real housewives Knoxville head to the ATL

headed to Atlanta with my girls for a weekend!

when does modern technology hit the school system?

wouldn't it be great if there was some web site that I could log onto to find out my child's classroom assignment instead of having to wait till this afternoon where I will have to make may way through the throngs of other parents and search out my son's name on what like 20 other lists of 4th graders?

update: the kiddo was happy with his teacher, while not being in class with his bestest friends he does have some friends in class, his lone one "mortal enemy" will not be in class with him this year. I was happy to discover I guessed correct on most of the school supplies and won't be needing to pick up much of anything else.

going to the mall was a better idea in theory

but after waiting that long to get off the interstate, and getting into the parking lot and finding a parking space there was no way in hell I wasn't going to go in and shop some! Tax free is tax free and most stores were having some great sales to sucker entice the shoppers in myself included.
My afternoon jaunt was fraught with rookie mistakes there are several approaches I could have made to the mall that would have been easier than the interstate....come on what was I thinking?! and parking again I knew the best location I don't know why I tried closer or why I didn't go as planned first thing this morning?! But I did discover Auntie Anne's Pretzels yummm super delish why have I not had these before? oh yeah I hate going to the mall that may have something to do with it.

if only I knew which school supplies we needed..

tax free weekend once again and while the school has provided a very basic list (amusingly or well not so amusingly the list posted online isn't even as detailed as the one they sent home at the end of the year or the ones that can thankfully be found in Walmart for those parents that have misplaced the list sent home in May) of which supplies my son will need I know his teacher will have a more detailed list of things she (or he I suppose I think the intermediate school has a male teacher just one though wouldn't want to overdo or anything..and while I am at it what is up with that? is there a rule that male teacher can only teach high school and above?) the more detailed list I will see next Wednesday when they post the class lists.... mere days away would it kill someone to post this today so I could take better advantage of the sales this weekend?

tactical maneuvers

already I am spending lots of time trying to organize this Disney vacation of my dreams..there is a lots to ask about, know and book etc all these questions food plans, park passes, what sort of hotel do we book? Thank God my SIL has been like a million times no really maybe only 999,998 but close enough to a million to be of assistance. We are 10 months away and as much time as I seem to be spending on it you 'd think we were leaving next week...or maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part.

Sunday randomness

-dear neighbor who always leaves your garbage can at the curb I have once again resisted the temptation to knock the can over..is is so much effort to walk it to your house and then back down to the curb once a week...like all the rest of us do?
-dear lady in the grocery attempting to shop with 4 kids in tow thanks for reaffirming my decision to only have the 1
-dear parent who was no where in sight while your 2 boys were acting stupid and running around in the grocery maybe you should have stuck with none or maybe just control the 2 'ya got
-does it not figure meet the teacher day would be on the afternoon I will be out of town? not that 2-3 in the afternoon is a golden time for me anyway... much thanks to MIL for being able to pick up my slack
-dear work I do regard having to come in for an hour long meeting today as ruining my entire weekend. I have been at this job for over a decade and then some these meeting tend to be the exact same meeting no really the exact same meeting. and trust me they stopped being fun when alcohol was banned several years ago

summer camp

I always wanted to go to summer camp in a desperate sort of way growing up I remember pouring over my Ranger Rick magazines reading about all of the summer camps with cool activities in all sorts of places around the States. Alas it never happened of course I never quite considered the costs surrounding summer camp which is the safe bet why I never got to go. I would love to live vicariously through my son ands send him but again money is involved. He goes to a perfectly good day camp of sorts but it is in a daycare facility which means we only have a few summers that he can attend due to age requirements, two in fact I think. This camp has a set pricing schedule you pay monthly with only one week credit for vacation so side projects can be cost prohibitive for instance his week of basketball camp we paid for both camps that week. Once he is old enough we will have to look at variety of other camp alternatives and hopefully we will be able to swing a sleep away camp option at that point.

over scheduling

not a fan where my son is concerned for many reasons all the PC ones of course but the oft left out in fancy schmancy articles about how we are screwing up our children is that if he is over scheduled it makes me over scheduled..well even more over scheduled than I already am. I am also not a fan of him sitting in front of a television or computer screen every afternoon not that we allow that during the school year anyway but I digress. As he gets older he has more interests, interests I like to encourage, interests that will over schedule us this semester perhaps. He takes taekwando twice a week, CCD once a week, we are going to let him try baseball again this fall contingent of course upon his school work if it starts to suffer he will get pulled out again just like last year and last but not least his new found love of swimming with new classes starting in September. I am tired just thinking about it all especially when you add in my full time job, school, laundry etc etc etc
and yes I know I am whining over just one kid those with more than one God Bless 'ya I have no idea how you do it!

calorie "bombs"

who is walking into to any fast food establishment with the idea of getting a healthy meal? these lists are goofy and if you are stupid enough to think your eating healthy at the majority of fast food place you are dippy.

what age is the magic trustworthy age?

what is the golden number when children can be left home alone to fend for themselves? I have never left my 9 year old home alone for any amount of time in spite of the fact I think it would be okay and at that age I was babysitting home alone in someone elses home and responsible for their children no less. I believe there are laws now about that sort of thing, there might have been way back when too but no one paid much attention as far as I could see. We were not exactly latchkey kids growing up my grandmother lived in a mother-in-law apartment attached to our house and she was in residence most of the time but not all of the time and in the mornings my brother and I were responsible enough to get ourselves fed, dressed, lunches made etc...not once did we set the house on fire, let in a stranger or miss our ride to school. I do recall more than one sick day being left home alone to fend for myself. Again nothing earth shattering occurred. I am bemused by the David's Mom as she will not leave my 15 yr old nephew (Z) home alone even for the 1/2 hour it is taking her to pick up David. Z has given her absolutely no reason not to trust him for at the very least a 1/2 hour all by his lonesome never mind those time during the school year we get him overnight because no one would be home till 10 at night. I can't imagine that at 15 we won't be able to trust C home alone although knowing his father's and other various and sundry uncle's past histories he might not be left alone till he's 35
I should add MIL is particular about who is or is not in her house anyway so the fact she won't leave Z is not so very strange. It still amazes me after all these years we have finally been allowed a spare key to her place.