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Orange and Grape

Biloxi, Mississippi June 2009

My first time having room service and riding a jet ski on the ocean!




We didn't take the zoom...so this was the best Mom could do getting us walking to the jet skis...by the time we got to them, the water was almost over my head. Want to feel tired and find muscles you never knew you had then WALK that far through water. Our legs were like jell-o.

That speck is us riding.


These are too much work, so we're just posing!!

Put A Fork In Me, I'm Done.

I'm tired.
I'm tired of being the friend who doesn't receive a phone call to go do something fun, just the phone call to hear about how the something fun has been done with someone else.

I'm tired of being the people who get called for things to be done for people, but not the people who get called just because someone was thinking about us or wants to hang out.

I'm done with doing nice things, making nice things, and saying nice things only to never move up the ladder of friendship hierarchy, but instead to be pushed down further.

I'm tired of sharing the most precious, personal secrets I have, only to never be the person that someone thinks of first when they want to share anything.

We're not the friends that get called to go to a movie. We're not the friends that get called to go shopping, we're the ones who get called about going to do something fun, yet replaced by someone else when the fun is to be had.

We're the friends who get met with jellyfish comments from people we've only ever been 100% nice to.

We're the friends who plan get-togethers and fun times, only to never have it reciprocated. We used to be those planners...been done with that for a while now.

I'm done with being the last to know anything important and having to find out from other people or through some form of internet.

I'm done with always being the one who has to smile and make a big deal over something yet never receive that same sort of reciprocation when we have something to be excited about ourselves over here.

I'm done with feeling like a doormat...speak to me how you want to or ignore me how you please, wait and call me up when you want me to do something for you..I'm done with taking it all with a smile.

I did what I could and I seriously tried to be whatever people wanted or what people needed and yet it was never enough or something...it was always someone else who barely did anything at all who got all the affection or reaped the benefits. I'll never understand it really.

Julie was done a long time ago and I should have been done with her. Guess it took extra roasting for me. The sad part is that after all the nice things you could do for people, this post here will be what is talked about and remembered and that's fine. Not like the nice stuff got me very far, so should I really care what this does? Nobody's perfect and we all get tired.

This is the last time I will make what will inevitably be a mistake for putting my feelings out there. Everyone is always all about self preservation or taking care of their family above all else. This is me finally joining the club, self preserving...I have a family and this is me taking care of it. I'm done.

Beautiful

From our yard recently:

8 Weeks...Better Than Buttered Toast

Seriously. 8 weeks...8 weeks of vacation....other than making up your own hours and/or never having to go to work, it really is the next best thing. I'm not one of those Mary Poppins types who thinks teaching is just the greatest thing ever. That might make me look badly, but I'm sorry. If I could JUST TEACH...yes it would be 90% more super duper than it is now...but it's never JUST TEACHING or JUST dealing with students. There's a plethora of b.s. that comes with the job, therefore making me wish we had 8 weeks of work and the other weeks on vacation. :) Plus (and I've said this on here before) I'm not one of those people that has an inherent desire/need to GO someplace and work.

I like to work here, I like to play here, I like to visit with friends and go to fun places...I don't NEED to go to work. I don't NEED to put up with all of the b.s. that comes along with some co-workers, parents, and those students who'd rather be anywhere else but school.

Today was our last day for what will be the shortest weeks of the year and my body/mind hasn't gotten relaxed into that summertime mode yet...but man am I ready for it. I'm still seriously considering the possibility of making like a hermit and not leaving the comfort of this place for the entire 8 weeks. People play nicely here.

Recently:

Art club having fun...this is the last bunch of 5th graders that I will feel closely to for a while. They were a fun group. I wish I could show how much fun they had making the projects...but can't put people's children on the internets without permission.

He was watching the weather channel! Looks cloudy with a chance of Jackson Pollock.


Hunter is so hilarious!

Casey and Nikki both had birthdays...didn't post anything about it, lame. Did take recent pics of Casey's out of control hair...he gets a lovely hair cut during his stay at the kennel while the moms are away in Biloxi next weekend. These are a few of the fun things you can do with his mop right now!








The purchase that made us feel so official! :)

The Cutest Boy We've Had In Our Spare Bath

We got to babysit cutie pie Alex a few nights ago...he met Brinkley because he really wanted to see the dogs...and Brinkley is pretty much the most predictable one when it comes to kids---as in the one who we KNOW will NOT eat a child. :) In fact, the worst Brinkley did was slightly frighten Alex by covering him in more friendly slobber kisses than he's ever dealt with before.

The most fun was bath time! I love finding things in the kitchen to play with in the tub. We gave him those little IKEA bag snappers and called them "noodles" and a pair of tongs naturally was dubbed the "noodle grabber." I definitely explained a lot when his Mom got home...so that the next time she gave him a bath, there wouldn't be any confusion or misunderstanding about a noodle grabber grabbing a noodle. :) He had a fun time cooking the noodles is his bowl and using the plastic strainer to make the water look like a shower. It was a blast.

You know how great little kid neck smells after a bath right? Has to be one of the best smells ever.
And the fact that this sweet, cute boy will be coming over to our house one day with a sweet, cute sister...OH THAT'S JUST ICING!

In January '08 we took the first photo of Alex in a tub! Why does that seem so long ago now?! Time is flying.

EDIT: Alex's REAL noodle was not supposed to be showing...it slipped past me in one photo...so I had to do a redo!

Julie had him laughing pretty hard with some of the sounds she was making.




I was just thinking, poor kid doesn't stand a chance when he's older---trying to keep people from seeing all the embarrassing photos of him...between his mom, KK and her tub fun pics, and now mine too. He's just outta luck.

Something More Positive

When mpix was having an 8x10 print sale, we stocked up and I did this to the fireplace the other night. DON'T freak out you brick preservers...it's just double sided sticky tabs holding them up there, nothing permanent. Obviously there's still some more prints to be bought to finish the bottom...but I love how this turned out.

It totally makes us smile. :)

It's Sort Of Been A Bad Week

at work that is...isn't that where the badness usually comes from?!
A little summary of the week's events are as follows:

Start my week off by getting a phone call from the Queen stating that a parent has called and complained about me and the note I wrote in a child's agenda where I said that the money to purchase a picture frame from the Art show was overdue and that we didn't have the frames anymore because the truck picked them up. Can you believe a mother called in a tizzy because she waited until the 7th to give me money for the Art show frame...when the Art show was May 1st? And can you believe that she also waited to complain about my note back that I sent on the 7th...on the 11th? BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T EVER LOOK IN HER CHILD'S AGENDA UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE FOR EVERYTHING.

YES the form did say you had until the 8th, which was a mistake and I didn't see it on there---it wasn't MY MISTAKE as I didn't create those forms, but I had to apologize for it anyway. So technically she got the form in to me ONE day before it was due...but the frames got mailed back to the company two days after the Art show...so sorry lady.

So to make up for my indiscretion and my stupidity...I was told to contact her and smooth things over because she left the Queen's office angry...even though my note to her was very polite and not rude. I said I would write her a note...I was told to call and not write a note...so I called her and she spoke to me as if I was the one who was crazy for calling...after she was the one who was so upset as to feel the need to call my boss about something stupid...

so to please her and make amends as I was supposed to, I told her I had two sample frames of mine left and that I would sell her one of those if she liked.

I hated EVERY SINGLE minute of being nice to her. It makes me so mad when you aren't rude, but someone gets mad and becomes rude back to you for no reason.

THEN this same week---her child is one of three children that I didn't have any receipt for or anything with me stating that they bought a yearbook---I figure out of almost 200 yearbooks sold...can I at least make 3 mistakes?!!!! NO. She sends me a letter with a copy of her check and says that Ms. G. upset her son when she told him he didn't purchase a yearbook, when indeed he did. SO once again, I'm apologizing to this same lady. Saying to her that things have been so crazy these last couple of weeks and I'm so sorry. I gave him his book and let him get signatures in it during Art class today. Let's hope it pleases her enough and that I've KISSED IT enough to make amends.

So to top it all off when we were in the gym yesterday passing out the yearbooks---a first grader who is notorious for being violent and has kicked, bitten, etc...throughout the year but somehow still gets to attend school---smacked a kid in the ear, I got onto him and he takes off out of the gym. I chase him down, grab his arm and tell him he needs to come back into the gym...so he starts his kicking, screaming, trying to run away stuff...

I do the thing we always have to do with him, pick him up and hold his arms down, except I accidentally didn't get his hands down as well and he claws up my arm and makes me bleed.

So tell me America...tell me this---WHEN..WHEN WHEN WHEN did we get like this? When did it become OK for students to do this to teachers and other students and we can't defend ourselves? When did it change and we're always the wrong ones or the bad guys? The max punishment that he got was a day or two of suspension and that's only because his behavior has been so extreme, that they don't send him to in school time-out (which is a joke anyway). So he got to sit at home and play video games today while I was told, "well I was in a meeting, sorry I didn't know that was happening."

Thanks. Thanks for caring. Thanks for sticking up for the people who work day in and day out doing the right things, to make things better...while all you ever say is to find a positive way to see things or why are you letting this upset you so much or you guys make everything so complicated.

Here's my positive spin on it... ______ should be glad for ridiculous restrictions and rules against teachers in schools or else he'd have a size 6 footprint across his head as Ms. G. defended herself against someone who knows better.

Tonight off to the talent show...been staying late almost every evening for a few weeks now with practices, etc...it's definitely something nice we do for the kids...but do we ever get much else aside from a "thank you" from it...like maybe a leave early pass or something for all the hard work we've put into it? No...that would just be redonk.

Yep, SHE said it...not me!

Because Julie(BEAN) is quiet (mostly) when we're around others...she is the most likely to shock someone with some of the stuff she can bust out with in a conversation. I love that almost everyone we know, could at any given time be surprised or in awe by her. Ever seen her dance across the house or make random animal noises for the fun of it? We both do that sort of thing here at the mansion. Ps...thank you Sarah for giving our house the name "mansion" I can't help myself from using it profusely. See that $.50 word I threw in there...yeah I am full of surprises myself. ;)

Back to the point...ever heard Julie say the word "poo" much less "dookie?" I mean who says "dookie" over the age of 7 anyway? In fact, I am pretty sure they put a ban on saying it after 1986. I don't know that for sure, so I'll google it...right after I get right on cleaning those baseboards.

So it goes down like this---I'm in here working on photoshop type thingies while she's outside cutting grass. She enjoys this bizarre act in a way that I will never be able to---I LOATHE cutting the grass much like Molly Ringwald loathed riding the bus...(that one's for you Krista).

It's hot, the riding lawnmower is LOUD and I hate repetitive, loud sounds that hurt my ears and cause me to wear ear plugs that hurt my ears because they don't fit in there properly. I hate that it jiggles my stomach around---much worse than Sarah's old car ever did. OH and I REALLY REALLY hate how random grasshoppers pop out of the grass and come flying at me at warp speed, usually hitting me in the forehead---there's just too many non-welcomed surprises lurking around every bush.

So anywhoooo....off topic again---wow. She comes inside and says hurry you've got to come see this bug that I'm pretty sure got impelled onto the barbed wire because of the lawnmower throwing him into it.

I refuse to use quotations and proper commas...
I'm like, what kind of bug is it?

You know, one of those dookie rolling bugs...you know which kind I'm talking about right?

Ugh, yeah...which kind was that again?! (I totally wanted her to think I had NO clue what she was talking about just so she would elaborate on the DOOKIE part.)

You know...the kind that goes around rolling poo into balls.

Yeah, dung beetles.

FREAKIN. HILARIOUS. Only at the mansion.


So since we still hadn't broken in the macro on any bugs yet because of them being too quick to catch...we decided what better opportunity than to take advantage of this poor bug as he thrashed around trying to pry himself off of a piece of barbed wire that was stuck into his body.

Magnification on the macro is pretty cool---but focusing is tricky because it will only focus on one small section at a time, throwing everything else out of focus.

And can I just say how weird it is that a bug that spends his life rolling poo has the most pretty colors on his back...he ALMOST has ROYGBIV...you can clearly see he has the ROYG part! :) I think he's pretty.

I wish you could have seen Bean after picture taking torture of bug was over and I plucked the bug off the wire to free him in case he possibly could live...then tried to touch her nose with the same hand---while saying---

I'm touching you with POO BUG hands!!! Yeah, I didn't have siblings.

Ever seen the inside of a dandelion magnified?

Then the opposite with the outside in focus.