Equipment Check!

For our next soccer game.  I highly recommend one of these to anyone who has kids who play an outdoor sport like soccer.  Such an easy set up and works really well!  We tried it out at our game and I can't believe I've gone all this time without one.  It helped so much by blocking the wind which made me feel so much warmer.  Bobby let another mom sit in it with me while he stood behind it freezing.  She had a little girl who was able to put a blanket down int he back and keep warm back there.  She loved it!  It didn't hurt that Bobby was feeding her pudding cups and other snacks the whole time as well.  This may be our best buy ever!.LOL  $54.00 at Meijer.  Will work in the heat to keep the sun off of us too!  I think we will get tons of use out of this.  Many of the parents wanted to know where we got it and how much it was.  I expect to see more tents popping up along the sidelines soon.

The Olloclip...Adding a New Dimension to my Obsession

Bobby got me a present the other day The Olloclip! It is a 3 in 1 lens for the iPhone. It has a fisheye lens, a wide angle lens, and a Macro lens all in one! I love it! I've been wanting it since last winter but was afraid it wouldn't work well and would let me down. I was wrong. It is great! I haven't had much time to mess with it yet and I really need the tripod to be able to use the macro properly (he is getting me that next)but I was able to play with it in the front yard a little bit the other day. I found a weed that was about to explode and was able to catch it before and during the process.

Once I have the tripod I will be able to hold the camera still better and the photos will be less blurry. All I will have to do then is find some bugs that will hold still long enough to photograph! That, and figure out how to get used to having a boyfriend who buys me gifts ALL THE TIME. Lucky!

The Macro Macro lens applies roughly a 10X multiplier and allows you to focus the iPhone within 12-15mm of the subject. The Macro lens is cleverly concealed within the olloclip and can be accessed by unscrewing the Wide-Angle lens that is normally attached to it. Fisheye lens The Fisheye lens captures approximately a 180 Degree field-of-view and produces some striking images. Wide-Angle lens The Wide-Angle lens is great for when you need that extra field of view, approximately double that of the normal iPhone.

Smarty Pants

Bobby and I decided that we are going to start trying different wines. I've never really been a wine drinker (probably because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to wine)but I do know that I prefer white. We made this decision and last night and followed through with it. I had seen a post on Facebook by someone who liked this certain wine called Middle Sister. Cute name with a cute concept. We were in Target and I saw they had it. We started reading the labels and decided we would try it. We got a Pino and a Chardonnay. We both ended up liking the Chard best, although the Pino was good too.

Go check out their website  Middle Sister Wines  ...all the "sisters" have different names.  The Chard was Smarty Pants (I found it fitting that this was the name of my new favorite wine)  The Pino was Drama Queen.    Think we may have to go get a new one to taste tomorrow night when I don't have to work the next day!

Smells like 
…lemons, pears and honeysuckle
Tastes like 
…pear and citrus in the beginning, with baked apple on
the finish
Yummy with
Crabcakes, Grilled Chicken Caesar, Corn Chowder,
Smoked Cheddar Cheese...or Bobby on the back porch!!  LOL

Yummy!!

My new favorite summer drink!!  Can be found in convenience stores...highly recommend the Black Cherry Lemonade flavor!  YUMMO!!

Old and New Traditions

Every year as a child I received and Advent Calendar in the mail around Thanksgiving. The calendars were usually a pretty winter scene with lots of glitter on them and I couldn't wait for December 1st so I could see what was behind the little doors and windows. I've looked for Advent Calendars similar to the ones I remember as a child but I can usually find are the ones that have a chocolate behind each door. They are plain and each chocolate is basically the same. Not much excitement to the chocolate Advent Calendar.

I've been disapointed by the calendars and had all but given up on that tradition then I found this!! A Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar!! How cool is that? Yea, I know it isn't the old fashioned card stock calendar, covered in glitter of my childhood but I think it will elicit the same anticipation and enjoyment that I got from my calendars as a child. Jayke will have this waiting for him when he returns from the weekend with his dad!

Each day he will get to open a little door and remove a small plastic bag filled with the parts needed to create one of the following Star Wars characters or ships...

He is going to LOVE this...highly recommend to anyone who has kids who love Star Wars or LEGOS or both! Also to moms who are big on creating Christmas traditions with their children.

Freebies!

I have talked about my friend The Redbox on here before. I'm not senile I remember that, although it was a while ago. LOVE the Redbox I go everyday. A couple of days ago I was in line waiting to return the night befor's movie and rent another. The couple in front of me were taking their sweet time choosing their flick for the evening and I was getting irritated. Imagine that...I know it is hard for you. Anyway, when they finally got their disc and were ready to leave they turned to me and said "Go to promotional code and enter DVDONME and you will get a free movie."

THANKS! (thinking to myself I bet it wont work) It worked! I got my free movie. Then I felt bad for a teeny tiny minute for thinking evil thoughts about them for taking so long to choose their evening entertainment. Only for a minute though. I was already busy figuring out how I could take advantage of this offer. Will it work more than once? Will it work at different locations? Can you use more than one card to get more than one free movie? Let me tell you my friends...YES YOU CAN! Turns out you can use this code as many times as you want as long as you use a different credit or debit card each time you do. I have had several free movies this weekend and more to come.

I started thinking about it and decided to do a little research. Turns out there is a whole website out there with a list of all the codes that are active. All you have to do is locate the code and you are on your way to all the free movies your little eyeballs can stand to watch! They keep this up and I will never pay to rent a movie again!

The only bad thing is if you don't get your movie back within the 24 hour time period you are allowed to have it the Redbox WILL charge your credit card for the additional night. That and you never know how long the code will be active. I have a list of about 20 codes...I have about 5 credit cards...that is 100 FREE MOVIES PEOPLE! I don't think there are that many movies in that thing that I want to see. But you can bet your butt I will be seeing the ones I do want for free!

Yep I Saw It

I finally got to go see the new Batman movie last night. I know it sounds weird that I say finally since it has only been out since Thursday at midnight but we had plans to see it that night...didn't make it. Had plans to see it Friday night...didn't make it. So, finally I got to see it Saturday. It was worth the wait.

I know I have mentioned before how I am not a "Chic Flick" kinda girl. I like my movies loud, full of action, or as dramatic as they can make 'em. Romantic comedy? Pass. Don't get me wrong, I will watch a romantic comedy or plain ol comedy if I am forced to or there is nothing else on television but if you ask me to choose between mushy gushy girl movie or shoot em up action packed thriller I'm going with the thriller EVERY time!

My movie preference has been a problem for me over the years because most of my friends like the dreaded romantic comedies. Even the husband liked them. I had a hard time getting to see a movie I wanted to see for many years. Now I have Sara. Sara likes the same kind of movies I do. Now I know if there is a movie I want to see I have someone to go see it with. We also drag Nate along. He is agreeable and just goes along with whatever we say...so far. He just complains about it later.

Okay, back to The Batman. It was good. I wouldn't say great. That could be because of the anticipation factor. Once I build something up in my mind it usually never compares when it actually happens. It dragged a little now and then and was about 30 minutes too long but Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was phenomenal! I totally see why they are talking Oscar for his role. The bad thing about it is they will never be able to replace him in the sequel. They might as well kill the Joker off and forget about him. No one will do it better. This may be the first year I am actually looking forward to watching the Oscars to see if he wins. I might have to attend Annette's annual Oscar party this year.

I think I have seen more movies in the past 2 months than I have in the past 3 years! I missed going to the movies. Jaykeb still can't really sit through an entire one. He usually falls asleep. Speaking of The Boy, he is in SC and doing fine. He now has his own cell phone. Yes, he is only 4 years old and NO I did not agree to him having one but apparently that didn't matter. Mike thinks he will call him more if he has his own phone. He may be correct because he has called me 3 times today. The last time was to tell me they had set the tent up in the yard and were camping out. He sounds like he is having fun and I'm glad. Yes...I really am. I was afraid he would have weird feeling about being back there and seeing the house empty but so far so good. Probably harder for me than him.

I feel a little lost without him here. I feel like I'm forgetting to do something constantly. It will be good that I'm training at work all week. Keep me busy. Nate and Sara seem determined to keep me busy too...coming over to hang out all weekend when they knew that Jayke would be leaving. I also have my friggin Ipod to keep me busy. It has almost gotten tossed in the pond a few times today! I switched to my laptop when trying to load music on it and for some reason it won't sync with the laptop. I think I'm going to have to haul the laptop over to a friend who is a computer guy and have him figure it out. He already has this laptop working way faster by telling me how to secure my router. Now I need him to save my poor little Ipod from a watery grave!

Bangito! Crashito! POPito! Skippito!

In need of a great children's book? Buy this one! I love this book! It is not only fun for Jaykeb to listen to but it is fun for me to read. How can you not love a story about a cat who thinks he is a chihuahua?! There are several books in the series so if you love this one you can get more and have the adventures continue.

I just discovered this book recently. I bought it at the evil book fair the school set up in the entrance a month or so ago but hadn't read it yet. The other night I was looking for some books that we hadn't read yet and grabbed this one. I honestly don't know who enjoyed it more, him or me! I enjoyed it so much I MADE him let me read it to him again tonight.

The little cat uses his imagination to turn into Skipito the masked chihuahua and heads out to fight banditos! My family (on my Dad's side) has had a love affair going on with Mexico lately...trips to Mexico, Mexican food, Mexican dogs... so I enjoyed the book even more because of that. Dad has 3 cats and two chihuahuas and I'm not sure if any of them know which is which so I found this extra amusing. I am going to send it with The Boy next Tuesday when he is spending the day over there. Meemaw can read it aloud to all of them...boy, cats, and chihuahuas!

I SOOOO Want to Win This!

I normally don't post contests on here...at least I haven't for a long time but I really need one of these and I get an extra entry into the contest if I post about it so take a look...



Evil Target quit selling my beloved GoMom Planner this year and I was totally hooked on it! I think I may have even blogged about it at one point. Anyhoo...Finding a replacement that is equally as wonderful has been difficult. I got one for Christmas from my Dad (The organizer King) but the spark just wasn't there. I miss my beloved organizer! I don't want a new one, I want the one that has been there for years. The one that is my best friend who I can rely on to always have just what I need. I don't want to start all over getting to know a new organizer...I just don't!

That is why I need to win this one! You can check out the contest at Kailani's website or you can go straight to MomAgenda to see all their cute products!

I think that covers the linkage issues...I will put up my regular post later!

Be Careful What You Wish For

It took him this long but he will finally sit in Grammy's chair with her. She may be regretting this accomplishment though because now he walks in, throws his bible in her lap, climbs up on top of her, and tells her to start at the beginning! I just look at her and tell her it is what she wanted.



I increased Jaykeb's time at school from two days a week to three days yesterday. With that I also get a free membership to the YMCA. This is a good thing because I can now sign him up for all of his sports at half price. Very good deal for a single mom. This also means that I can go use the facility as well. I even got myself a workout partner in case I get a wild hair up my rear and decide to grace the energetic folk at the Y with my presence! Gretchen, who lives at the end of our driveway, works there and she wants a workout partner so she gave me her cell phone number. I should have given her mine...I can't be relied upon to call in these circumstances. I am, however, so very close to fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans which I saved. Very exciting! I can't even begin to tell ya how much better I feel.

On the other hand, I may have an eating disorder because I never eat and I don't see the change in my weight when I look in the mirror. My mom keeps telling me I will, that it took her a while to see it on herself too. I can see the change in my clothing so that tells me that I'm losing.

I went to see the movie, PS I Love You tonight. I thought it may be a bad idea to see this kind of movie right now with the current state of my personal life but I needed to get out of the house and I knew I wasn't going to be allowed to say no anyway. It was an okay movie. Not my kind of movie to start with so I didn't have many expectations for it. It was cute in parts and funny in parts. It wasn't nearly as sad as I expected it to be though. This was a good thing...I don't need to be sitting in a theatre bawling my eyes out right now. I can't really say that I would recommend spending the $9 to see it in the theatre, wait for it to go to DVD. I'm glad my date was paying...thanks Ang! I am dieing to see I Am Legend! My friends are chic-flick girls though so I don't see that happening unless I go alone. I've never been to a movie by myself so that would be a new experience.

I'm In Love!

My kiddo has a weird little habit...okay, he probably has a lot of them but today I'm talking about one specific one. He will chew certain foods forever! I'm not just talking about longer than most people, I'm talking he will chew a peanut for an hour! He will chew meat for an hour. You forget he even has it in his mouth and an hour later you will see him chewing away on something and ask what it is. Meat. Meat from an hour ago? Yep.

How weird is that? I think it is very weird. He just laughs about it. You can tell him to swallow it over and over and he won't...just chews away. You would think his little jaw would get tired after all that chewing! Anyone have experience with this? I would like him to stop.

I have begun working on his party now. I got the room at Escapades booked, I have all the stuff to put in the treat bags, I have the gifts and giftwrap, I sent Mike to the party supply store in South Carolina today because I couldn't find what I was looking for up here (he did), and I have started scrapping the treat bags. I figure I only have 3 more days until I begin working so I better get this stuff done now. I may not have time to be so crafty in the future. I'm sure the kids won't care that I scrapped each treat bag but it will give me something to post on my craft blog and it is keeping me entertained tonight.

I have totally fallen in love once again. Didn't take me long, huh? My new love is perfect! Entertaining, fun, easy to turn on, and so much more! I can't believe I didn't find my love sooner. Wanna see a picture? I know you do!





Here he is! My Cricut die cut machine! LOVE IT! Don't know how I scrapped without it! I highly recommend you get one if you don't have one already...if you do, I know you know what I'm talking about!

Hey Moms!

There is a great new show on PBS I learned about at our Mom's Club. It is called Word World. It teaches kids to recognize letters on site and how to put them together to spell words. We have watched it once and Jayke really liked it. The mom who told me about it said her son is already going around spelling everything. While watching it with Jaykeb I found out that he already recognizes many more letters than what I realized he knew. I think this show will help him continue with his learning. Check it out if you have a little one at home!