I'm most thankful

that this year is almost over! It has most certainly been a bumpy one to say the least. I am estatic that the most pressing issue of the week thus far has been running out of dog food. I am thankful as we head into this holiday season for my family and friends without them I am nothing and not have pushed through this year. I understand feeling truly blessed

busking

evidently C's music teacher introduced them to the concept this week so of course C is all in and and ready to try his hand at street performing. His plans were to dive in this weekend but I have suggested he work on his Christmas tunes a little more and I would take him to market square at least once this holiday season.

are herbal supplements & energy drinks a load of bull?

yeah probably but I have a favorite, a favorite that I cannot not currently find which is tragic as I head into my first week or 50+ hours of Christmas retail hell spread out over 2 jobs. I found a hopefully suitable replacement & picked up some ginseng tablets this weekend. It is probably a placebo effect but the ginseng seems to be working this morning or maybe I just got a decent night of sleep either way I am feeling particularly alert this morning. We shall see how it goes by next Monday morning

remind my to cross that off my craving list

my food cravings are pretty basic chocolate & salt, pizza at 8 in the morning, coffee,nothing exciting nothing fancy so I thought it odd this morning that I was craving chocolate chip pancakes but there it was. I used some higher end dark chocolate that we had on hand for some baking project or another and I settled down to eat and after a few bites remembered I can't stand chocolate chip pancakes they are just gross why on earth do you need chocolate in a pancake?! Like chocolate,like pancakes but the twain shold never meet on the same plate. Now blueberries are a differnt story entirely I wish we had some blueberries on hand

we have about run out of punishments

this school year has started out much in the same way the transition to intermediate school did so we are to the point just shy of waterboarding the kid..please those with DHS on speed dial put your phone down we wouldn't waterboard...I could only imagine the utility bill that would create for the month. We have run thin on the punishments you can only take away so much and quite frankly grounding becomes just as much a punishment for the parents as the kid. So we have moved onto the book report scenario, over Thanksgiving break C is going to read & write me a book report on Animal Farm heck I think I might just re-read it myself it has been nearly a zillion years since I read it. It will also tie into some extra credit offered by his reading teacher so win win and more productive than limiting gaming time....although he still has not earned that back yet at all

it's not the trip to the gas pumps

that have me up in arms it's the trip to the grocery store! I blogged about this several years back but it has gotten so much worse over time. I coupon (in a reasonable fashion not like the nut jobs on tv), have forsaken most name brands for their generic counter parts and largely base our weekly menu on what is on sale at the grocery store but that weekly trek to the store is just painful on the bank account, and heaven forbid we need to stock up on paper goods, cleaning materials or laundry detergent. And it's not like we are eating filet mignon & lobster on a weekly basis far from it I do not know how larger families manage there are only 3 of us although C eats like 2 quite frankly and let's not forget the dog with his vegetarian kibble. There are several blogs & web sites I have become fans of for decent recipe ideas:
http://www.5dollardinners.com/
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/budget/budget-dinners.aspx
http://brokeassgourmet.com/

con artist or early onset alzheimers?

Oscar, you know his pugness, trying desperately on a daily basis to convince me he still has not had his meal. This starts within minutes after he finishes his meal we might have to refer to him as his pigness rather than pugness....can dogs even get alzheimers?

when the news makes you sick to your stomach

the entire scandal at Penn State, I was glad to see the university came to their senses & fired Paterno last night but I am curious when do the arrests start happening? seems to me quite a few people need to be charged in this horrible horrible circumstance. And the stupid kids that were rioting last night...be very ashamed at yourselves in the light of day are you that frickin stupid? can they fire the students too?

random factoid about me #822

I love have my nails polished. Must be something I picked up from my grandmother she always had her nails done and that was one form of "make-up" that did not seem to fall under the strictly forbidden rules of the parochial school I attended from 5th thur 8th grades. Sidebar: the no make-up rule no joke I once I had to throw out chapstick after being caught as part of a gaggle of girls hanging out in the bathroom by Sister Janice. So this morning I painted the nails orange to support UT this evening C is going to his first ever Vols game, it should be a fun night!

is it just my kid?

he is racking up the demerits in his first few months as a middle schooler and we have dealt with the scholastic type of demerits and I would like to think he is more on track with what is expected of him...his grade being evidence of that. The next issue he is having would be OMG he acts like an 11 year old boy. Recess gets ditched once you hit middle school and gym, excuse me PE is taught in some sort of block format, last term he had it every day and now he is done for the year?! So yes he was caught caught horsing around running in the halls with his buddies, was it wrong yes and yes he knows better but in my opinion he is an 11 year old boy where is that energy supposed to be released? I mean he like math but physically invigorating it is not-of course my mother & aunt both math geeks extraordinaire would probably beg to differ on that front. Would these kids not be better served by some sort of PE each week on a regular basis rather than every day for 9 weeks?