Teacher Ideas

Over at Kelly’s Korner today she is asking people to share their ideas for Teacher gifts! In December I had written a post about a cute little idea that we did for Chip’s teacher at Christmas. I thought it was worthy enough to share again!

What we made was a flower arrangement but instead of flowers, we made it out of school supplies. We looked at his teacher’s wish list for things she could use for her room and picked some things that would be easy to tape to a wooden kitchen skewer. We chose dry erase markers, erasers, scissors, rulers, glue dots, magnetic tape, post-it notes and then filled in the empty holes with lots of candy canes. Once you have all of your supplies taped securely to a wooden kitchen skewer, just arranged the skewers in a Christmas tin filled with a florist styro foam insert. My son had a great time helping with this one. Here is a picture of our finished project.



You could easily do this for an end of the year gift, too! In fact, I did something similar last year for an end of the year gift, but made it with construction paper flowers glued to the skewers. I took an individual picture of each child at some point during the year and glued their picture to the center of the flower. It was terribly cute and would also be cute with little hand tracings. I used pipe cleaners to make green leaves shapes on all the little skewers. I didn’t take a picture of that one, but sure wish I had!

If you are not feeling quite that crafty, then gift cards are always great. I love to find unique and fun ways to present them. One year, I gave PF Chang’s Gift Cards and wrapped them in those little Chinese Take Out box filled with Fortune Cookies. I just tucked the gift card inside the Take Out box and wrapped it with a pretty bow. I have also given Starbucks cards, tucked inside a coffee cup filled with whole coffee beans. Wrap it up with a little cellophane and bow and it looks as wonderful as it smells!

I hope you can use some of these ideas to make your child’s teacher feel appreciated and special.

HAZMAT Helper

You may have read my recent posts ranting about the tons and tons of yellow stuff falling out of trees around here. Pollen is high on the Allergy reports and I can see it with my own eyes. In the ten years that I have lived in Texas I don't quite ever remember it being this bad.


I guess if you want to have beautiful flowers like these.

And this...then maybe you shouldn't mind this...

Drifts of oak pollen in your driveway. This is what has blown into our driveway over the last two days. Two days!!!

This is a teenage foot next to a pile, just to give you some perspective.

This was the windshield of my Suburban yesterday afternoon. I had to do something...

So, I called in a HAZMAT professional to clean it up. IronMan showed up with just his helmet on. I guess even super heroes need to protect their sinuses from this mess.

He was kind enough to clean off the driveway.

Take a look in the background and you can see how much of it is in the street! That is not leaves - it is Live Oak pollen and it is thicker than thick!

So a special thank you to IronMan - I appreciate the help more than you know!

Moving Out

Harold has always had this one place on this neck where he grows this little patch of long hairs. They are very light, but if you catch him sideways in the right light they are really kind of long. Those neck hairs contributed to his nickname. Once when we pointed out the hairs, Chip said "You're hairy". His response "I'm hairy". So hubby logically started calling him Harry, which then progressed to the formal Harold. Not even remotely close to his real name, but now even some of his friends occasionally refer to him as Harry.

Anyway, last night before he jumped in the shower he asked if he could shave those hairs off of his neck. I said sure and he put an ultra excessive amount of shaving cream on his neck and got after them. He had not used a razor before so it was a bit of a learning process, but he caught on pretty quick. I was monitoring the washing of Chip's dirty baseball body, but caught a glimpse of Harold in the mirror leaning over the sink and concentrating on the razor. I thought to myself that he looked so much older. I am sure it was the fact that he was shaving and that is such a grown up thing to do, but it kind of caught me off guard.

After he finished shaving he looked at me and said "I think I am going to move my stuff into the other bathroom". What? Why? His response "I just think it is time."

Really, it is time already? Do we have to shave and move out all in the same night?

I know that it isn't a huge deal, moving his toothbrush and deodorant two doors down to the bathroom in the hallway. But it is a small little step of independence. A bit of growing up, a little progress toward becoming an adult. It won't be many more years that he will be packing up his toothbrush and deodorant and moving it into a place of his own. It will happen and way quicker than I am ready for.

I was proud of him and told him so.

Then he and Chip did a wild naked butt slapping crazy dance in front of the big bathroom mirror and in the midst of it, Harold looks over at me and says "I will never be too old to dance naked with Chip."

I REALLY hope he is wrong about that!!

Bob Chronicles - Sixth in a Series

I was looking back through my previous blogs and realized it had been a while since I wrote a "Bob Chronicles" post. Good thing he gave me some great material from just a few weeks ago. This one also involves my brother, who we will call Guke. Together the two of them are dangerous!

If you will remember from a previous post, my brother lives out in the rolling hills of Tennessee. He has some acreage around his house. Guke was not raised in the country so he is still learning all the ins and outs of working the land. He doesn't farm or raise animals, but having acreage means there is bush hogging, backhoe digging, hay harvesting, etc. It is a lot of work and it requires that you use some heavier lawn equipment than he grew up with in the city. He is a whiz bang with a push mower and weed-eater and has gotten pretty dang good on his John Deere riding tractor mower.

A couple of weekends ago, Guke called my Dad and asked him to come over to help him service his lawn equipment and get it ready for the growing season. Dad, always up to help others, was on his way in short order. When he arrived, Guke's wife gave them strict instructions not to work on the equipment in the garage because she had just put down some outdoor carpet in the bay for the boys to play on. They have a ginormous three car garage so that should not have been any problem.

Those two got to work. They were planning to work on the riding mower and the push mower. They drained oil, changed spark plugs, whatever else you do to lawn equipment to get it ready. (RANDOM SIDE NOTE: At our house we do nothing to our lawn equipment to get it ready for the season. We pull it out of the garage, start it and use it. No maintenance ever. I was a little baffled that you were even supposed to! Whoops!)

On with the story...they pulled the equipment out of the garage to start out but the wind was whipping around them like crazy. So, once they were done with the messy work they pulled the equipment up into the garage to get out of the wind and finish up. The very last thing they had to do was put in the fresh oil. They put it in the riding mower and that baby cranked up like a champ. Big smile of satisfaction. They moved on to the push mower and added some oil to that. A check of the dip stick showed nothing. Hmm, well add a little more...maybe the oil tank is bigger than they thought. Nope, still showing nothing on the dip stick. Hmm, maybe the dip stick is bent and isn't going straight down? Well, add just a bit more oil, because they can clearly see that the oil is not close to the top of the tank. In the end they said it seemed like they poured a gallon of oil in that stupid little push mower and it still wasn't showing up on the dipstick. Dad said he shoved that dip stick in about 100 times trying to get a reading to show up. In complete frustration, they pulled that mower out of the garage to get into the sunlight to see better.

You know already that they forgot to put the drain plug back in the oil tank, don't you?

They pulled that baby out of the garage and were met with an absolutely saturated oil covered rug. Oh no!! Guke springs into action to try to salvage this carpet some how, some way. He is pulling towels and rags from all over the garage to soak up the gallon of oil they have dumped on the carpet. I can totally see him frantically racing around gathering the towels, all the while watching the kitchen door over his shoulder in case his lovely bride comes out. Dad said that Guke was standing on the towels, jumping a little, putting all the pressure he can manage on the pile of towels to soak up the oil. At one point he looks at my Dad and says "Where is a ShamWow when you need one?" I laughed so hard. You know that oil is not coming out, ShamWow or not! But hey, what a great idea to get two guys who never want anything!!!



How could the two of them not have seen that coming??? I have no idea, but I am here to tell you that it was no surprise to anyone in our family. Seriously.

This story just gets me primed and ready for my folks to get here on Friday! Can't wait! I am sure I will be able to write daily about our adventures and exploits! It is going to be FUN!!

Have a great Monday!

Weekend in Review

These are the Cliff Notes on our weekend:

Friday night - Main Event birthday party for Chip. Highlight - he picked glow in the dark fangs as his prize. He choked on them in the parking lot and barfed all over my hand. He now has them mastered and can put them in and remove them without barfing. Kids are sponges.

Saturday - Got up at 5:00 a.m. for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Garage Sale. Should have been a drag, but it was fun! We made over $400. In the afternoon, Harold played a flag football game. A guy on the other team showed up in jeans and we thought for sure the Vikings were going to wear them out. They didn't. Harold was an angry elf. Went to Saturday afternoon church. Chip charged out of his class just bubbling over to tell me something. Apparently, he was was the tail end of a "pass the story" game where each kids adds a sentence. His ending "The guy was so mad he didn't get a Mustang that he did a suicide with a bomb." Way to represent the family, Chip. Geez. Dinner at Pluckers with friends. Jamaican Jerk seasoning is GOOD! Easter money spent at Target. Boys watched Old Dogs. I went to bed.

Sunday - Up early again. This time for no good reason. Damp, dreary kind of day. Got a little spring cleaning fever. Purged, cleaned, straightened, organized. Cleaned out Chip's room. Put all our old wooden puzzles and sacred books into an appropriate place on the sacred and sentimental shelf. Organized his bookshelf, cleaned out his closet. Did the same with Harold's room. Harold hung up some of his sports memorabilia that had been laying around for a while. I let him do it all by himself and he did great and had fun. He also made a frozen pizza today all on his own. Good skills to have. Cleaned out his closet. Not one single thing is on the floor. It is a beautiful sight. Washed sheets for all. Hubby cleaned out the garage. Played Connect 4, Chutes and Ladders and Battleship with Chip. Got the guest room ready for my parents! They will be here on Friday! Busy day. Garbage cans are filled to overflowing, but very satisfied. Just have to get the refrigerator cleaned out and my list will be finished. Great day.

Hoping to watch some of my favorite shows tonight without falling asleep! Going to be a busy week ahead so getting to bed early will be a priority!

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Sacred and Sentimental

I am charging through my house with reckless abandon today, gathering items for our Breast Cancer Yard Sale on Saturday. I am ruthless. If it hasn't been used in a while, regardless of how new or fabulous it is, it is out of here. If I am on the fence about keeping something or getting rid of it - I just about always opt to get rid of it. It is just how I am. I can't ever remember a time that I got rid of something and then later wished I had it back. Purging is so cleansing to me. Clear out your closets and it clears out your mind. Or something like that.

There is one major exception to my ruthless purging of too small, unused, cluttering items. That would be all the precious things of my two boys that are just sacred and sentimental to part with. They remind me so vividly of when they were small. I can't bear to part with favorite shirts, old sport team shirts, school shirts, special occasion outfits, favorite toys, the list goes on and on. Chip is seven and I just mustered the courage to let my Mom take the Winnie the Pooh bedding that lined the cribs of both my children to a friend she knew that needed it. It hurt me to see it go, although I knew it wasn't practical to keep it. I am not having any more kids and by the time my boys grow up and have kids of their own, their wives aren't going to want our old bedding for their new babies. Better that someone use it now. That makes so much more sense...but parting is such sweet sorrow.

While on my rampage today, I went upstairs to visit the closets where all things sacred and sentimental are stored. Come with me...see the things that I find way too precious to part with.

Look, I actually have a bin clearly labeled "Sacred and Sentimental". That means, if there is a fire, please save this bin. It holds the stuffed football that served as the packaging for a bracelet that Hubby and Harold gave me before Chip was born. The label said the football was for "Thunder" (Chip's code name when he was in the womb! It is actually what Harold wanted to name him.) and the bracelet was for Mom. Also in there are the four cutest Winnie the Pooh prints ever, ever, ever produced. They are prints of the four seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. They are small prints, but in them that cute little Winnie is doing something precious. Spring he is fighting with an umbrella, in Fall he is jumping in leaves, just precious. When I was pregnant, I had them framed and they hung in the baby nursery for both Harold and Chip. I will never part with them - EVER! They may never grace the walls of my house again, but they will forever be with me in this bin. Seems like a shame to keep them put away, but where do you hang nursery pictures when you don't have a nursery???

And this giant old Pooh - I love him. He is wearing a hat that Hubby's mom left here after our trip to Disney. She is gone now and I will keep that hat forever.

Be still my heart. It is a Gymboree blanket that someone gave to me when Harold was born. Between the two of my children it was used, washed and worn thin. It is torn in places and should be thrown away but I just can't.

The outfit that Harold came home in.

The outfit that Chip came home in.

I have about three of these.

Chip wore this little outfit all the time.

Oh, but this one takes the cake. My sister-in-law brought this to Harold from D.C. He wore it all the time and then Chip wore it just as much. It is so thin that it is on the verge of falling apart. I must preserve this t-shirt. I love it and it brings back so many memories of little boys in diapers toddling around my house.

I am going to sign off now and go sit and look through baby books and have a good cry.

The Pretty, The Ugly and The Cute

First - The Pretty: A daily picture of my crazy pretty irises! This is hands down the most blooms I have ever had on this small patch of transplanted irises. I can't even count how many more buds are on the stems ready to open! I think the key was our really cold, wet winter! Whatever it is I am grateful!

Second - The Ugly: Elbows. Talk about something you never pay any attention to until your 14 year old says "Mom, why are my elbows so dark and dry?" I tell him it is a family curse. It comes from my side of the family and for that I am so very sorry. I can still remember my Grandmother putting fresh lemons on her elbows and that "Pretty Feet" cream for scrubbing feet. It is not pretty. Let's put the handy dandy Nikon 5000 into good use. I present to you, The Family Elbow Album:

Dad's elbow. At first glance it doesn't appear to be anything to write home about, but wait until you see the rest of family and you will realize his could be the Ms. America or more appropriately, Mr. Universe elbow champion of the world.

This is mine. Gross. I am sure it is the lighting in the kitchen that makes it look like part of an eel. I am going to ask for a retake tonight. Might put a little contouring makeup on before I put it in front of the camera.

Here is Harold's. It looks particularly dry and disgusting. Poor kid, I hope he is not getting ridiculed at school. It's genetics people - he has no control over his elbows! Might be time to drag out the lemons.

Little Chip's elbow. Definitely not as dark and dry as Harold's but you can see there may be a tendency for his elbow to also go the way of Mom's hereditary lineage. Why couldn't we have gotten something fabulous like long graceful necks or pretty feet? Don't even get me started on the feet. Scary!

Let's move on to The Cute:

Chip: Mom, what are you doing with that camera?

Mom: I am taking a picture of you in the bathtub.

Chip: Oh brother, why does this not surprise me?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one of the best series of books for young readers, especially boys. Chip has read them all, two or three times. He laughs out loud when he is reading these stories. Then of course he wants to read the stories to me or tell me all about what he has read. I wish there were fifty of them!

Hope your day is great and that you weren't eating lunch when you were subjected to The Family Elbow Album.