I made this

Lame post alert:

I made this cool vase and love how it turned out. So, why not blog it?

I had an old white metal vase that I didn't want to use in my bathroom anymore.  Why not paint it and use it in the dining room? So, that's what I did.

Step 1: Forget to take a pic of the "before" of the vase cuz you are a craptastic blogger.

Step 2: Shame hubby into painting vase for you.

Step 3: Put some Styrofoam inside to hold the flowers.

Step 4:  Take random pic of the flowers.

Cute flowers 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

Step 5:  Cut flowers to length you want (measure twice, cut once).

Step 6:  Arrange in vase.

Step 7: Take some "after" pics.

Still working on the display. I painted the lamp the same color a few months ago.

Random student quote (age 9):  My mom is sending me to private school next year because she doesn't want me to use iPad's. She wants me to use paper for everything. (I call this "stellar parenting," why would you NOT want your kid to be exposed to technology?)

How was your weekend?

Not much exciting going on this weekend at our house.

Xander had soccer out of town on Saturday and in town on Sunday but he couldn't play on Sunday due to a stomach bug.

This week is the start of our Indiana standardized testing (ISTEP) so I decided to get me some candy to keep in my pocket to keep me entertained during the test. I will be in a computer lab Monday - NEXT Tuesday 8:30-2:45 monitoring testing. Because of this I figured I might as well eat some candy. I was craving Runts bananas last week so that explains those, the Gobstoppers are just an old fav.

We did some shopping this weekend and, of course, being the mom means that I didn't get much for myself. I did get this awesome pack of erasers to help fill my students appetite for erasers, haha.  Winner winner chicken dinner!

I spent most of my time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday catching up on laundry from last weekend while we were away.

On a good note, I got to start making our Disney dining reservations for our trip to Disney World on fall break. We have decided to do a "best of" restaurant theme this time. I chose 1 new restaurant and the kids told me their favorites and we are eating at those. These include O'Hana, Chef Mickey, ESPN, Whispering Canyon, and Coral Reef. I am so excited. My phone says we have 175 days left!!

Friday was our big excitement. We had Xander's 13th birthday party in Buffalo Wild Wing's party room. If you have a BWW in your area I highly recommend this room. We have had parties here before, the best part about it is that it is free to use this room, you only pay for any food/drinks you order. There are several big screen TV's in there to watch. We took 2 of our PS3's and hooked them up so the kids could play video games with each other. Being an awesome parent means that I didn't bother the kids with an abundant of pics (meaning NONE) but oh well we had fun and that's all that matters :)

Sadly, Eve's hermit crab died. Unfortunately for Mr. Krabs, no tears were shed in this house. R.I.P. Mr. Krabs, you probably won't be missed!

How did you spend your weekend?

Dear Friday,

Dear co-worker,

I can almost hear you secretly judging me because of my tattoos so let me clear up a few things for you. I am a good parent, I am married (and only have been once), I have never been arrested, I do not do drugs, I am a good employee, and I am not on welfare (nor do I receive any government assistance). Please stop with the stink eye already!

Dear Mother Nature,

Spring would be great!! Please allow it to stop by permanently. I am tired of 66 degrees then 35 degrees.

Dear Justice,

Thank you for your service but my daughter has grown up and no longer wants to wear your clothes. Sorry, I am thankful, but I just think your clothes are expensive and not of the best quality. If you want to charge me a lot please make better quality childrens clothing (see Gymboree, Janie and Jack, Hanna Andersson).

Dear co-worker #2,

Thanks for the laughs. I mentioned you here (bell choir) and now you have topped yourself. You admitted that when you were a freshman in college you took an art class. You flipped through the pages of your textbook and saw the Statue of David. You said that it scared you and that you censored it with a Post-it!! I could understand if you were in jr. high but you WERE AN ADULT!! If you decide share this level of info again please make sure that someone else is there to hear it so I can laugh with them later. Thanks for considering my feelings in the future!

I Love Ulta!!

I have mentioned several times before how much I love Ulta.

Today's post will show you the deals you can get there if you try to do your beauty shopping exclusively through them, either in store or online. They carry popular national makeup brands (Revlon, Cover Girl, etc.), tons of different hair products (Matrix, Redkin, etc.), their own brand, perfumes, and there is a salon in store. 

I just got a box full of stuff I ordered and I only spent $16!! Let me tell you what I did.

I got an email that said that said that if I spent $19.50 on Ultra brand makeup then I could get a makeup bag full of goodies for free. I can always get some foundation, so why not order now and get the freebies.

I bought these items:  

Tinted lip balm

Foundation/primer

Eyebrow pencil

This is what I got for free:

Included is: make up bag, mascara, lip stick, lip gloss, nail polish, face wash (sample size), eye liner, 3 makeup brushes, blush, and eye shadow.

I LOVE getting free stuff.

I happen to buy on a good day, not only did I get that makeup bag full of stuff, I also got free shipping!!

So, how did I only spend $16? In addition to the free stuff and free shipping, I got to take off $12 in points from my Ultra Rewards card. See, it pays to buy from them exclusively!!  I even got 3x points for this purchase. 

All my loot!! 

What's not to love about Ulta?

I am not being paid my Ulta for this post!

Freezin' my booty off (part 2)

Monday I blogged about the first part of my weekend fun here.

Today I will blog about the second half. The second half happened on Sunday.

We woke early and had to be at the soccer fields at 7:20am. Yep, it was another cold morning.

When you arrive at the fields this early there are only about 8 teams out practicing for about 25 fields. It is so serene. At no other point in the day is it that quiet. There are hardly any cars and you can hear all of the coaches starting warm ups with their players. Here is a pic I took from the car:

I got him that neon orange shirt for keeper (goalie) so I could see him from far away.

After the first game was over was when the adventure finally began. We had 5 hours to waste before the next game and we had to check out of the hotel. We decided to eat lunch and then shop. Old Navy has tee's buy 1 get 1 free, so I got all 4 of us a shirt and some flip flops. We then headed to Gander Mountain. This store was pretty interesting. We had never been in one before and spent an hour just walking around.

While walking around I overheard a "conspiracy theorist." Like a typical backwoods conspiracy theorist, he had shoulder length, frizzy gray/white hair. He was wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt that was too big. He had brown sandals on his feet and his toenails were all about 1/2 inch too long (maybe he needs to read my post about prepping feet for sandals).  After my observations, I decided to snoop in on his conversation with some poor guy that looked trapped. He has decided to go back on the old faithful "we don't know anything about him," "where is his birth certificate?"  Both, I'm assuming, are concerning President Obama. Are we still on this crap? I'm not saying I am anti- or pro-Obama but haven't we moved on from these lamea** arguments? Anyhoo, he proceeded to share his caveman like opinions with this poor gentleman, and everyone else around him. More of the "we need to get him out of there," "we should impeach him" crap, supported by uneducated opinions. He then made eye contact with me and since I am a chickensh** AND he was shopping in the gun department at the store, I scurried off. 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We ended up tied for 3rd place (out of 4) for the U13. The positive was that it was almost 60 degrees for our 2nd game and I even got a little sun :). We drove the 2 1/2 hours home and arrived about 9:30pm. 

Check out this awesome statue outside of our hotel:

There are too many things wrong with this statue to list in 1 blog post.

Funny things my students say (conversation after I told my students I had a 13 year old son):

Girl #1: What are you like 50 years old?

Me: No

Girl #2: No, she's only 25, right Mrs. H?

Me: Yep!! (I love when they make me younger than I am)

Crabby O'Mondays

Have you watched that episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Mr. Krabs sells the Krusty Krab to a chain restaurant called Crabby O'Mondays? Probably not, but I have and I have decided to name my Monday this week: Crabby O'Mondays because I was SUPER crabby!! I originally called it "Bad Mood Monday" but I like "Crabby O'Monday." 

The students usually start getting unruly this time of year. They know that there isn't much time left in the school year and they start acting like they aren't even in school. Even my best students act a little wacky and it started on Monday. 

On top of that my dog has been sick since Tuesday. He has been to the vet twice and I've spent $200+. They say he is fine but still cries when we try to pick him up, ugh!!

I had to go pick up my moms puppy, who is exhausting, and finish my babysitting. Thank goodness my mom returns on Thursday.

Xander had a golf match and he did really well but I had to ask for help getting him to the golf course because of work and picking up the puppy mentioned above.

Golf cart reflections.

Finally, I have been SO tired because of the soccer tournament mentioned here. Being gone all weekend, getting home on Sunday at 9:30pm, and having to get up on Monday at 5:30am made me tired and extra grouchy.

On an upnote, my new capri's from Kohl's arrived. Aren't they super cute?

Kohl's Elle brand, find here. Flip flops are from Kohl's also.

I did see this dragonfly in my yard, which was cool.

I hope your Monday was better than mine!!

Freezin' my booty off (Part 1)

This weekend we had a soccer tournament in Terre Haute, IN and it was FREEZING!!

Who plans a soccer tournament in Indiana in April? It's not like the temperatures are not usually the same every year in April. We can randomly get some high temps but it is usually chilly. Two years ago when we attended this tournament it was in the 30's and rainy. At least this year it wasn't rainy.

This is how Saturday went.

This was the temp before our first match of Saturday:

This is my shadow, if it looks like a blob it's because we are bundled up with coats, hats, boots, gloves,  scarves, and several blankets. 

Yes, these are little ice pellets. It wasn't warm enough for them to melt AFTER the first match.

This is the temp for the second match, at least it was a little warmer.

Here I am, all bundled up:

I found this little note in the drawer at my hotel. I wish I were clever enough to leave something like this behind.

Room with view?

Public Service Announcement

Ok ladies, the sun is starting to shine, the days are getting longer, and pants are getting shorter. This means one thing, summer is almost here!!

With summer right around the corner and flip flops coming out I feel that it is my duty to the American public to give you some steps to prepare those dogs to be hanging out.

Every year I see people walking around with poorly prepared feet and it makes me want to vomit. 

First Step: Have clean feet. Dirty feet are gross!

Second Step:  Trim those nails.

Third Step:  Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!!! I cannot stress this enough. Cracked heels are disgusting. True Story: I worked at a doctors office for several years and one of the doctors recommended Crisco to keep you moisturized. Just put some on your feet and some socks before bed. When you wake up your feet will be super soft and you can wash away the yucky left overs in the shower. (He also recommended it for dry hands and to treat eczema). I do this for my feet every couple of weeks.

This one. Not the butter one, haha!!

Fourth Step: If you don't want polish on your toenails (I won't judge, but WTH? It's so pretty), then at least make sure the nails look good and are not yellow. If you want polish and can't afford a pedicure then paint at home. I paint at home, which is why the paint job is awful but it's hard to tell unless you look closely.

Fifth Step: Make sure your sandals and/or flip flops are clean and in good repair. If they are dirty then throw them away or try selling them on eBay for someone who likes that kind of thing like this. That is not a joke!!

Sixth Step: Make sure your sandals and/or flip flops actually fit you. No one is going to judge you if you have to get a 1/2 size bigger shoe, it's not like you are buying bigger pants. I took some pics for you of flip flops that do not fit. If your feet hang over the side or the end, THEN THEY DON"T FIT, either buy a bigger size or a different style. Know your limits. I am fully aware that I can't buy Nike flip flops, they are too narrow, so I buy Adidas. Here are some BIG "NO's." (Please enjoy my Perez Hilton type photo editing)

Your feet should NOT hang over the back of your shoe. Also, notice there is NO dry skin. I had to scoot my foot back to get this pic!!

Toes should not hang over the side or end of shoe.  If you are wondering, I had to scoot my foot up really far to get this pic.

Here are a couple of pics of how your foot should fit your flop:

Final Step: Did I mention moisturize?

Optional:  Super cute tattoos. 

The flip flops pictured are from Vera Bradley and you can get them here. Although, they are out of that pattern :(

Funny quote from a student (age 9):

Justin's beaver played in the celebrity all star basketball game. (If you don't get it, then I feel sorry for you)

My plea to move to Alabama..

I watched Hart of Dixie last night and every time I watch it I remember that I want to move to Alabama.

I would love to move to a different state, if I could take ALL of my family with me.

I already live in a small town so I am pretty sure a town like BlueBell would be perfect for me.

So here is how I will butter up my hubby to move to Alabama.

1.  The weather is AWESOME. Average temperature in Alabama is about 70, which means no snow, which means no shoveling December-March.

2.  There is no "fall" which means no leaves to rake.

3.  The south has awesome food.

4.  There are tons of super hottie mechanics (like Wade) so the car would run like a dream.

5.  Our accent would make us exotic?

6. Wife would be less crabby if she could sit outside on a huge front porch, reading a book, and sipping lemonade (translation: frozen margarita) everyday. 

7. We could own a house like this:

8. Xander could play soccer year-round outside.

I'm pretty sure he will sign on for this. I will let ya know.

How do you spend your birthday?

How do you spend your birthday?

I spent my birthday on Tuesday doing fun adult-like things like:

1.  Working...boo. I remember being a teenager and requesting my birthday off!

2.  Cleaning out part of Eve's closet. I am preparing for a rummage and had to thin her closet. I filled a huge box and only cleared out 3 feet of closet space :( only about 7 more feet to go.

Before: look at all those clothes!! 

Box full o' junk

After: and still a long way to go!!

3.  I cleaned out my wallet. I bought a new wallet at the Vera sale and decided to change wallets. How many store discount cards do we need, seriously?

Yes, those are all store discount cards!!

To brighten my day I got loads of cool gifts and $$!! I even got this card from my co-worker. I am VERY fortunate to work with someone that has the same views that I do on most everything, including talking about other people, haha!!

Front of card
I avoid the teachers lounge so I don't have to talk to those kinds of gals!!

Inside

The best part is that she handed me this card, told me to hurry and open it because she had something funny to tell me that someone said to her (translation: someone said/did something stupid). Clearly this card was designed for the 2 of us. I wouldn't put it past us to play cards on our lunch together when we are old.

Stay At Home Mom

Monday I stayed home from work to get ready for the Vera Bradley sale and I have realized that Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) is the job for me.

First, I got to sleep in 45 extra-long minutes which doesn't sound like much but there is a big difference between 5:45 and 6:30!

Then I woke up Xander so he could shower. While he was showering, I sat in my bed and blogged, in peace and quiet.

At 7, I had to wake Eve and make breakfast.

The next 45 minutes were filled with making sure everyone is staying on task.

I got Eve to school by 8 a.m. I was able to do this like the other SAHM's (in my school district), with no make up, hair in a ponytail, and in my jammie yoga pants (girl has to have some pride).

Then back home to shower and get ready for my day. 

After I got ready I went to the library and then did my grocery shopping, which on a Monday at 10 was so dead it was like I owned the place.

All of this was done before NOON!! 

Imagine all of the things I could accomplish if I could stay home. Let us compare what stay at home moms do to what I would do.

This is how I think other SAHM's handle their day:

I am pretty sure they do laundry, have a spotless houses, workout, blog, count calories, and catch up on correspondence. 

This is what I would do if I were a SAHM:

 I would just sit at home in my jammies every day, watch GMA, The Today Show, and Kathie Lee and Hoda (because Kathie Lee and Hoda are some funny biatches). I would probably eat breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses  lunch, snack, and a 3pm refuel. I think I would take at least 2 naps and I am pretty sure the butt dent on my couch would get deeper and deeper! I don't think makeup and hairdryer would be on my list of possessions. 

Maybe the Hubs will win the lottery or the hit the job jackpot and I can accomplish all of the above.

What would your day be like if you could be a SAHM?