blik for baby

Mom and I went over to Molly & Erik's on Sunday to see the progress of the big demo on the back of their house. Turns out that Erik and about 4 other men were able to completely demolish a room off the back of their house and patch up the hole in the house wall in half a day!

Since it was too cold to hang around outside, we went up to the Lulu's nursery to check things out. Molly had ordered a decal of a black chandelier silhouette for the wall above her crib. This was definitely a more-than-one-person job, so Mom & I stuck around (no pun intended) to get the job done!

Here is the project in stages. Mom & Molly cutting the picture into smaller pieces to go onto the wall. It peels apart like a temporary tatoo and you stick it to the wall and then rub it on until it stays there. Pretty amazing!


Blank wall above the crib where the "chandelier" was to go.


This is after the first 2 steps. Step 1 was the "chain" and then I added the top of the chandelier.

This middle part went on all in one piece. Doesn't it look cool? The bookshelf on the left was another big project of ours. Molly wanted the inside lined with a fun pink fabric, and that was also a more-than-one-person project. On the top shelf is a piggy bank that someone gave them that is wearing a tutu!


And here is the final result! You can't tell at all that it is a rub-on decal. In fact, it looks like it was hand painted on the wall. Molly is doing a French/Paris theme to the nursery, so it will look great once everything is set up in the nursery.


I love the decal so much, I think I'll see if there are others that I might like for my house. Go check out the blik decals yourself! Not only are there many cool designs AND they aren't permanent (so you can change your mind after a while) BUT the company is very fun and their directions were a hoot! They said that we could press the decal on the wall using any of the following: the provided scraping tool, a credit card, your hand, a rubber spatula or the bill of a platypus. Ha! :)

*** Boo! I meant to schedule this post to actually show up in a few days. Rats. So now consider this as my Friday post, which means less for me to do tomorrow. I guess there is always a bright side to things! ***

Neighbor: 'Betsy Always Seemed So Normal'

Julie sent this to me last night. Check out the video and then feel free to send it to your friends who think they might not vote because their vote won't make a difference!

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Game on!

This is what I got in the mail today. I purchased this variety of game pieces from an Etsy seller, Sushipotparts. She has a GREAT collection of "unique found objects".

While Jill & I were crafting last weekend, she gave me a great idea for these. Can anyone guess what they will turn into? ? ? No fair spilling the beans if I already told you!

Hopefully I'll get some time to work on this new project now that it is getting colder outside. Cold weather + stressed out Betsy = As much crafty time as possible!

You should get extra votes for every 30 minutes you wait in line

If that were the case, then I would have gotten 3+ votes for my advanced voting wait!

I went to Metcalf South mall (can you still call it a mall if all the stores are closed?) to wait my turn to vote, vote, vote! I rushed as fast as I could after school to beat the after work crowd. No such luck. See these doors in the far end of this picture? Those were the doors I walked in. I saw this line and though, "Not so bad, maybe 100 people. I bet the line moves fast."

THEN, I turned the corner. A line at least twice as long as this one heading half-way down the mall. Ugh.


I got bored, after I flipped through the 2 magazines I brought with me, so I started taking pictures of good old Metcalf South. I couldn't believe how dismal it looks now, but there were a lot of the same features that I remember as a little kid. These lit, mirrored ceilings looked exactly the same. One thing that had changed (couldn't get a picture of it around the masses of people) were the fountains in the middle. They used to be open and they had cement walkways so you could walk across the fountain. No longer. I guess a few too many kids fell in because there is now a 3 foot tall iron fence surrounding the fountain.




See this blonde head on the right side of this photo? This is the woman that came in AFTER me huffing and puffing because of the long line. She hadn't even seen the front of the line to know it was long, she just assumed. She started in immediately with the complaining and yakking my ear off. This was when I promptly pulled out my Home Magazine. I guess my ignoring her was her cue to move AHEAD of me in line. And not just me, but the poor older woman (who was voting for the first time) was cut in front of, too. Her guise was that she was talking to this nice man in the jacket in the picture.


She went on and on saying probably 3 times that she's been voting for a long time and she's never seen lines like this ... and how Jefferson and Lincoln and Adams would be proud. Seriously? Then she said "I bet I could sell my spot in line for $___" every 10 feet we moved in line. When we turned the corner for the last stretch, she stepped out of line to sit down telling us she'd be right back after she rested her feet for a bit. Oooooh ... I was pissed!

While she was out of line, Creepy Raperman next to me asked me if I go on the internet much. WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? I told him no, only at work (huge lie) so that he would stop talking to me. Mind you, that he'd been standing next to me for over an hour at this point. Then he said, "Ever think about having a website?" I told him no, and that I didn't have time for it. I don't know what he was getting at, but I wasn't about to tell him that I had a blog. I was afraid he was going to tell me about some creepy website that I could set up with who knows what on it. Ahhh! Then HE stepped out of line to rest his feet. There were elderly people in line waiting just as long as them with no problem.

As soon as I completed my ballot, I was out of there. I was sure to say many "thank you"s to all the volunteers at the voting booths. I know how long of a day they must have had. I was signature #982 in just one book, and Dad says he thinks there were plenty more filled books from today. If that's the case ... I hope to God that all the Obama voters are getting out there early and the McCain voters are waiting until the lines are too long on November 4th. I did see PLENTY of people walk in, see the line, and walk out. Yikes! I hope they go back at some point to vote. I can't wait to see the results of this election! I think many records are going to be broken when it comes to # of young voters, # of advance voters, # of minority voters, # of 1st time voters, etc, etc, etc.

Good luck to the rest of you that will be fighting the crowds. I'm sure they will be crazy everywhere! Just make sure you get out there and vote!

The rest of Saturday with Moms and Molls

I promised I'd blog about the rest of our Saturday once we left the big tailgate in Lawrence.

Molly, Mom & I went to the Holiday Mart and after zipping through there as fast as possible, we went for lunch. We drove over to the new Park Place area just north of Town Center. I hadn't been over there yet, even though Mitzi's been ooohing and aaahing over Ingredient for weeks!

Here are the planter/fountains that are in the middle of a couple of the buildings. There is also going to be an outdoor ice skating rink, which is pretty fun, since families normally have to go to Crown Center for that.

I loved the design of Ingredient. I couldn't stop looking at the pressed plants in glass along the backs of all the booths. The craftiness in me kept trying to figure out how they did that and I if I could do it myself.

This is just one of the great light fixtures they have inside. I should have taken pictures of our yummy food, but we were all too hungry and dug in immediately. We had the Sweet Leaf salad and the Apple Wood pizza if you are looking for recommendations.

After lunch we HAD TO go next door to Paciugo Gelato for a little sweet treat. I'm blaming the preggo sister in our group for recommending it, but I was just as happy as she was to get some gelato!

We each got three flavors in one small cup. Mine is on the bottom right. I think my choices were the best: Mint Chocolate Chip, Pannacotta (wedding cake) and Chocolate Hazelnut.
After stuffing ourselves beyond belief, we had more errands to run. I wanted to go look for curtains for my bedroom window! On the left shows how bright my room gets without curtains. There are even blinds on that window, but you can barely tell. On the right, you can see that a lot of the light is now blocked. I was so excited when we got these hung up. I got to sleep in on Sunday past sunrise. Yippee!



Two more curtains should be coming this week so I can put them in place of the hideous vertical blinds on the sliding door on the other end of my bedroom. Everything is finally starting to look like a real home.

Just call me Betty Crocker

Today I went to the grocery store for the first time in FOR-EV-ER and got all the ingredients for the big recipe exchange between friends. Mitzi, Adam & Jill, Amy, Rachel, Brenda and I have talked about a meal swap in the past. This weekend, it seemed that Mitz, Adam & I all had some time on our hands and grocery lists to purchase, so we decided to test out the logistics of it.

Basically, the main idea is to make a big batch of something and then split it into servings for one or two people and then trade. Being a single person who lives on her own ... I loathe cooking for myself because it takes me forever to make something and then I'm eating it for the next 5 meals. No fun.

If it works after this first swap, we'll have the add the others to the exchange and get a calendar set up. Jill said she'd try to do one on google so we all didn't end up making and swapping the same type of pasta dish on one day! The keys to the swap are price, taste, how easy it is to make, and I think now that we are going into the winter ... making things that can be frozen would be ideal! That way you don't have to rush home to eat it that night.

Now that I've gotten excited for this, I found a few great recipes that seem easy to make and easy on the wallet. I got all the ingredients today at the grocery store thinking that I would make all 3 dishes tonight. WHAT WAS I THINKING? The others will have to wait a few days. Tonight's first trial was chicken enchiladas that I saw Cristina Ferrare make on Oprah this week. Sure wish the people I talked to about this dish would have told me that things seem MUCH easier when they are doing it in 7 minutes on TV.

1 1/2 hours later, I just finished my yummy dinner with part of my portion! I poached my own chicken, then made 3 separate containers of the enchiladas and froze 2 and heated up one for myself! I was a bit worried that they wouldn't turn out ... but they were damn good!

I should have taken a picture, but by the time I finished, I was so hungry and dove in immediately. I'll be sure to keep you all posted on how well the swap is going! Anyone else in town want to join in?? The more the merrier! =)

The HIGHS and lows of Erik's Day

It's football season ... that means that Molly is a bit of a football widow and Erik spends a lot of time preparing for the best tailgate in Lawrence for each home game!

Erik's tent (with his buddies, too) has everything you need for ideal tailgating: 2 tents, camping chairs, a bar (bartender included), a plasma TV with cable hook-up, yummy desserts, 2 meals made by Chef Erik, etc, etc, etc.

Today we decided to drive up just to hang out for the tailgate since Molly & I could care less about the actual game, and it was chilly!

Here are a few pics from the 2-ish hours we were there! Molly & me, before breakfast burritos or grilled Krispy Kreme donuts. We were super cold, even though the sun was shining all morning.

Erik's brother & Dad and Molly.
Mom, Dad & Jeff.
Chef Erik. Can you see his system of pre-cooked breakfast burrito "slices"? He makes them in advance and then warms them up with a tortilla. He tops it all off with sour creme & salsa. Best breakfast burritos in Lawrence ... hands down! Molly made him this awesome chef's jacket for Christmas last year. It says LUND on the back and he's added some great patches, too.

Might have scarfed this grilled KK donut in about 2.2 seconds. Shhhhh ... don't tell!

Erik, saying "hi" to Lulu before he left to go into the game.

And here they are again ... Erik had just dunked his head in the ice water to "cool off" before he went into the game. Sweet pants, huh? Check out Molly's cute shirt she made. Rock Chalk Baby! She got lots of comments on it. I told her she should make them to sell on Etsy!

A few minutes after this picture, we went back to the car, picked up Mom & Dad and then headed back home. The girls went off to the Holiday Mart and to run errands (blog post on that coming soon) and Dad & Minnie went home to rest.

Dad called while we were at lunch to tell us about the score of the game. 63-21 - KU Loss. Erik texted Molly to say (jokingly) that he was no longer a fan! He came home earlier than planned to unwind and get ready for tomorrow.

Since Molly & Erik are both doing quite a bit of nesting and preparing the house for the baby, there seem to be large projects around their house every few weeks. There was the bathroom rennovation while I was living with them over the summer, lots of painting, preparing the nursery and now the complete demolition of a room on the back of their house. This room at one point (long before Erik bought the house) was a nice den, but since then it has been shut off to the rest of the house and named The Room From Hell. It is falling off the foundation and really serves no purpose. Sunday, Erik and a bunch of family & friends will tear this room off the back of the house. Nothing will go up in it's place quite yet ... that project will have to wait until after the baby comes.

Anyhoo ... Erik got out some of his frustration from the game by doing a little bit of demo on his own tonight. Molly caught it on tape for all of us to enjoy! Be sure to listen closely to the commentary by Molls! :)

I bet Tim would think this was funny!

Tim Russert was known for doing his state-to-state count of the votes leading up to the big elections. Tim started all this on a tiny hand-held white board and then graduated up to a larger white board.

Now that a few people have started to take over his position on the major news channels, they have been playing around with large plasma screens and interactive maps that are like giant iPhones.

This week on the Thursday night edition of SNL, Fred Armisen did a spoof of that on Weekend Update. I thought it was great!

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I especially liked when he shrunk the country to put in his pocket!

The real truth about cats & dogs

No, this isn't a re-post that Jill had of the boxing match between Betty & Minnie last year ... it's a good story. No fighting animals involved at all!

My Aunt Dinah sent me this video to share on my blog.


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There is something about inter-species niceness that makes me tear up. CuteOverload even has a whole section of the site devoted to what they call Interspecies Snorgling. Go check out the posts they have under that label!

How about it, America?

I agree 110%.

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See more Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

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Wave on Wave

Hopefully it's been enough time for everyone who watches Project Runway ... and I hope you have all seen the season finale!

I WAS BEYOND THRILLED TO SEE THAT LEANNE WAS THE BIG WINNER!

She deserved it and looking back at all of her designs throughout the competition, the viewers can see that Leanne had a consistent design to her looks. I loved her "waves" inspiration and thought the final long, aqua dress was to die for!

My cousin, Katherine was at the show in Bryant Park and said she knew who the winner was just by looking at all three collections. I won't even waste my time on snooty, snotty Kenley ... but I also loved Korto's collection. Regardless, I thought all along that Leanne should win.

What did you all think????

Am I Down?

Ashley & Drew definitely helped to end most of our tours on the "wedding circuit" with a bang!

It was a beautiful (and eventful) wedding and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!


Here is the happy couple on the way from the church to the reception site, the Hobbs building (same place that Megan & John had their reception last weekend) with a stop in between at the Nelson for wedding party pictures! I was looking for a pic of Ash and me, but with all the running around on Saturday, we must have missed an opportunity to take one. :(

Ashley looked beautiful and Drew was very handsome.

The rehearsal dinner was full of both funny & touching toasts from family and friends. The reception was full of food, drinks and dancing! The girls hung out all weekend and we made lots of memories, had many laughs and tried to keep the tears to a minimum!

Ashley & Drew ... I am SO happy for you both and I hope you are enjoying your time away and catching up on all your sleep! Thanks for a GREAT weekend!

Joel McHale is a Womanizer/Energizer

Just getting caught up on my Soup from Friday.

This was pretty funny!
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I think Britney's new song is starting to grow on me ... just like Toxic and Gimme More did. What is wrong with me?

To the next happy couple!

Here is a sweet family photo, Ashley, Drew & Doc (Brooks hadn't joined the family yet). I took this in Sacramento two summers ago when I went to visit Ashley!

Today is the wedding and at this time tomorrow, all the wedding stress & anxiety & chaos will be over and Ashley & Drew will be off to their honeymoon!


I'm SO happy for the two of you and I'm very honored to be a part of your big day!

CONGRATS!!

Surprise Etsy Sales!

Jill & I both had surprise Etsy sales out of nowhere on Tuesday of this week. It was super exciting because I don't think I've had a sale since this summer. Although that is pretty depressing, I know it is mostly my fault because I haven't been adding more items, and promoting my things via the blog or going out around town.

I sold this cute Minnie's Fleecy Toy to a shopper in Ohio. This is one of my favorite toys that I've made. I love the colors on it!

Jill FINally sold (her words, not mine) this fantastic felted zipper bag. It's been getting hundreds of views & favorites since she posted it months ago. I know the new owner of this will definitely be happy with her purchase!

I've had a couple family members and friends say lately, "I'm looking for a new ___________". I always point them towards Etsy becuase you can find ANYTHING you want and buying it would mean supporting a crafty/local artist and you might be able to find it for less than you would buy in a major store!

Make sure when you go shopping or browsing on Etsy, you've got time to kill, because you can get lost in the treasuries and search lists for hours! :)

Full DVR ...

Uh oh!

What to do, what to do?? Came home tonight from drinks for Ashley & Drew and found my DVR that was now 92% full!

Ack!

That means one of two things: I watch too much TV OR I don't have time to do much around here.

I have the day off from work tomorrow and it was very nice knowing today at 6:30 (when I left) that I didn't have to go back until Monday! This will be another full weekend of wedding events for me ... but then I'm done for a while!

Crossing my fingers for nice weather this weekend, you all should do the same, too! :)

Bridesmaid X 9

I had to steal this picture from Sarah, because my version had a bunch of closed eyes.
Here are all the bridesmaids waiting to walk down the aisle at Megan & John's wedding.

The 9 of us are:
Megan's sister, Elizabeth,
High school friends, Me & Emilie,
College friends, Danielle & Sarah,
John's sisters, Jenny, Jody, Joan & Meredith!

Had a blast with you girls! The whole weekend was great. Be happy that you all don't have to wear the gray shoes again this weekend! ;)

What Teachers Make

As a teacher, you probably see this poem come around in an e-mail once or twice or ten times a year. Every time it shows up in my Inbox, I read it and it helps me to remember what I'm doing each day in my classroom.

Today I found a video of Taylor Mali sharing this poem of his on YouTube. You really should check it out!
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And here are the words for those of you that can't watch the video or want to pass it along to a teacher in your life!

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

This one is great, too. It's called "Like - You know"
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Lots of laughs!

Here are the 6 of us at Megan's wedding last night! This picture actually looks very similar to the picture from Julie's wedding in July.

Everything about the whole day went off without a hitch! Tons of memories were made and there were some happy tears and lots of laughs. We even ended the evening with Becca having a crazy urge to slide under all the layers on Megan's dress. I don't remember ever laughing that hard ... and I really can't wait to see the pictures from that!

Unfortunately, my little germy kiddos gave me some sort of cold that started on Thursday and is getting worse by the day. By the end of both nights, I had completely lost my voice and had a hard time breathing, but I still had a blast! I only wish I had lasted a bit longer instead of hurrying home to pop some meds and climb into my bed!

Megan & John leave for their honeymoon Monday, and I know they'll have a blast relaxing and enjoying being done with all the chaos that comes with planning a wedding.

I love you both so much and I'm thrilled that you are now husband & wife!

My desk is EXACTLY like Martha's ...

... minus the large plasma screen, 2 nice laptops, 2 cell phones, gold desk organizer, French bulldog, oh, and the organization!

You can click on this picture for a much better view of Martha's space. You all have seen my desk, so you know that it is actually nothing like this ... even when it's organized!

Congrats to the soon-to-be Mr. & Mrs. Allen!

Yeah for Megan & John! Today's the day that they've been waiting for.

Here they are at the rehearsal dinner tonight ... all smiles & hugs & kisses!

I am SO very honored to play a part in their big day ... I can't wait for "I now pronounce you Mr. & Mrs. Allen!"

Sitemeter Roll Call!

Jill told me last spring about how she was using Sitemeter on her blog, and all the cool stuff you could track with it. It tracks how many people come to your blog, how long they stay and read, how many pages within the blog they click on, how they got there, how they exit and where they are reading from.

I am really only interested in the "referrals" and the "location" features of Sitemeter. Yes, I would love to have many more people reading my blog and I'd love for it to be a money-making venture for me, but it has also become a great way to stay in touch with my friends and family.

I've found that a lot of my referrals are random. People will google "you'll never lose your keys again" because apparently there is a key trinket named that, but I have a blog post with that title, so they end up on my page. Sometimes people will google "valentine's day AND magnets" and get to me. I also get lots of hits from google image searches since I have so many pictures on my site. Lately I got a bunch of hits from an "Angel's Gate" search after the puppy mills show on Oprah. Sometimes they will try to google "The Best Week Ever" and they'll misspell and end up with me! It's all okay with me ... but I wish some of those people would stay for longer than 1 second! Stick around ... read a bit ... I'm sure you'll find something of interest.

The locations are the most interesting part to me. I've got some loyal readers from places where I don't think I know anyone. While I think this is strange, I also know that I've found lots of blogs via a friend of a friend, or just by clicking through blogs or comments, and now I read them daily.

I've got lots of Kansas people, and I'm not sure I could ever know who all was reading. I also have random readers from foreign countries, that happened upon my blog from a google search. Here are some of those: The United Kingdom, Guatemala (thanks Beth), China, Germany, India, Belgium, etc.

Here are the other US cities that come to read The Bets Week Ever:
Wichita, KS - Blue Springs, MO - Chicago, IL - Newport News, VA - Kansas City, MO - Olathe, KS - Lenexa, KS - Overland Park, KS - Mountain View, CA - Fort Worth, TX - Shawnee, KS -
Dublin, OH - Battle Ground, WA - Derby, KS - Salem, OR - Panama City, FL - Dallas, TX - Portland, OR - Lees Summit, MO - Topeka, KS - Ivins, UT - Tucson, AZ - Round Rock, TX -
Columbia, SC - Sun City, AZ.

If you are one of these readers ... I'd love to know who you are (if I don't know you) and how you found me. If you want to stay anonymous, that is perfectly fine, too! I appreciate any and all readers.

Hands Down - Best Dog Costume, Ever!

Check out these cute pups that I saw on CuteOverload today! The month of October is always full of great pet costumes, but I think these are my favorite.

Watch dogs!

Minnie saw this picture and asked if this could be her Halloween costume this year. How long do we think she would let a large clock be tied around her belly? My vote is for about 2 minutes, and only that long if she is distracted with treats!

Quit whistling at me!

I about turned the debate off tonight when McCain's whistling started giving me a headache.

I knew his speech issue was reminding me of some cartoon characters and sure enough ... lookie what I found!

The Beaver in The Lady and the Tramp:
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Someone else must have been thinking the same thing that I was ... only they were crafty enough to put these clips together into one video.

The Gopher in Winnie the Pooh:
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Anyone else know what I'm talking about??? Is it annoying to just me?

I can hardly believe it!

Check out this beautiful sight I took a picture of today after work! Granted, this gas station is just across state lines (which typically has lower gas prices), but they were still low on the Kansas side, too!

Here's the gas prices in Chicago last May. Amazing how much things have changed. I know the whole world and economy is going to pot, but hey! At least you can get gas without taking money out of your savings account to cover it! :)

Rattles and bibs and blankies, Oh My!

Yesterday was a really fun day for us! Molly, Mom & I got to spend the afternoon in the house we grew up in for a baby shower for Molly! Her friends threw the shower, and one of the hostesses, Shannon, now lives in our childhood home! It is amazing to see everything that has been done to that house. I was beautiful when we were there, but if I had the chance, I would love to live there again with all the updates they've made!

Anyhoo, the shower guests were a combination of Molly's high school and work friends and our old neighbors and my mom's friends! Everyone loved being back in the house after 6 years!

Here are the "McKnight" girls back in our old living room.

The beautiful tables and flowers.

The best tasting AND cutest onesie sugar cookies.

I know a spoiled baby! She got the cutest things at the shower. Even the wrapping was cute!

Check out this teeny, tiny white fur coat for Lulu this winter. It has tiny mouse ears on the top of the hood, too!

He's the mom-to-be opening up one of the great presents!

After everyone left the shower, Mom, Molly and 2 of the hostesses and I sat around and caught up. We talked politics, baby stuff, school, etc, etc, etc. I was so happy to be part of that day! Thanks!

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P.S. You probably notice that I have pictures for this post after the camera debacle on Friday. After much discussion, my parents and I found a solution for the time being. Mom & Dad need a new digital camera for the same reason I do. Their camera was broken due to a fall. With the baby on the way, this wasn't something that could wait much longer to be replaced.

Dad took me out Saturday morning to find a camera for them that I could use until I had saved enough to get my own. So I'm using the updated version of my Canon for the next few weeks. Once I get my own, I'll give this one back to them!

Dad was worried I hadn't posted about his smart fix, so I wanted to make sure it was posted today! :) THANKS!!
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You betcha!

After a great conversation about the election after Molly's baby shower today, I was inspired to do some more reading online.

Check out this GREAT flow chart I found on a political blog.

Boo Hoo!

I took my camera into my classroom for the first time today. I normally take a whole class pic the first week of school, but even that hasn't happened yet due to my beginning-of-the-year chaos!

So, we were about 5 minutes into our fun Metric Olympics this morning and I dropped my camera. We have carpeted floors, but it is super thin carpet and under that is concrete.

Sure enough, I picked up my camera and the lens was busted. It wouldn't un-zoom. I'm sure that is the official word for it. There were literally lots of tears! I have baby showers for Molly coming up and both Megan & Ashley's weddings. This all happens before the end of the month.

I called all over town to see if anyone could fix it in-shop. I knew that shipping it off to Canon would mean 6+ weeks of no camera. Well, I found someone and I rushed right in there after school. The guy at the counter said that he's seen this problem before and it would mean getting a new lens for the camera. Sweet! That sounds easy. Oh wait, he's not done talking. It would be $150+ and about 3 weeks to fix it. He told me it would be a smarter just to go out and buy a new digital camera.

I don't really have the money for a $200 replacement, but my camera is as important to me as my phone. I would say that I use it almost every day! All I really want is the exact replacement for the one I have now.

What to do, what to do ... ???

I think I'll be shopping for a camera tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it goes. Until then ... no new pictures. :(

Hey, Katie! I read US Weekly!

Sarah ... please say something! Anything!

Tell Katie you read USA Today. Tell her you read Newsweek. People would even be a better answer. Hell, just tell her you read Dog Fancy!

Anything is a better answer than, "I read all of 'em!"

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{p.s. I love the look on Katie's face near the end of the clip. She's looking at the camera person with eyes that say, "Can she seriously NOT answer this question?" Ha!}

Lance & Lacey ...

Who else is rooting for them?!?! They are my new favorite duo on Dancing With the Stars!

Here are a few videos for those of you that haven't started watching yet or haven't seen these:

The first dance - The cha cha.
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The second dance - The quickstep.
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This week's dance - The paso doble
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