbwaiter to take them back up?
