Randoms, because that's all I seem to have time for

Well, it happened again.
I wrote out a blog schedule with a topic for each day of this week and even managed to take a few of the photos I'd need.

And then I lived my life and didn't have time for any of it.
And that's ok.

So tonight, after cleaning the kitchen and putting away the dishes, and tucking 3 kiddos into bed, and finishing a custom order, and making one heckuva good cup of hot tea, I have time to write. And it seems I'm not quite in the mood for anything I'd planned to write about, so I've got a few randoms for ya:

1. While driving home from rehearsal Tuesday night, I was playing with the buttons on the back of the steering wheel that control the volume of the radio. So nice of those Chrysler folks to think of what drivers truly want in a vehicle, like a way to turn down the volume of the Veggie Tales cd so you can yell at your kids sweetly remind your children to be nice to one another without even having to move your hand from the steering wheel. I knew the button on the right side was volume, and the one on the left would allow you to skip through tracks on a cd, but what would it do if you weren't listening to a cd? I was intrigued. So I tried it. And you know what?  After driving the swagger wagon for over 10 months, I discovered that the button on the left side of the back of the steering wheel, when pushed up or down when a cd is NOT playing, will scroll through cd/am & fm radio/aux and will also play SATELLITE RADIO.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I'M JUST FIGURING OUT THIS MINI VAN HAS SATELLITE RADIO? HOW? HOOOOWWWWWW?

There's an all 50's channel, all 60's, all 70's...
There's a Jimmy Buffet channel.
There's an Elvis channel.
There's an LA area traffic channel, as well as several Canadian sports channels, and quite a few channels in languages I don't understand.

I was mesmerized.
And shocked.

To think of all the Jimmy Buffet I've been missing...

And yet, as I looked at the dashboard and wondered why there wasn't a 'satelite radio' button, I realized there actually was.

I'd just never pushed it.

2. While cooking dinner last night, (and by cooking, I mean ripping open a bag of frozen pasta & veggies and tossing them into a hot pan) I went to retrieve a measuring cup. As I filled my 2/3 measuring cup with water, it dawned on me that I was still using the same 2/3 measuring cup I had in college. From a set I purchased at the Dollar Tree. In the year 2001, A.D.

And it's 2012.

Not to say that anything is wrong with the measuring cups. No, not a thing. They're black, and plastic, and they do their job of helping me to occasionally get domestic in my kitchen. But they were one of those items that got tossed into my green shopping basket in the Dollar Tree because measuring cups are one of those things on every girls list of college necessessities. You just need to have them so the drawers of your college apartment's kitchen won't be empty. Having been married for several years now, and having birthed 3 babes, and having a mortgage and whatnot, I feel I've earned the right to a nicer set of measuring cups. When I find the perfect ones, I'll let you know.

3. Sometime between drying my hair and making my coffee this morning, this happened:

Now, I'm not one to point fingers, but I do happen to know that only one other person in my house was awake at the time so I'm gonna go ahead and blame my new home screen background on the 7 year-old I live with.

4. We passed 3 of these as we entered school this morning...

Does it get more random than that?

Tuesday randoms

Hello friends.

Somber today.

Lots going on.

I snapped some pics of my house this morning because the chaos of our surroundings describes my feelings today pretty well...

This is my bathroom vanity.

Without a functioning kitchen, things tend to migrate to the next available surface.

Sippy cups,

dishes,

Clorox wipes,

books,

toys,

facewash.

It's all there...

The playroom.

A place where toys should be,

but...

when everything else can be containerized once playtime is over,

things like bikes,

and strollers,

and horses,

and lawn mowers

cannot.

Need to find a better location for this 'big stuff'.

The dining room.

Still serving as the place we eat every meal and snack.

I'm seriously afraid we're going to ruin this room before the kitchen is finished. Almost every chair has had some form of food or drink smeared into its cushions. Have I told you the dining room furniture was the ONLY brandspankin new 'BIG' purchase we made when we moved into the house?

As in,

it's still practically brandspankin new?

Not anymore...

And on a much lighter I'm-not-gonna-complain-anymore note-

looky where the girls decided to spend some playtime last night.

There's usually a big toy basket in that spot, but E shoved it outta the way and she and MM had a grand time using the end table as a fort.

Sweet girls.

I miss them something fierce now that school has started.

And speaking of school...

I'm still planning to share pics of my newly decorated classroom,

just have a few more things to get up on the walls.

In the meantime, please enjoy the view from my desk.

I've been uber-productive today clearing piles and filing and putting away.

Hoping to continue this at home tonight.

Any of you being super productive on this Tuesday?



Happy Friday...

from the 2 girls fighting over a book and the boy wrapping the (fake) snake around his neck.

And me.

Yes, the playroom is a disaster, but that's what it's supposed to be, right?

I'll sing "Spoonfull of Sugar" when I get home today and we'll have fun watching the toys jump into the baskets and bins by themselves.

Any of you have fun plans for the weekend?

I'm looking forward to a GNO with my Sunday School gals tomorrow night.

Also looking forward to (hopefully) sleeping late tomorrow.

This getting-back-into-school-routine is wearing me out...

Have a lovely weekend friends!



A few updates

Attention:

The following is a random series of photos/captions with quick updates on what's been a' happenin'. I'm insanely sleep-deprived, but wanted to post a few pics (especially of the kitchen) with even fewer words.

a quick video before leaving for school yesterday:

Oliver's classroom-

O with his teacher, Mrs. Williams

We have sheetrock.

I love it like I love Cyprus Inn's bread pudding,

which is a heckuva lot.

Eliza loves chapstick as much as I love sheetrock and bread pudding.

Supper with the hubs fam tonight.

Longhorn.

Yum.

And as I type this, the hubs is busy priming + painting those beautifully sheetrocked walls in the kitchen. The cabinets are sleeping soundly in their boxes in the man cave (they made it here yesterday) and will be installed on Monday. We can see the light....

I'll be back soon, hopefully after some much needed rest.

Starting back to work this week is kickin' my tail.

Sure nuff.

A hodgepodge, if you will

*** The chevron pillow covers giveaway is still active until Thursday, August 4***
I'm having so much fun reading about your favorite movies! Keep the comments a'comin! You can enter daily too, so pop over and tell me about another movie that you love, AND, if you haven't entered yet.... what are you waiting for?
Comments must be left on THIS post to be entered.
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_______________________________________________________

Happy Tuesday!

I have lots of randomness to share today, and since it's Tuesday, you know I'm gonna start with this:

**Design Star**

Did you watch?

What were your thoughts?

Did you love the winning room?

Are you as ready for Cathy to go home as I am?

Hmmmmm??

For the past 2 weeks, she's pulled the,

 "You do the demo and painting while I go do all the shopping, mmkay? Bye."

No wonder the other designers have problems working with her.

*****

 I took a little trip yesterday to a place I don't visit very often. In fact, I usually try to avoid this place at all costs, but since the hob lob was blown away and this place happens to carry scrapbook paper as well as toilet bowl cleaner, well...

I did what I had to do.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I'm a Target girl. It's nice, it's new, it's always clean, I can sip on some Starbucks while I shop and they have the best clothes. The best. Target also sells scrapbook paper, but I needed it in bulk in a 12 x 12 size and I happen to know that Walmart's price on plain-jane scrapbook paper is better than Target's.

I have nothing against Walmart, mind you, but the one in my town is always crazy crowded and I've never once been there and not had a weirdo talk to me and/or touch my babe.

**A piece of advice from a mother of 3**

If you see a cute babe or small child while you're out shopping, and you don't know this babe, it is perfectly okay to make silly faces and talk to that babe or small child in a silly voice and totally make a fool out of yourself. I do this all the time. It is not, however, okay to ever ever touch said babe or small child and invade their personal space. EVER. This will make the mother freak out and turn into the mother lioness that you've seen on Animal Planet mauling large animals when they've come too close to their young. I have become a lioness several times since becoming a mother and it's almost always happened when someone got too close to my babes at the Walmart. I can't help it. People should know better but they don't. If you're a complete and total stranger, I don't know your story- have you been sick? Did you recently touch something disgusting? Do you bathe on a regular basis? Do you do drugs?

This happened, yet again, while I was shopping at the Walmart yesterday. I stopped to look at the little girls clothes (of course) and a woman, who also happened to have a small child in her buggy, came up beside me and started talking. It's perfectly fine to talk. She told me how old her little girl was and after seeing my phone in my hand (which had my shopping list on it) she explained to me that she had a cell phone too, until the small child in her buggy had thrown it into the bathtub. I chuckled and commiserated with her for a second about kids and how crazy they can be sometimes. And then I started to move on. She was already giving me a weird vibe.

I walked to the other side of the kid's clothing department where I'd spotted a cute pair of pjs. She followed. Now she's asking what I've found, and, "Oh what a pretty dress that is on your little one!". She touches MM's dress. "Oh what a pretty flower that is in her hair!" She touches the flower in MM's hair. I was barely able to stop myself from clawing her or altogether pouncing, but, I restrained. Did I mention she was missing a few teeth? I have no problem with people who are missing teeth, mind you, but again...she produced a pronounced weirdo vibe and had a bit of the crazy eye going on. I thanked her and got the heck outta the kid's clothing department.

Now...

where was I?

Oh yes,

I took a trip to the Walmart to pick up scrapbook paper for school and toilet bowl cleaner and a few other random items, and came home with this-

Hippo-on-a-bicycle pjs. How cute are they?

and these,

Simple little summer dresses- $3 a piece

and these,

LOVED these separates. And the bloomers are built into the skirt- $4.50 a piece

and this.

Cute little toucan top for $2

Can you tell she was proud of her new pjs?

You'll never guess how much they were.

Want to try?

Ok.

Ready.......

GO.

What's your guess?

Because here's the ticket-

That's right.

 One whole dollah for a pair of cute pjs for my E.

If you have younguns, you might just wanna get yourself to a Walmart. And remember- tax free weekend is THIS weekend if you're local. If that's not incentive to go forth and shop, well I just don't know what is.

*****

Have any of you heard of the online decor magazine

House of Fifty

The Fall 2011 issue came out yesterday and it's full of beautiful images and articles. You can subscribe for FREE too- just click the title above to go straight to their webpage and sign up to have it delivered directly to your inbox! Besides $1 pjs, getting a brand new home decor magazine in my e-mail box is pretty darntootin cool.

*****

One last shopping tip before I spend ALL of your money-

There are TONS of 'deal a day' sites that you may have heard of/already subscribe too-

Groupon,

Groop Dealz,

Peachy Cheap,

Pick Your Plum,

DealPulp,

Kid Steals,

Very Jane,

but if you haven't heard of Rue La La, well then it's high time someone told you.

A little over a month ago, I picked up these:

Cute, right?

And amazingly comfortable.

Each day, there are a handful of boutiques/brands that offer some of their items at a discount for the day. Yesterday, Vineyard Vines Kids was on sale, and since I'd picked up clothes for the girls at the Walmart and since O is the only one who actually goes to school and would need school clothes, I thought it was only fair to pick him up some goodies. Plus, I just sold over half of what was in his closet because it was too small. Here's what I picked up for my O man:

The Vineyard Vine polos were $15 and the t-shirt was $7.50. Now, I know some of you might be saying, "Isn't $15 a lot to spend on a shirt for your kid to wear to school where he'll drop his lunch on it and roll in it on the playground?"

Yes.

You'd be right.

But here's the kicker-

when you suggest Rue La La to friends, and they subscribe for the daily e-mail of what's for sale (subscribing is FREE, btw) and if they make a purchase, well then my friends, THEN you are given credit to spend yourself. I just happened to have $10 in credit, THANK YOU KOURY, so those shirts for O were actually $10 bucks a piece. And that I can live with.

So...

what are you waiting for?

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/mmathews46

Just click the link above to go straight to the site. Also- I must warn you- sometimes the deals are SO good that they sell out quickly. In fact, I didn't check the site until late last night and by that time, most of the Vineyard Vines stuff had SOLD OUT. The 3 shirts I picked up were the only ones left in O's size. **Word to the wise- don't wait. **

I've linked to each of the sites above so that you can check them out for yourself. Sometimes the deals are GREAT, sometimes they're a little lame, but it can't hurt to see what's on sale, am I right? All you'll have to do to subscribe is enter your e-mail address.

*****

And that's my randomness for the day.

I'm off to work on decorations for my classroom which I'll be sharing with you soon. Still can't believe it's time for school to start.

Happy day to you!

what I wore Wednesday and other randomness...

After a short hiatus, I'm bringing back my wiww posts and linking with Lindsey.

I'm sure you're all so excited that you could pee your pants.

or maybe not...

Anyway- I didn't take any traditional photos, but I did take some photos inside a dressing room at NY&Co.

So I'll go with these-

top, pants, vest- NY&Co

vest, shorts- NY&Co

sandals- Old Navy

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I took egads of pics on Mother's Day, but this is the only one I managed with me + a kiddo in it. (thanks Mal)

It's appropriate tho since this was the first Mom's Day for me with this little one. I was quite large with child last year on this day...

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TPS has an art show each year where one piece of art from each and every single child at our school (close to 800) is on display.

This is O with a friend from his class.

His art is on the top right (hands with flowers)

and his friends art is between their heads (clown)

classic O face

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I'd like to apologize to Michael's for my attitude as of late.

I received not 1, but 2 e-mails from them yesterday, both of which contained coupons.

And yes, you can now use a coupon from your phone.

so....

sorry Michael's.

Sorry I was ugly.

I'll be grateful for the craft stores in town that did not get blown away.

mmmkay?

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I have a new favorite thing to eat.

Found this in a magazine (Southern Living I think?) a few years back but have only recently rediscovered it in my recipe folder.

(yes, I have one of those even though it doesn't see a whole lotta daylight)

Guacamole Salad

2 avocado's, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

crumbled bacon

chopped red onion

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon on cider vinegar (I love this so I add a bit more)

salt/pepper to taste

combine the above ingredients and spoon over salad greens.

Yum to the O my friends.

yum to the O

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I leave you with some recent pics I took of the kiddos-

Happy Wednesday friends!