One of my all time favorite bloggy friends The Winey Mommy has this weekly meme called This or That Tuesday... all day yesterday I wanted to get back online and participate, but with all my Prom doodies (I know it's duties.... I just prefer "doodies" right now... but I digress...) I haven't had a lot of time to do fun stuff... I hope it's ok I am late to the party... Chelle, I'm sorry... are we still friends?... Chelle... Chelle... 

This week's question: Do you prefer to watch movies at home or at the theater?

I love to watch "Blockbuster" type movies at the theater... Anything with lots of special effects is best viewed on a huge screen with lots of other people... provided they turn their cell phones off... come on people... enough already... I hear tell that the 3D movies are a must see on the big screen... I have a hard time paying over $10 for a matinee... especially since I have so many other demands for my "Benjamins" lately... oh, who am I kidding... make that my "Washingtons"... lol... So big production movies at the theater... but tear jerkers must be watched at home... I love me some Redbox... $1 (+tax) and you can have a fun evening or rainy afternoon planned... Last night we rented Hachi: A Dogs Tale and sobbed for an hour... it was the most beautifully sad movie I've ever seen.... and I wouldn't have enjoyed crying like that in public...

Thanks for listening,

Post It Tuesday....

It is time for Post-It Tuesday...Hosted by SupahMommy...  

 

 

Thanks for listening,

Musings & Owies....

First off... I am sorry there are no "Spark Notes" this week... It is partially my fault... Apparently I was a little assignment happy this week.

Back during out Christmas break we took an extra week off and I told the girlies that meant no spring break.... It is easy to make the deal in the moment, but now that all their friends were on spring break, it was hard to "pay the piper."

How does that affect Spark Notes you ask? Well, Sparky had two big assignments due this week and since she wanted to spend her "off" time goofing off with friends, she didn't write her post. How is this my fault you ask?.... Silly you, you must not be the mother of a teenage girl... everything is mom's fault... lets look at her logic, shall we...
 I didn't give her a "lighter" work load this week, even though I knew it was spring break... I didn't excuse her from a days worth of work for the day I went to Nashville prom dress shopping with her sister... (mind you, her sister did her work in advance so she could have a free day... ahhh the difference in maturity between 15 & 18 is great...) I expected her to be ready for her Biology test by noon on Friday, even though she didn't have time to review on the a fore mentioned shopping day.... I assigned a book two weeks ago and only gave her two weeks to read the whole thing and write a report... and I not only didn't make time in her daily school schedule for reading this book, so she had to read it in her free time... I also made that report due on the Friday of "everyone in the world's spring break"... To top it off I won't give her extra credit for her blog posts unless she will turn in a rough draft by Thursday.... (I know, I'm a horrible mom.... poor girl....)  Oh, and I grounded her from the computer this morning for unrelated reasons... I am a ogre...

On a completely different subject, I failed my US Olympic gymnastic team trials last night.... (ok... that was hyperbole...) We had a Homeschool Teen Group movie night last night. We had it at my new co-leader's home and although I have been there a few times as we were leaving at 10:45 PM last night I missed a step on her walk way and stumbled... and when my left foot hit the damp grass I went down into a full split! (I wish that part was hyper-bole...) Here is the thing... I am not exactly in shape (unless you count "round" as a shape), but even when I was in shape I could not do a split. I am ok... no real injuries (except I ruined one of my favorite shoes...) but I pulled muscles in places I wasn't aware I had muscles... I am in a lot of "owie" today... I am limping around like I need a walker... I am the speaker at a large homeschool support group on Monday and am coordinating the Homeschool prom which is next Friday.... I may need that walker if I don't heal fast!

Well, I guess that's it for now...  sorry I rambled on so much...

Thanks for listening,

Five Favorites Friday....

I just posed about our prom dress success yesterday, but this is Friday and so it is also the day for my five favorites. I also decided to sign up for the "Friday Follow" again... I have met some of the coolest people and found some really cool blogs I may never have found otherwise.

So without further ado...

Here are my favorites this week....

1. Snorg Tees...

Click HERE to view what are in my opinion some of the funniest shirts... (warning... some are PG13)..
I laughed so hard at these... (yes, I am a nerd...)

Surprise contest... The first person who can tell me what this next one references, I'll send a little gift too... I am getting this one for the Axeman... he would get it... let's see which of you think like him... Seriously!

(If you do leave a guess and your email isn't linked up to your profile, be sure to leave that also...)

(PS... get your mind outta the gutter... this is really innocent...)

2. This wreath...

I made this for this front door this week...

I originally made this for the $5 challenge on Living With Lindsey...

But got lazy and didn't want to do the required tutorial so I just made it to spruce up the front door for Easter...

3. This Wreath Stand...

I picked this up at Target last week...

It doesn't look like much in the picture, but I keep making these seasonal wreaths and now they don't all have to hang on the front door... I had #4 in mind when I picked it up...

4. This wreath...

I found this at Mary Janes and Galoshes and fell in love.

I picked up the stuff to make this and think it will look cute on the stand...

5. These "Peep" banners...

Dana of Made posted the tutorial to make these on V and Co.

If I find time, I want to make these... they are way too cute...

Sponsored this week by...







Thanks for listening,

Dress Success....

Y'all must have prayed for us...

Prom dress shopping was not only a success,

but we had a lot of fun too...

It was Cate, my Step-mom and I off to Nashville on this bleak & rainy day...

It started off iffy...

My step-mom's allergies are acting way up...

We ran out of coffee and...

The first few store we hit had (to quote Cate) "hoochie" looking dresses...

Low cut... excessively short... and clingy fabric....

She wanted sassy, classy & somewhat modest... but we started to think that dress didn't exist.

But a quick trip to Starbucks and hope returned...

Finally at David's Bridal we hit the mother-load...

Tons of dresses... none over $250... and almost every style in her size...

By 2PM she had it narrowed down to these four dresses...

Long & Classy...

Short & Sassy...

Long & Sassy...

Mid-length and Sassy...

All of these dresses looked really good on her and covered her in all the needed areas and accentuated her in all the right areas... There was only one thing to do....

We went out to lunch...

After a good meal, we headed back and she tried all four on once more...

I already knew which one it would be, you see when she tried them on the first time one of these dresses made her face glow... She spent more time looking at it then the others, but from years of being her mom I knew to let her make the decision her own way...

And the winner is...

Long & Sassy...

(By the way she hates this picture, but she was exhausted and only posed for one... so this is it.)

And as a bonus we found a dress for Sparky too...

We went to Kohl's on the way home to look for strapless bras and I found this dress...

It was on clearance... and with the additional 30% off coupon I had we got it for $19.70!

She has a dress that we were given, but it needs some work done on it, and I wasn't sure I'd have time to do the needed work... so when we saw this in her size, at that price I couldn't pass it up...

Sparky wasn't part of today's shopping trip for several reasons...

First, she had the afore mentioned dress...

Secondly, she is only in 10th grade... she will have other proms.

Cate is a senior, this is her one and only prom.

Lastly this shopping trip and dress was a birthday gift from her grandma who really wanted her to feel special for a day... Cate always includes her sister in everything and usually puts her sister's needs and feelings before her own... Today was Cate's day, and when they shop together they don't always get along... In most settings they aren't very competitive... until you put them together in a fitting room...

So Sparky went to spend the day with a friend while we shopping...

Was she a little jealous...

Oh probably, but I don't feel compelled to be even and fair in all things...

Lets face it, life doesn't work that way and besides "fair" and "even" are not always the same thing...

And it wasn't really in our budget for new dresses...

until we found this one...

I can definitely afford $20  for a dress and it fits her perfectly!

You can imagine her surprise and joy to receive this dress when she didn't expect anything!

Yes... we ended the day with two very happy girls and that is a rare treat...

Thanks for listening,

Wonderful Mother/Daughter Moment... Hopefully....

We are off to the big city (Nashville...lol) to find a prom dress for my sweet Cate... My sweet Cate has a very hard to fit figure and an image in her mind of what the perfect prom dress would look like.... these two things may (and usually do) conflict with each other... We have a "shopping history" that is not positive... She  has hang-ups about the number inside the dress... if the size she thinks she takes doesn't fit she will often refuse to try the next size up... insisting she is not that size... It doesnt matter how many times I point out that one manufacturer's size 12 is another's size 16.... She also really wants to shop in the Juniors department even though the cut of those clothes rarely look good on her.... She is not only very curvy with cleavage that practically starts at her throat, she ia also nearly 6' tall so short styles are really, really short... aghhhhh....

Pray for us to have a good day...

I will report back later on....

Thanks for listening,

Cate's Birthdays through the years....

I told Cate that I would post pictures from all her birthday parties over the years...

I had no idea how big of a job this would be...

So I don't have them all... because it takes a long time to take apart the scrapbooks, scan them in, edit the photos and then put the albums back together... I don't have that kinda time today... Sorry Cate...

You will also get a chance to see some of my "mad scrapbooking skillz" from the early years of scrapbooking....

1st Birthday

We had her party at McDonald's in Livingston. MT.

2nd Birthday

Friends come over for cake & ice cream... these were taken while she was waiting for her party to begin.... I videotaped the party, so no photos... I learned my lesson about that...

(Bozeman, MT.)

3rd Birthday

We had her party at Hardee's in Bozeman, MT

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Sparky... I wasn't up to "hosting" anything at home....

(the year of the unfortunate "clown" incident...)

4th Birthday

Her "Barbie" Party

(That is Sparky on a friend's lap in the center/left photo)

Bozeman, MT

5th Birthday

We took her and her friends out to lunch at Applebees and then came back home and they decorated the cake themselves... they had a blast!

Bozeman, MT

6th Birthday

Mickey & Minnie Mouse theme Party at home with friends...
Bozeman, MT

7th Birthday

"Princess Party"

We made "Princess Hats"

and I bought the town out of old prom dresses...

So the girls played "dress-up"

Then they took their dress home as a party favor...

Bozeman, MT

8th Birthday

Rollerskating Party in Bozeman, MT

9th Birthday

"Movie Star Party"

Stockton Springs, ME

10th Birthday

Pizza Party with Friends & Family

Stockton Springs, ME

11th Birthday

Slumber Party

Stockton Springs, ME

12th Birthday

Surprise Party

and Sleepover with best friends

Belfast, ME

13th Birthday

Game Night with Friends

Waterville, ME

14th Birthday

Sleepover with cheerleading buddies...

Waterville, ME

15th Birthday

Double Surprise Party

Her and the friend pictured birthday's are 10 days apart...

We surprised them both with a "double" party!

Clarksville, TN

16th Birthday

Rollerskating Party...

We rented the whole place and had a ton of people there... unfortunately the lighting was horrible and I was so busy that I have very few good pictures of this night. If we have big party like this again I will spring for a photographer... I am very sad that we have 3 photos of this milestone event... and not even good ones...

Please note the tiera.. she wore it all day!

Clarksville, TN

17th Birthday

Cookout with Friends & Family

Clarksville, TN

and of course her...

18th Birthday!

I can't believe we have celebrated this day 18 times now....

wow..

PS. I will continue to upload pictures of the "missing years" over time...

Thanks for listening,