It's the First Day of School!

I am not sure who is more excited...Mommy or M & C!?

C got her dream come true and is in Ms. Murr's 1st grade class. M had Ms. Murr. We love Ms. Murr. She also has lots of buddies in her class including Shaine. Life is good for the 1st grader.

M is in Mr. Young's class. Her first male teacher. He definitely made a great first impression on me. Danielle is in Madden's class. That was all she needed to hear. Wouldn't matter if Frankenstein were her teacher--she wouldn't care. Did I mention Danielle is in her class??? Life in 3rd grade is also good.

Reduction of my Catalog Consumption

I confess. I like to get a mailbox full of eye-candy catalogs. I really do. I am the queen of folding down the corners of pages with all the things I would love to have. Reality is, I only rarely actually order any of these items. I basically use them for ideas. I am much too frugal and would prefer to find something similar at a more reasonable price. Most of you know that I love the thrill of the hunt - TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross, Big Lots, and yes, it's true, Goodwill (especially the one in Tarrytown) - these are the places I love to shop. You never know what you might find - it's a grand treasure hunt where you don't know what the treasure will be at the end. And sometimes, there is no treasure. But occasionally the payoff is so great! Just ask to see my $7.99 brand new BCBG shoes from the aforementioned Goodwill.

But i digress. Back to the catalogs. I really only want to receive a handful of the catalogs that end up in my mailbox. The rest go straight into the recycling bin - Office Max, Dell Computer, Walgreen's, Sharper Image, etc etc. So I came across a blog, Diary of a Domestic Animal, with a list of web addresses where you can opt out of not only catalogs you don't want, but credit card offers, and non-profit solicitations (think Sierra Club, American Lung Association, etc.). I have spent the last hour filling out the info. Some of them you have to print out and mail in using snail mail, and one of them costs $1. But I figure that time is well worth the reduced junk in my mailbox. Let me know if you know of other sites to get rid of the junk mail.

http://www.abacusoptout.com/
http://www.optoutprescreen.com/
http://www.catalogchoice.org/
http://www.dmachoice.org/consumerassistance.php
and to opt out of many circulars: call 1-888-5OPTOUT

Just FYI, for the catalog choice site, it helps to have the numbers off of the most recent mailing label on the catalog you no longer want to receive. So for a short while, save up the pile of catalogs you want gone, and then go to the site and remove those all at once.

Word Soup

Look what I did at http://wordle.net/ by linking to my blog. (Click on it to see it full size.) Isn't it the coolest? Think of all the possibilities: t-shirts for the Brownie Troops, signs for on the girls' doors, Christmas cards, gifts for friends, etc, etc. My head is swirling with the possibilities.



I am doing a wee bit of work for a friend who is a web designer. She found this site. She finds all sorts of cool stuff on the net. Check out her website/blog at Wright Strategies.

USA! USA!

It is all Olympics, all the time at our house. Today we watched Badminton, Water Polo, Bicycling, Swimming and Gymnastics. I love it! Amazing! Did you catch the 4 x 100 free relay tonight? Un-FREAKING-believable! I am surprised I didn't wake the girls what with all my screaming and jumping up and down on the couch! Did you see the look on the faces of the French team? That's what you get for talking smack!

Meanwhile, we met the Mischtians and the Normands at Central Market for lunch. What a cute crew!

Night-Night Songs

P has a sweet tradition of singing the girls to sleep at night. Sometimes he accompanies himself with guitar or piano (M has a keyboard in her room), but most times it is just accapello lullabies. C's favorite is Pony on a Boat by Lyle Lovett. M's fave is any song that C doesn't sing along on! She used to love Travelin' Soldier by Bruce Robison, but won't let P sing it anymore because now that she has had the meaning explained to her, it is too sad. (If you don't know it, it is a GREAT song that you should look up--the Dixie Chicks covered it, but the original Bruce version is the best.) The nightly repertoire ranges from Wonderwall by Oasis to Her Majesty by the Beatles to April, She Comes by Simon and Garfunkel to anything Willie. There are often theme nights: patriotic songs, songs from musicals, Christmas songs (even in July!), etc. But there is one constant....the medley that symbolizes the end of the road, the songs are over, lights out, time to go to sleep. It consists of Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight Ladies, the Lawrence Welk theme, Goodnight, Sleeptight, and finally Happy Trails.

Here is another version of the night-night songs that is too stinking cute not to share. This was sent to me from Aunt Bee-Bah. The girls are gonna LOVE it when I show it to them in the morning.

Sweet Dreams, all!

Orthodontist

M had her 1st orthodontist visit today. She is going to have an expander put in, followed by braces on her front 4. Today they put in the spacers. She says they feel weird.

Entrepreneurship

Today, it was snowcones for sale! The girls had a rather brisk business for about an hour and earned $11. Thank you dear neighbor friends for supporting their cause. Stay tuned to find out if Callie spends her share on yet ANOTHER Care Bear. Madden has become very interested in opening her own bank account and is much more apt to save her money.

The best place to be on a 102* day?

THE ICE SKATING RINK!

Callie had a birthday party to attend and Madden tagged along. It was downright COLD in that place! The ice skating went surprisingly well. Callie's last attempt ended with lots of tears about 10 minutes into it (or however long it took Aunt Melanie to drag her once around the rink)! This time, she just took off on her own! Perhaps trying to keep up with big sister had a wee bit to do with it!?!

Future Olympians?

The swimming progress over the past two weeks has been amazing. Two weeks worth of private swim lessons with Coach Bonnie and we've got swimmers! She is a former American record holder with the gift of teaching. She does great work, and the girls adore her. I SO wish I had taken "before" video so that you could truly appreciate the progress that has been made. Basically they were content to just be underwater fish, giving me grief every time I asked them to swim across the pool. Now, take a look: Madden swimming breast, Callie swimming back, and the Callie/Madden freestyle relay.

Farmer's Market goodies

We arrived home from the Farmer's market with 4 pattypan squash, 2 heirloom squash, 4 tomatoes, bison jerky and gingerbread biscotti. How's that for an assortment? The girls picked out the bison jerky (tried a sample and loved it) and the gingerbread biscotti. I (of course) picked out the veggies. I am proud to say that Madden, who had been warming up to tomatoes, now loves tomatoes with salt. Amazing what happens when you eat a tomato that tastes like a tomato rather than mush. She asked for seconds. The pattypan squash did not fare so well, although I made a delicious recipe with squash, onion, bell pepper, tomato and seasonings. I am the only one who ate it. This is the problem with being the lone veggie lover in a house. I buy all these gorgeous veggies with high hopes for the healthy food that will go into my family's bodies, and it all ends up in me, not them. What's a girl to do? Deception is what is going to happen next. Stay tuned.

Update on all things blogging: ordered red couch--arrives in 6-8 more weeks; spotted rug and mocha chairs have arrived--LOVE the rug; teeth still doing well--I am off the Vicodin and only taking Advil a couple times/day--still can't eat hard food or talk quite right, but everyday seems a bit better.