What Is That Smell?

Oh, yeah, it's Clemson. Y'all, we stunk. Bad. Lateral passes and running it up the middle every play did not work last year and it is obviously not going to work this year. The defense was nowhere to be found. They had no offensive front line. I know a lot of people probably watched it on TV, so this is not news to you, but I think it may have been worse to see it in person. Don't get me wrong, a true fan has to love 'em through the loss and I do, but wow- it was a total mess. To make it worse, Alabama looked amazing. They looked like they had been playing football together for years. You would never know that there were so many freshmen starting on their team. We did have awesome seats- they couldn't have been much better. However, we were seated in the idiot section. No surprise, Brian and I tend to be" idiot magnets" at big events like that. The girl in front of us had to leave after she tried to fight about 10 people all around her and mouthed off at everyone (yes, she was very drunk). That was in the first quarter. Security came and she even screamed at them. Her poor hubby (who seemed very nice) had to go with her, but he should have cut her alcohol intake off if she gets that way when she drinks. Then we had this guy behind us. He was very intoxicated when he got there and just got worse throughout the game. He was an Auburn fan and didn't care a thing about the game, so don't ask me why he even went. He was about 24-26 years old and had the sense of a gnat and the brains of a bird. Seriously- Adam Sandler's Waterboy character sounds like Einstein compared to this guy. He was trying to mock Clemson's cheers and couldn't even spell Clemson correctly.Well, he was obnoxious and yelling the whole time about this and that and dropping the F-bomb and GD-ing everything every 5 minutes. (And there were 3 kids sitting right in front of us). Well, we had just about had enough, when at halftime, Brian and Chris left to go to the restroom and he leaned over and started singing in my and Megan's ear. (Loud and very off key.) We shook our heads and tried to mind our business, and he just started in on us. I turned around, tried to be nice and asked him to pipe down a little. I told him I was tired of the cussing and the yelling and the obnoxious behavior and told him to please stop. He said "Yes, m'aam." 5 minutes later, he was at it again, worse, and louder. His friend even told him to stop and threatened to kick his butt if he didn't. Brian also spoke to him-trying to be civil. Apparantly he didn't care. His sister started in on me, and that was all I could take. I have a breaking point- and I was at it. I knew I had to move to the seats below where the girl and her hubby had left or I was going to be in a brawl. I got my things and moved on down (after I took all the guys food trash off of my stuff...)Poor Chris and Megan- the guy got quiet for about 10 minutes after I moved, and then he tried to start stuff with them and they had had enough. Chris stood up and let him know in so many words that his behavior was no longer going to be tolerated and he stopped after that. Of course, this was with 3 minutes left in the game, but it was 3 minutes of peace. After the absolute spanking of a game, we went to get on the Marta to go to the hotel, and it took 2 hours to get back because of the crowds. We were sweaty, exhausted and ticked off- but we still didn't regret going. We had a fun time with Mr. Paranoia and Sweet Thang.We did confirm that we are "watch the game at home" kind of people. We prefer the comfort of our couch and the kitchen right there and the bathroom so close and unoccupied. Plus, I think Brian and I may be a curse for the Tigers, so we are going to do them a favor and just cheer from home. The last game we went to was a few years ago and we played Georgia Tech. We were beating them by 20 points or so, and in the last 4 seconds, we lost. So, we are going to help them by staying away. Overall, the Bama fans were very nice (except for the drunk girl that had to leave the game) and we met some good people while we were there. Now we look to next Saturday when they play the Citadel. After what I saw last night, I am concerned. Tonight will be bedtime at about 8 and tomorrow, it will be time to clean out the garage and watch Tennessee go against UCLA. I am so glad that there is no school tomorrow and that B is off work. Gotta go find my black cloak and veil to put on since I will be in mourning for the next few days (or months- depending if Clemson can get their act together....). At least we got it over with for the first game and we have no high expectations for the rest of the season, eh? Gotta look at the positives.....

Well, Shoot

My one day as an NC State fan was very disappointing. Oh, well. Now on to bigger matters. The girls are all packed for a weekend of fun with Aunt Libby. She's taking them to the Fair (or "fur" if you're from Pickens). I still gotta get packed, but how long can it take to put a few Clemson T's and a couple pair of jeans/shorts into a bag? I am just so stoked about getting to go. I have a post from last year August/September called "Ode to the Tigers" , but I can't figure out how to link to it. Pretty fitting for this time of year. Anyway- not much else to say- just really sleepy and not happy about the Wolfpack tonight. Of course, as long as Clemson beats them in November I really don't care what the roosters do the rest of the season. But I do find some glee in it when SC loses. Well- I am going to call it a night and go have dreams about an Orange Wave taking over a Crimson Tide........ Woo-hoo!

Multiple Personality Disorder

So, everybody knows my blood runneth orange. But for today, I will be appearing in the form of an NC State fan. Maybe the biggest NC State fan there is. Today, I am all about the Wolfpack. That will totally and drastically change by oh, say, September 13th. But for now, I love me some Wolves. Now, I don't really think SC (Stinky Chickens) will lose, but boy I am going to be hoping. I am just so preoccupied today that college football season is here that I find it hard to concentrate on anything else. I managed to vacuum and do some laundry, but that is about it so far. The girls are supposed to start soccer tonight- but it's lookin like rain right now, so I don't know if that is gonna happen. After that it will be home, whisk them into the bed, storytime, prayers and then my rear will be planted to the couch with some sort of junk food (wish I had some Tyler's Delicious International Popcorn to eat tonight during the game..... not everyone may have heard of that, but some day, you will) for the remainder of the evening. Oh, and I guess I need to pack the girls stuff to go stay at Aunt Libby's for the weekend and also my stuff for Atlanta. Can't think about that now, though. All about some wolf for approximately the next 12 hours.......

Livin La Vida Loca

You know those days when you just laugh because if you don't you might go crazy? Well, welcome to my day! Yesterday, the downstairs bathroom drain lines started flooding the downstairs bathroom whenever a shower was taken upstairs. Nothin' like cleaning everything that has been flushed down the toilet for the past 24 hours out of the floor. SO, Roto-Rooter comes out this morning and ruins all plans of anything I was going to get done today. After 3 hours and having to call in an extra worker to help- it is discovered that our septic line is broken. Goody. So, tomorrow morning, they will come back to snake a camera line through it all and see where the break is. I have got soooo much to do! I don't know when it is going to get done. Tomorrow night we are going to take dinner to my friend who has a new little baby boy. It is also raining cats and dogs (which I am so thankful for) but I don't look forward to the Roto-Truck tearing through my wet yard and digging through wet red mud..... But, it could be worse. At least only one bathroom is out of commission. I am just drowning in my to-do list and things keep popping up and interrupting my plans. I got an e-mail from the Clemson Alumni Assoc. that warned that major construction will begin Friday night on the one major ramp into Atlanta and would cause at least a 2-hour back up into Atlanta all weekend. The construction is supposed to be done by Sept 2nd. Now who thought that was a good idea? Yeah, let's start major construction with over 50,000 people coming into one small area and also on a holiday weekend. Why couldn't that have been postponed one week?? So- to ease our concern over that, we decided to call our hotel and go on to Atlanta on Friday afternoon instead of waiting until Saturday. I feel much better about that. We can sleep in on Saturday and take our time getting to the area of the Dome Saturday afternoon. As for all of the "stuff" I have to do here, well, I guess it's really just "stuff" and if it gets done- great. If not, I will survive. I am ready for some football, people. So ready!

Quick Questions......

So much to do and so little time to do it... sorry I've been so blog-slack. Anyway, just wanted some help with some questions Emmaline (my almost 5-year-old) has been asking. These things come out of nowhere and maybe someone out there has the answers, cause her Daddy and I sure don't!! Okay, here goes: Question #1: When spiders get married, how do they dance with all those legs? How many do they use to hold each other and how many do they use to actually dance? Question #2) Why is forever such a long time? Question #3) Why do minutes seem shorter as you get older? Why is it when you say "In a minute" that it is a short time for adults and a long time for kids? Good luck with those. I got nothin'.
BTW- Thanks to I Love Pink for my awesome Diamond Award!! What gal doesn't like to see a diamond waiting for her? I have never given any blog awards and it is about time I did, so stay tuned.........

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!

Oh, I am getting so excited about next Saturday!! I can hardly wait. I am even looking forward to watching the stinky chickens play on Thursday night just to help feed my extreme need to watch college football..... Of course, I'll be even more happy to watch it if they lose. Go Wolfpack!! Anyway- I can almost hear the Tiger Band playing, now.....
This weekend has been nice and quiet so far. Brian has been on call and has been working today and making hospital rounds. The girls have been fairly good and the weather has been almost perfect. I love when Autumn starts making it's debut for the year. The skies are a more vivid blue and the air is a little more crisp. The girls can play outside without their cheeks being flaming red when they come in. And the wonderful breeze outside today makes it even better. Also this weekend, I have had a couple more moms sign up to take some big responsibilities with the volunteer opportunities for the class. I did get a little peeved when one mom sent me an e-mail trying to tell me how I should be doing things, but I got over it. This particular mom was a room mom last year and was offered the job this year and turned it down. So, I figure if she wanted things to be done her way, she should have taken the job. Otherwise, she can tell me what to do until she is blue- it won't do any good. She suggested that I wait a couple weeks before trying to do all the sign-ups and stuff and also told me to try to get one mom to do just part of each job so that no-one gets overwhelmed. Well- I start back to work in about a week and we will be breaking ground for our new house in about 3 weeks or so- so I can't wait any longer to get this stuff done and don't know why I would need to. And if one mom feels compelled to take on an entire job by herself, I am going to let her. If she feels overwhelmed, she can tell me. Most moms are splitting the big things with one other mom, so I don't think I'll have that problem. I told the mom that was suggesting stuff that I appreciated her ideas, but that I was doing what the teacher suggested and that if the positions did not get filled, then I would divide them up and see if that helped. I haven't heard back from her since..... Oh, well. I'm sure it won't be the last time a mom makes a suggestion to me. Everybody has a different opinion on how things should be done. This has just been a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. But, every time someone signs up to help with something I feel a little better. Crazy that being a room coordinator for a first grade class could be such a big deal. You live and learn! Well, off to make sure our hotel reservations are secure for Saturday night and to figure out which one of my many Clemson t-shirts I'll be wearing to the Dome!

Rearin' to Go

Well, I felt so much better after typing my blog out last night. I just had a peace about things and felt ready to deal with whatever came my way. I know that I can only do what I am capable of doing, and everything else just has to wait or be put on a backburner. I slept better last night than I have in weeks and felt energized this morning when I got up. I checked my e-mail this morning and 2 moms have contacted me to share the biggest need we had in the classroom (it was for the "teacher helper" and they have to come in once a week and do odd jobs). I was so relieved because the other 2 openings for help include coming in once a month to put up the bulletin board, and coming in twice a month to give the teacher a 30 minute break on Tuesdays when she doesn't have a break otherwise. Those 2 things I can handle, but the once a week thing was going to be a bit much when I start back to work. God is taking care of me and I don't know why I let myself get stressed about it in the first place! Tommorrow is the Olympics at school and Annelise has asked me a bajillion times "You're going to be there, in MY class, right Mommy?" She is pumped. Brian is off on Fridays, so he gets to go to Emmaline's room and volunteer in there for the Olympics. They get to wear their soccer and basketball uniforms and are so excited. It should be cute. I am still having issues with my babies being so old all of a sudden. Annelise only compounded those issues last night when she just looked at me and said "Mommy, I don't believe in fairy tales anymore." WHAT?! She said there is just no way those stories can be true and asked me if they were real. Well, I don't like to lie to my kids and so I told her, "Yes. In a lot of ways, fairy tales are true." (Hey, I can't tell you that some of that stuff hasn't really happened, now can I?) I realized then, that we only have another year or 2 for Santa to be believed whole-heartedly and my heart just sank for a minute. She stated that she does believe in the tooth fairy. I think she would believe in anyone who gave her gifts.... Well, I want to just do the best with the time we have for these months/years of wild imaginations and magical sentiments. Here's hoping to happily ever after!

HIde Me In a Corner

I do not like being room coordinator. I do not like it on a train. I do not like it in a plane....... (Insert scream here.) I have sent a letter and an e-mail out to list the volunteer needs of the classroom (there are only 3 "areas" where the teacher needs help) and only one mom has responded and she didn't sound too excited about it. This Friday are the "Olympics" for the K-5 and 1st grade classes and no-one volunteered to help with that or bring the special snack that is supposed to be "France" themed. SO guess who is doing all of that. Yep. Me. It's just a little overwhelming all at once to try to organize all the parents and then have to do everything for this Friday by myself. But, I have to look at the big picture. I am doing this for Annelise and for pure servitude and I need to try to maintain a servant's heart. It's just hard to do that being only human and having a terrible temper and being easily frustrated! I read a verse last night that made me feel better. Matthew 24:46 says: When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. I know that anything I do I should be doing it for God and I truly want Him to find me doing it with a cheerful and thankful heart. I have my work cut out for me, folks. I have to take on a whole new perspective on stuff and look at it on a spiritual level. I have added a new song to my playlist on here called "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath and it came out at a great time for me. I have listened to it several times over the past few days! Just typing all this out has made me feel better, so thanks for allowing the therapy session and maybe things won't be as bad as I expect! I have to start back to work at the office 2 days a week soon and we are breaking ground for a new house next month- so I really have to get my heart right before all those extra stressors hit. I guess we all have these things that we have to deal with from time to time. I think God uses things like this to teach us something or to help us grow. I just hope He isn't trying to teach me that I am not cut out to be a room coordinator...... :0)

First Day Equals Emotional Wreck

Emmaline at her desk. She did so well- just walked right in and sat down!

Annelise at her desk. She always does well. She would be fine for me

to just drop her off at the door.

Emmaline, getting ready to go to her first day of K-5- in her dress

she wanted. She has this new fake smile where she opens her eyes

really wide and looks a bit serial-killer-ish.

Annelise going to her first day of 1st grade. I couldn't find her a

black and white skirt with squares like she wanted, but she did like

this shirt. It has little pink sequins between the roses at the top. Of

course, it went well with her silver sequin tennis shoes.......

Well, the girls did so very well their first day and loved, loved, loved their day. I, however, was a total basketcase yesterday! (In my defense, I did have one going into K-5 and one going into first grade all at once...both huge childhood milestones!) I dropped them off and had to stop myself from absolute bawling about 10 times. I am not an emotional person and I do not cry very often- so I could not understand what was wrong with me and I did not know how to make it stop! I got out of there and went on to Barnes and Noble to distract myself with magazines and coffee and continue my "first day of school" tradition. Just when I had looked at a house decorating book almost long enough to get my mind off of the girls and how old they have gotten and such, a woman walked right in front of me pushing her baby girl in a stroller and had her 2-year old girl bouncing around behind her, asking her if she had to go potty and promising a "prize" if she was good while they were there. Well, I just lost it at that point. It seems like just last year when that was me, pushing Emmaline around in a stroller with Annelise close beside me. Watching Annelise chase "butterfies" in the yard and Emmaline grinning a toothless grin at her while she did that. Annelise asking to eat "tip-o-tees" (cherry tomatoes) and running to meet her Daddy at the door when he got home from work. Man, if I had known how precious that time was when I had it.... I had this overwhelming sense of guilt for all the times I took for granted with them and had so many regrets about what I could have and should have done when I had the opportunity. I have never been so glad that Brian had already gotten snipped, because otherwise I may have come home and demanded another baby, to which he would have happily obliged! I feel a little better today, even though I am getting a bit teary-eyed while I type this. I just want for Annelise and Emmaline to look back at their childhoods and know that they were loved so very much and have great memories of doing things with us. Anyway- I hope that they both have a great school year and enjoy their classes and teachers. This "room coordinator" thing is already draining me, but it does make me feel like I am doing something important for Annelise. She also thinks it is really cool and is very proud that the room coordinator is her mom. Well- enough for now, I have got to go catch up on cleaning! I hope everyone has a good first day at school and that the year will be great for all of our kids!

Good Grief....

Ok, so if there is an award for blog slackness, I get it this week. Have mercy- it has been so busy here I am about to lose my mind! If I have to go to one more store to look for one more school supply item I think I'll scream. Why, pray tell, don't the schools give out these lists at the end of the year for the next grade?? I know I am half crazy because I went to Wal-Mart today to look for this one thing I couldn't find anywhere and it was like stepping into a warzone in that place. But- I do finally have everything and the girls are set. They got in bed on time tonight and I have their clothes out and juice and snacks all packed. Every year on the first day of school it takes extra long to get to school, so we will have to leave around 7:15, 7:20 in the morning. As for the outfits, I went to Gaffney to the outlets yesterday and did manage to find a red and black dress for Emmaline, but Annelise's black and white skirt set was nowhere. I got her some stuff with a few sequins on it from the Gymboree outlet and she was happy with that. (You can never go wrong with sequins for Annelise...) Meanwhile, my insomnia has only gotten worse and I have had 2 migraines (real ones, where my hands go numb and I get sick) in the past 2 weeks. I have only had 2 before that in my whole life, so I don't know why I have had another 2 all of a sudden. Last night I didn't fall asleep until after 6am and I got up at 10 am. I had 4 million things to do and managed to get some of it done- so I'm ok with that. Needless to say I had a date with a dose of Nyquil about 30 minutes ago and should be good to go for at least 8 hours tonight. For tommorrow-I have this tradition for the first day of school where I go and spend the whole day (until noon, anyway) at Barnes and Noble and read magazines and drink a yummy coffee concoction until it's time to go get Emmaline. I wasn't going to do it tommorrow because I have really got sooo much to do at home. Then I decided I was going to because the cleaning can wait. I have already gotten teary-eyed thinking about my big baby starting 1st grade and my little baby starting kindergarten, so I will need to go drown my sorrows in a People and a chocolate coffee something. If this post is blabbery or something isn't spelled correctly, please forgive me- the Nyquil is on board and seems to be working................. Oh- some very good news to share- we got tickets to the Clemson/Alabama game - which is awesome enough. But to make it even more awesome- they are in the lower deck and on the 40 yard-line. So, all is truly right with my world for now. Now if we can find a hotel room somewhere, we'll be doing ok! Hope school goes well for everyone this week!!! Nighty-night, now. (PS- thanks for all the sweet comments on my pics below. You all made my week!)

Brian's Surprise, Part 2

So these are the pictures (some of them, anyway) that I had made for Brian. I feel silly even posting them on here, but it's something I'll only do once in my lifetime, so I figured I'd make the most of it! 5-inch stilletos, people. That's what I wore. Now, that's love. I felt like a hooker walking into the building. I was so nervous I didn't have the sense to put on comfy shoes and just change into those. Oh, well. I'm glad I did it and now my kids can show these to my great-grandchildren one day and say "This is what your crazy wrinkled old great-grandma used to look like!" All I can say is I am so glad it is over!

Brian's Surprise

Well, I gave Brian his surprise this evening and he loved it. I was so worried he would think it was silly, but he was speechless. So, now that he knows, I can talk about it. He is always complaining that he doesn't have any pictures of me. He still keeps my wedding picture on his desk at work (and trust me, I look nothing like that anymore!!) . I won't let him take any pics of me because I just hate to have my picture taken and he whines about it all the time. Sooooo, I went and had pictures made- by a professional. Now, they are not dirty or anything- they are very tasteful and the photographer is really talented, so I felt pretty good about it. I was really nervous about it before I went and felt ridiculous doing something like that. Then I thought, I am not just a mother, I am a wife, too and I can still show my husband that I can look pretty when I want. I also decided that if he loves me enough to keep that outdated wedding photo on his desk, he loves me enough to want a new picture that actually looks like the woman I am today. I think we, as women, get so caught up in being a mother and seeing our husbands as "stuck" with us that we forget to keep the romance alive and we forget that they need us to be their wife first, and the kids mom second. (That's Biblical, baby.)We're not just "Mommy and Daddy"- we are husband and wife, too. Even after almost 10 years of marriage, being married is still a "big deal" to us and I felt really good about doing this for B even though it was torture for me. He never would have guessed in a million years that I would do it because I have braces (which is one reason I am not smilling in most of the pics!) and he also knows how much I hate having my picture taken. The photographer was so laid back and easy to work with that it was not nearly as bad as I thought. He is the same one who took the pics of the girls that I blogged about last week. (We get to go see the proofs this Friday for that and I cannot wait!!) So, that was the big secret. It is too late tonight to post pics, but I will share some of them tommorrow. I am curious to see what people think about them!! I'll post lake pics later this week. I am pooped right now after a day of taking both girls all day to run errands and shop for school supplies........ Please, may they sleep until at least 9 am.........

Whew.

Holy corn cakes I am so glad to be home. What an exhausting week! We got a lot done, but we are all totally exhausted. We also learned that we need to have some nights to ourselves between guests when we are there for a week or more. I loved having all the different family members down on all the various nights, but after a while I felt like I was running a hotel/ restaurant. Everybody was really helpful, and it was fun, but sometimes I just need a little "alone time" and it was not to be had this past week. I felt like if I left everyone in the living room it would be rude. On a few occassions I went out on the porch overlooking the lake to get some quiet and people just followed me out there. I'm glad people want to be around me and everything, but I almost lost my mind this week. On Thursday, I drove 2 hours back home to see my good friend's new little baby boy and also to pick up a patio set at Home Depot. ( We got one on clearance in Georgia to go on top of the dock and wanted one more to match it up there and they didn't have any left in Augusta, but they did back home.....) I had to drive Brian's Ford F-250 and I looked like Sanford and Son coming back to the lake with all that crap strapped down in the truck. However, I did not take any mailboxes out coming or going, so I am pretty proud of that. Considering I felt like I was driving a small semi, that was darn good. Emmaline and Annelise had a blast at the lake and spent almost every waking moment in the water. Emmaline is now a pretty good little skier if I do say so myself! She gets right up and looks so cute out there. She is being rewarded with scented Blendy Pens this week. My priority now is to get ready for school to start and to get a plan for going back to the gym. I ate so much junk at the lake this week..... What can I say, Bluebell ice cream was 3 for $9.99 at the grocery store. Can you blame me? Anyway- I am looking forward to this week. I am going to pick up Brian's "surprise" I have been talking about sometime this week, and Aunt Libby wants to come get the girls this week for one or 2 nights- at which time I am going to the outlets in Gaffney to get some Bath and Body Works and also some 1st day of school outfits for the girls. (Annelise has requested a skirt with black and white squares and a black top and Emmaline wants a black and red dress. Sure, that should be easy. What happened to pink and purple? ) My architect friend also has completed the house plans, so I am soooo stoked about seeing those this week. Now it's up to bed for me. Unfortunately the insomnia spell I have had lately lasted all this week, too. Usually it only lasts one week, but occassionally it goes longer and it has this time. I hope to get back on a more regular schedule this week. Tommorrow I go to the orthodontist to get a really strong wire put on my braces. He told me I wouldn't like him after he puts this one on. I plan to medicate with Motrin before the visit! Oh, I'll put lake pics up sometime this week. I took some of the new dock. It is awesome! So nice not to have to dig out splinters from Annelise and Emmaline's little tender feet anymore. Good night for now.......