Heel, Sit, Stay!

Gabby & Roxie went on their first road trip with me and my mom over the weekend!!! This was the first time I've ever traveled with them and had them in a hotel and they did GREAT!! Actually, they put on the charm at the front desk and got us a suite upgrade! The Evansville Obedience Club was hosting a Rally and Obedience show and we participated in both. I was a bit nervous about Rally, since we've never taken a class in it, but Gabby got 2 1st places, each with a score of 99! We also finished our CD (Companion Dog) obedience title with a 3rd place! Roxie was a good girl and loved seeing all the people and dogs (some day I'll get her in the ring!!!) The dog show kept us pretty busy, but we did get a chance to scope out the Eastland Mall, and New Harmony, Indiana on the way home.

Here are some videos and pictures of the trip! ENJOY!

Gabby - Rally Novice

(Click on the video - then click again in Picasa to view the video)

Marching Madness

An unexpected call on Friday night from Joyce and Julie was the beginning of another fun-filled weekend! My mom and I met up with them at a local bar/restaurant downtown Belleville called Castletown Goeghegan. My mom had never been there, and loved their homemade fish and chips! As we were eating we were entertained with some great Irish music. After we left Goeghegan's my mom and had some last minute prep to do for a trip the next day to EIU to watch the marching band competition.

Our trip to EIU for the marching band competition was a lot of fun! We packed up the car around 10 a.m. and off we went! We decided to stop in Effingham on the way up to go to Walmart to see if we could find some stadium fold up seats (they were out of them in Belleville). They had a ton of them in Effingham, so we bought 2 of them and some other snacks and we were on our way to EIU. As we were approching the Charleston exit, we saw the sign for the Tuscola outlet mall and I remembered the awesome Amishland bakery, furniture store, etc that was next to the outlet mall. So we decided to drive a little more north so we could get the awesome cinnamon rolls that are as big as your head from the Amish place. We get to the Amishland shop and to our dismay the bakery has closed down!!! It was a fun trip up to the shops even though there were no cinnamon rolls.

On our way back down to Charleston it starts to pour down! My mom and I decided to just park on the street and use this time to eat lunch, while the band competition was on a "rain break." They decided to move the competition indoors to the field house, then it stopped raining and decided to move it back over to the stadium outside! After an 1 1/2 hour rain delay, the competition was back on! We saw over 20 bands perform including Granite City and Belleville West. Both did an outstanding job!

After the competition was over around 10:30 p.m., we went to a restaurant called Boxa on the recommendation of Tracie, my student teacher. She was right, their grinders are awesome! My mom and I both had the Southwestern Chicken grinders on the recommendation of the manager, who said it was their #1 seller for 10 years!! The hot sandwich was great, since we had been sitting out in the cold and damp air all afternoon and night! After the hot meal, we were back on the road to go home!! We arrived home around 2:00 a.m. and it was time for bed! Also, a big thank you to Cassie who watched Gabby and Roxie for the evening.

After sleeping in this morning, Cassie dropped over to give back the keys and told me the dogs were well behaved for her. After Cassie left, I went to JoAnn's and got some fabric for the back of my Neptune quilt and eyed up some more Christmas fabric, but I refrained! I also was inspired for some more quilt patterns from some of the flag designs from the color guard teams. Those might be my next quilts! After JoAnn's it was time for dinner and The Amazing Race and Brothers & Sisters!!! Hope the week is as much fun as the weekend was!

No Money, No Problem!

This weekend has been an absolute blast - and the best part it was all FREE!  Starting with Thursday night,  my friend Cassie invited me to go to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) concert on Art Hill.  This is a free concert put on every year the day before the Forest Park Balloon Race.  We met up with one of Cassie's co-workers, Jen, who was kind enough to volunteer her husband to drive us downtown and into the crowded park!  Thanks Cody!  Turns out Jen and I know some mutual people as well - small world!  At the concert, we met up with Carla, Mike (faux parents) and, Jon (fauxbro - see It's Only One Mile) and sat at the top of Art Hill and enjoyed a fabulous evening of great music for free.  We all brought a picnic style dinner with lots of wine and NUTELLA (which I'm now a little obessed with!)  The backdrop for the whole concert was gorgeous.  They had the SLSO set up right in front of the lake, so as you looked out you could see the boats on the lake and the fountains, just beatutiful!  Also, the SLSO played one of my favorite tunes - Buglar's Holiday!  It couldn't get better than this, could it?  YES! - they ended the concert with FIREWORKS!




A change of original plans for Friday night allowed me to go to the Forest Park Balloon Glow for the 1st time!  My mom and I decided to hop on the MetroLink (there was NO WAY we were parking over there!) to the Central West End stop and walked the 20 minutes into the Central Ball Fields where the Balloon Glow was taking place!  This event was packed with people and dozens of hot air balloons!  It was really great though, because the balloon teams didn't care if you came right up to them and their equiptmet to take pictures or even touch their stuff!  My mom and I must have been there for a few hours just watching all the balloon get inflated then they did the balloon glow for an hour and a half.  It was great weather and a clear sky and another great free event!



During the ride home from the balloon glow, I received a text from Brad, saying that they were having a bonfire!  This night just got even better!  Got home, let the dogs out, and then headed over to the Behrmann's for a good old fashion bonfire!  An old fellow music friend from high school was there, Bill, who I haven't seen forever!  It was great seeing him and hearing his stories from his travels in Spain. Now that he's back in the area, maybe I convince him to play BINGO with me again some night!  Another reason I love Behrmann bonfires (besides the great company) they have the best snacks!  Mama Behrmann made some delicious homemade salsa and she let me try some of their homegrown tomatoes, which were delish!  During the bonfire, I found out the Belleville West Marching Band preview show wasn't at 8:30 a.m. the next morning as I had previously thought.  That was just the beginning of their clinic, and the real run thru was to be around 11:00 a.m.  I was sooo glad Clare told me this, because I didn't get home until 1:30 a.m., and wasn't about to be up at 8:30 a.m.!




So 10 a.m. Saturday morning roles around, and it's time to get ready to leave for the Belleville West Marching Maroons preview show!  This will be the 1st time I've seen the West band perform this year!  My mom and I arrive in time to meet up with the Behrmann's and watch the last 30 min of the open clinic and then see the full show!  Since the stands were open, I went up to the very top with Cassie, Jackie, and Tyrone, to watch the show and get the "expert" critque, since Jackie and Tyrone work with the group! The show looks great, sounds really full, and I think they will get better and better each week! Go Marching Maroons!  Can't wait to see you next week at the Eastern competition!



The original plan was to head to Edwardsville after the BW preview show to watch their marching competition, but we decided that due to a chance of rain on Sun, we'd better go to the Scott Air Force Base Air Show now, and not on Sun.  After waiting in a long line to get into the base, a long line to get to parking, and a long line to ride the shuttle in, we finally made it to the air field!  This year, the Canadian Snowbirds were there was the finale act.  They are a nine-person precision air team and they were fantastic.  Also, before they went on, they had a heritage flight take place which was really neat to see all the airplanes thru the years.  I'm glad we went yesterday, because it did rain today!






All in all, it has been a great FREE weekend!  As I'm writing this, I'm exhausted from all the fun!  I think today will also be a FREE day - just relaxing and doing stuff around the house!

Treasures From Travels

The other night I met up with my traveling theater friend, Ruth. We decided to go to this cafe in Edwardsville to eat horseshoes, which I had never had, but had seen on the food network before. Holy schnikey! These things were huge! My student teacher, Tracie, warned me to only get the ponyshoe, but I didn't listen and went for the gusto. There was no way I was making it thru this whole thing. Anyway, it was delish, the part I ate, next time - ponyshoe! Ruth was kind enough to bring me back some awesome stuff from Dubai and some other cool places!

Here are some pics of the cool stuff I was lucky enough to get!

After catching up and hearing all the latest theater gossip, I had to head back to school for Open House night. NO ONE ever comes and sees me, but I have to go sit there every year and wait anxiously that this might be the year, just to be let down (yet again) that no one cares about the speech lady. Oh well!

Has anyone not watched Glee yet? It's hilarious, witty, musically awesome, and the best new show of the year! WATCH IT NOW! SERIOUSLY - Stop reading this and go watch it online if you haven't seen it! You'll love it! Then we can all be Gleeks together!

School Daze & Quilting Update

School has officially started and so far everything has gone pretty smoothly. Oh - did I forget to mention, I haven't actually seen kids yet for therapy? Maybe that's why everything is just peachy! I think the worst part of starting school has been the time change in school hours. Loosing that extra 15 min of sleep is messing with me! My student teacher, Tracie, came in today for a bit - she made a really cute bulletin board with apple and leaf cut outs with all the kids names on it! She gets a gold star for the day!

Now on to the quilting update:

5 quilts have gone to the quilt shop and now they have returned!! They are all machine quilted at Melear Fabrics in Salem/Sullivan, MO. They do such a nice job there!

I also made a matching decorative pillow case for the Crazy Eight Reindeer Christmas quilt! I think I will make some coasters or potholders with that material too for the holidays!

Mother Clucker

Laura and I decided that Friday night we'd hit up the Ameristar crab leg buffet before school started as one last outing! We met an interesting lady in front of us. If I had to describe her, it would be a mix of a hobbit and troll with smokers voice. She went on to inform us that she had taken 1/2 day off work and came to the slot in hopes to buy her meal at the crab leg buffet. If it wasn't bad enough that this hobbit/troll lady was talking to us, she also ended every other sentence by clucking - yes - clucking like a chicken! When she got out of line to look for her friend, Laura asked, "did she just CLUCK?" I replied, "Oh thank god you heard that too!" We were skeptical that this hobbit/troll actually had friends to eat with, but we did see her with someone normal later that evening at the buffet. After the yumminess of the crab legs and tons of other food, we hit up the black jack machine where I went on to play for 2 hours and came home with some sweet cash! Then after the casino, we hit up the Bass Pro Shop, where I proceeded to blow all my sweet cash on clothes because it was tax free days. And no, I didn't buy any camouflage!

Saturday, my entire world was turned upside down as I learned how to use eBay! I'm a bidding fool now and I believe I spent hours watching that tiny ticker clock count down as to be sure I didn't loose out on my coveted fabric that I was wanting! I got some great deals on quilting fabrics and bought a few new "feet" for my sewing machine to help me quilt!

Today was the official end of summer vacation. :( We decided to BBQ and have a nice family lunch/dinner. After that my mom finished her 1st quilt top (Disappearing 9 Patch)!! I think it looks AMAZING!

Then my mom and I decided to groom the dogs. What a furry mess that was, but it's done! The dogs look great, quilt done, all my stuff is ready for tomorrow, I've got my bids out on eBay, and I'm ready for BED (it's a school night!)

Agility Update

This weekend Gabby & I were able to get into the agility trial in Glen Carbon and we did AWESOME!!! I am very pleased how fast Gabby is running now and someone even made a comment saying, "Woah - that springer actually is fast compared to most!" Gabby and I came home with 3 1st place wins (2 Jumpers w/ Weaves, 1 Standard) and 1 2nd place win (Standard) and we now have the 3 qualifying legs to earn a new title - Novice Standard Preferred! The agility trial photographer got a few good pictures of Gabby flying over the jumps, and was able to put a little collage together for me!

And here is a picture I took in the backyard with all her ribbons!

Quilting, Jazz, & Doghouse Swimming

So I finished my next quilt.  It's a black and white "shoo fly" variation throw quilt.

This was a fun project and I learned about piecing triangles! 

For a break from sewing today, I went up to the Wine, Dine, & Jazz festival downtown and listened to my old band director play in a group.  We saw the Dance of Life Dancer lady, who I never knew had a "name" for her act.  I've seen her various music concerts - you can't miss her in her tutu!  

Also, this morning I took the dogs up to Kim's "Doghouse" to play in the baby pool.  Jackson, Giant Schnauzer and his owner Wendy were there and so were Amy and her Aussie, Megan.  All the dogs played together and had a great time! 

This was the 1st time I'd ever gotten Roxie in a pool!  Tossing the tennis ball in there seemed to ease her worries! 

Under The Big Top

I had a lot of fun at the circus.  There were a ton of kids (which I knew going into the deal) but the one one kid behind me kept kicking me all night which kinda sucked.  Besides that, the whole thing was fun.  There was a crazy tiger tamer man dressed in all black leather pants with fringe, shirtless with long black hair.  He was fun to watch dance around the cage while pretty much 6 out of the 8 tigers did anything but sit.  Then the ringmistress who looked like Gloria Estefan meets a dominatrix had a crazy announcery voice that once you mock it you can't stop it!   They had some really neat acrobatic features and some crazy guys who walked around in this Circle of Destiny thing which needs to be re-named Circle of Death, because that guy almost fell off like 5 times!  Also, there were Shriner's kids hocking merch which was hilarious to witness - "Popcorn, get your popcorn, get it while it's fresh, $1.00!"

I also went to the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire on Sunday.  I had a blast (and no I did not dress up in period costume).  I learned about weapons and got to throw stars, knives, and axes. 

 I also learned how to hold a pike and run thru a combat drill with it! 

 There was a good music group called 3 Pints Gone which we listened to for a bit.  Some of their songs are hilarious!  We also saw a joust, though no one actually fell off a horse, it was more like a skill test of what these guys could do on the horse with the poles catching different things.  

I also ate my 1st turkey leg, which will be my last turkey leg - yuck! All in all, it was a great day and was worth the 100 mile round trip to get there! 

Fun In The Sun!

I know it's been awhile, but I thought I'd start back with the blog and post my fun summer adventures!  I've been working hard on getting the pups ready for summer agility trials.  Here they are taking a break after a hard workout earlier in the day! 

I've got some exciting things planned for the summer.  I just started at SIUE again, and will continue working there until "the real school job" starts again in August.  I'm headed to see Rent in a week at the Fox with some of the original cast.  A few trips planned - Medieval Times, Dollywood, Biltmore Estates, Chicago & Michigan! 

I've also been busy learning how to quilt! I made a baby quilt top for my 1st project. I just sent it off to have it finished professionally.  I think I'll try making the whole thing next time. Thanks to Patti for helping me learn how to do all this fun stuff!  I think I'm addicted! 

Tonight is the Shrine parade and the circus tomorrow! Looking forward to all of that!  I'll write more soon - I promise! 

Let It Snow?

Ok - seriously, we might get some snow tonight!  That is just crazy!!!!  I can't believe the weather this past few weeks.  It's great - not bad - sorta yucky - gorgeous - rainy - SNOW?!?!  What the heck midwest, you need to get on the Spring-train and start warming up!

Last night we went to a fundraiser for the SIUE chapter of NSSLHA.  The NSSLHA Loves dinner fundraiser is something I was a part of when I went to school and it's really nice to come back each year and see how the event grows.  There is a trivia night portion which last year our table was 2nd place and the SIUE faculty was 1st.  This year, we were short a player at the table, and got 3rd while yet again the SIUE faculty got 1st.  I'm starting to think the faculty have an upper hand, since their students are writing the questions!!!  

As many of you know, I had to put Scout to sleep due to continued behavior issues about 3 weeks ago.  This is the worst decision for any animal lover and ranks up there with loosing a loved one.  As my physical wounds heal, my heart will never forget the good times I had with him!   A few weeks ago, my trainer suggested I adopt another dog that she knew needed a home.  I didn't think I was ready for another dog, but it has turned out that Gabby, who is an 3 year old champion English Springer Spaniel, is wonderful new companion for me and Roxie.  I will be showing her in agility and maybe obedience (if my trainer has her way).  Here's a pic of Gabby!

This afternoon was my friend Kara's bridal shower.  I've known Kara since high school and we played in the jazz band together.  I think it's really neat how many of us from high school still stay in touch!   It was a lovely event and in a really neat local place that I had never been, Bellecourt Place, which my mom has informed me used to be a Baptist Church.  I actually got a prize when the timer went off and they were opening my gift!  Actually, everyone at our table, except 2 people recieved a "timer" prize!  It was too funny - Kara's oldest sister had to keep walking back to the furthest table 6 times to give away prizes.  We told her we all should get another prize for having the most prize winners at one table!  Kara's wedding is in May and I hope it a much prettier day out than today.  Showers for a shower huh?

It's Only 1 Mile...

That's what my "faux-bro" Jon kept telling us as we hiked thru Forest Park for 3 miles this afternoon!  Anyway, let's back up a minute - we started off the day by Laura and I riding the Metrolink to Union Station to meet up with Julie, Carla, Mike, Jon, Joe, and 20 other McGinnis family members.   Upon arrival Laura and I proceeded to get our 1st "green beers" which were really just dyed Bud Lights.  I was on a quest for a Yard-O-Beer,  but they weren't selling them, so the 32 oz of green beer would have to do for the time being.  Then we all headed up to the parade route and watched all the marching bands, floats, Irish cloggers, etc pass by then it was time to fight the crowds for a potty break inside of Union Station.  

We were also playing LUCKY, which is my version of an Irish Bingo game, throughout the day.  We all managed to win I believe, here is my card! 

Julie bet me to ask 3 guys wearing kilts if they were wearing underwear and I did, so Juls you owe me $5.00!!!  

We all went to Houlihan's for lunch, where we saw an Irish Flav-a-flav, and I again asked for the Yard-O-Beer but no luck.  After lunch, we all headed over to Jon's place, which was only "1 mile" from the Forest Park Metrolink stop, so Jon's says!!!  However, after about an hour of walking we realize this 1 mile was more like 3, but we finally made it and hung out over there for a bit.  Jon made this really good granny smith infused vodka that we put with Sprite.  Though, it sorta looked like pee in a jar, it tasted really great!  Then Carla, Mike, Julie, Laura, and I headed to Pat's Bar for dinner.  They had 1/2 fried chicken with fries for only 5 bucks today!  What a deal! Also, no Yard-O-Beer :(  Apparently you have to buy the cups at Walgreens or wherever and just fill them with beer.  I will be more prepared next year and bring my own Yard-O-Beer cup.   I also have quite a collection of green beads, shot glasses, etc from today!  

At last it was time to go home, Kate (Laura's sister) was kind enough to drive us to the nearest Metrolink station so we wouldn't have to hike back thru Forest Park in the dark!  Julie had been talking about ice cream for a little while during dinner, so Laura and I took her advice and headed up to Sheridan's Frozen Custard for a little St. Paddy's day treat.  I happened to look inside and see my old neighbor Cathy, whom I see in totally random places all the time!  

All in all it was an awesome day and I'm really glad I got to go and I'm already looking forward to next year and my Yard-O-Beer.  

It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

OMG! It's been GORGEOUS outside the last few days!  Laura and I actually took advantage of the good weather last night and decided to go miniature golfing before hitting up the local fish fry.  I had a BOGO coupon from my senior year in high school (not joking - over 10 years old,  but no expiration date on the thing) for Centerfield and they totally honored it!  After that (which I won the mini golf!!) we decided to hit a few ball in the batting cages.  Of course the cage I pick it is messed up and won't work so I have to get the workers to go running in there with balls flying at them to fix it!   Oh and if that isn't enough, the bat I picked was totally greasy and I ended up using Laura's bat!  Then it was off to the fish fry at South Side.  They have all kinds of stuff at this place.  I had some cod-cut ups and Laura got fried shrimp, we brought that yumminess back and decided to watch Penelope - a little strange, but cute and entertaining nonetheless.  We decided instead of staying inside and playing Wii, to take the evening back outside with some crazy games of Phase 10 (Laura won) and Skipbo (I won). 

I'm glad we got a little fun time last night, Laura has been working hard for a long time on our local speech group conference that was during the day.  Kudos to all the SWISHA board this year for putting on an outstanding presentation.  Our speaker, Barbara Hodson, was a DELIGHT!  Such a nice person and excellent speaker!  Laura and I went to pick her up last night and she was one of those people you just enjoy meeting!  

It's already 72 degrees outside, so I'm headed out there to get some much needed yard work done!  Picking up the remainder of the leaves, filling in some holes - courtesy of the dogs, and maybe a little spring decorating outside!  

Catch Of The Day

Tis the season of the FISH FRY!  I'm not Catholic, but I LOVE a good fish fry.  So I always look forward to the Lent season!!  Last night, Laura and I hit up Holy Family's fish fry, which may be one of the best in the area in the church category.  They had all-you-can-eat Walleye for only 6 bucks!  Their batter is amazing and they have those awesome crinkle cut fries! I also saw on stltoday.com that they have a fish fry map this year!  I'm definitely going to have to check that out for some new finds.  

After the fish madness, Laura and I decided we'd hit up the St. Louis Art Museum for the Free Friday's.  I really wanted to see the special Ming Dynasty exhibit and you can't beat FREE!  The artifacts that they had in there were amazing.  Some of these bowls and outfits were from the 1300's and they were very well preserved.  If you have a chance you should definitely go and take a look - it's worth it! The jade carvings, wood lacquer carvings, paintings on silk - simply breathtaking!  Here's the link - http://saintlouis.art.museum/ming_dynasty/

Since we were in the area after the art museum, we decided to hit up The Cupcakery.  I'm a sucker for these huge cupcakes - they are delicious!  They had a bunch of new flavors that I'm anxious to try!  

After all the exciting art and cupcakes, Laura and I decided to rent a movie at her house.  We decided to watch W. starring Josh Brolin.  I sort of feel sorry for the real W. after this movie. They really portrayed him as a simple man who all the others could use as a puppet mouthpiece to further their agendas.  All in all, I liked the movie and it kept my attention for the most part. 

Next week starts ISAT testing at school - which means extra free time to catch up and get stuff done without kids!  YEAH!  This school year is flying by - they actually just e-mailed us a few calendar mock-ups for next year to vote on!  I guess we aren't going to a 4-day school week like some other places are doing.  I would have been okay with a 3-day weekend all the time!  

Here Kitty Kitty

Oh where to start...  how about at the beginning (of the work week?)

Monday was a lot of fun!  After yoga, Laura, Julie, Carla, Joyce, and I went over to a little place called Vito's in St. Louis for $5.00 pizza.  They thought it would be good to get some dinner before Carla, Julie, and Joyce had their physical test at the Fox Theatre to be ushers.  We thought wine was included in the $5.00, but their advertisement was tricky and the wine was only included before/after a Billikins game. SNEAKY!!!  Instead of sobbing over the no wine with our $5.00 pizza - we had gelato for dessert. Laura and I split the tiramisu (which tasted more like cinnamon), while Carla and Julie had some really good strawberry.  Also, we were right next to the place where Dave rehearses for chorus, so he came over to say hello. 

Tuesday, was FREE TACO DAY at Jack In The Box!  And boy did I get some free tacos.  Since I was in Edwardsville to get my computer worked on, I stopped at their two Jack In The Boxes to get my free tacos, then I headed home and my mom and I went to get her some free tacos for dinner too!  I LOVE those greasy little deep fried tacos! YUM!  Side note: What's up with Jack being hit by a bus?  Really?  Where are they going with this?

Well, that brings us to present day.  Our time study started at work and that mean a lot more computer work, fun fun!  Though on a brighter note, I got my computer back and I'm loving the upgraded Mac - Goodbye Tiger - HELLO LEOPARD! What a machine!  I'm looking forward to playing with it and loading the new programs that go with it!  

We also had agility tonight, but our trainer had a sub.  It's always different when she's not there, but we did much better than the last time she was out for the evening.  Scout is now nick-named "The Flyer" because he jumped off the end of the teeter before it even pivoted and kept running in the air until he hit the floor! He's crazy! 

It's so nice out tonight we decided to grill.  We are making the spinach and asiago sausage/grilled peppers and onions combo again because it was so good the last time.  This time however, we are making extra for some yummy leftovers.  Well the grill is beckoning - until next time!

And The Winner Is...

Slumdog Millionaire!!!  I loved that movie and I'm sooo glad it won Best Picture!  The new Oscars format was neat and I really enjoyed it.  Now for my super fast recap of the night:  Highlight of the Oscars - Kate Winslet finally winning.  Lowlight of the night - trying to figure out what the heck happened to Sophia Loren.  Also, I would like to thank Laura, Brad, Dave, and J.J. for coming over and trying to beat me at the Oscar ballot game, (that's 2 years in a row - better luck next year!) Oh and next year remember you can "research" ahead of time guys! :) My other favorite part of the evening was when J.J. showed us this: 

How great is this old add!  It's too funny!

Today we also had our last Winter Fun League agility event.  I do have to say we've come A LONG WAY since 3 weeks ago! Roxie and Scout both weaved AND did the teeter-totter today!  Hooray!  We ended on a good note and look forward to taking our new skills to class on Wed!  

After fun league we went to the Wonder Bread store and every time I'm in there I'm so amazed at all the stuff you can get for like under $10.00!  I walked in with my Mom to get my free loaf of bread (I had a coupon!) and ended up walking out with the free loaf, and 2 packs of bagels.  I had to stop myself before I took hostage a carton of those yummy, yet a little too firm, chocolate donettes.  Of course since I got bagels, now I needed special cream cheese - I don't like just plain cream cheese (too plain!).   So off we go to Panera aka St. Louis Bread Company to get honey walnut for my Mom and sun-dried tomato basil for me.  They told me they never sell enough of the sun-dried tomato basil to keep it in a big tub, so I had to get 4 individual 2 oz servings.  With that, I have to put my math rationing skills to use to make sure I get the right amount out of the little cup so I don't have to open another one.  So much work!  Math + Bagels = Delicious?  

Special Edition

Something really funny happened today at work - 3 different kids pronounced 3 different games in a new and exciting way and I thought I'd share them with you in a special edition of

Kid 1 - "Let's play the monkeynuts game!"  He's pointing to this game - 

Kid 2 - "Can we play OON?"  He's pointing to this game - 

Kid 3 - "Hey do you want to play Toe-po-lee?" He's grabbing this game - 

I love when kids have their own names for games - it keeps the job fun and interesting!  Have you heard of any "new and interesting" names for games?  Let me know! 

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath...

The last time I took my dogs to the groomers, Scout refused to get into the bath.  Well, he's going to have to go back in a few months when the weather gets warmer to get shaved and I thought we should practice getting in the bath tub here.  I've sorta done a sneaky thing and call the bath tub an obstacle like in agility.  So when I tell them "over" he just jumps right in now (along with Roxie).  From the looks of that picture you'd never think he hates baths!  Maybe this will calm him down a bit the next time we visit the groomers.  I feel bad for the lady who has to bathe him, I'm sure he's a handful! 

We also had agility class tonight, which went really well!  Roxie tried to teeter again,  but wasn't as fearless as on Sunday, so we'll take it slow.  Scout is a weave machine - he's sooo fast!   I also looked into herding for Scout, so that maybe one of our next adventures.  Can you picture it - me, Scout, and sheep?!??!  Anyway.... enough about the pups for tonight. 

The Oscars are coming up on Sunday - are you going to watch? have some favorites?  Take my Oscar poll and let's see if we can predict the big winner!  I always like trying to predict the winners - some years are better than others, especially if I've seen some of the nominated movies.  This year I did get to see Benjamin Button, Doubt, and Slumdog Millionaire.  All of them were really good - though I think Slumdog Millionaire was my favorite out of those three.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

So, I've been pondering writing the Garmin company about my GPS and it's map.  It gets me most anywhere about 99% of the time correctly, though the one place it constantly gets wrong is my place of work.  Yes, I know how to get to my job without my machine, but sometimes it's just on and I think it's fun to play with so I let it drive me places!!  It always tells me my school is on the wrong side of the street and about 1 block up... HMMMM!!!  I'm not sure what the process of telling Garmin about this would be, but it's bugging me enough that I might just do something about it - I'll keep you posted! 

We went over to my friend Laura's house for lunch (as usual on Wed) and she was kind enough to share her Valentine's Day Edible Arrangement with me and the others.  Those things are so darn cute and yummy!  Tomorrow is Subway day for speech lunch!!  Ohhhh and the 5 dollar any sub is back!!!!  Sweet onion chicken teryaki here I come!  

Happy President's Day!

I'm excited it's President's Day - to a teacher that means one thing - NO SCHOOL!!!  I'm enjoying the 3-day weekend.  I just got done grilling some asiago spinach sausages along with some peppers and onions.  What a great meal that was and it was really nice to be outside for a bit.  

President's Day weekend marks Roxie's 2-year anniversary of coming to live with me from the MO-KAN BC rescue.  I can't believe I've had her for 2 years already!  Since it's her "adoption day" I'm going to brag on her a bit.  Yesterday at winter league Roxie did the unbelievable - she teeter-tottered all by herself!!!!  The teeter is something we've been working on but with lots of assistance.  I don't think Roxie really realized what she had done (I think she thought she was just climbing the dog walk) and it was too late when the teeter decided to totter and down she went. Although it didn't seem to phase her at all, but I was totally shocked and had to take a moment to comprehend what had just happened!   Now, I must brag on Scout - he did all 12 weave poles with no gates and no wires yesterday!   We are having a lot of fun in winter league and it's not all about the dogs - the gossip is fun too! 

My orchid has decided to finally to sprout a new branch - so hopefully that will mean a new bloom by spring/summer!  I was worried once I cut it down last year I didn't do it right and it would never bloom again, but apparently something went right.  I also found out you can use Miracle Grow African Violet food that is 7-7-7 and just double the amount to make it 14-14-14 for orchid food.  

I must start cleaning for the termite inspector's annual lookie-loo.  Terminix is coming on next Monday and I know them if they even find a cobweb they will try to sell me some bug plan that I can't afford and don't really need!  

Busy Bee

So the last few days have pretty much been non-stop, and I'm excited just to sit at home tonight and have some time to breathe!  Monday evening I went and helped out at SIUE with a friend's class with her Experiencing Aphasia night.  It was a big shocker to all her students who walked in expecting to get a lecture.  Instead they have "aphasia" and have to go to speech therapy all night.  It's a pretty eye-opening experience for those students. 

Last night I got some free passes from the school's tech guy, Patrick, that he got from another tech guy to go see Friday the 13th remake.  I've never seen the original movie, but I thought this was a pretty good movie for a horror flick.  Too bad we had to drive over to St. Louis for the free passes, but they never have screener passes in Illinois.  Laura and I plan on going to see another screener on Thursday called I Love You Man after the special ed. dept BBQ gathering at Bandanas.  That should be pretty funny and I love that Paul Rudd and Jason Segal from How I Met Your Mother (that's one of those CBS shows you should be watching!) 

I've also decided to venture out and become a survey taker online for a little extra cash.  Quick cash it is not, but maybe someday I'll get enough for a little pay off!  Besides what else am I doing in my free time!?!?!  

I'm going to post a few of my favorite pictures of Scout & Roxie that Patti took at Sunday's Winter Fun League.  All and all I'm glad we've signed up - it's not a total disaster and I am learning some stuff about agility!  

Cheddar Bay Birthday Biscuits

Today is my Dad's birthday and of course the original plan to go to the Dreamland Palace (German food) for dinner gets switch-a-roo'd, so we ended up going to lunch at Red Lobster! Well, I took some cold medicine earlier on in the morning thinking my parents would call before then came to pick me up, but NOPE!  I had fallen back asleep for hours then Laura had called me about 2 minutes before I heard that "ding-dong" at the door and realized what time it was as my stomach sank and I knew I was in trouble!!!  After 10 minutes zooming around the house and trying to explain why I fell back asleep, I was ready and off we went to the Red Lobster or RL as my friend Melissa calls it (she used to work there).  I LOVE those little greasy, garlicy, balls of dough they call their cheddar bay biscuits.  Anyway, after much debate, we all ended up getting the same thing - The Admiral's Feast - which is basically any kind of seafood they can dip batter on and fry up, slapped on a platter with one of those salty potatoes. So after all is said an done, I'm stuffed like a flounder.  

Last night I finally got some new phones for the house - 5 to be exact.  I had been having issues with my old V-Tech's and it was time to do some research and get a new system.  My old set was a 5.8GHz and had lasted five years, so I thought it was ok to upgrade to the DECT 6.0 digital technology.  I only had 2 phones in the old V-Tech system.  I wanted at least 4 in the new one, but no one has the 4 set, but they have a 5-set bundle.  You'll come to find out, I'm an impulsive buyer and I can reason myself thru any purchase, so I now have a 5-phone bundled answering system.  Here a phone, there a phone, everywhere a phone-phone!! I really do like them though, so I guess it was worth it. 

Tomorrow is my first winter dog league event for agility.  I'm really excited and really nervous about it.  This will be the 1st time I "show" my dogs and don't really get make-up chances to fix faults on the course.  We'll see how we do, and that will sort of determine if I sign up for the April agility show which I was aiming for.  We still need to work on a few things, and this will be good for us! 

I have a lot of TV watching to catch up on, ER, Friday Night Lights, last week's SNL.  So, I think I'll do that instead of chopping up the rest of the snow outside.  I'll let it melt a little more and maybe I won't have to do it at all!  

Taxes, Nuggets, and ABC

First off, let me extend thank-you to my friend Patti for giving me the Celine Dion concert tickets that I went to last night!  It was an awesome concert and I had no idea how much I really liked Celine's songs until I found myself clapping and singing along with all the crazies.  

Tonight I believe it's time to do those dreaded taxes.  I am thinking I should get at least a little something back from the good old government.  I also want to look into e-file, I think my refund will be quicker that way.  So while I sit here eating my Tyson chicken nuggets (that are way too salty for some reason) I shall get started on the taxes.  Thank goodness for the DVR though because all the good shows on ABC (Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice) are on tonight AND it's the big Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice cross over episode "we've all been waiting for." 

Oh I'm bringing you a very special Kidz Korner today.  I went thru a lot of work to get this on here, so I hope you get a kick out of it.   

This is one of my speech kids that wanted to sing us a song in therapy!  

TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR (click title for link)

02.03.09

Ok, so I thought I'd try out this blogging thing finally before it goes out of style!  Before I begin, I must give a blog-out (ok yeah that's cheesy) to my friend Brad - it's his b-day today!  Happy Birthday Bradfordly!  I'm going to dedicate a section of each blog (if needed) to a funny happening at school or thought pondering kids actions and I'm calling it Kidz Korner - look for it later on in today's edition! Also, look for pic, videos, and other exciting things on my new blog! 

I have to gush a little about how exciting it was to see Legally Blonde and meet some of the cast last Friday!  I felt like a 5-year-old kid at a candy store!  I seriously need to get to New York some day sooner than later! I also want to say thank you to Laura, Dave, Brad, and JJ for waiting around 2 hours in the freezing cold to stage door.  You guys are amazing friends! Not only was Friday awesome, but Saturday was Brad's Faux B-day event!  I had a blast and I hope everyone else did too.  We took an awesome tour of Busch Stadium (I'll post the pics at the end) and did a murder mystery dinner at night.  Note to others:  If one was planning a trip to the St. Louis Wax Museum on Lacledes Landing this winter - think again. On the window, a tiny index card "closed for the winter" was taped, even though the website says they are open.  I think economic hard times have hit at the wax museum - sad, but true.  

Tomorrow is agility class with the dogs, hopefully we'll make progress on the teeter-totter! Maybe I'll get my "paprika" sweatshirt for winter league tomorrow night too!  It's also Celine Dion make-up concert night - about time!   

Also, for anyone not watching The Big Bang Theory on CBS on Monday's at 7:00 - give it a try - I think it may be one of THE funniest shows on television lately. 

Alright, that's all for now!  Oh don't think I forgot about the Kidz Korner it's right below! 

I believe kids pick out games that they don't actually know how to play on purpose just to mess with you and slowly drive you crazy.  

Here are the Busch Stadium pics!