Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tardy Tuesday - Meme Monday

Yeah, folks, yesterday just got away from me. They actually expected me to WORK the ENTIRE TIME I was on the clock yesterday. (Crazy, right?!?) tee-hee

So I moved Meme Mondays to Tuesday this week. I was tagged in a fun Meme, so I'm going to do it here, and then ask you all to pass it along. As usual, you can either post your part of the Meme in my comments OR on your own blog (but pop me a link to it in my comments if you do that, please). :)

The 3's of Me:

Three Names I Go By:
1.) Leslie
2.) Mommy
3.) Giles

Three Jobs I Have Had in My Life:
1.) flower/peach sales lady at both Durbin's/Petals from the Past and Todd's Produce
2.) English teacher
3.) Voicewriter

Three Places I Have Lived:
1.) Clanton, Alabama
2.) Carrollton, Georgia
3.) Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Three Favorite Drinks:
1.) Cherry Limeade (preferably Route 44)
2.) Coke (Mmmm, it's my one TRUE addiction that I fight daily.)
3.) Gin and Tonic with extra lime (I don't get it often, but I REALLY love it when I do.)

Three TV Shows I Watch:
1.) Big Bang Theory (If you don't, you REALLY should try - I ROLL with laughter each week.)
2.) Criminal Minds (Come on, it has Greg from "Dharma and Greg", Cathy from "Friends", the dad from "Joan of Arcadia", the guy that looks like the hot football player from a few seasons ago on "Dancing with the Stars" (Jason something???), and used to have Mandy Patankin. What's not to love?!?
3.) The "Law and Order" triad

Three Places I've Been:
1.) NYC (one of my favorite places ever)
2.) Aruba (one of the best trips ever)
3.) Mardi Gras in New Orleans with the locals (so the non-flashing areas) - it's not an exciting locale per se, but it was pretty amazing! :)

Three of My Favorite Foods:
1.) Filet Mignon (especially when cooked by my father)
2.) My dad's barbeque chicken legs
3.) Tiramisu

Three Cars I Have Owned:
1.) the Hooptie - aka a 1980 something Lincoln Town Car (didn't OWN it, but my parents did and I was the primary driver)
2.) Mazda 626 - a Christmas gift my Senior year in high school - best loved used car ever!
3.) Mazda Tribute or "The A hole" as my dear friend Jennifer always calls it because of my giant Bama A on the back window

Three Things I Hate Doing:
1.) Putting away laundry (as my piles of clean clothes would illustrate to you if you saw them)
2.) Having to argue a point with anyone over anything - I HATE conflict even if I know I'm right
3.) My job. hahaha!

Three Places to Find Me on the Weekend:
1.) the house
2.) church
3.) some school event

Three Movies I Have Seen in the Theater Recently:
*We are SAD and never go to the movies (and rarely even rent them), so the most recent theater trips we made were (this his so sad)
1.) the latest Harry Potter movie (last July)
2.) Sex in the City (Tucker's due date - she's almost two now)
3.) Indiana Jones (a week before Tucker's due date)

Three Places I Would Like to Visit:
1.) the Greek Isles
2.) Ireland
3.) Japan - to see my brother-in-law, sis-in-law, and nephew - and hopefully we're going this summer!!! :) yipee!

Three People I Tag to Compete This on His/Her Own Blog:
1.) Jennifer at She Endeavors (one and the same as the Jen from the car question above)
2.) Camily at LaTEEDah
3.) Carrie at Martin Manor Happenings

*However, I am actually tagging you ALL! I'd love to learn some more bits and pieces about all my bloggy friends (and my parents and inlaws who occassionally pop by this bloggy of mine)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

***Oh, and I got two bloggy awards given to me by some blogger friends. You have NOT been forgotten (though I know, Brandie, it's been a WHILE). The repost of those awards are coming this week, I promise!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Today, I don't have a specific topic. I feel the need to throw out some random stuff. You game for that? Okay.

*First, we have our church's Easter egg hunt tomorrow. I'm excited about the excitement! I'm curious how T will do with the egg-finding. I'm wondering how one warms a child up to the idea of a human-sized bunny that wants you to sit in its lap for a picture. Hmmmm.... ha! I'm wishing my sweet Tooter Booter (a cousin) was still coming like we originally planned. I haven't seen her in ages and T would have LOVED hunting eggs with her. :(

*T got invited (or at least the mom talked to me pre-invite) to her first birthday party for a non-family friend. How cute is that?!?

*Working on ideas for T's 2nd birthday party. We're planning on doing it at the house with lots of outdoor activities (sprinklers, swingset, borrowed bouncy thing, bubbles) and some cooking-out for the adults. Not sure what the THEME can be for this though - you know the thing you use for invites and favors? Ah well, it'll come to me. And if it doesn't, it'll just all be random stuff we like. So THERE! :)

*Lastly, I usually share some of my favorite finds from the consignment sales, and I'll get to that soon, but one thing I WILL share now is this nightgown I found for T. I found it on the half-off day. It was so soft and sweet and something seemed so familiar to me.

(On a side note, how cute is she in this gown?!?)
(She has SUCH a hard time getting comfy at night. ha!)

Once I put the gown ON her, it hit me WHY this gown seemed so wonderful and comfortable to me. It's made of the exact same fabric as one of my FAVORITE pairs of pjs from childhood. Mine were red, not pink; pants, not gown; straps, not sleeves - BUT it's the same brushed cotton, almost flannel fabric with this LOVING wonderfulness to it. :) Mine even had a matching set owned by my FAVORITE "grown up", one of our neighbors that I adored.



I love continuity in life. I love sharing things I LOVED with T. I love that we are (sort of) sharing pjs. I love that she'll get to play with my American Girl doll and my other favorite doll from growing up. But all of this continuity reminds me that one day she'll be MY AGE!!! How do mothers DO this?!? haha!
Do you need one last fun thing for Friday? If so, you can find THIS:
FREE4AllFridays!
HERE:
RandomThoughtsofaSUPERMOM
It's a REALLY cute giveaway!
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Lesson Learned

The GIRL who cried... poo?



At some point a month or so ago, Tucker started pointing at that cute little toockus and saying, "Poo poo". We were excited, though we figured she barely knew what it meant. But then I noticed that two times in a row, she did that, and then within a minute or two, her prediction came TRUE!! We were thrilled and cheered her on (and promptly went and bought a training potty).



Of course, those of you who are parents know, this only prompted her to point and say, "Poo poo" as often as she could... even when there was NO poo poo.



We very quickly fell into a "boy who cried wolf" pattern, accepting that when she said this, it was for the excitement it created in us rather than for actual poo.



So when we were giving her a bath and she pointed and said, "Poo poo," I said, "Do you have to poo poo?" She said, "No." So we kind of giggled and kept on with our lives.



(I bet you figured out where I'm going here.)



Then there WAS poo... in the bath.... with my child... and her bath toys!!!!



YUCK!!!!!!



"Coincidence!" I quietly told myself. "She hasn't really gotten back to ACTUALLY pointing out when she has to go."



Flash forward 2 nights.



The hubs is at work. T is in the bath. Pointing. "Poo poo." "Do you have to go poo poo?" "No."



POO IN THE TUB!!! With the child...and the toys...and no hubs to clean up the poo while I took the child elsewhere to clean her up from the poo bath.



(And can I tell you, cleaning up poo after it sits in water in your tub for a while is even grosser than doing it right after it happens!)



Guess what the newest step to my "getting ready for bath" routine is.



Putting Tucker's potty seat on the toilet, opening the door between the tub and the toilet, and keeping a close watch for any pointing!



LESSON LEARNED!!!!



Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wordless Wednesdays - Sandal Woes

Don't we ALL feel this distraught about having to put our sandals back away after that one glorious weekend?!?


For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Monday, March 22, 2010

Meme Mondays

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

*working (big shock, huh?)
*cooking dinner at least a few times (didn't do it once last week - yikes!)
*making a tutu that I should have made a week ago but will finish and mail VERY SOON
*going to church choir
*praying for sun and more 70 degree weather
*getting on the treadmill
*cleaning out the fridge
*Can you say, "Easter egg hunt"?!? (Yipee!)
*cleaning off my desk
*and HOPEFULLY doing a little sewing
*Finding a Weight Watcher's meeting so I can get myself back on the WW program (which is effective and relatively easy for me to follow)

What about you? What are YOU doing this weekend?

In other news, here's some randomness from my life this weekend:

I organized my crafting closet (which doubles as our coat closet). My previous system (wish I had a picture for you) was the less-effective "all the stuff/leftovers from this particular trip to this particular store are in this plastic bag" filing system. It made for an occassional avalanche while grabbing your coat and meant I had to take out and look through every bag each time I wanted to find something. (Can't imagine WHY I wanted to do something about this system!) Now I have a bucket for each craft area, so I can grab it, bring it out while working on that project and then stick it back in without messing everything else up. It will also making filing stuff away after a trip to JoAnn or the Lobby (of the Hobby variety, that is) much simpler. :) *Big sigh of relief*


Saturday was GORGEOUS in our neck of the metaphorical woods. It was flip-flop weather (even for this two pairs of socks under my thick slippers girl) in the ATL and there was a St. Patty's Day celebration in our little town, so we invited some folks, loaded up the stroller and headed downtown! It was SOOOO gorgeous. It didn't even matter that there wasn't much to look at and the music sometimes got REALLY bad. It was SO wonderful being outside in the sun enjoying each others' company. :) Paw and Nona (Drew's dad and stepmom) even came to join us. Tucker had a WONDERFUL time with them (as usual). 'Cause in case you didn't know, "Paw's sho siyyi" (Paw's so silly). :D





Tucker's first self-portrait. (Don't worry. I was holding the camera and only letting her touch the one button.) She thought this was the FUNNIEST thing. :)


We had a nice weekend (and even got to spend a few waking hours with the hubs). Hope your weekend was just as nice. :)
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie
*Don't forget to join the "This Week I Will Be Mostly..." from the top. *

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Free 4 All Fridays WINNER!!!

There were 35 comments, so I popped 35 into random.org and the winner is...
#11
McCrakensx4
(Her profile says this is Stacey.)
Stacey, email me your address so I can pop this girliness in the mail to you! :)
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Some Props and a Free 4 All

So here's a question for you...

Single moms, HOW DO YOU DO IT?!?

Seriously!!!

I have (due mostly to things out of our control) been a single mom WAY more than I'd ever want to be lately. The hubs has had 3 trips from Wednesday morning to Saturday midnight in the past 2.5 months. He's had multiple nights in the past 2.5 months home past MY bedtime. And then this week (and basically from now until Easter) he's got things going on that get him home about the time I'm crawling into bed all week long. So basically I'm having 3+ weeks of EVERYTHING falling on me. Every bathtime, every bedtime, every pajama and school outfit, every grocery, every meal, every EVERYTHING has to be done by me (not to mention my full-time job).

I'm EXHAUSTED (and terrified at the fact that I'm nowhere NEAR done with this). I'm overwhelmed. I don't know HOW full-time single moms do it. I really don't know.

Props to all you ladies who do this and stay sane (and some of you even make it look EASY)!

With all of that going on plus the HINT of sunshine and warm weather we've gotten this week, I'm in the MOOD for some girly pampering. Something about sunshine makes me want to primp and be GIRLY!!!

With that in mind, this week's

FREE4AllFridays!


is a little package of girly happiness!!!


Hot pink nail polish to spring-up your toesies (and fingers if you're the kind of girl who can keep a manicure for more than an hour), some blingy headbands, and some hand-made, personalized cards to make your "thank you"s and "thinking of you"s more special (you, of course, get to pick the letter for the front)
Do YOU need some girly pampering? Here's how you can win this week's giveaway:
*Leave me a comment saying what letter you'd want on the front of your cards
*Follow me and leave me a comment saying you do
*Blog about this giveaway on your own blog and then leave me a comment with a link to your blog
*Go visit Mimi here, leave HER a comment, and then leave me a comment telling me you did
That's FOUR chances to win (and each entry needs to be a SEPARATE comment).
Good luck!
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

I'm Irish. Can you tell?





Did I over-do it?
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wordless Wednesdays - An Apple a Day

One morning, while fixing the hubs his coffee, I set her on the counter and she discovered an apple. We've had one almost every morning since. :)




Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Monday, March 15, 2010

Not Me Monday!



If you don't know the rules of the Not Me Monday, click the link above and explore the rules AND other Not Me blogs. :)

So, I did NOT take off two GLORIOUS DAYS of work and relish every single moment of it! I did NOT NOT accomplish half of the things I intended during those two days off. I did NOT let my Mama fold a gazillion loads of laundry, most of which she washed for me while I did other stuff around the house. (Although I AM glad that she did that for me, for sure!) I always wash and put my laundry away all by myself without EVER procrastinating or leaving it in a pile. :)

I did NOT spend almost twice what I originally planned at the Lil' Angels consignment sale at the church. Not me. I NEVER impulse-buy - especially on clothes and stuff for Tucker! I also did NOT carry my child around in the backpack carrier I was buying AT THE SALE while walking around AT THE SALE! (Afterall, if you're going to buy the thing - for a fabulous price of $20 I might add - you might as well start getting your money's worth now, right?) I did NOT work TWO shifts at the sale just so my mother could come to the pre-sale with me and I did NOT drive back to Alpharetta (usually a 30 min drive with traffic and lights) a FOURTH time (two for volunteer shifts and one to pre-sale shop) on Friday to get FOUR PAIRS of cute shoes I saw during the half-off portion of the sale! NOPE! I'm WAY too sensible to drive 30 min. to get half off of shoes at a consignment sale (where they're already dirt cheap)! :) haha!

I also did NOT wake up hacking my lungs up four nights straight, for more than an hour 3 of those nights. I did NOT have a coughing fit SO BAD Saturday night that I actually moved into another room to avoid keeping Drew awake forever as well. I did not take a second dose of cough syrup post 3am in the morning two nights in a row, thus leaving me with medicine head two days in a row for the first half of the day. Oh, and I did NOT hack (and almost choke to death while trying to hold in the coughs) through my sweet husband's solo at church yesterday and then quietly run out during the last line to have a horrid coughing fit in the hall outside the sanctuary all because I wanted to be able to tell him how lovely the solo was. Nope, not me. I'd never do something that silly.

Oh, and after 4 nights straight of broken sleep with my cough, I did NOT stay up past midnight reading a good book because I couldn't put it down. Not me. I know I need my sleep WAY more than that!

How about you? Any confessions? What did you NOT do this weekend?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Wordless Wednesdays

My Cup Runneth Over (Cont.)


I am blessed beyond measure!
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Monday, March 08, 2010

Meme Mondays

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

*Working
*Hitting the treadmill
*Tagging stuff for the consignment sale
*Reading the new Jodi Picoult book
*Working
*Continuing to contemplate _Little Bee_, which I finished two days ago
*Stuffing eggs for the church's Easter egg hunt
*Working
*Wearing my slippers
*Taking Thursday AND FRIDAY off of work
*Shopping the consignment sales
*VISITING WITH MY MAMA!!! (That's right, Nana's coming to see us - no boys will be here - just the three of us girls. yipee!)
*Seeing my husband off on a trip AGAIN

What will YOU be doing this week?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Friday, March 05, 2010

My Cup Runneth Over

I was doing my normal morning (though during earnings season, it's sometimes late morning or afternoon) blog scroll - just clicking on all my saved blogs, reading what all my bloggy friends are doing and thinking, when I ran across this blog where sweet Mimi was giving thanks for the small blessings that crossed her path this week. I decided that is something we should pass around.

I think it's human nature (and the American way) to focus on all the things going wrong in our lives - bad job, crazy schedule, something expensive broke and must be repaired, etc. And don't get me wrong, I have the gloomy gusses IN ME!!! Oooh, can I take a bad moment and spin it into a bad week! And as most of you know, my job, NOT MY FAVORITE PART OF MY LIFE! I can always list for you the benefits - don't have to get up even earlier to be showered before Drew and the little one get up (my showers happen after work hours), pays well, etc - but for the most part I'm really unhappy doing what I'm doing. However, sometime into this job, I decided that since my job wasn't all I wanted (or even close), I would just have to make my life AMAZING and always focus on the blessings I have OUTSIDE of work. I've become quite good at this skill. (I lovingly refer to it as "The Pollyanna Game".)

So this week, I am thankful for:
*a new pair of slippers with the bottoms still ATTACHED! (They're much warmer this way.)
*Tucker's renewed fascination with Nana and Poppa after getting a good visit with them
*My husband putting dinner leftovers away last night without being asked while I played make up party with my Mary Kay friend
*Having the chance to play make up with an old friend of the hubs (as in long-time friend, not aged)
*Tucker's laughter filling my house
*That I finally (after years of working on it) persuaded my husband to keep his super-hot goatee long-term (for months now) instead of just a few days
*Fulton County teacher appreciation days at Zoo Atlanta this weekend (where we are taking Tucker for the first time)
* The beautiful, sunny day that is supposed to accompany us to Zoo Atlanta
*A big pitcher of sweet tea my hubby made and put in the fridge
*Being able to return to church choir rehearsal for the first time in more than a month - and for being told how much I was missed
*Knowing that I am taking TWO DAYS off next week, during which my Mama is coming to see me (yipeee!) AND I get to do the baby consignment sale and get all of Tucker's spring and summer clothes!

I could go on, but I think that's a good enough list to really lift my spirits about how blessed I am!

So how about you? What things have come to you this week for which you can be grateful?

Does YOUR cup runneth over?

OH, one last thing to be thankful for:

FREE4AllFridays!


Mimi at He & Me + 3 is giving away some SUPER fabulous jewelry today! Go check it out!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

What? Are you CRAZY?!?!

A little confession.


I'm from the South. I LOVE being from the South. I LOVE my Southern drawl (except for the time someone said the pothole commercial made them think of me). I LOVE my Southern manners. I LOVE my Southern food. I LOVE my SWEET tea. (Please note, all you Yanks, that this is NOT the same thing as tea with sugar stirred in your cup.)


Now, I don't always love the image non-southerners sometimes have of us. I hate that when people hear my accent, they sometimes assume I'm a moron. I hate that when people know I'm from the South (and a small town at that), they assume I'm small-minded and anti- (anti-anything but southern, christian, white people).

And I CAN'T STAND the way the Yanks make fun of the South and our snow!!!


Yes, I realize that in the South, generally, we freak OUT about snow. We empty the bread and milk aisles of the store. We close down EVERYTHING at the mere mention of flurries. I know to those of you who live for months on end with feet of snow on every surface near you, this must seem ridiculous!


But we don't have salt trucks. (Even the city of ATLANTA - a thriving metropolis - only has 3 for the ENTIRE metro area!) We don't have chains for our tires or snow tires. We don't have snow boots or snow coats or snow gloves. VERY few of us own long johns or wool socks. We simply don't have snow often enough to invest in the things that help you survive real snow.


The other BIG difference? We VERY rarely get SNOW. We get ICE!!!!. It falls looking like snow, but when it hits the ground, it melts then refreezes and becomes sheets upon sheets of ice. There's never enough real snow for snowmen or snowball fights (without deep bruises and small concussions from the ice-balls you'd be throwing). Our stuff isn't powdery and lovely and soft. It's crunchy, hard, and WET!!!


But the snow we got yesterday (at least to BEGIN WITH) was REAL, FLUFFY, POWDERY snow!!! The kind that makes you WANT to start a snowball fight and build a snowman and...


MAKE SNOWCREAM!!!!!


So we did.



And while I was sitting on my couch holding an ice-cold bowl of snow flavored with the yummiest mixture of milk, sugar, and vanilla you've ever tasted, I got to thinking (as I lost feeling in my left hand and began to shiver)...



ARE WE CRAZY?!?!

WHY, when it's 32 degrees OR BELOW do we feel the insane need to make ICE CREAM, hold it in a cold bowl and shovel it into our freezing little mouths?!?



To me, this rates right up there with, "I think this milk has soured. Taste it and see what you think."



You are already FREEZING!!! You KNOW icecream is made of ICE, right?!?



I guess maybe we Southerners ARE NUTS when it comes to snow. haha!



What things in life do you do AUTOMATICALLY that afterwards you think, "What? Are you CRAZY?!?"



Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

October Showers Bring March... SNOW Showers???

The hubs predicted when it flooded in October that we'd get big snow this year. (He says the last blizzard in GA was the winter after a big rain year.) My thoughts to add to this were, "If it DOES snow, it's going to be in MARCH!!!" As I think about it, I realize that I've had more BIG snows in March than any other month. That's the way it works here in the South. We may get a dusting other times of the year, but if we're going to get SNOW, it's going to be March.

Before bed last night, they were predicting we might get snow, but Drew's school didn't get cancelled. My work didn't get cancelled. Tucker's school didn't get cancelled, so I just assumed nothing would happen. But alas, at 8:17am, I turned around and saw this out my back windows:


Then at 8:47am:


9:27am (I figure once you've started a theme, might as well run with it...)

10:37am

Still 10:37am (just to see how thick the accumulation is):

So NOW, my husband is at school in another city and 30 min away. My child is at daycare (thankfully only a wagon walk away if we bundle-up enough), and here I sit working away as if there wasn't snow POURING from the sky in my yard. :)
Now, I know most of you have had so much snow you're SICK OF IT! I, however, got ice the first time around and went south for a wedding and missed the second time around, so I'm pretty excited about it!
In honor of my FIRST snow of the season, I thought we'd do some Snow Meme-ing! Post these questions on your own blog and put a link in my comments OR just answer the questions in my comments.
1.) Do you live somewhere with much snow or little snow?
2.) What's your favorite snow memory?
3.) What are your favorite snow activities?
4.) Are YOU getting snow today?
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Monday, March 01, 2010

My Weekend (Meme may have to come a day late this week)

As I mentioned, I went to visit the 'rents (the parents, that is) for my third weekend away from home in a row. :) Tucker and I had so much fun! She really enjoyed visiting with Munner (my grandmother - "Mummers" as T says), my Uncle Rob, Nana and Poppa (the 'rents), Unc (my brother), Britt (his wife), and Carly (their daughter).

Of course (and none of you previously mentioned people be offended), her FAVORITE playmates in Clanton were my parents' cats. She doesn't get to see cats often, and these kitties will actually let her pet them, so they are the bee's knees to her! She constantly quieried as to their whereabouts, chased them, pet them, talked about them, etc. So Tiger, Zeus, and Joe, you made QUITE an impression and I thank you for the joy you brought her.

We also got to visit with my host family from the state Jr. Miss program many years ago when I was in the state program, the Holcombs. These kiddos were TINY when I stayed with them. Now they both have steadies to bring along when we visit (both of whom I quite adore).

We really had a good visit all around! Here's some pics from our trip (and a video of Tucker and Carly breaking it down at the Blast from the Past).

I also discovered a couple of "blog stalkers" from my home town who "enjoy the writing, but miss the pictures of Tucker". These pics are for you ladies. You know who you are. :) haha!

First the video



The Holcombs


"Ah Tarly doe?!?" (Where'd Carly go?)


"Eh she ih." (There she is.)

Carly has some seriously fun things in her room!


And we're pretty fond of Unc, Britt, and Nana as well. (One of them was eliciting this smile.)

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie