7 Things You Never Knew About ME

1. I watch Disney Channel shows. Suite Life, Hannah Montana, Drake & Josh (that's actually Nickelodeon), and Wizards of Waverly Place are a few of my faves. I think I've seen nearly all of the episodes of each of them at least three times. When Clint's at work, and it's just us girls for supper, we snuggle on the couch and watch these shows. Good times.

2. I want a puppy. Yep, it's true. Something cute and furry that will cuddle in my lap, but not shed dog hair all over my couches. Oh, and I want Clint to train it for me. :-)

3. I think my feet are extremely cute. I've always been a little vain about my toes. They descend nicely in length from the big toe to my little one. That's why losing my toenail (did I tell you I lost my toenail?) has been so dramatic for me. You know what they say...pride goeth before a fall.

4. When I grow up, I wanna be a teacher's aide. All of the pleasure, none of the pain. You still get nights, weekends, and summers off. But you don't take any work home. You still get to interact with the kids. But not with the parents. :-) You still get to make bulletin boards, organize activities, and grade papers. But those are your only responsibilities. Yes, the nerd in me loves to do all three of those things.

5. I love to shop for school supplies. This is one giddy girl when July rolls around, and the stores start to put out brand new notebooks, pencils, and crayons. It's a huge deal around here. I buy at least a dozen boxes of (Crayola!) crayons and just as many composition books when they're dirt cheap. I had begun to be sad at the prospect of not getting to do this with #1 for much longer. But last year, we started filling two extra backpacks with supplies and dropping them off at a nearby public school. Now, I have a reason for buying school supplies for MANY more years to come. That makes me happy.

6. I was a competitive gymnast during middle and high school. I actually won second place in state for my age division and competition level one year. That other girl beat me. I also taught gymnastics for quite a few years afterwards. Sometimes I still see the girls from my preschool class around town. Now they're all grown up and starting families of their own.

7. I'm slightly OCD when it comes to eating peanut M&Ms. I like to get one of each color in my hand at a time. I never eat two of the same color at a time. OR, I only eat two of each color at a time. Weird, I know. But, hey, that's me.

Well, now you know almost everything there is to know about me. Hope you'll still be my friend. And I'm taggin' #1 and #2. I'm interested to hear what they have to say...

Take a Look!!

Here's a sneak peek at our favorite senior, thanks to Tammi. :-)

It Happened

I knew it would happen one day. I didn't know when. Or where. Or how. I had wondered how long it would take...who would be with me when it finally did happen? I wondered if I would even notice. I wasn't sure if I wanted it to happen or not...would it hurt? Would anybody be there to offer support? Would anybody understand what I was going through?
Tonight was the night. It actually happened during dinner at my parents' house. I'm glad I was surrounded by family when it occured. I'm glad they were there to share the moment and offer support when...
my toenail FINALLY fell off.

Bliss on the River

One of my favorite "pasttimes" is going out on the boat. No, we don't have a boat, but Grandpa does. We used to take it out quite a bit when G'ma & G'pa had a little place at the lake, and even after that we would run it down the river fairly often. However, I don't think it's been put in the water but once or twice since we started building our house, and that's been, oh, maybe 5 years. Anyhow...Hubby surprised me yesterday morning by telling me he was going to get it out and clean it up. #2 and I pitched in for a little bit, and by late afternoon he had it cranked up & ready to run.

Today we took #2 and her friend "G" out for an afternoon ride. I love the feel of the sun on my shoulders, the breeze in my hair, and the water underneath me. I could ride like that for the entire day!! #2 and I tried out the tube, but the years of non-use had taken their toll. Guess we'll be in the market for one of those now. I can't wait to get #1 back on a tube - we used to laugh and scream the whole time we were riding. FUN TIMES!! We decided that one day soon we're going to pack up some fixin's and have us a lil' BBQ there on the "beach." Hubby & I even picked out a nice waterfront spot for our retirement years. :-) We'd both love to live on the water one day. In the meantime, we'll settle for an afternoon cruise down the Flint.

Mom Will Be So Proud!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a very healthy eater. Well, trying to be more "grown-up" in my meal choices (and a better example to my finicky daughters) I decided to try something new today. I just finished a Chargrilled Chicken Salad from Chick-fil-a, complete with spicy dressing and sunflower seeds. I didn't even pick the carrots & purple onions off! And guess what?? I liked it! I never believed that a salad could fill me up, but it did. Next I'm going to try the Zen-sation from Zaxby's that Clint is so crazy about!

Oh...also got a new cut & color today. Went a little darker with some cool chunky blonde highlights (which don't show much in the picture). I like it, but it probably won't look like this once it's washed. :-)










Now, its out to the pool for a nap. Not too many days left to do that!!!

It's Been a Super Saturday!

Slept 'til 10ish... KrispyKreme donuts for breakfast (surprise!!)... had help finishing my cleaning... floated in the pool with a book for three hours... ate supper with the family... had hubby's homemade ice cream for dessert... gave baby Grant his bedtime bottle... and now I'm watching #2 play MarioKart, just waiting to go to bed (at a normal hour for a change).
I love Saturday.

This Is What I Get for Trying to Be Productive...

Since we've been home for...oh, two weeks now, I thought I would get all of our suitcases tucked back away in the attic today. After dutifully inspecting each to make sure it was truly empty, then nesting each one inside the other, I lugged them up the stairs. As usual, there were some things that had to be moved before I could put them back in their proper attic spot. Once the clutter had been moved out of the way, I took one heaving breath...and did this.

Oh........my..........gosh. I had pulled my big toenail all the way back. It was only hanging on at the base of the nailbed. (*Shudder*) I frantically started yelling for Riley, who could not decide whether Mom (who was rolling around on the floor at this point) was laughing or crying. Once she understood what had happened, she had the utmost sympathy for me - being that she ripped her pinky fingernail off after slamming it in the car door last summer. Well, what exactly does one do when you have an almost-ripped-off-toenail??? I called my mom. After some "OOOh-ing" she basically told me I could go the emergency room and let them "surgically" remove it, or I could suck it up and wait for it to fall off. Wow - what appealing options. My next move...call Clint, at the fire station. I knew there was nothing he could do, but I was looking for some sympathy. So, here we are after ice, Advil, and an afternoon on the couch with the foot propped up Googling advice for "dangling big toenail". Here's what I want to know. Is the thing really going to just fall off? Because right now it seems to be stuck right back on there!?! And how long does it take to grow a brand-spanking-new big toenail? Tammi, just imagine how they'll talk about me (in Chinese, of course!) when I go back for a pedicure. And I had just painted all 10 of them with the brand new sparkly black polish too. Dang...