Long Day

I'm going to make this quick because as the title states...it has been a LONG day!

Today was Picture Day. It was also gymnastics class day, and we had a visit from a group of bigwigs from our corporate office. Plus I had someone observing my classroom. There were 19 children in my class today...2 of whom are in the process of potty training...the part of the process where they are wearing underwear even though they haven't grasped the whole concept of using the toilet yet. The picture people got to our class right at lunch time. Oh yeah, and tomorrow just happens to be Halloween so the kids are all jazzed up to begin with. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm suffering with a raging case of PMS at the moment. Perfect timing as always.

It's like being in "The Perfect Storm".

So anyway, I wanted to check in because I feel like I haven't been. There's not too much to tell at the moment. Ciara has reached an unfortunate phase of development. I call it the spoiled brat phase for lack of a better description. I'm thisclose to locking her in her bedroom until she's 30. We've threatened to take away trick or treating, but to no avail. She seems to be doing a bit better at the moment, but who knows how long it will last.

On the way home from work I saw a bumper sticker that made me go "hmmmm...really?". It said something like "Pull right for sirens and lights". I thought-"is it REALLY necessary to make a bumper sticker to tell people not to be stupid? Does anyone really not know to do this?"
Then a few minutes later I was waiting to make a right turn at a stoplight and an ambulance approached the intersection with lights flashing. The light changed against the ambulance and I looked over to see the idiot in the left turn lane start to go. Seriously? How do you not see the lights or hear the horns blaring? The idiot did actually stop before causing a collision, but I suddenly understood that there might actually be a necessity for such stupid bumper stickers.

Ok, I'm cranky and having nothing nice to say so I'm going to take the advice of my elders and not say anything at all.

I hope everyone had a better day than I did!

Wisdom to pass on

What are 5 things that you hope you can pass down (or at least teach) your children. Beliefs, ethics, morals......stuff like that.

1. Honesty is always the best policy

2. Always try to see things from as many points of view as possible before acting/ forming an opinion.

3. Treat others the way that you want to be treated.

4. Live your life with joy...you only get one chance.

5. Know that you are worthy of love and don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Looking Fine Week 9

Down another 2 lbs.
(I think...I haven't been writing any numbers down, so I'm going on memory and my review of previous posts)
Still haven't really made an effort to make any big changes. I think stress and lack of grocery money are the key for me at the moment.
I'm happy though...I'm 4 lbs away from what I weighed when I got pregnant with Ciara.
My goal this week is to make it through Halloween without pigging out on candy.

Oh how quickly things change...

I just thought I'd share what things were like in my neighborhood today. All of these pictures were taken within 1 hour of each other.

(yes, that is snow!)

Good stuff!

Bloggy Love

This morning I was thrilled to discover that another blogger deemed my blog award-worthy!

Thank you to Alicia @ My Two B's and Me for thinking I am entertaining enough to deserve this...

I also recently received another award

This one was from Susan @ Life in the Psych Ward , and I have been remiss in properly thanking her until now. Sorry for taking so long Susan! Thanks for thinking I'm Brilliant!

I just never get tired of hearing that people actually like me.

As with most blog awards, these both come with stipulations. I'm supposed to pass each of them on to 7 other bloggers.

Yikes! There are just so many to choose from. It's going to be so tough to narrow it down, but I'll do my best.

Ok...so which blogs do I just love to pieces? I suppose the easiest thing to do is to tell you which blogs I simply have to read every time I see there's a new post...and I'm going to bestow BOTH awards on each of them, because I just don't think that my brain can handle doing more than that right now. Here goes...

1. The ever popular, and always amusing McMommy!

2. The lovely lady who has taught me almost everything that I now know about my camera...
Rachel @ American Mum.

3. The writing genius who would so be my best bud if I still lived with my parents because we'd practically be neighbors and I would harass her until she gave in and became friends with me...
Auds @ Barking Mad

4. The hysterically funny and unbelievably creative (even if she's a tad stalkerish...but who am I to talk?)...
Happy Hour Sue!

5. My other favorite stalker...Jen @ Daily Mish Mash.

6. My sister in sarcasm, fellow New Kids lover, and someone I am so happy to call my friend...Carol.

and finally...

7. Because I want to take her up on her offer to get her all drunk so she can tell me her own stalker stories and make me feel normal, and I'm thinking that giving her 2 awards might encourage her a bit...Bejewell @ The Bean.

Thanks for keeping me entertained ladies! Love ya lots!

Time to get random

I have been completely lacking things to blog about for the last few days... So I guess it's lucky that both Julie and The Nice One tagged me to do this Meme this week.

Not sure just how lucky though, since I already did a random things meme, but I guess there must be more random things that I can share. Forgive me if they are totally lame.

1. I was born on Friday the 13th. Some people might say that this fact explains a lot. Whatever. I think it's cool.

2. My favorite type of wine is Riesling, but I rarely drink.

3. I have huge hands and feet for a woman. I wear an 11W and it is practically impossible to find a decent pair of shoes. My hands are roughly the same size as my husband's and he is 10 inches taller than I am.

4. I have the worst metabolism on the planet thanks to PCOS and Hypothyroidism. It sucks.

5. I'm a lefty, but I taught myself how to write with my right hand because I heard that using both hands increases the number of connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, making you smarter.

6. I hate folding laundry and putting it away.

7. My middle name starts with a W. I love making people try to guess what it is because I always get some great answers before the correct one.

I know that the rules say that I have to tag 7 other people. I am generally a rule follower, but everyone has to rebel against something so I'm going to pick this. I like reading people's answers, but I hate making people feel obligated to do things. If you would like to tag yourself, feel free...I promise I will read your answers and leave a comment for you!

Just for kicks

My little Angel

Looking fine by 2009 week ?

As usual I'm in a hurry to get ready for work, but I wanted to get this post done first.

I appear to have lost another pound this week. I wish I could say that it's from working really hard at it, but I think it's mostly because I didn't feel very well all week. Oh well, I'll take it.

I have been eating much better over the last few weeks...at least I haven't been snacking a lot. Still need to work on that whole water drinking thing, and getting some exercise. My New Kids obsession has me dancing around a lot at least. The second concert is this Friday- so I know I'll be getting some exercise then!

My goal for this week is to just keep doing what I'm doing, plus try to drink more water, and go for at least 1 good walk.

The Obligatory Pumpkin Patch Post

WWWAT- Take 2

Ok Rachel...this one is just for you!
After reading your comment on the last one, I went back to check out the pictures I took at the concert. They pretty much suck because I had to take them with my cell...but if I managed to do one thing, it was capture the light.

I couldn't tell you which song this was...but I love that you can see the lights from all of the other cameras in the audience.

Here's Donnie taking over the spotlight...

And this one? Awww heck...we all know I'm just including it so that I can look at it again.

Satisfied now? (I am!)

WWWAT: Seeing the Light

This month's theme is "Capturing the Light"

Which is interesting, because I've noticed that I have been a bit obsessed with that idea when taking photos lately. Here are a few of my recent favorites.

Experimenting with the shutter

I loved the way the light was hitting her hair...

The other morning I was up in time to catch the sunrise. I thought the way the light was hitting the trees was beautiful, so I tried to capture it...

These are the same leaves that I took a photo of before that I really liked...I thought it would be neat to do it again now that they're changing colors.

I was so inspired by the sunrise that morning that Ciara and I decided to take a walk together. As we were walking I saw the beams of sunlight filtering through the trees and just had to take a picture of it...

Later on during the walk I saw this sign and thought that the shadows the sun was casting looked neat...

Back at home I noticed that the sun was making the leaves on my dogwood bush look pretty cool, so I snapped another picture of that...

This last one was as the sun was setting. It was shining through our patio door right onto Ciara. Fortunately my camera was right next to me at the time. I would have missed the shot if I'd had to go get it.

Now that you've seen how I capture the light, please go check out the fest @ The Adventures of an American Mum to see more!