Lemonade .50

Our neighborhood had a yard sale today, and Maclaine has been wanting to have a lemonade stand. Today was the perfect opportunity! She was so cute all dressed up and selling her drinks. I think she enjoyed operating her first business...for the first 30 minutes! Needless to say, we were out of business after about an hour or so. Oh well...

Meet Squishy

So, I bet you thought I'd forgotten that I'd promised to post a photo of the rat! Well, I did sort of, but the real truth is my batteries in my camera have been dead for a while and I have just not taken the time to recharge them. This weekend I got out the camera and made up for lost time and took lots of photos.
Maclaine loves Squishy and I must say that we have (or I have) adjusted to him quite well, as he is very quiet and clean and doesn't require much attention (from me) like the dog does! I do think I might be allergic to the hay that he loves so very much and will do flips over, but thankfully there are drugs to help with that.
I just think it is so cute how he is so good around Maclaine, and really is very docile...or maybe he just thinks that the more boring he is to be around the less he will be played with...not sure yet!

Summertime!!!

It is amazing how the day we got out of school the temperature seemed to immediately soar to the upper 80's and have extreme humidity. Anyway, that is just a sign of good ole summertime!
I am so ready for some down time this year, so here are my top memories of summers, both past and present:

1: Going to the lake and skiing all day long...eating all day long...then lying in bed at night and having the feeling that you are rocking with the waves!

2: Ballgames. Long ago, when Len and I were young and in luv, I would go and watch him play baseball with a Nashville league. That seems like ages ago...it was about 13 years ago! Now, I LOVE me some Franklin Force travel baseball. It is so exciting to smell the hotdogs cooking, see the eyeblack on, smell the sweat (hehe), and work on my redneck tan while yelling for my #10 to hit the ball hard and run fast!!

3: Freshly mowed grass. I just love that smell.

4: Swimming at the pool is the best babysitter in the world. It is so nice to be able to sit back, lather on the sunscreen and watch everyone wear themselves out. I like coming home after a couple of hours at the pool, getting everyone in the shower, putting our jammies on and just letting the sting from the chlorine burning their eyes lull my kiddos into naptime!!!

5: Staying up late and sleeping in. What is so nice about that one is just the lack of HAVING to be somewhere so early in the morning. We are all so much nice to be around when we awake naturally without the help of a pesky beep...beep...beeep...beep...beep...beep(told you it was pesky!)

6: Tan Cellulite: I know that this is stupid, but why is it that my fat always looks so much less bumpy with a tan? I know (or hope) that you all never have to see the areas I am speaking of, but you know that I am probably talking about you too! Why can't men suffer from this syndrome?

7: Sonic green apple slushes: These are my favorite summertime drink by far. My family will often pile in the car at night for happy hour and get our slush fix! Len and Laine want grape, Mason wants lime and the green apple goes to moi!
***If you drink a green apple slush...Always, always, always check your teeth as you are drinking it to make sure you are not ending up with green stained teeth. Of course I would know nothing of that!!***

8: Pedicures: Pure bliss.

That is all I have time for now, my delightful children are screaming at each other and running through the house...wonder where Len is?

Twitching Muscles

At the school my children attend and I work, we have an annual tradition of THE TUG. Each child is named when they start school either a greer or a plato. I have been a greer since 1990. Len is a plato, so we are very much a house divided. The teams compete against each other in everything. It is a fun tradition the began over 75 years ago.
Yesterday was the Lower School Tug, and as a faculty member I donned my garden gloves and I TUGGED! I guess our teachers teams were pretty evenly matched, because it felt like we were pulling and not getting anywhere. Let me tell you, it was very evident that these arms and legs have not seen excercise in a very long time. My muscles were shaking and twitching! After it was over (we lost) half of us were either out of breath or shaking. Just another sign of aging, I guess.

At last.....

When we moved into our house over 2 years ago, I was faced with wallpaper from the early 90's. Think hunter green, burgandy, navy and gold...you know you loved it too THEN! I really don't like wallpaper and I really dislike stripping it.
About 1 month ago, after walking through my dining room, I decided that the best way to remedy this yucky situation was to have some fun. Yep, the kiddos and I started just ripping pieces of wallpaper off. WARNING: DO NOT BELIEVE HOME DEPOT WHEN THEY SAY THAT A CERTAIN REMOVAL SPRAY MAKES IT PEEL OFF EASILY...They are LYING,LYING,LYING.
Well, after a week or so of looking at messed up walls, and knowing that Len was not going to be helping me, I enlisted the professional help. Let me tell you, with what I spent at Home Depot on supplies,I came out much cheaper with these guys doing it for me.
Fast forward a few weeks...after they had removed the wallpaper, I said I would save money and paint the walls myself. I must have been high on stripping chemicals. The ceiling trim and walls needed help. Yesterday, I had had enough of my furniture being displaced and looking at patched walls, so once again these wonderful men saved me and repainted everything. The walls are a warm and rich chocolate brown and the ceiling is the lighter shade. It looks great! FYI, if by chance you have white ceilings, I highly recommend painting them...especially if you have moulding. You will be amazed at how much better it looks and makes your trim POP!
After a Target run to redo the upstairs bath (now very spa-like) and an expected run today to find a dining room mirror/picture/? Then my house will finally be one that I don't feel like I have to make excuses for. Woohoo.