Mum's the word ...

Here are the pics from the nursery where Mom & I went on Sunday. I ended up getting some house plants and Mom wanted some mums for her front porch. I think they had a few choices here for her! :)


She ended up going with yellow mums that hadn't bloomed yet ... but aren't these purple ones beautiful! They were so soft, and when they were sitting that close to each other in rows, the petals looked like a blanket!

Last, but not least, this beautiful rose! I don't normally like roses, but I loved this one with the white inner-petals! I bet Aunt Susan knows all the official names of these. To me, they'll always be named Beautiful.

A schnoodle reunion!

Jenny brought Peanut over last night for a play date! It had been a long time since the siblings got together, and even though the evening started with Minnie barking at Peanut for intruding in her home and stealing her chews ... but then a few hours later, they were wrestling and chasing each other around the condo just like old times!

Here they are once I got them settled down long enough to sit still for a picture. Peanut was getting his wedding haircut today so he'll be all cute for Jenny & Rob's wedding in November! Can you believe that they are litter-mates?

Minnie likes to bite his fluffy ears!

And then they like to wrestle and she'll bite his legs so he can't get away!

Here's little Peanut. I like to call him "Bag O Bones". You would never know it with all his curls, but this boy is so skinny & weighs probably 5 pounds less than my little girl!

And here's my girl! Panting away. She gets so worked up when she gets to play like that, that she immediately passed out afterward. I had to carry her upstairs to her kennel later last night because she could barely move off the couch!

Bad news ...

... not only is my dishwasher breaking (it should actually be cleaning dishes, right?), my laptop is on the downhill slope to it's death ... but now my camera won't upload pictures for some reason!

I have lots of fun pictures to share, and I sat down to write a few posts, but my camera just wouldn't connect to my laptop tonight.

Ruh roh! I don't think it's the camera ... I really think it's just my old laptop!

So ... here are the things I want to show you pictures of:

• Beautiful pics of the mums at the garden center when Mom & I went yesterday.
  
• The hilarious pictures & video from the Minnie & Peanut play-date tonight!
• Pictures from a new craft project I've started today.

Hopefully I'll get some help this week so I can share with you all. Anyone who has an idea of how to fix it ... please let me know.

No, Jill, the answer is not to buy a Mac because they are awesome! :)

Because I bought Dominoes today!

I went to Target today for 2 things, and sure enough walked out with a few bags of things. That's my biggest problem about Target. I can walk around for hours and I'll make sure to check out anything that has that bright orange clearance sticker on it ... even if I don't need it!

I found myself along the back wall where the toys are and remembered that Jill & Adam taught us a really fun game with dominoes on the 4th of July. They lost their set of dominoes in the move and Mom might be mad if I stole her set, so I bought my own.

Adam also happened to send me this really cool video yesterday of someone setting up and knocking down dominoes. You won't believe it!

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See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

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Gotta love a Letterman rant!

Who else saw this?? I didn't actually see this on Letterman the other night, but I saw the clips of it on The Today Show!

Note to self: When I am running for president, DO NOT cancel an appearance on the Late Show with a lame excuse!

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The clip is lengthy, but worth it!

I made a mistake ...

... when I've said in the past (and actually as recently as last Friday night) when I said that I hated Rachel Zoe. :(

I've been someone who reads any and all celebrity smut gossip that I can get my hands on for quite some time. And while I know that not everything that is printed in the press is true, I really thought that Rachel Zoe was a crazy celebrity stylist.

That is, until I started watching her show on Bravo!

It all started with my friend Megan. She started her own event planning company with our other friend Danielle. This wonderful bride in LA contacted their business, Soiree Event Designs, and asked Megan to plan a beautiful wedding in Barnes, KS. Megan showed us pictures of the final (AMAZING) product and in the pictures I noticed that Rachel Zoe was there. Turns out, she's an old friend of the bride and Rachel actually helped to find her wedding dress in NYC from a designer. Megan said that Rachel's new show had a clip of them shopping together and I should watch it.

I had NO intentions of liking this show ... all I wanted was to see Megan's bride on the show and then be done with it. No such luck. 3 hour-long episodes later ... I'm hooked AND I'm a Rachel Zoe fan.

I've realized that, yes, she's a little kooky, but she's also amazing at what she does. She's been into fashion since she was little and watching her shop is fascinating. She mostly buys vintage clothes for herself, but she'll also buy brand-new designer stuff for her celebrity clients. I realized that she is a collector of all things that are fashion related. It's amazing! She has the shoes and purses and jewelry I love. She is a collector, not necessarily a shopper & wearer. She's all about organized chaos when it comes to her closets and studio.

This week's episode showed Rachel at fashion week in NYC. She is invited to and attends as many of the runway shows as she can go to. I was very impressed with Rachel and her photographic memory. While many other stylists and editors were furiously taking notes in the front row of the shows, Rachel was just sitting and taking it all in! She had all the looks memorized and immediately had the ones she liked "cataloged" for her clients' future events! Amazing!

If you like fashion at all, or if you already have an idea of whether or not you like her ... you really should check out her show! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! :)

Crafty time VS. Grading papers time

Guess which activity won last night???

Yep, you know me too well. I decided I'd rather get a few new things posted on Etsy last night than grade the hideously large stack of papers I brought home with me!

Here's a new set of magnets that I made using some vintage gold earrings that Jill gave me from her Grandma's stash! After making all of my glass bead magnets, these earring magnets have been a fun change for me!


These K-State Wildcat earrings were hard for me to make, but I figured that there were bound to be some KSU people out there that wanted fun earrings to wear like my KU earrings! Kat had asked when the KSU earrings were going to go up, and I thought now was as good a time as any since we are in the middle of football season!

Enjoy!

Did anyone else see these?

These marble kinetic sculptures were at the Plaza Art Fair this last weekend, and I was AMAZED by them! I didn't get a chance to go to the art fair and see all the art booths due to Minnie's mishap on Saturday, but I did see these Saturday night when I went to meet Kristin down there.


These moving sculptures are like the grown-up version of the game, Mouse Trap! The marbles move through coils, ramps, jumps and chains to make their way through the sculpture. When I was there, I talked to the artist, Jeffrey Zachmann, and he told me that he can make a sculpture in just a few days or a few weeks depending on it's size. When I was shocked by "just a few days", he told me he's been making them since he was 8 years old.

If you get a chance to go check out his website, you can see some better pictures of the sculptures. Some of the larger ones look like they are about a story tall! There are also videos of some of the "machines" working! Enjoy!

I've figured it out ...

... apparently the only way for me to get a semi-cleaned desk is to stay until 7:00pm on a school night!

Most of my things are finally unpacked from the big move over the summer, but I still have a few boxes of "things to be filed" boxes looming under my desk.

My desk gets very messy very quickly. The amount of paperwork that I have to keep up with on a daily basis is INSANE! My kids turn in anywhere from 25-200 papers to me a day. To keep up with the grading of those papers is impossible and to find a place to put them is almost harder. It can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to grade one set of papers (one assignment = 25 papers for my whole class). You do the math for how long it will take to get all caught up on a week of grading! Some days, I just spend the first 10 minutes of my day looking at my desk and trying to figure out where to start to get it organized.

Well, last week, I'd had enough. I got it organized ... at least for the time being.

Lookie! I can see the top of my desk. Let's see how long it will last.

My "corner". Still a bit of a mess, but it's coming together. Do you like my 2 windows?

I now have 3 organizing systems for papers. The trays on the left are for specific lesson plans for each day of the week. The middle one is for papers that I have already copied for certain lessons, but I don't know when I'll get to them. The files on the right are papers to grade, sorted by subject. The stack of papers right there is just one of about 5 stacks of "to be filed" papers!

It's almost wedding time again

This summer was very busy with weddings and showers. It was overwhelming at times, but also a lot of fun since I got to see my friends that I don't normally see that often.

This weekend was the start of more wedding events. I'm going to be a bridesmaid in two of my best friends' weddings this October. The 11th & the 18th to be exact, so the countdown is officially on now. The girls came in town for a shower for Megan (this morning) and I also got to go to a shower for my friend Kyle and his bride-to-be, Annie, last night!

Here are a few pics from today's shower. The only this missing was Becca. She was out of town shooting some fancy schmancy wedding. We missed you, Bec!!!

Here are the 5 of us at the "kids table" in the kitchen while the moms sat in the dining room. From left to right: Julie, Emilie, the bride - Megan, Kristin and me.

Here is Meg getting ready to open her presents. We had a "personal" shower which is always fun. I love getting to go to girlie showers with my girls!

And here we are outside (the weather was BEAUTIFUL this weekend) playing our shower game. We were preparing Megan for possible worst case wedding scenarios. Example: Would you rather have no make-up for the ceremony OR have your hair fall out? Would you rather have no hotel reservation on your honeymoon OR have your bed infested with bed bugs? Would you rather have rain on your wedding day OR rain on the honeymoon! You can see the range of reactions to some of the scenarios in this picture! Megan was very calm in her answers. It was nice to see that she knows that a lot of things are out of your control when it comes to your wedding day. Really ... does it matter? Probably not!

I had fun this weekend getting to catch up a little with the girls and getting to show off my pad to most of them. Miss you girls every time you leave and can't wait to see you the next time you are back!

Puppy Pawdicures gone wrong

This morning, I got up at 9:45 which was a real treat. I actually thought I had slept through the morning at school. I decided to take Minnie outside on the patio to give her a little nail trimming.

She normally does really well, and I thought it was time to do it since she keeps scratching up my legs when she jumps on me.

Well, 2 nails in, she squeels! Yep, I cut too short. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of cutting a dog's nails ... you don't know what this means. This was over 30 minutes ago, and her nail is still gushing blood. You can't cut too short, or you cut the nerve in the nails.

Well, she's bled through several layers of paper towels. I have to hold her in my lap because if I set her down, then she'll walk all over and her teeny, tiny nail will bleed all over my nice carpet!

After googling to find some answers, her foot is currently in a ziploc baggie of baking soda that I happened to have in my fridge. They say that any power will help to stop the bleeding. Let's hope this stops soon, because I'm late to go meet Molly & Mom for the Plaza Art Fair.

I guess I know one girl who will be staying home IN HER KENNEL so she doesn't make a mess of the place! I'm a bad Mom ... .. .

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I've just come back from the vet. I called them first to see what they suggested. The woman I talk to, who knows my voice when I call, told me to put flour or corn starch on her foot. Well, I don't cook, so I don't have those things. I thought to myself that I could wait it out and hope for the best, or take her in so that I know for sure she'll be fine.

I took her in and even they said that it was a hard to get it to stop bleeding. They were so nice and they even finished the nail trimming job for me! So glad to have my girl back to normal. Now, if I can only get my car clean again ... it looks like a tiny murder scene in there! :)

Blogs about blogs about blogs ...

I used to read blogs, but not very often. I, of course, read Oh No They Didn't every day but the others were sort of take it or leave it for me.

Then, I found out that Jilly had a blog and then I saw that some of her friends had blogs. My friend, Becca has had a photography blog for a long time. And then, I decided to start my own blog. Since then, my list of favorites has expanded exponentially. I have a list of 30+ blogs, and I read a handful of them every day. Many of them are weekly blogs and some I check every few weeks.

To make this all easier, I've decided to update my blog rolls on the right-hand side of my page. There are two categories: I Read These ... You Should, Too! AND Crafty Links ... Right Up My Alley!

Go poke around in there and see if you can find something that you like and just can't live without reading every day. That is ... after you've read my blog every day! :)

I HAD to post this for myself, too!

If you didn't watch the season premier of Saturday Night Life last weekend, you really missed out!

Tina Fey came back to do her spin on a Sarah Palin impression. Of course, people have been saying that Sarah looks like Tina since she was named McCain's running mate, but that wasn't the hard part of the impression. She had just about a week to do her studying of mannerisms and facial expressions and the way Sarah speaks.

Tina was PERFECT in the opening skit. I've been going back to Dad's blog every day to watch this video, and so I decided just to post it for myself!

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It is almost as great as this politician/SNL alumn skit:

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That one's for Julie! "Hey Hollywood! What one do you think looks better? What if I went with the big one and the little, tiny guy?"

Childhood craft

I gather craft ideas from lots of different places.

Both Jill AND a blog I read, Some Twittery, gave me an idea to recreate a childhood craft. Jill & Adam made some awesome recycled crayons over the summer. I also read on Some Twittery about making those melted crayon & wax paper pieces of window art!

So yesterday as Jill was getting her crayons ready for listing on Etsy, she told me I could have the shavings from her crayons.


Today's first experiment with the melting in wax paper didn't go so hot. I'm sure that when I made these when I was little, a parent or an adult actually made them. If I can get the hang of this, I'd like to make some themed shaped to hang from my classroom ceiling or to sell on Etsy for others.

Here is the mess I made in my kitchen with my first try. See how it didn't work???


Anyone have tips for me or want to join in on the crafting fun?

:)

This is what motivates me to hurry home after school each day. The sooner I get my stuff done at home, the sooner I get to come home to her!

The non-stop rain this weekend was exhausting!

It rained off and on all week. Friday, it rained pretty much non-stop. I came home from work during a tornado warning (wait, isn't the Spring tornado season?) and since Minners needs to go out every few hours, I saw all the different rain storms coming and going.

Now, the difficult thing about taking Minnie out is that she is TERRIFIED of the rain! She seems to think it's some sort of outside bath! She will scratch at the door to go out and then as soon as she sees it's still raining, she wants to turn right back around! She also obviously, has to go out on a leash. This makes potty time not so much fun for me either since there aren't any grassy spots that have a covered roof.


Here are a couple of the pictures I took right outside my door in the middle of the night. I woke up to find that it was still pouring! The top picture is from my neighbor's patio area. Those rocks are actually about 1-2 inches below the sidewalk, but here you can see that it had turned into a wading pool.

This is Minnie ... SO TIRED from having to go out in the rain. I can't imagine that sleeping like this is comfy, but she seems to like this position. She sleeps here every night!

And this pic is from Saturday morning. I found this teeny, tiny patch of blue sky on my way to Adam & Jill's. It didn't last for long. It sprinkled most of Saturday and into the night. Today it's just super cold out!

What happened to our cool fall???

* On a different topic, we've heard from my Uncle John & Aunt Dinah who decided to stay put through Ike in Houston. They seem to be okay and there hasn't been any damage to their house. The only issue is no power. We're all thinking of you!! *

Etsy Favorites - Rock Chalk!

Yes, it's been a long time since I made new things for Etsy. Yes, it's been forever since I put new things up on my page on Etsy. Yes, it's been a long time since I blogged about Etsy.

Yes, I've finally done all three! This weekend I got an itch to make some new earrings. It is always tough to come up with a good ideas for a bead combination that I like. It suddenly came to me as I was pulling all my beads out: make some earrings that are college color combos! I know that I always have a hard time finding cute, fashionable ways to show my KU pride. Most earrings that are out there are giant Jayhawks, and sometimes I just don't want to have a bird on my ear. You know?

So here are my new earrings that I made to solve this problem. In the coming days/weeks I'll be posting more earrings, so keep checking back. I even swallowed my pride and made some for the K-State/Mizzou fans ... are there any of you out there?

I like these earrings I made because they are great for going to a game or going to a game-watching party ... but they also can be worn on any plain old day!

This domino necklace is so much fun! I think the variety in beads makes the necklace not so serious. The artist makes lots of chunky jewelry that is very popular right now.

I don't know much about felting, but I know that it takes a lot of practice and skill! When I saw this felted Jayhawk bead, I was amazed! The artist is a Lawrence girl, so she definitely knows her Jayhawks, too!

This listing is actually just for one lampwork bead, but I wanted to show you the variety of what the artist makes. She makes these beads that fit on Troll & Pandora charm bracelets for those of you that are collectors.

As always ... feel free to let me know if you see something of mine that you would like in a different size or color. AND ... go browse around on Etsy! It's always nice to help local artisans out!

Oh, Brad!

Always the jokester!

After seeing all 3 "Oceans" movies, I've realized that those guys (Brad, George, Matt, Don, Bernie, Casey, etc) really do seem like such good friends. I would love to spend a day with them, because you can almost guarantee that you would have a great time!

The latest celebrity rumors were spreading that George Clooney has been asked to be the godfather of Brad & Angelina's twins! When asked about it, Brad was sure to put and end to the rumors.

This is what he had to say:
"No, he hates children." Brad laughed, "Are you kidding? I love the twins too much to subject them to George."

I think that's pretty funny!

She's Back!

Oprah started back up this week! I'm just now finding time to get caught up on the shows that I did DVR.

Who else saw the show on Tuesday with Charise, the 16-year-old singer? This clip isn't the greatest, but you'll get the point!
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Em and I obviously weren't there this week ... but I wish I could have been for at least one of her new shows!

Molly says she loves him ...

Check out this clip of Matt Damon from a recent AP interview. He obviously has some things to say about the new political tickets!

Not to be watched by my friends who aren't into politics. :)

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We will remember ...

... Of course, we will!

I think it's amazing that when this happened, my students were only toddlers. I was living in the Pi Phi house and watched the towers fall on my computer during my Technology in the Classroom class. Molly was living in Chicago at the time. There was no war. We could fly without security stress. Things were much different!

It seems like both a millions years ago, and just last week at the same time!


Where were all of you on September 11, 2001?

It's trivia night ...

... but we won't go!

You've read all the discussion about the recent trivia debacle! It's such a shame, because we all really liked to get together on Wednesdays to hang out! It was a nice break in the middle of our hectic weeks and it felt like we were doing something we shouldn't be, by staying out late on a school night, drinking some beers and having fun at a bar! :)

It's nice to see that we aren't the only ones that are upset by the fact that cheating is now allowed at all stages of the trivia process! You need to read the latest post on the Xtreme Team Trivia blog, and be sure to check out all the comments! It's quite the online debate.

We could have gone tonight to trivia since it was regionals at our home bar. What we decided that there really wasn't any point in going. Even if we won tonight and earned a spot at the next Championships ... we would never pack up our laptops with us and then how could we compete with all the other techie teams? Maybe that should be their new name: Xtreme Team Technology. That is basically what it is.

Just for one last laugh ... our little team that could is currently in 3rd place after 10 weeks. The impressive part is that we didn't even play for 2 of the ten weeks and 2 of the weeks we lost the final question so our result was a low score. The first place team at our bar?? They have song-recognition devices. Yeah, that's right. They are awesome.

I think I can speak for some of my team members when I say that we support My Favorite Team, because even though they were our biggest competition, they cheat as much as we did ... which was almost never!

I think I have some friends that will like this video

Found on CuteOverload, of course.
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Girls (you know who you are) ... whatcha think of this one?

It kinda reminds me of this pic, which we've been talking about for weeks!
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more animals
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Someone I know likes to bark ...

... and bark at me - from upstairs.

Not just from the bedroom upstairs. She likes to get up in the loft and poke her head through the railing and look directly down at me on the couch and bark at me.


Keep in mind that the railing and edge of the loft is about 10 feet above the living room. I'm hoping Minnie won't remember that she can fit through the railing. Knowing her, she remembers, but won't try and step through them over the edge!


I tried to get some video of her, but by the time I got my camera out, she wasn't wanting to cooperate. She was sick off and on all weekend, so I'm thinking that being able to bark at and taunt me probably means she's back to normal!

You are a copy cat!

Okay, I obviously love The Soup. I've watched it for years ... since it was Talk Soup. Recently, I saw commercials on the Style Network for The Dish. It is a show hosted by Danielle Fishel (Topanga) and I thought I would watch it. I mean, it's about fashion, TV and celebrities ... what's not for me to like???

I have a problem with it. Check out this clip:
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And then, look at this clip of The Soup:
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They are practically copying off The Soup! The "set" is the same with a drawn backdrop and a TV screen to play the clips. They both have the crew there for applause and laughter. The Dish covers strange things on HSN and so does The Soup. She even has a segment called Reality Show Clip Fix. The Soup's original segment is Reality Show Clip Time! Um, and how about their names: The Dish, The Soup?? I'm going to create my own show and call it The Drink Straw!

I was a bit upset and first, but after watching for two weeks ... I'm afraid that even though they copied, I think I like her show, too. Who else has seen it, and what do you think?

The best kind of dinner plans:

Involve friends, food, laughter, games and good times!

Tonight I had my first get together at my new place. I had my teacher friends (and spouses) over after a L O N G week! When we get together, we try to each bring something for the meal, which is really nice for me since I don't cook. I, of course, left work late, so Adam & Jill basically beat me to my house while I was going to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner.

Right when I got home, a very scary thought crossed my mind: I don't think I have enough dishes and silverware for this many people, and I definitely don't have enough seats for everyone! It's a good thing they all love me regardless, because we had a great time anyway! All the changes I've made around here that I got to show off made up for the lack of seating! I LOVE IT HERE and I love that I get to share it with the people I love.

Here's the view of the living room from the loft upstairs. You can tell that we had to do some furniture rearranging. Elizabeth & Mitzi are sitting on the loveseat we brought in from the dining room. The TV trays Mom thought I was crazy for buying helped so not everyone had to eat on their laps. I also just realized that noone even thought about eating at the table. What were we thinking? Somehow, there will still room for everyone to play Guitar Hero!


Adam & Jill rocking out. Minnie on the couch on the right-hand side. She found lots of new friends tonight.


Self portrait. Adam & I ... I love that Minnie is licking his face in this one. She LOVES Adam, so this picture pretty much sums up their relationship.


The newlyweds, TJ (we like to call him T Pain) and Amy playing their first song on GH.


Mitzi and Rachel. Can you see Mitzi's kick-ass Guitar Hero T-shirt?

So serious!


Here's another group shot. The seating was limited and if you were interested in actually watching the TV, it was very limited! Brenda & Mike came over after they went to dinner. Good thing they ate elsewhere ... they might have had to eat in the laundry room! :)


When you get married, you are forced to sit on the floor and share the tiniest TV tray ever made! :)


The pictures are out of order ... here we are all getting settled with our plates.


Since my kitchen's so tiny, we had to make a buffet line. Start on the left with plates and bowls, curve around and pick up food and lastly, get your silverware on the right. Then, quick run to find somewhere to sit!


Elizabeth & Mitzi. Thanks for coming, girls! I know you both had rough weeks.


Jilly & Rachel. You two look like you match in your hoodies!


Everyone left a little over an hour ago. The dishwasher was already filled and just finished running. Now I should be in bed since Mom and I are doing the American Stroke Foundation 5K walk in the morning at Shawnee Mission Park. Did I mention that Minnie is joining us?? Who wants to place bets on how far into the walk she lasts? I think I'll be carrying her across the finish line!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Compare & Contrast

I am the only one that sees the resemblance between these two? Sarah Palin's hair is just as updone and poofy as Karen Walker's was on Will & Grace.

I totally understand that is where the similarities end, but I keep thinking that they were separated at birth every time I see her on TV!



At work today, Amy came in to tell me about the great clip from The Daily Show they had on last night. Since I was too busy watching Project Runway, I didn't get to see it, but I did find it on YouTube. Here is the clip for you all to see just how hypocritical everyone in the media is!

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I laughed outloud at this clip! :)