State Testing and Wii

So state testing is upon us at school. I come home each night and can't get the thought out of my head. I know it's a serious mental defect on my part but I can't even think about calling my therapist about it because I seriously can't think of anything that doesn't involve pouring over data, testing strategies, and just praying my students all pass. My poor children are the ones that are suffering...ok honestly I don't know how much they are suffering since they have been allowed to go wii crazy. I feel like I have allowed the wii to take over my job as nurturer and caretaker. Although I know it is flawed I am also deeply indebted to the wii. I promise to make a concerted effort after testing is complete to ween the children off of their new found gaming addiction.

Bi-Polar Sibling Love...err hate!

I feel at a loss when it comes to my two girls sisterhood. One minute they are the best friends (usually when Nanna is the director of play) and the next they are battling it out. I never know when to intervene and I often wonder if by trying to help, I am making it worse. Please leave suggestions, insights, or any medication that might stave off the manic swings in my children's play patterns.

A very pleasant day!

Thanks to Rara we had the most amazing dinner. Garlic Chicken with Sauteed Mushrooms. If you want to see a delightful picture of the finished product, please head on over to my other blog. This morning the girls and I woke up at 5 and the encouraged me through a workout of pilates. In fact Rara enjoyed working out with me. We were in the car by 6 and made it to the coffee shop by 6:15. The girls had two children's hot chocolates and enjoyed a quick game of checkers. Initially I wanted to rush them out of the shop and get to work so I could start my day but I realized that they were very engaged in their checkers and I just needed to take a deep breath and enjoy the moment. I think I often forget to enjoy those moments when there is no fighting and they are content. Thanks for another fabulous day girls.

Second Day of Spring!

There is something truly shocking about waking up to 8 inches of snow. Especially when two days ago it was in the upper 60s. I think what was even more shocking than that is that the girls didn't annoy me out of bed this morning to go and play in it. Instead I woke up around 9 am. I laid in bed for a few minutes and listened to the TV playing at a low hum. After a few minutes, I threw the covers off and sleepily walked to the bedroom door. The girls were sitting infront of the windows mouths opened in awe of the white that lay before them. I don't even think they noticed as I turned off the TV. They were truly mesmorized by the potential that awaited them. Once they realized my presense they began to inquire as to when we could go outside and play. I thought it was incredibly delightful that they included me in their plans. We all bundled up and got to the business of snow day frivolity. I loved the snowballs that Rara made. They were incredibly merciful. The seemed to fall apart before they actually reached their intended destination. Nanna on the other hand is very good at making snowballs. They were well packed and painful when the well aimed ice smacked against my face. There was no snowman construction today. The girls were more interested in snow angels and icecicles. After about 15 minutes dh joined us. Thank goodness he took a lot of snowballs. This freed me up to take a ton of pictures. After about an hour we returned to our warm abode where I prepared hot mint tea for everyone. We spent the remainder of the day being lazy.

I meant to write about two funny things that happened yesterday...and I should do it now before I forget them.

1. Rara had renamed Cheez-Its, Cheez-X. I tried to convince her that it was not the proper name of the product. I even got the box down to prove she could read the word "IT". She wouldn't have any of it....in her mind it was Cheez-X. So I did what any defeated mom would do. I took a sharpie and defaced the Cheez-It box against my better judgement and wrote a big dark X over the it. Rara is very happy now!

2. While driving to get a coffee and some hot chocolate for the girlies, Rara started talkling about blood types. Apparently they have been discussing blood in PE. So I am listening as she discusses the ability to put blood into another person if the blood matches. She then gets to the part about how it helps your kitties. You know when you are driving and you all of a sudden realize that your kids are making no sense? It's always a slow motion...huh for me. I asked her why we changed to discussing kitties when nwe were just talking about people and blood. She is like "No mom...your Kitties!" I told her she wasn't making any sense. She was resolute though that she knew what she was saying. Exasperated she said, "Mom!!...Your kitties...you know they cleann your blood". I broke into laughter. I said "oh you mean your kidneys." I wish I could have seen her face because she let out this deep sigh and she said "That's what I said Mom...your kitties!"

Spring Break - Beavers Bend

I love these two little drama queens! I honestly usually get frustrated with them. But for three glorious days we laughed, played, held hands, and looked at the world with amazing clarity. I just want to give a shout out to them and say, "Thanks DoodleBugs for making mom shake off some seriousness!" Since we have been back from Oklahoma, I have been trying to figure out how to not return to my old cranky self.

Tagged...I'm out!

Per request here is the tenth picture in my photo folder.....actually truth be told it is the tenth picture in the tenth folder due to my husband being ultra organized on the computer. *downloading* REACTION: GIGGLE. So here's the story behind the picture. My husband per request of his sister who is a journalist in Jakarta, worked up an article on travel to Dallas/Ft.Worth for an Indonesian magazine. This is one of the photos he took at the Stockyards. So really any story behind this picture is lost. We do not know the rider of the horse nor the Native American. It does seem they were a little confused themselves as to why the Asian man was taking a picture of them. I would like to thank Debbie for the tag!

Doors do come off!

I know I should post a picture of the door completely removed from one of my dear daughters' rooms. However, I thought I should blog this as a way to let off steam. Let me start by saying that I have totally enjoyed spending time with my girls this summer. I am learning so much about them that I just didn't know about. My oldest Nanna is incredibly mouthy and her lil sis, Rara, is a drama queen. I don't even remember what the catalyst was but Nanna in a storm of furry entered her room and proceeded to slam her door. *DEEP BREATH* I had just told my two precious gems that they were not allowed to slam doors during a tug of war match they were having earlier in the day with my door. I calmly opened Nanna's door and called for my husband to bring me a screw driver so I could take down the door. Nanna was shocked! How could I do such a thing. I mean she stood there with her hand on her hip and with such feiry anger in her eyes ranted "I'M JUST SO ANGRY! THAT'S WHY I SLAMMED THE DOOR." Which I calmly responded. "That my dear is why I am taking the door away. Who knows what kind of damage you could do in such a rage to the door or someone's fingers." My husband then appeared with a hammer in his hand he giggled and said, "here honey...you can demolish the door." (Eyebrow raised....thought bubble over my head) "Are you SERIOUS?" I gave him a stern but firm look and asked him to get me a screw driver. Nanna is very confused at this point and by this time her sister has come to check out all the hubbub. I amaze myself by taking down the door and now there is an open doorway to my precious darling's room. When asked how she likes not having a door, she responded with the following. "It's great mom. I mean people can just walk in...they don't need to actually open the door. Also look at how big my room looks now." She gave me a very cute grin and went on with her activities. *SIGH* I suppose it is true that her room does look bigger but little does she know without a door on her room I can see it every time I pass by. This will only increase the amount of times I call her to clean her room. I get a feeling there will be another sassy session by the end of the week based on this knowledge. I better start cleaning the garage so I can start moving her precious posessions out. I may not have won the battle today but I will win the war.

Imagine the possibilities

Imagine the possibilities
Originally uploaded by writer_within

I can't stop with the projects. I think everyone was concerned that I wouldn't take a break from school. I just traded in one passion for another. With the tragedy of Micheal Jackson being so much a part of the media for the last week, I have watched his facial transformation from the time he was young until his final onstage rehearsal. In the past I would say that I could not understand how someone would become so obsessive over something, especially their looks. However, I think obsessions can take many forms. Right now my obsession is my house. I am having so much fun changing things around but it comes at a price. My need to bring something to completion is almost hilarious bordering on severe mental impairment. Today is a perfect example. I honestly thought I could sand four chairs and a table and have everything put together by nightfall. It is two hours from nightfall and I am so glad I scaled the task back. I love the color of the chairs but I am glad I didn't go with my first inclination to paint the table red. Looking at my Imagine expression, I have fallen inlove with the creme paper in the back. Therefore, I think I am going to try a creme color for the table. I think it will be more work as I will need to strip the old paint off but I think it's going to look fabulous! I also think I am going to find a lighter table cloth. If you click on this photo it will take you to my photo stream and you can see the pictures of the chairs! ENJOY!

I Love the USA!

I Love the USA!
Originally uploaded by writer_within

Where else can you enjoy garage sales, thrift stores and dollar stores? Might I add that Target has a dollar spot. All these things are close to my heart. I know I often fall into the consumerism trap but I feel that it is balanced by my love of other people's junk errr treasures. So today I was inspired by Shannon's Blog at: http://thedavisfamilynwa.blogspot.com/
She took silver trays and painted them with chalk board paint. So I sat on the idea for a week or so and finally decided to take a trip to goodwill. Each silver tray was 1.99! So here's too America! Land that I love!

Shelf

SL381764
Originally uploaded by writer_within

Just wanted to show you the full shelf. I apologize for the handle of the broom behind my washing machine.