It's a Random Kind of Day

Funny I just mentioned to you about putting away the winter coats and getting them back out again.  Over the weekend, I wore mine to an outdoor graduation party.  I may have looked quite geeky, but I was the only warm one there.  On Monday, I donned my winter gloves for a Memorial Day bike ride.  Crazy weather!  Yesterday, it hit 80.

 ~>*<~

I am quite smitten by Crystal Light Raspberry Ice.  These skinny little packets can go anywhere with you and the final product is something highly to be desired...much like a grown up's Kool Aid.  The strawberry lemonade drops aren't too bad either.  It's definitely a healthy break from all the Diet Coke I've been drinking, trying to get rid of daily headaches. I think I actually need a new pillow.

~>*<~

The house across the street lost its renters, so it's getting that abandoned haunted house look.  When the grass hit a foot high, Hubby called the number on the rental sign and complained.  He explained that he mows grass for apartment complexes and would be happy to mow the yard, for a price.  They readily accepted.  So now, once a week, Hubby drives his little mower across the street, spends an hour or so there, and makes 50 bucks!  (The first time, he charged $80!)  He and Son #1 make about $400 a month mowing properties on Saturdays.  They're home by noon and he's banking all the money in savings.  There may be a pinhole of light at the end of our tunnel that we might get to build a home at some point in the future.  We're trying to save for that highly anticipated day.

~>*<~

My little cousin graduated over the weekend, Magna Cum Laude!  For his gift, I donated the photo booth for his party.  I set the booth up on their deck, against the house, and went home to get ready for the party.  I returned after 40 minutes or so and all was well.  Someone asked me to make a sign labeling the iced tea, so I turned by back for a moment.  Suddenly, a huge gust of wind knocked over the entire booth!  It fell toward me and I tried to catch it.  I can't remember if I heard it coming down, felt it, or what.  I just remember shouting, "I need some help!  I need some help!"  I had just been talking to Big Sis, but didn't realize she was still there.  Someone asked where she was and I tried looking around, still attempting to get the booth back up.  The booth fell against a picnic table, which stopped its fall.  Lucky for her, because she would have been the object stopping its fall.  She kind of fell down underneath the table and was fine.  The booth, however, did not fare quite as well.  I never did get it back up running.  So, my gift was a flop and my booth is broken.  I still cannot figure out how the wind could knock down something that heavy.  I can only lift two out of the three boxes that house the equipment.  So to think that the wind could knock over all three....it's amazing.

~>*<~

Our birthdays are coming up.  Hubby celebrates his on Thursday and mine is Sunday.  Big Sis has a tournament on Saturday, but I said I could not attend this month.  I was proud of myself for taking some personal time.  We're hoping to go on a really long bike ride, assuming the weather cooperates.  Riding is our new jam.  Maybe I'll get skinny from all this biking.

~>*<~

I really want to go to New York.  We actually found flights for $59, but they were Tuesday & Wednesday only.  Hubby has a hard time getting off work, so we were hoping to go over a weekend.  Unfortunately, they charge soooo much more to fly Fridays & Sundays.  Boo.  I would like to take my good camera and get some some unique architectural shots to frame for Son #1's room.

~>*<~

What totally random thing is going on in your life right now?

Roughed Up on the Playground

Last Monday morning, I was pulling into the grocery store, as I do like clockwork every Monday morning.  (Have I ever mentioned that I'm obsessed with schedules?)  As I stepped out of the car, my phone rang, identifying the caller as the middle school.  Expecting one of those sent-out-far-too-often-parent-broadcasts, I answered and listened.  No bing, bong, bing was heard so I said Hello.  It was Son #1 and he had a somewhat nervous sounding voice with slight laughter.

"Um, mom....is there any way you can bring me a new shirt to school?"

OK, not to sound selfish or anything, but that's a huge request.  Number one, I'm already AT the grocery store and Baby Girl has already taken OFF her seat belt.  Number two, as mentioned above, I'm very strict with my grocery shopping schedule.  The kids watch at our store opens at 11:00, so I'm usually there no later than 11:05.  Number three, the middle school is all the way across town and takes ten minutes, with traffic. (Yes, that school wanted my boys to walk home, due to budget cuts, because 2.1 miles was right on the borderline of requiring bussing.  Jerks.)  Number four, and most importantly, this hiccup in my schedule means I'm not eating lunch until 1:00 and Baby Girl gets a late nap.

"Do you really need it right now?"  All of the above reasons are playing out in my mind and I'm irritated about whatever the event was that caused him to ask for a new shirt.

"Well, yeah, I can't exactly wear this one...it's almost ripped in half."  (Slight nervous laughter.)

"What happened?"  (I guess now would be a good time to inquire about the safety of my firstborn.

"Um, some kid got mad and tackled me and ripped my shirt."  (More of the nervousness.)

"Lovely.  I'll be there as soon as I can."

Back in the car, carseat buckled again, and back home.  I can't even begin to describe to you the monstrosity that was my sons' closet.  The pile of crap on the floor could have housed a family of raccoons or easily hidden two small orphans.  I was nervous to approach it without one of these on:

I eventually found a shirt, which needed ironed, and set off toward the school.  I called Hubby on the way to attempt to fill him in on what I knew.  "I'm mad!" I told him.  "I'm not sure at whom, but I'm mad at someone!"

I finally made it to the school, holding a pressed shirt and Baby Girl hand, and walked in to see my son sitting in the office.  When he stood, I could see that his nice American Eagle shirt was ripped from nipple to hip.  There were red scratches all over the side of his stomach.

"What in the world happened?"  My anger at the unidentified person was growing into rage.

"We were playing basketball outside.  There were like 80 people and only 10 balls.  This one kid was just standing there holding a ball, not moving.  I hit it out of his hand to take a shot.  He screamed, "I'm gonna 'F' you up!" and tackled me.  He scratched and clawed at me with his nails.

My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped open.  Never before has a child of mine been involved in any physical altercation.  "What did you do?!?"

"I was shocked!  I just layed there, staring at him.  He just took the ball and walked away."

At that point, the secretary, who knows me well, called my name.  I walked to her desk with a look of surprise on my face.  She explained that she was attempting to contact the assistant principal, whose line was busy.  "This needs to be reported," she said.  "That's ridiculous!"  My boy is known as a good kid.  He's honest, gets straight As, and is well liked by all the staff.

Because of the aforementioned reasons, I chose not to hang around.  #1 is 14 now and able to handle himself in an adult conversation.

When he got home, he said that the assistant principal had him write down the story on paper.  I asked if he included the part about hitting the ball away from the kid.  He did.  

I got a phone call the next day from this principal who asked the value of the shirt that was ruined.  He said he spoke to the other parents and explained that they should cover the cost of that shirt.

"Don't worry about it," I said.  I try to teach my children to be the bigger person, to turn the other cheek, and forgive others when they've been wronged."  That was difficult to say because I really wanted to say, "THEY SURE BETTER BUY HIM A NEW SHIRT!  PUNK KID!"  Instead, I held my tongue.  The principal was impressed and said he would let the other family know.  He told me disciplinary action had been taken, but he couldn't discuss it with me.  

I was no longer mad.  I'm not even sure why.  I think it was one of those love, joy, peace, longsuffering things, or something.  I felt good after I hung up.  Hopefully, that kid will realize that my boy is a cool, stand-up guy.  He won't be labeled as a wimp, a tattletale, or a goody two-shoes and that kid shouldn't be out  to "get him".  I'm thankful the event wasn't worse that in was, that #1 didn't get seriously injured, and that he wasn't the cause of the problem.

That's my little ray of sunshine for the day!  

Our Appreciation of Teachers

Teacher Appreciation Week was the first week of May, and even though I was about ready to pull my hair out, I still participated.  Our school used to make this celebration a big deal and had daily themes of ways to show appreciation.  The last two PTA presidents have really dropped the ball, if you ask me.  I think they prepared a luncheon for the teachers one day, but they didn't get the students involved at all.  Most of the parents had no clue it was teacher appreciation week, and probably would have participated, had they known.

Anyway, I took matters into my own hands and spent some time on Pinterest.  What was life like before Pinterest?  I highly regret procrastinating joining for so long!  Each day, I chose a small item to send in for Big Sis' awesomely wonderful teacher.  Here's what I came up with for Monday.

(Sorry, had to blur out her name for anonymity.)

On Tuesday....

Wednesday's gift was for a "Tea-rrific" Teacher:

Thursday was, by far, my favorite.  The teacher wasn't going to be there on Friday, so I scrapped my Thursday idea and went right for the best idea.  It was a bento box filled with candy bars, gum, and mints.  I bought one sheet of black scrapbook paper and cut it to fit the top.  Then, I printed a slightly smaller piece of paper with the teacher's name and the word "Stash."  I thought about spelling it "Stache," but decided against it.  Then with the same piece of black paper, I traced one of my photo booth mustaches and glued it in the center.  She specifically mentioned how much she liked the stash!

Sadly, my daughter was the only one in the class the entire week that gave any kind of recognition.  Boo.  Teachers work hard and deserve to be appreciated.  I didn't spend all that much, but coming in to a surprise every day was fun for her, I'm sure.

So, mark your calendars for next year and celebrate the first week of May - Teacher Appreciation Week!

Just MIA, not DOA

Wow, it's been a long time that I've been MIA!  I sincerely apologize for that.  Every year in the Spring, my blog gets neglected.  Fortunately, the craziest part of my year is finally over!  It was a busier "crazy" than usual and I made some decisions so that it will never get that bad again.

Let's see, where do I start to fill you in on Life?  I put away our winter coats.  Then, I got them back out.  I put them away again, and got them back out.  It's been a fickle Spring.  Lately, we've been in the 80s, but tomorrow is supposed to cool down again.

Son #1 turned 14 and #2 turned 12.  Yikes!  For some reason, I always pictured myself being a mom of these little kids.  I never really expected them to grow up.  I'm too young for that.

The photo booth was very slow, which I was extremely thankful for.  I couldn't have handled that on top of everything else.  It's picking up now with wedding season, graduation time, and end of the school year events.  I still love it.

Hubby & I celebrated 17 years of marriage, actually ON a photo booth job.  I was pretty bummed about that, as my hired help fell through, but that's life.  There are way worse things to complain about.

We chose an alternate anniversary and went on a long bike ride, just the two of us.  We rode to the nearest big city's downtown, found some foul baseballs outside the stadium, ate a slice, and just thoroughly enjoyed the weather and each other.

Our children's department at church recorded our second curriculum DVD.  My aunt writes and directs it, and all the kids star in it.  I have made friends with the videographer we have used over the past few years.  His assistant wasn't available the second day of recording, so he was going to set the second camera on a tripod.   When I arrived and asked if anything needed done, he asked me to help film!  It was very fun for me, even though video is not my forte.  I hope I gave him some useful footage, but mostly, I really enjoyed the $5K camera I held in my hands!

I've had quite a few photo shoots lately too.  I've got Seniors for next year coming up, as well as several families.

Most importantly- my big event was successful!  We decided to host our annual banquet at the church this year, rather than going to the big restaurant that keeps raising its prices.  People thought that was awesome.  I highly underestimated the amount of work that switch would involve.  Our theme was Peculiar Princesses, and the script I wrote was my best ever.  Each of the girls in my youth group picked their character, a princess with a unique character flaw.  Then I wrote the script based on their personality and ability.  We had the close talking princess, the body odor princess, and the sings everything princess.  It was quite funny.  It turned out, I subconsciously stole a few things from the princess cartoon Baby Girl watches, and didn't even realize.  Oops!  We had 210 in attendance, our highest since I've been involved.

On Mother's Day, our church showed a video of some of our children being interviewed.  One was my son (#2).  The question was, "What makes your mom powerful?"  He answered that I'm powerful because I'm going to run a half marathon!  Yikes!  I'm feeling so unprepared at this point, and he decided to announce it to the entire church!  Guess I'm committed for sure now!  My Nike app said I hadn't run in 28 days.  Boo!  I made it 2 1/2 miles with just a tad of intermittent walking.  Fortunately, I wasn't too sore afterward.  I think those 12 mile bike rides are helping out too.

That's probably enough info to keep you entertained for now.  I'll be back to chat later.  Missed you all!

~she~

Complaining in the Rain

I encountered a woman yesterday who is so very bitter about her lack of "stuff" in life.  She's a woman I stand next to every day on the sidewalk of the school.  We wait together for our kids to be dismissed.  We've exchanged the basic pleasantries, but I don't even know her name.  I know she's a single mom who walks to school every day.  During bad weather, I notice she often catches a ride with a neighbor.

Yesterday, it was raining cats and dogs (and elephants and hippopotamuses).  I had to pick up Son #1 and his tuba first, then go directly to Big Sis' school.  When I parked, I realized I didn't have an umbrella.  Growling, I realized that Hubby probably had at least three in his car.  I couldn't see the pickup spot from my car to know if it was time yet.  So I threw my coat over my head and ran to the sidewalk.  I noticed The Woman had a huge umbrella and I planned to ask if I could stand underneath with her.  As soon as I approached, the wind took her umbrella and demolished it.  She cursed and threw the umbrella down.  I muttered something halfway funny about us both being in bad shape, but she wasn't amused.  Realizing that the teacher wasn't there with her class yet, I ran back to wait in my car.

When the students finally arrived, I ran back through the flooded parking lot and picked up Big Sis.  I still had to pick up my little cousin on the other side of the parking lot, so I walked Big Sis back to the car.  It was then that I saw The Woman getting ready to walk home with her daughter.  "Do you guys want a ride?" I asked.  She exuberantly accepted and I pointed out my car to her.  "Go get in my van while I pick up my cousin," I told her.  "My kids are in there."

I splish-sploshed to the other end of the line, retrieved my cousin, and ran back to the car.  The Woman was in the front while my kids sat in the back.  I knew about where The Woman lived, which was on the way to my cousin's house.  I surely didn't mind giving her a lift.

We engaged in small talk on the ride, discussing the weather and other things.  She wondered if we would get a snow day this week.  I replied that a snow day would be nice.  She said she hoped not tomorrow, because she had a work appointment.  "Oh, where do you work?" was the natural response.  "I don't work," she replied.  I said something breezy in response and then asked if she was still in school.  She mentioned school once before to me.  No, she's not in school either.  That's when my problem began.

This woman does not work.  She does not take classes.  She has one child who is in school most of the day.  Yet she complains.  She complains about her junky phone.  She complains about having to walk to school.  She complains about not having a car.  I'm not sure what she does all day, but now I know that it's not work.

Pardon me for my frankness, but I was raised with the belief that you had to lie in the bed you made for yourself.  In other words, if you don't have a job, you can't expect to have nice things.  Am I alone in this?  This woman apparently lives totally on the government.  She has no live-in boyfriend supporting her. She has a home, food, nice clothes, and a cell phone.  Who is paying for these things?  She's not disabled.

I am getting sick and tired of this lazy society that expects someone else to take care of their needs.  I will continue to be nice to The Woman, as I am a nice person.  I will offer her rides home on rainy days because I believe in lending a hand to the less fortunate.  I can't say that I'm happy with the situation though.

Maybe I'm the only one who has these thoughts and I'm sure I'll hear from those who don't share my opinion.  I'm just getting fed up and needed to vent about it.  It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to!

WWTK

It's Wednesday again, which brings us to another installment of We Want to Know!  Every week, there are five random questions to answer.  I love answering questions about myself!  If you'd like to play along, visit Kenzie or Scriptor and link up.

- - QUESTIONS - -

{no. 1} Where is your favorite place to go on vacation, and if you could choose any place to go where would you go?

I don't have one favorite place to vacation.  My idea of a perfect vacation is to do something different than last time.  I am not a time share kind of person.  I want to visit all 50 states before I die.  My favorite vacations to this point were San Francisco, New York, and Disney World.  I also really enjoy a nice, relaxing vacation at a cabin in the mountains with a hot tub on the deck and no people around.  If I could choose any place to go, it would be Italy.  I would love to visit Venice and Greece before I die.  Time to start the bucket list, I guess!

Taken by me, August 2011

{no. 2} What is your favorite hobby?

Hobbies?  Oh yeah, that's stuff you do for fun when you don't have anything else going on.  I used to have hobbies!  OK, I'm exaggerating.  I enjoy baking, reading, biking, photography, and blogging.  I used to love entertaining, but haven't found time to do that in quite a while.  What I do most often right now in the little spare time I have is play stupid games on my phone that are way too addicting!  I also enjoy crashing in front of the television in the evenings, after the kids are in bed and the house is quiet.

I make a mean sugar cookie!

{no. 3} When you need to get out of the house, what do you do? 

Usually, I go to Target.  I could easily shop there every day and not get bored.  Hubby and I enjoy eating out, namely Chipotle, but anywhere is good.  I enjoy shopping, but not too often.  I have to be in the mood and have money to spend.  When it's nice out, I really enjoy doing things outside.  

Outdoor shopping, a definite favorite!

{no. 4} What is your go to date night idea?

I'm going to have to say Chipotle and Target again.  Actual date nights are rare and we're too cheap to go anywhere more expensive.  On our last planned date night, we rode our bikes from home to an Italian restaurant about 7 miles away.  We loved it!

NYC was a great date for our anniversary!

{no. 5} Do you have any tattoos, if so what of and where?

Um, no.  Never have, never will.

Chewed Up & Spit Out

Last night, I got the biggest bawling out since my mom found out I was in a car that was playing "Mailbox Baseball" when I was 15.  And this altercation wasn't by my mom.

I was passing by a woman at church who asked if she could talk to me.  It sounded casual, so I thought she was going to ask about photography, shoes, or something else totally random.  Wrong.  She was on a mission to bring me down.

She started off by saying, "You're lucky I didn't find you when I first found out about this because I wouldn't have been able to exercise self-control..." This was immediately after a Bible study on self-control.  I thought she was teasing so I causally chuckled.  Wrong again.

I'll spare you the details, but she was all riled up over a photo of her that was printed in our church pictorial calendar.  I'm the unofficial photographer of the church so I spend the entire year snapping photos of things that happen at church functions.  At the end of the year, I submit all those photos to the church secretary who chooses enough to fill twelve pages and creates photo collages for the calendar.  Most people approach me, complaining that their photo wasn't in the calendar again.

This woman continued by saying she specifically told me to delete any photos taken of her when she saw me snapping them one day.  This was last winter and I do not remember the conversation.  Sure, that's my bad.  I apologized for my error, told her I didn't remember that conversation, and was ready to end the conversation.  Boy, was I on a streak of wrongness.  She was not done.

She went on and on, for what seemed like an eternity, telling me how wrong I was for what I did.  She said things like, "How could you do that to me?" and "I couldn't believe you did that after I specifically told you not to."  She even went on to say that the photo was hideous.  At that point, she crossed the line when she criticized my work.

I was still trying to be breezy and say things like, "You looked beautiful in that picture!"  She is a very pretty woman.  That didn't work.  She told me she never allows her picture to be taken.  I said the words "I'm sorry" way more times than I can count.  How many times does a person have to apologize?  I admitted my wrong, which cannot be changed.  It's over, it's time to let it go.  She still wasn't ready to let it go.

She reamed me out for well over five minutes, which is a long time to just stand there and take it.  And that's what I did.  I stood there, I let her humiliate me, and I profusely apologized.  I was mortified.  I was embarrassed.  I fought back tears.  It was horrible.  

When I was recounting the story to my mother, who is a friend of hers, she asked how I finally got out of the conversation.  I honestly could not remember how I was able to get away.  I do remember getting to the exit as quickly as possible before the tears came.

The most interesting thing about the conversation was when she said, "I have a bit of a fetish about getting my picture taken."  All I said was, "Yeah, it sounds like you do."  It's more than a fetish.  It's a mental illness.

That's one day I don't care to ever relive.  I have never been treated that badly my entire adult life.  Unfortunately, I will never feel comfortable around this person ever again.  She's friends with my brother and parents.  She doesn't have a lot of other friends and she just lost the chance of being mine again.  

What should a person do in a situation like that?  I handled it as best as I could, since I was completely and utterly blindsided.  Now, I just keep replaying the conversation over and over, wondering what I should have done differently.  I determined that I'm very thankful for my mental health.  Not everyone has the luxury of being mentally sound.  

WWTK

It's been another one of those crazy weeks, you know- the kind where I didn't even get dinner last night, picked up Subway on Tuesday, and for the life of me, can't even remember what I ate for dinner Monday night.  All I do remember is that it was late.  No Mother of the Year Awards will be given to me this week.  Anyhoo- that's why I'm a day late with WWTK.  It looked like a fun one so I didn't want to pass on it.

- - QUESTIONS - -

{no. 1} Describe what high school was like for you. Include details like where you went, your dedication to certain subjects, etc.

High school was 19 to 23 years ago for me.  I was a big, fat nerd.  Well, I only weighed 120 lbs., so I wasn't actually fat.  I was in Honors classes, Choir, Yearbook staff, Girls' Ensemble, and Spanish Club.  I kept an A/B average and actually cared.  I didn't smoke, drink, or party.  I never had detention, even though I was suspended once.  Language Art subjects were my favorite and I adored my Composition class.  

I'm in the front, middle

{no. 2} On a typical Friday night in high school, what could you be found doing?

I was at church!  Our youth group had services on Fridays.  We all piled on the church vans  after service and went out to a restaurant.  It was the best part of my week.

I'm in the middle - riding the church vans

{no. 3} Did you own a car in high school?

My cousin gave me her 1984 Dodge 600 for free.  I was pretty pumped to drive it!  I named it Stormy because it was the color of a storm cloud and sounded like thunder.  Ah, good times!

The front of my shirt said Duck Head and the back said Duck Tail.  Classy.

{no. 4} Sum up your fashion sense in high school.

Penny loafers or Keds, jean skirts, cardigans, and turtlenecks, big hair and big glasses.  I had a brown leather jacket from Express that I thought was the bomb-diggity!  It provided no warmth but I wore it every single day.  

The beginning of a long, beautiful relationship

{no. 5} Have you attended any high school reunions?

We had a 5 year and a 10 year.  They were both actually a lot of fun.  I still ended up hanging out with my group of nerds and current friends, but we enjoyed making fun of the people who let themselves go after high school.  Over the summer, I attended Hubby's 20 year reunion, which was a lot of fun too.  I remember a lot of people from his class, even though I didn't speak to any of them in high school.  I was shy and they were stupid...taking Freshmen classes their Junior year.  

Airing Out Dirty Laundry

I moved up another notch on the scale of Little House on the Prairie-ness.  (My goal is to be halfway between an Ingalls and a tech-savvy woman of the 21st century.  How eclectic!)

This morning, I made my own laundry detergent!  Yes, you all know I'm cheap.  You also know that I am lazy.  Adding up the pros & cons, I decided that I can do this once or twice a year to save some big bucks.  I must say, it wasn't that hard.

I have a friend who always smells so clean and fresh.  Finally, I asked her what kind of laundry soap she used.  She replied that she makes her own!  She said it saves her lots of money.  I was immediately on board!  I hounded her until she gave me the list of ingredients and went to a couple different stores to find them.

Here's what you need:
1 bar Fels Naptha
1 C Super Washing Soda
3/4 C Borax
Optional oil for scent:  Tea Tree Oil, Lavender, Lemon, etc.
5 gallon bucket

I found the Fels Naptha at the grocery store.  I found the Borax at my alternate grocery store.  I had to look around for the Super Washing Soda, but finally found it at Target.  I also got generic Tea Tree Oil at Target.  That was a year ago.  I finally came down to having 1 load of detergent left and the refusal to buy more.  I hounded my friend again for the exact directions.

Son #2 was my assistant.  He is both the best in Science and Cooking, so he was the obvious choice.  He was off school today, his brother is on a trip, his sister was at a friend's house, and his other sister was sleeping.  So actually, he was the only choice (and the photographer).

Here's what we did:

1.  Shave the bar of soap into a pot.  (I used my vegetable peeler.  Hope it doesn't make my potatoes taste like soap next time!)

2.  Add 4 C hot water to the soap and melt on the stove, stirring continuously.

3.  Once it's completely dissolved, remove from heat and add rest of ingredients.

4.  Pour into a 5 gallon bucket and fill with warm water 3/4 of the way.

5.  Add your scent.  I used Tea Tree Oil, because that's what she uses.  I added 20 drops.  Also, did you know that Tea Tree Oil deters lice?  When someone had it in my daughter's class, I added a couple drops to her brush and combed through her hair.  My friend adds a few drops to her shampoo.  Just a nice, little tip.

5.  Let sit several hours, preferably overnight.  This is where we are so far.  I'm going to let it sit overnight.  (I need to buy a funnel first anyway!)

6.  The next day, stir mixture.  Pour the concentrate into jugs, filling halfway.  Fill with water.  (I saved my empty laundry jugs for the last year or so.  My friend uses milk jugs.)  Shake well before each use.  My friend uses 1 C per load, but others who make this use 1/2 C per load.  Make your own judgement call there.

Also, this is safe for HE machines.  These products do not create a bunch of suds, which makes it OK to use in your high efficiency machine.

Hopefully I'll be smelling clean and fresh from now on!  (Actually, I hope I always have been, but you know what I mean!)

Randomness

I have a head cold.  I am grouchy.

Sunday, I accidentally picked up Hubby's Coke and drank from his straw.  When I tasted the disgusting liquid (I am very partial to Diet Coke), I nearly spewed it out of my mouth, realizing I now had his cold germs.  Yep.

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I have A LOT to do today, even though I just want to lie on the couch with the TV as background noise.

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Sunday is our first bridal show for the photo booth.  I'm very anxious/nervous.  Today, I plan on setting up the booth in my living room and testing everything.  I also want to print old photo strips out to make a sample scrapbook for potential clients to browse.  Boy, am I glad I put that model release blurb on my contract!

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Son #1 also has his first concert of the season on Sunday.  Why everything on Sundays?  Don't people know that church and nap day?  I don't like to do anything on Sundays but go to church, eat, and nap.  I don't know if I'll even be able to make the concert.

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Baby Girl is obsessed with Just Dance, which we got for Christmas.  She plays every day now.  She can do everything on her own, except for actually turning the game on.  I have countless hours of video of her shaking that cute, itty-bitty rump of hers, but I doubt you want to watch them all.

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I'm thinking it's about time to start my tomato seeds.  I had an awesome garden two years ago and really missed it last year.  Boy, it was a lot of work though!

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I am also thinking about running the half marathon in September.  Am I totally nuts???

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I have some big, exciting news...I think I'm getting my new camera on Saturday!  I've saved every dime I've made from my photography to purchase better equipment.  I'm not quite there yet, but Hubby said he'll take care of the rest.  Yeah, he's a sweetheart.  He'll probably tell everyone he got me the camera for V-Day!  :)  I'm OK with that.  Anyone have a Canon 60D?  It's what I want.  Our local camera store has a bundle that comes with two lenses.  I was actually kind of surprised at the price. I planned on paying more.