When it rains, it pours...

This week:

• My uncle passed away
• I drove my car into the garage door
• Macy got sick at school when I was at school without a car and Bobby was at work
• I had two 13-hour very long days at school in a row
• I forgot snacks for Kaylin's cheerleading team

and now

I have a raging case of pink eye on the sunny day in months and I can't go outside to enjoy it.

I know these things are fairly small in the grand scheme of things and people are dealing with much worse situations, but it feels like I keep getting kicked while we're down. Ready for the tide to turn!

Today I embarrassed my daughter

Today I embarrassed my daughter. It wasn't the first, won't be the last. I went to eat lunch with the girls. Kaylin wanted McDonalds, so I obliged. Her friends were so happy to see me, hugging me, "Miss Jennifer, open my milk!" "Miss Jennifer, I want to sit by you!" We had a great twenty minutes, laughing, joking, with all the kids around her.

Then here came trouble. She did not want McDonalds, so she bought the school lunch. Macy was at the end of her class, so all the kids before her were saying hi, giving me high-five, waving. Then Macy and little stinker Anna, who I am NOT fond of, come down the line.

"Mom. My friends do not want to say hi to you all the time!" No smile.
"Oh, really, honey? They looked pretty happy to see me."
"Well, they weren't. Don't say hi or wave to my friends, okay? It's embarrassing."

Fine. So we sat for twenty minutes, and I made a special effort to not talk to any of her friends. She did talk with me and I was allowed to talk to Anna after she asked me a question. I tried not to smile, or laugh, or do anything "embarrassing."

Jeez.

But the joke's on her. After her class left, a class with her best friends was still in the cafetaria. Because Macy couldn't see, I went over to them. Kaylee and Jessica WILLINGLY got up and gave me hugs. So then Hannah, Mallory, Chloe and Paige did too.

Ha, Ha. Macy. See, your friends DO like me.

Car Accidents

When I was about 17, I ran my car into the side of the garage. I made it worse by cranking my wheel, and grinding the car further into the side of the garage.

When I was about 19, I t-boned a lady who was driving down the road with her turn signal on. Stupidly, I thought she was going to turn.

Two weeks later, someone rear-ended me in my mom's car. With a snowplow on a truck. In August.

Nothing really else, unless I'm forgetting an accident, which is entirely possible.

Until this morning.

I forgot to make sure the garage door was fully up before attempting to back out of the garage. Oops! It wasn't. I shattered the back windshield, ripped molding off the garage door, and now the garage door opener is hanging by a bolt.

What a way to begin 2 13-hour-days in a row.

Hey, it could be much worse. Right? That's what I'll keep telling myself.

The one where I sound like I'm reviewing the Sprint Center and Rascal Flatts

I love going to concerts. It's one of my most favorite things. I can't tell you my first concert, or even name all the ones I've been to, but that's okay. When I was younger, Kemper Arena was the place to go. Getting there was no problem, and parking was never an issue either. As I got older, Sandstone Ampitheatre became a fun place to go too.  I recall one summer in college I went to about 4 concerts out there, with Bobby or with other friends. One of my favorite's, though, was when Eric got us tickets to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in a suite at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

In case anyone ever wonders what to get me for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day or Arbor Day, concerts are a good bet.

Last night was Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker at the Sprint Center. This was my second concert at Sprint, my third time there overall, and I must say how impressed I am with that building. It's clean, well-lit, the windows around the outside looking over Power and Light are beautiful, bathrooms are abundant and lines move quickly, and you can get in and out quickly of the building--at least if you are on the bottom level. The seats are comfortable, and there are nice cup holders.The big escalator to the top freaks me out a little, though. I love that QuikTrip sells frozen drinks for $1--yes, $1!!! I enjoyed a Frozen Coke slushie last night. Power and Light next door is fabulous too.

RF and Darius Rucker put on a great show--great performers, not stand in one place and sing performers, like others I won't name (cough, George Strait, cough). Twice they brought two little girls up on stage, and it was the cutest thing ever. They interacted a lot with the crowd, which makes for a good show.

This ends my review of the Sprint Center and Rascal Flatts. Next concert: Bon Jovi, in less than a month.

Friday tidbits

Kaylin was sick yesterday and today. Some sort of head issue--sinus infection maybe, running a fever. Last night she slept with me so I could keep an eye on her--I like to do that when they are sick. (Bobby graciously slept on the couch; I think it was so he could watch TV until 2 am without me complaining). I woke up around 3 am with Kaylin pulling my hair.

Me: Kaylin, what are you doing?
Her: I want this pillow! (pulls harder)
Me: That's not a pillow, it's my hair!
Her: No, I really want this pillow!
Me: Kaylin, let go! That's my hair!

I finally had to pry her fingers from my head.

Tonight is Rascal Flatts, which I am way excited about. A friend got tickets for Christmas, and I get to tag along.

It's been a really busy week, and I'm so glad it's over. Of course, Parent/Teacher Conferences are next week, so it too will be a busy week.

I got new contacts this week. They are daily's--meaning I wear them all day, throw them away at night, and put in a new pair in the morning. I REALLY like them. Of course, I now have a box with 730 contacts in my bathroom. That's the drawback.

So ready for winter to be over with, as I know everyone is. Happy weekend!

Brothers and sisters, or boyfriends and girlfriends?

Conversation with Kaylin in the car last night:

Me: Cody and Becca are having a baby boy! Peyton is going to have a baby brother.
Kaylin: Ooooh cool!
Me: Yep.
Kaylin: Maybe they could be boyfriend and girlfriend!
Me: No, Kaylin, that's not really how it works. They will be brother and sister, so they won't be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Kaylin: Well, they could. That would be neat.
Me: No, taht really wouldn't be neat. Brothers and sisters are not supposed to be boyfriends and girlfriends.
Kaylin: Who says?
Me: Wellllll....... God does.
Kaylin: Ok. But it would still be cool if they could be boyfriend and girlfriend.

Interesting. Good thing she doesn't have a brother! :)

Dance Extravaganza

Here's Macy's dance from Friday night. I thought she did a good job. Her competition is at the end of March. We had to be there at 5:45, and we left at 10:00. It was a loooonnng night, and she was definately out of sorts for her game on Saturday.

Happy late Valentine's Day! Bobby was at work, so the girls and I hung out. They had friends over to watch the premiere of a new Disney movie, and they had a great time!

Enjoy the video!

Extravaganza

Before:

After:

Complete with foundation, pressed powder, bronzer, blush, fake eyelashes, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, lipstick, lip gloss. I feel very much like one of those mothers on that TLC show about child beauty pagents.

Doesn't even look like her.

V-Day parties!

Newspaper had their annual Decorate a Valentine's Box party today. They weren't as creative as last year, with one major exemption. Click here for Last year's Valentine creations...

This is Jordan. Jordan is obsessed with the show The Office. Jordan designed a mega Valentine box designed after the show. Jordan won 1st place. 

My pictures do not do this thing justice. It was huge. It was divided into little cubicles, with little desks that even had little scissors on them. There was a vending machine and fridge, like in the break room.

But the best part of all was that there was a color cut-out of each Office character, sitting at his/her desk, with some of her favorite quotes by that person. It was quite spectular.

This is Amanda's box. Amanda is obessed with Sex and the City. Amanda is 16. Amanda won for "Prettiest"

This is Lily's box. Lily is obsessed with Spongebob, so she made his pineapple under the sea.

And this is Olivia. I'm not sure where to start with Olivia. This is my pillowcase, left over from Senior Girls Lock-In last week that is being used as Olivia's Valentine box.

And here's my newspaper crew. Seniors in front row, juniors in the middle, sophomores in the back. Missing two seniors (my token black boys, as they politically incorrectly refer to themselves). They are a good group of kiddos, 99% of the time. We'll just ignore the other 1%.

Kaylin's Bad Day

Kaylin has had a rough day.

First, her dad brought Macy McDonald's for lunch, and not her. Don't ask me what he was thinking. Obviously he wasn't.

Next, at dance, the lolligram Valentine I bought for her wasn't delivered to her dance class. All the other girls in her class got one, and she was the only one who didn't. Big crocodile tears streamed down her face as she shared this with me. The woman in charge of the lolligrams found Kaylin's after class, and felt so bad she gave her another one.

Then at cheerleading, her megaphone cracked in half, and she got whacked hard in the head.

Finally, her bed has sprung a leak. She has the same waterbed with tubes that I had in high school (so you know that bed is pretty old) and at least one of the tubes is leaking. Water all over her bed. She's sleeping with me tonight.

Here's to hoping tomorrow turns out better for her.

Monday tidbits

My to-do list this week is a MILE long. First and foremost--glue 200 rhinestones on Macy's dance costume for her competition on Friday night, and figure out a way to keep her hat on her head.

A bunch of guys from Bobby's shift and their wives went to Buca di Beppo's Sunday night for dinner. To say I ate too much is an exaggeration. While there, I had two voicemails from our babysitter. Scary thoughts immediately ran through my head. But Kaylin had hit a button on the remote and they couldn't get the TV to work. Such problems.

When I called home, Macy said, "Can we watch PG-13 movies?" I asked, "Are you 13?" Macy said "No." "So then you can't watch PG-13 movies! You know that."

Today is the 100th day of school, and Kaylin was supposed to bring in a 100 of something. We brainstormed some things she could bring, and eventually decided on 100 pony tail holders.

Senior Girls Lock In

Last night I participated in the long-standing tradition Senior Girls Lock-In. Senior girls arrive at the gym at 10:00, and are locked in until 5:30 am. They paint signs to hang in the gym, and they painted a lot of signs. Just about every club, group or sport now has a sign hanging in the gym. They ate lots of candy, cookies, and other junk, drank lots of energy drinks and Mountain Dew. Some slept, some had a dance party for hours, the more studious ones did homework, while others just sat and talked.

Two of my really good friends and I chaperoned, which meant we had to check the girls for any illegal substances when they arrived, mainly no open containers of any sort. Then we had to approve signs for any inappropriate language, mainly referring to balls of any sort. We also ate lots of junk and drank Coke Zero (you know how I'm addicted). One friend slept, while the other one and I played Scrabble on our iphones for two hours. I beat her by one point at 4:45 am.

Then we hustled the kids out into the snowy slush to go home, only to return in less than two hours. I did not go home, but went to my classroom. I have a very nice soft red couch, and it was a nice bed for about an hour and a half, wrapped in my sleeping bag. I locked myself in so no one would surprise me.

And now I'm teaching all day. At least I got a free t-shirt out of the deal.

A couple funny things: while playing scrabble, Misty put "yes" on the end of an "e". My brain didn't register that correctly (maybe because it was 3:45 am) and I couldn't figure out what e-yes meant. Yes, it was eyes. I did the same thing about an hour later with the word "quart".

I accidently left my coat at home, and accidently left my laptop in my car. There was no way I was walking out in the cold snow, without a coat, to get my laptop. So I walked down to the library to check out an extra laptop that they reserve for subs. The librarians got quite a kick out of my story. And the last person to check out the laptop? My husband.

My bed is going to feel good tonight.

Things that annoy me

Because this is the kind of mood I'm in tonight...things that annoy me...

• When my chip breaks off in the salsa
• When the clerk gives me my receipt, my change in dollar bills and coins at the same time. Hello, change goes in one place, dollar bills in another, receipt in another. I can't do all that at once while there are people in line behind me!
• When students refuse to help with a fun project
• When my husband goes on a call in the middle of the night and forgets his cell phone
• When I'm in a hurry, Kaylin slows down to a crawl
• When Macy blames me for every thing that goes wrong
• When I lose at Scrabble on my iPhone

Such trivial things when there are greater problems in the world, I know. But still. Come on!