Sunday, November 30, 2008

SP Day 49

Today is one of those days where I feel like I'm really having to stretch to find something to blog about. There was one particular stand out event today but it was not at all positive so I'll save it for the end of my post.

Mom and William and I made it to church today. That was great. It's something that I should do much more often. I dread it though because my pastor does not believe in having child care during the church service so I don't like going by myself with William. He can get pretty out of hand if he's being asked to sit still and be quiet. Mom doesn't make it very often because she often over does things on Saturday and doesn't feel well enough to get up and go to church on Sunday. So, two of the three Stennetts made it to church today.

Our one stand out event of the day today: Slightly more than 48 hours after Blackee came to live with the Gaston family, Blackee left this life. Poor thing just got worse and worse from the time we brought her home. Mom called the vet today and he agreed to meet her at the clinic on his day off. She said the moment she laid kitty on the table, she took three breaths and died. The vet speculates that she just had too much done at once being spayed, vaccinated, wormed, and re-homed in 3 days time. His diagnosis was liver failure.

When I told William tonight that Blackee had died he fussed and put his head on my shoulder and said "Maw Maw, Pa Paw". I think he was worried that his grandparents were sad. It was really sweet but made me tear up at the same time.

Last but not least, back to work tomorrow. Yuck.

Many thanks for reading my somewhat pointless and completley rambling post.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

SP Day 48

Shopping Diva!

That's me today. This morning over a very meager little breakfast ('cause I was too lazy to fix a real one) my hubby noticed two Lane Bryant flyers on the kitchen table. One was for $15 off a purchase and the other was Buy One Get One Free. He suggested that since I'd bombed on my shopping trip last week, I should go, since this is my favorite place to shop and it looked like some pretty good deals.

Pretty good deals was an understatement. I left with,
  • One pair dress slacks
  • One pair trouser jeans
  • One black sweater with jewel embellished neck line
  • One cute sleeveless top with rosettes all round the top
  • One black shrug to go w/sleeveless top
  • One silver long sleeve jersey knit shirt
  • One red/black/silver beaded necklace
  • One pair red earrings
  • One red/black/silver beaded bracelet
Total before sale $291.49

Enough to choke a horse right? Well, I did not use my $15 off offer because while I was there a very nice lady gave me a $50 off one that she didn't use. How nice. Then I got an additional 15% off because I used my credit card that I already had for this store(which I will pay off when the bill comes in). Wanna know what I ended up paying, total, with tax, the whole nine yards?

$87.10

That's right, I'm the shopping diva. A savings of $211.03. That's 73% off. I must say, damn, I'm good.

I would have bought more, but really, that's all I found that I loved. Just in case anyone reading this is a size 14 or up, the buy one get one sale goes on through tomorrow at Lane Bryant and it is WELL worth your time.

Friday, November 28, 2008

SP Day 47

What was I thinking?

Tell me again why I was out of bed at 3:30 this morning and getting my poor child up at 3:45?

Why in the WORLD was I at Wal-Mart at 4:15?

These are questions I always ask myself after the feeding frenzy of black Friday. But each and every year with a slightly nauseous stomach from eating too much the day before there I am out in front of some store just waiting for the little hand to be on the 5 and the big hand on the 12 so I can get my deals.

My goal this year was the $88 power wheels jeep at Wal-Mart. I did not procure said jeep. Instead I took a step back from the mass of people, that just 15 seconds before had seemed perfectly normal while I was standing with them huddled around a pallet with only 8 of these things. These people went berserk. It was the black Friday hysteria that you often hear about but believe it's just some exaggerated blown up tale. Oh, no, people, this was an all out mob. People were tackled, shoved, scratched, and stood yanking boxes from each others hands. My decision: my kid does NOT need a power wheels jeep that badly.

So, I went and found him and his maw-maw (my mother) they had found many smaller and much less dramatic deals and had a full basket while I came wheeling up with my empty one. We checked out and got the heck outta dodge. William fell asleep in the car during the 4 minute trip across the interstate to Target. I left him and maw-maw in the car while I hit Target and Kohls. There were many more of the advertised items at these stores with much less drama. I found almost everything I went after and was done with my black friday shopping (or as William said all morning "kim-us choppin") by 8:00am. Which is a good thing because that's when it started pouring down rain.

Later today maw-maw, William and I went to the vet in Millsap and procured a new kitty for William. "Kee-Kee" his former pet had to be put to sleep a week or so before because she had a huge tumor in her tummy. The very kind vet in Millsap also does spay and neuters at the animal shelter. He was there this week and found an acceptable replacement for "Kee-Kee" who has been named, by William, "Blackee". She's very pretty and already very attached to my Dad who pretends to be against any pets in his house but is secretly the worlds biggest softie.

It was a great, if somewhat crazy, day. William fell asleep in my lap at 6:30 this evening and didn't bat an eye while I changed him into his pj's. I'm not far behind him. The great news is I got 4 people marked off of my "kim-us choppin" list today. YEA!!!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

SP Day 46

Happy Turkey Day

Today was a great day of friends, family, and food. There were 3 toddlers, a tiny baby, and a puppy in all the ruckus so everyone stayed busy keeping at least one eye on a young 'un of some sort at all times. It was a fabulous day. I always LOVE being together with my family, even if they are crazy.

I hope all of you had a wonderful day and got to feel the love and warmth of the Holiday.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

SP Day 45

Whew! What a day. I got a TON of stuff accomplished today.
  1. Had breakfast with hubby. (He did the dishes this morning!!)
  2. Went to Mom's to help clean for Thanksgiving.
  3. Cleaned out garage.
  4. Swept garage.
  5. Cleaned items going back into the garage.
  6. Vacuumed the whole house.
  7. Re-vacuumed the whole house when I realized the belt wasn't attached and I hadn't really been doing much good.
  8. Shampooed the carpets.
  9. Made dinner for everyone.
  10. Had dinner w/hubby, kid and parents.
  11. Went to Wal-Mart and faced day-before-Thanksgiving crowds.
  12. Came home, unloaded groceries and kid.
  13. Played with kid.
  14. Put kid to bed.
  15. Made pumpkin brownies, green salad (the pudding cool-whip kind not the healthy kind), and sweet okra salad.
  16. Put dogs to bed.
  17. Blogged.
Now, I think I got quite a bit accomplished today and I'm hoping I won't be too tired to enjoy tomorrow. It was a good day spent with my folks and even though I worked my tail off, I enjoyed helping them and getting something accomplished.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

SP Day 44

Tonight, there was great potential. We failed to reach our potential. This is disappointing.

So, I got us a baby sitter and we had great plans to go out just the two of us. I came home showered and dressed. Ben got up when I got out of the shower and got ready and we were out the door by 6. We had a few errands to run then we were off to dinner and what ever other wonderful things the evening might hold.

Well, we ended up getting pretty ticked off running one of our errands which kind of, as Ben put it, "took the bloom off the flower" for us. We were no longer really in the mood for an evening of fun and frolic. Then there were babysitter snafus so we had dinner, went and got our kid, and came home. By the time we got here, Ben's tummy was not feeling well which kind of kibosh-ed any real exciting plans we might have had for the remainder of our evening at home. Overall, not the evening we had in mind.

So, I gave up, am currently enjoying an adult beverage and have plans for flannel pjs and winnie-the-pooh house shoes in my VERY near future.

Here though is the silver lining to an evening of lost potential. I got to spend some time with my husband, just the two of us. Even when Ben didn't have a screwy job, that didn't happen very often at all. The price we pay for the cuteness that is William and one we're very willing to pay. So, though it may not have been the romantic evening of dreams, it was still enough to make me very happy. I have an AWESOME husband, and I'll take time with him all to myself when ever I can get it.

SP Day 43

Monday was a good day. I got off work, came home, made tacos for dinner and sat down and had a meal with my whole family. I felt like a real live wife and mommy. It was awesome.

After dinner, I left William with Ben (it was his day off) and I went to town to go clothes shopping for me. (This is something I very rarely do.) I was soooo excited!

Yeah, well, I got to town, tried on a million things, NONE of them looked good. I stood in the dressing room of Belk, looked at myself in the mirror and cried. Left all of my clothes in the dressing room floor and went home. The heck with it!

Here's the great part though, I came home, my kid was bathed and in bed and my husband had a huge smile on his face. He'd gotten to spend some great time with his son and that is worth any amount of dressing room misery there is!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

SP Day 42

All though today was rather cloudy and overcast most of the day the temperature outside was very nice. It wasn't too windy, it was actually a very nice day outdoors. I say this to say, I took William outside A LOT today. Yesterday, it was a bit too chilly and the wind made it to where going outside was just not reasonable. So, I was glad to get my little stinker outside and let him run off some of his bound up energy that usually winds up getting him into trouble inside. The other plus to this situation is if he's outside having a good time, he isn't inside waking daddy up and that's a good thing for everyone. Daddy gets his rest, which makes daddy happy. Daddy isn't grumpy which makes Mommy happy! When Mommy and Daddy are both happy, William should be happy. (Notice I said should!!)

On a side note, and not a positive one, my Grandma Gaston, who has had Alzheimer's disease for well over 10 years, isn't doing well. She's with the people who care for her and hospice care is on call. It is very likely that in the next few days, she'll be reunited with her husband of over 50 years and a son she lost to cancer in the 60's. I just want to say that I love her very much and I hope she'll find peace and be herself once again. I love you Grandma.

SP Day 41

Well Saturday came and went with out much to mention. William was very much a 2 year old from the time he got up until the time he went to bed.

Ben got off work late yesterday morning so when he came home he was ready to go to bed and William was ready to take a nap. So, Ben put William in bed with him and I got to go to town ALL BY MYSELF! I took some clothes to the dry cleaners and got an oil change. William slept for nearly 3 hours with his daddy so even after I got home I had time to pick up the living room, sweep, and sit down for a few minutes. It was very nice.

What worried me though was that Ben slept right through William waking up and walking out of the bedroom all by himself. I thought, what if my oil change had taken longer, what if he'd woken up while I was gone and Ben had kept on sleeping? I can only imagine what state my house, and my child would have been in when I got back.

But the good news is, that didn't happen. William got a good nap. Ben got to spend some time with his kid and I had a little time to myself. And all of those are great things!

Friday, November 21, 2008

SP Day 40

Today was, for the most part a much better day at work. What's great about today? I got a TON of stuff accomplished. I called what seemed like a million parents, (I think it was more like 25 or so) all of whom volunteered to help out with my Christmas program. After 10 years of teaching elementary music, I've FINALLY learned how to delegate. 25 parent phone calls or a hundred hours of my time? From now on, I'll be doing the phone calls.

So, with my volunteers neatly divided into 3 groups, the decoration crew, the backdrop crew, and the cake auction crew (we're having an auction to raise funds to buy new instruments), now all I have to do is get my kiddos prepared and hope everything goes off with out a hitch. It always has in the past, so here's hoping, no, praying, that it will happen that way again this time!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

SP Day 39

Today, in general, was not a great day. So, I'll go with a few small, obvious, but good things.

1) I did NOT kill my 2 year old for behaving like a 2 year old even when I got pegged in the back of the head with shoes while driving.

2) My 2 year old went to bed with out a fuss.

3) Though it is not certain, the dishes MAY get done before bed.

Looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

SP Day 38

The gift of time. My sweet boy, even after taking 2 hour nap today was obviously exhausted during dinner time at mom's house this evening. I was seriously considering putting him to bed early tonight after a bath. Well, he fell asleep in the car on the way home. So, I took him to his room and thought that I would attempt to change his diaper and put his pj's on him and if he woke up I'd give him a bath. He never so much as blinked an eye. He even snored during part of it. So, my kiddo was in bed at 6:30 and now I have an extra hour and a half of William free time to get some things done around here.

On a side note, I'm a little bummed though that I didn't get to hang out with him much tonight.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

SP Day 37

What goes around comes around. Yesterday, I took a friend of mine home from work because her car was in the shop. Today, my co-worker and good friend, volunteered his time and his pick-up to take me into town to buy lumber for a project the ag department is doing for me. So, once again, I must say, having good friends is a great thing.

Monday, November 17, 2008

SP Day 36



Two great things about today. Daddy and William got to spend some quality time. The yard got mowed. YEA!!!!

SP Day 35

As I mentioned previously having an awesome best friend is awesome. I happen to be the lucky recipient of several great friends. However, snarfle and I have been friends for many years as well as college room mates and sorrority sisters. For the last several weeks she has sent me one of her beautiful handmade cards about once a week and I can't even begin to tell you how much they make me smile.






This is the latest of her creations that I received in the mail. It's such a happy, cheerful thing! She's so creative and talented. I'm so grateful that she thinks of me, that I'm so lucky that she loves me, and just thinking of her makes a bright spot in my day. Thanks Snarfle, I love you honey!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

SP Day 35

TGFM!
Thank God For Mom that is. I asked mom to come over today and hang out with William so I could get some house cleaning done. She showed up just as he went down for his nap and dug right in helping me clean. By the time she left today she'd done much more cleaning than hanging out with William and I am SO grateful that she came and helped me.

Next weekend is my turn to return the favor and start helping her get her house ready for Thanksgiving. Having an awesome mom is the best.

Preview for tomorrow's post...having an awesome best friend is well. . . awesome.

SP Day 34

Friday was my niece and her fiance's couples shower. They got some great gifts and William and I got to spend some time with family. Going to "Shahn's" (Sharon's) house is one of Williams favorite things to do. He was a really good boy all though the poor guy had some awful diaper rash for the second weekend in a row. Don't know what's up with that. But, all in all we had a great time.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

SP Day 33

Turkey and dressing for lunch. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Today is the second day in a row that I've over indulged for lunch. While this is not something I'm proud of, boy was it worth it today. Once a year, the school cafeteria makes turkey and gravy with dressing, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans, cranberry sauce, and your choice of pecan or pumpkin pie and, oh-my-goodness, it is soo tasty. I ate every single bite of what those lovely women put on my plate. (Well, I did restrict myself to only 1/2 a slice of pecan pie.)

You know it's good when you open the refrigerator in the teacher's lounge and it is stacked a mile high with boxes of cafeteria take home. Believe me, that doesn't happen very often. One teacher even went and got a tray for her co-worker who was absent today and put it in the fridge for her to have tomorrow.

I paid for it dearly in calories, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Thank you cafeteria ladies. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Happy Birthday Ben



Happy Birthday Honey!

I love you!

SP Day 32

The bad news: It costs the same to rent a tuxedo for a toddler as it does for a grown man. $115 to be exact. You gotta be kidding me? Right?

The good news: It only costs $69 to buy a toddler tuxedo. I opted to purchase. Now, what in the world am I going to do with a 2T-3T tuxedo after he wears it ONE TIME in my nieces wedding?

I got quite a bit accomplished today. YEA! I had a 9:30am eye appointment which was fun. No, I don't mean that sarcastically. One of my best friends was my optometrist today and I hadn't seen her in quite some time so it was fun. (Hi Jen!)

Then we headed to the mall for the a fore mentioned tuxedo fitting. Mom was able to pick up an anniversary gift for my grandparents while we were there. Then we went to Academy to pick up a birthday gift for my brother in law. From there we had a wonderful lunch. (If you're ever in Fort Worth and looking for a great Tex-Mex place, Rio Mambo on Bryant Irvin is AWESOME!!)

After lunch we headed back to Weatherford. I went to Lowes and picked up a gift card for my niece's wedding shower. Then I ran into Best Buy to get Ben a birthday gift. Came home, made dinner for Ben's birthday, spent some time with my husband, wished him happy birthday and sent him off to work. Played with William, gave him a bath, put him to bed early because he didn't get much of a nap today, and now it's ten after seven and I've got all kinds of time that I could get some stuff done but there's only ONE problem. I'M EXHAUSTED!!!

I think I will pick up a little and throw some dishes in the dishwasher then I think I'm putting me to bed early tonight too.

To sum it all up. It was a good day. The fact that someone else kept an eye on my 300 little darlings at school today makes it even better!

Hope you had a great one!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

SP Day 31

Let's see, great things about today. Homemade pizza for dinner. Mmm.

William actually ate the pizza. YEA!

William was an angel for mom all day and an angel for me all evening and went to bed with out a fuss. WOW!

I found a new bible verse that I love. "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." Psalm 18:32

If God makes my way perfect then there must be a purpose to my chaos. WHEW!

I'm off work tomorrow and get to spend the day with my mom and William and get to be home in time to make a great birthday dinner for my hubby. HOORAY!

Monday, November 10, 2008

SP Day 30

Ya know what's great about today? Neither myself nor anyone that I know was sucked up into a swirling vortex of destruction! Tornadoes all over my part of the world today. Our kiddos spent the last hour of school in the hall in "duck-and-cover" position. Our normal release time of 3:30 was backed up to 4:15 waiting for the tornado warning to expire. That was not fun because I spent that time in the school office trying to entertain William. We couldn't hang out in my classroom because it's a portable building. Not a great place to be in the event of a tornado.

Other great things about today? Potch-kit. What, you may ask, is "potch-kit"? Well, below is a picture of my little "potch-kit" face.
Yep, potch-kit = ketchup. It took me forever to figure out what he was saying but I about cracked up when I did. My other current favorites are "poot nak" which is fruit snacks. He loves thoes things. And "WES do---!" which is "Lets go!" He's amazing and frequently amazingly hilarious.

SP Day 29

It occurred to me as I got in the shower this morning that there were several things I neglected to do yesterday; post grades, do lesson plans, and blog! Yikes.

I amended the first two while at work today. And now I'll make up for the third. Yesterday was awesome. Ben, instead of sleeping all day, because his schedule was a little messed up, was up quite a bit yesterday and we got to see a lot of him. He and William even got to lay down together and take a nap. It was GREAT!

Last night my whole big ol' crazy family got together at a restaurant and had dinner to celebrate Ben's birthday which will be Wednesday. It was awesome. I have such a great family and it means a great deal to me that they love Ben and want to come and celebrate with him. Is it crazy that when we're all together there are 19 of us??? Regardless, we made a lot of noise and had a ton of fun just being together.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

SP Day 28

Well, I was informed today that a "great" blog post was expected tonight, so, I hope I do not disappoint those individuals expecting this post.

Today was an awesome day. We visited with Ben's mom's side of the family. They are such fun people to be around (especially since many of them who shall remain nameless (Joe) have the same crude sense of humor as myself). It was a great time, I was so glad to see all of them and since I know what is really needed here are pictures of this wonderful day, I'll quit blabbing and get to the pictures.


Poor William, so much family, so much food, so much fun. He just couldn't take it any more.
William and cousin Shelbi having WAY too much fun.
Daddy and William playing on Uncle Tom's "tractor".

Grandmother and her crew.
William having fun at Uncle Tom's fort.

P.S. There were a few WONDERFUL people who couldn't make it and they were greatly missed. Hope to see you very soon!

Friday, November 7, 2008

SP Day 27

Today is a hard one. I'm really having a hard time with our current situation with Ben working nights and working long hours. See, it just so happens, I have this GREAT husband who I adore. I see him for less than 2 hours on most days, less than one hour on others. I can't understand why it is that I have this great husband and this great marriage but I can't enjoy them. So, I'm a little bitter tonight.

But, none the less, I pledged to find at least one positive thing in each and every day for 365 days, so I will do that again today all though it's not really where I'm at right now.

My son was very well behaved this evening. He minded me. We had no temper tantrums. He ate (well only fruit snacks, but he ate.) It was a really awesome evening. Just before bed, he crawled up in my lap, laid his head on my chest and said "Hi momma". It was just the sweetest darn thing ever.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

SP Day 26

There is something deeply gratifying about cooking a meal that is enjoyed by others. Mom and I split dinner duty on nights that Ben works. Last night and tonight were my nights for this week. Last night was a quick and easy chicken/stovetop stuffing dish that was a recipe on the back of the box. It was good and everyone liked it.

However tonight, I did breakfast for dinner and we had a casserole made of frozen hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, milk and cheese. It was really easy to make and it got RAVE reviews. Everyone* really loved it and I got lots and lots of compliments. It just feels good to make other people happy and judging from the general shape (being round) of my family, good food makes us happy.

*Unfortunately tonight, everyone did not include my husband. Having never made this particular dish before, it took longer to cook than I expected. He got leftover "Chicken Express" before dashing out the door to work. Good news is, even after my dad requested that enough leftovers be kept for him to have breakfast in the morning, there is plenty of it waiting in the fridge for Ben when he gets home. Enjoy honey!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

SP Day 25

Tonight, for a moment, my husband and I switched roles. Usually, when Ben is around, if William is in trouble, it's Ben who scolds him and takes care of any necessary punishment. William then runs to me, throws himself into my lap and says "mo-ma-a-a" in the most pathetic voice possible.

Well, it just so happened tonight that I was the one who found him, sitting in his high chair (that he had climbed into) having drank an entire cup of juice. However, instead of swallowing it, he had let all of it dribble out of his mouth, down his chin, down his shirt, down his pants... you get the idea.

Needless to say, I was displeased. I pulled him out of the high chair, started ripping clothes off of him and telling him that he had done something wrong, very very wrong. So, this time, after momma chewed him out, he got to run and fling himself in daddy's lap and daddy got to be the hero, the saver of William.

It made me smile.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

SP Day 24

I voted.

I got heart burn because of it but learned that I love cheetos.

Confused?

Monday, November 3, 2008

SP Day 23

Tonight I was giving William a bath and I noticed he has a bump on his head, a scrape on his arm, a scrape on his knee, and a cut on his leg. This is in addition to various other bumps and bruises. I was thinking, oh my gosh, this poor kid, he looks like he's been abused. But then, as I watched him splash, screech, play and generally have fun in the bathroom, I realized, every bump, bruise, and scab is a blessing.

First of all, they're a blessing because they're only bumps, bruises, and scrapes, and not something much worse.

Second of all, they are a sign that he is a healthy, happy little boy who gets to run and play. He has a dog and a cat to run and chase at moms. He has two dogs that love to chase him all over the back yard at home. He has three dogs and two or three cats at Julie's and TONS of toys to play with outside. He so loves to be outside, and he is blessed to be in places where he has lots of room to do that. Little accidents just happen when little guys run around outside. So, I came to the conclusion that those bumps and bruises are each a gift and I'll take them.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

SP Day 22

*Fair warning, if you're an anti-hunting type of person you may not want to read any further.*


Meat in the freezer!
Well, not yet. Ben shot a 78lb doe this weekend so, when my dad heads to Abilene next weekend he'll pick up our meat and we'll have meat in the freezer again. This is a good thing. I am down to two packages of ground meat in the freezer. My grocery budget depends on not having to purchase a lot of meat. So, I'm very excited. My dad also got a doe this weekend so he and mom will have venison in the freezer for the first time in a couple of years. Dad's been waiting on "the big one" but finally decided he was going to make mom happy and just get some meat.

The bad news is that Ben didn't get any sleep while he was there because it was opening day and there were lots of guys there. He's decided it's probably in his best interest to hunt during the week from now on so that he'll be the only one out there and able to sleep during the day. I hate that he'll miss out on the camaraderie but I'm glad he'll still get to go hunting because he loves it so much.

I'm hoping this week goes by quickly since Ben is off, oh my goodness, get this, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! I'm looking forward to having some family time this weekend. Here's to hoping this week goes quickly and smoothly.

Halloween Pictures

Well there aren't many of them and they aren't great but here they are. By the way, the little girl in the picture is my great niece Makhala.





Saturday, November 1, 2008

New Hair




As requested, here are new hair pics.

SP Day 21

It feels good to do for others. That is something we all know but sometimes fail to exercise because of time or stress or whatever. One of my good friends at work it out of town for the weekend and I agreed to feed her dogs for her. Do I have time to do that? Heck no. But, it feels good to do for others and I'm glad I took the time to do it.