Monday, monday....

So we are having our office remodeled at work as part of our lease renegotiation. What seemed like a small, easy project has turned into a real pain in my #@@. The dust alone is trying to kill me before my trip this weekend and that really makes makes me mad. Then top of the fact that no one else in the office can possibly help with any aspect of the packing or unpacking and I'm just mentally fried (hence, all the posts on Facebook about me needing a drink or having a drink). My joke to DH is that I just need a straw and a bottle of tequila when I get home each evening. This weekend they came and installed the carpet. Looks great but there is so much that has to be done now to put the office back in order. My boss informs me that we are having guests arrive tomorrow. We never had guests in this office and of all times we have folks coming to visit - it is when the office is in complete chaos. Nice! I am sure I will survive the remainder of this week but today is testing my very limits of patience. I was trying to hook up computers, deal w/ the IT folks to have our new copier setup, deal w/ the GC about having some cabinets moved that they put back in the wrong place this weekend and then realizing during all of this I was missing a 10am conference call with the Sr. VP of our company. Again - Nice! All is calm at the moment but I think I will seriously need some spa time in Vegas and if all of this dust makes me sick before the trip - I'm suing!!!

It was a pretty good weekend though. Friday night I had a very poorly attended Private Quarters party. Most folks were busy or out of town but some just flat out did not show up. I was fairly embarrassed that the lady set everything up for a whopping 3 folks. Oh well, I enjoyed my time with my three guests. Saturday was a carnival as Ash's school and I had volunteered to work a booth. I was stuck selling tickets from noon to one but that was okay since the maids arrived at 11am and I would have been kicked out of my house during that time anyway. After doing my duty as Super Mom at school, I packed up and headed to a scrapbook crop in Irving with my friend KR. We had a ball with this group of women and I got 10 pages completed in Evan's scrapbook, ate some great dinner cooked by the organizer's husband and met some new fellow croppers.

Sunday was off to Team Tennis - TC won the day!! Then Ash and I did some shopping and stopped by my office to plug my computer equipment in so it would be ready on Monday. It was a busy day and I spent the whole time with a horrid headache (no, it wasn't from alcohol).

Random

So I've had the Twilight DVD for 5+ days now and still haven't watched it. There is just no time in my life for frivolous things like DVD watching. I do not regret waiting in line to get it as it feels like a major accomplishment to own it. I know someday my life will slow down and I'll actually have time to sit and watch all the special features.

My grandmother is heading back to WV tomorrow after a 6 wk visit with my parents. Every time she visits, I always feel like I did not spend enough time with her when the trip is over. There is always the worry that she won't be back again. There is always the guilt because I never make the trip up to WV anymore due to lack of vacation time. I love spending time with her and wish I could squeeze some free time in my life to do so. Every evening when I go over there to pick up the kids, I have to rush out the door to get Ash to tennis or home to start homework. My mom doesn't cook much anymore so the evenings of hanging out for dinner are a thing of the past. I thought by having my parents in the same town, I would be able to spend more time with my grandmothers when they visit but life always seems to get in the way.

This leads to the realization that I have officially become my daughter's chauffeur. I do not get to drive a limo, nor do I have the nice black hat......I have a piece of crap Grand Prix that is always messy, always packed w/ junk and always on the move. Ash asked when she could start riding in the front seat and I told her that as soon as I find my passenger seat under all the crap I carrying in there every day - she's more than welcome to sit in it. In the meantime, she can stay in the back and let me chauffeur her in style. In the truck of my car, I have bags of stuff that need to be returned to various stores, I have a bag of clothes to take to a consignment store, I have coat hangers that need to be thrown in the trash and a pair of tennis shoes that I've never worn but carry just in case I ever decide to actually exercise at work or something?? In my front passenger seat is a pile of magazine, coupons and articles that I always intend to read or use. I usually end up carrying them around for so long that the coupons expire and the magazines are irrelevant. On the floor of front seat is a bag of used ink cartridges from my printer that I intend to donate whenever I have the time to find a place to drop them off. In the backseat is a variety of food particles, a few cards from a Cars deck that E destroyed, random toys, lots of dirt and usually an article of one of the kids clothing that they drop back there and never get out. I used to take such good care of my vehicles but I've never liked this one and it shows. I'm embarrassed to let anyone see inside my car. Those that have known me a long time would be appalled by the junk in my trunk. :-) Maybe if I ever find that mystical moment of free time to go and buy a new car - I will take better care of the next one???!!! Who am I kidding - til the kids go off to college I'll never take care of another car.

Last thought for the day.....I leave for Vegas in 8 days and I'm so excited. However, leaving for Vegas also means turning 40. Not that excited about that part.

To Twilight!!!!!!!

After being sort of trapped at the house due to C & A's tennis schedules last week, I decided I was going to relive my youth and go to the Twilight DVD release party with my friends on Friday night. T picked me up at 8:30 and we met K, her daughter and a friend at Border's in Colleyville. At first, we looked ridiculous for showing up early as we had the place practically to ourselves. By 10pm, however, the store was filling up fast and we had to fight for a space to stand (or sit) in order to participate in the 'party'. The party consisted of a store employee (and Twilight fanatic) discussing opinions of the book vs. movie, reading trivia questions, giving away prizes and watching a short video snip from the stars of the movie thanking us for coming to the release party. All in all, the party was a flop but I did enjoy being there with my friends and watching all the crazy pre-teens, teens, and old women fighting for their copy of the DVD. Our group achieved success and snagged the 2 disk DVD about 12:30am and headed home.

8am came wayyyyy too early after being up so late but it was up and at'em for another round of tennis. Ash had a tournament in Los Colinas and her first match was at 9:30am. She won 1st and got a big trophy so it was a good day. We even got to watch one of her teammates play one of his matches. The weather was great. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right! Dh had his match at 1pm in NRH so he left before A won her last set. I took the kids to a late lunch and then it was back home. After church, E and I settled in for the evening. He watched movies and I organized scrapbook paper (big time fun).

Sunday brought more big fun as my dad swept the kids up for an afternoon of golf w/ my brother and nephew. It was my brother's 35th bday (Happy Birthday Little Brother) and he wanted them all to go golfing. While they golfed, Dh and I went over to my parents house and helped my mom clean and organize her garage and attic. We plan to participate in the TC garage sale on April 18th and the only way we were going to pull that off is if we actually found space in her garage to setup tables, etc. When they moved in last year, there was just too much going on with the painting, Mom's heart problem, my grandmother's heart surgery, etc. for Mom to properly organize the unpacking. Everything just got thrown into one space or another without rhyme or reason. I must say, it was hard work but that garage looks awesome!! We moved everything out into the driveway, divided it all into piles (keep, sell, toss) and then found a more organized space for it. The garage has all these great built in's that were not being utilized at all. Dh also bought some plywood and put some flooring up in the attic so alot of stuff could go up there. First he had to pull down all this cardboard the previous owner was using as flooring (a really big fire hazard if you ask me).

After our hard work, we were rewarded with dinner since it was my brother's bday. Dh had been smoking a pork shoulder all day long (lots of trips back and forth from Mom's to our house to check the progress and add wood to the smoker). My grandmother made potato salad, baked beans and chocolate cake. It was a good end to a long weekend.

To Twilight or not to Twilight.....

that is the question!!! Ok, so the Twilight DVD goes on sale at midnight tonight at the local Walmart and I am seriously thinking about being a total Twilight nerd and waiting in line. The downside is that Ash has a tennis tournament tomorrow and her first match is at 9:30 in Los Colinas. I'm not a person that can function on less than 7.5 hours of sleep and I don't function that well on that much sleep. I'm so torn - I want the movie so much and I think waiting in line would be a load of fun. I haven't waited in line for something like that since 1989 when I stood in line with my future husband and two of his frat brothers for Bon Jovi tickets. We got this great idea that we had to go to Town East Mall at 3am to get in line. Well, at 4am when we arrived in Mesquite - there was no line for tickets so we drove to Hachie, ate breakfast at my parents house and went back to Ticketmaster at a more respectable 9am to wait in line for tickets. And then we went back to Commerce and I slept all day and probably all that night to catch up on my missed sleep. I was 20 years old at the time and still needed my sleep. Difference now is - no one ever lets me nap so is it worth staying up til Midnight for Twilight??? Yes, I think it is. Look out world - I'm going to be a supreme "B" tomorrow but it will be worth it to me!

Addiction

Ok, I admit - I am addicted to buying scrapbook stuff. Whether it is a 30 cent piece of paper or a $50 cartridge for my Cricut - I have to have it!!! Every Sunday, I clip the coupons from Michaels and JoAnns and every Monday I check the internet for specials at Hobby Lobby. I'm always looking for the big deals at each location and then try to figure out if I have time at lunch or after work to swing by and do some power shopping. My scrapbook area in the corner of the playroom is jam packed with paper, stickers, embellishments, etc. I have a hard time keeping it all tucked into the nooks and cranny's of space I have in that little corner.

The sad part of my addiction is that I just accumulate this stuff and rarely get a chance to actually use any of it. Since the end of September 2008, I have actually sat down and worked on my scrapbooks a total of 3 times and each time for only about a couple of hours. Ever since our local scrapbook store closed in April of 2008, I've been a scrapbooker w/o a place to crop. It's a sad dilemma that seems to be sweeping the nation......scrapbook stores just do not stay in business for very long. Even Michaels is struggling to stay open in this economy! On the bright side, I do get to feed my addiction next weekend. I found a group of women that were all misplaced by the closing of Scrapbook Pad - they have banded together and found a local hall in Irving where they meet twice a month to crop. I've been invited to join them and I couldn't be more thrilled!!!!

A big props to my DH for feeding and supporting my addiction. On our way to S.A. last weekend, I was reading a scrapbook mag and got to the part where they list stores by state. I glanced at the list for TX and found 2 stores listed in San Antonio. When I told Cam about them, he said he'd look them up on the hotel computer and find directions and we'd try to find them on Saturday before we went to the Riverwalk. Bless his little heart, he waited for over two hours to get computer time at the hotel and mapped out the closest store. We headed that direction and I was dreaming of a store filled with beautiful new toys and items I would drool over. Imagine my disappointment when we pulled up only to find the store was missing. I pulled out my magazine and called the # on the page and was told they'd moved a month ago to a location about 10 minutes from where we were looking. I knew DH and the kids were hungry so I told him to go on to the Riverwalk and maybe we could stop after our day downtown. So after a long day, we set off in search of Scrapbook Heaven (yes, that is the name of the store and not just my dream of what was inside). We finally found it at 7pm only to discover it had closed at 6pm. UUUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! Cam knew I was disappointed (especially because the store was closed on Sunday) and he tried hard to make me feel better but I admit - I was bummed. That night we stopped at Walmart and I happened to pass the scrapbook isle (which I can find in any Walmart layout in the country). Imagine my surprise when there was one last copy of the 'Graphically Speaking' Cricut cartridge which I've been wanting for a year!!!! AND it was on sale!!!!!! I figured this must be divine intervention!! Of course, I bought it and DH was very pleased that my sadness over not getting to the scrapbook store was replaced with happiness over my find at Walmart!!

I am now chomping at the bit to get a chance to use my new cartridge or the 5 different paper packs I ordered on-line and got in the mail last week or the new paper and stickers I bought yesterday at Michaels...........see I just cannot stop!

Home again, home again. Jiggity Jig....

Despite the adversity from Mother Nature herself, we still managed to have a great vacation in San Antonio! The drive down there was from HELL but the rest of the trip went fairly smoothly. Due to the rain and cold, the trip to SA took us almost 8 hours. The kids did really well though and spent the entire trip watching DVD's. We finally had to stop in San Marcos for dinner because we weren't sure what time we'd actually hit SA and the thought of going straight to bed sounded very appealing at that point. Our room at the Sleep Inn was super - I highly recommend their hotels - this is our 2nd stay in one and they are really nice, spacious and well maintained.

Saturday morning was still really cold and really rainy so we took the kids to the hotel's indoor pool to swim for awhile. After we got them out, showered and dressed - it was off to the Riverwalk for the day. We had lunch at Hooters so we could watch LSU and Ohio State's basketball games (not playing each other - thank goodness). After that, we walked the river for hours, did some shopping, took lots of pictures and went to see the Alamo. The line was too long to go inside so we snapped a quick pic from the street and headed back to the river. We rode one of the tour boats thru the canals and learned some interesting things from the boat driver. After that, it was time for a great Mexican dinner at Rio Rio and back to the hotel. We promised E that morning that he could swim that evening and since he has the memory of an elephant - it was back to the pool for a very short swim. There must have been 15 kids in the pool and 12 adults around the pool. The ones in the pool were not being monitored AT ALL by the adults so there was much splashing and havoc. Ash was not thrilled to be in the middle of it all and was only there because her baby brother gave her 'sad eyes' when she told him she didn't want to swim. She's such a trooper. She hung in w/ him for awhile but I could tell she really wanted to be back in the room so I sent her up and dealt with the wrath that is my youngest child. He cried, he screamed, I pulled him out of the pool kicking and screaming and then he just collapsed. He was so darn tired that while sitting there wrapped in a towel in my arms, he started falling asleep. I took him up to the room for a shower and afterwards he put himself to bed.

Sunday was off to Sea World despite the still overcast skies, drizzle and 40 degrees. We all wore shorts and jackets - NICE!! We saw all the shows (Shamu's Believe, Viva, Seasame Street and the Sea Otter Show), rode all the rides (E rode his first Coaster - the Shamu and loved it!). The kids played in the play area and built a sand castle. We even spent a long time trying to pet the dolphins but they were just not cooperating. By mid afternoon, the sun had finally come out and it warmed up into the upper 60s. It was a beautiful day and we made the most of it. We left the park well after 7pm and went back to the hotel. We went out for a really nice Italian dinner and E fell asleep in his daddy's lap during the meal. I think we were all too tired to appreciate the good food so we skipped dessert and went back to the hotel to crash. E never woke up until Monday morning when he told his sister that it was time to "wakey wakey" and "open her baby eyes" (wonder where he's heard that?). I could tell he was refreshed and ready to go.

The ride back home was so much better than the ride down. The kids watched DVD's again. I slept off and on for most of the ride (I'm not a good hotel sleeper so I have to catch up during the ride home). We had lunch at Dairy Queen on the way home since all the ones in our part of DFW went out of business years ago. Glad to be home though. But not looking forward to all the darn laundry.....

Vacation Blunders

Dh, the kids and I are going to San Antonio for Spring Break. The room has been booked for over a month, Asta has a room at the boarder, the Sea World tickets have been purchased - and then Mother Nature takes over. The fine folks on the Weather Channel inform us last night that the high in SA on Friday will be a balmy 40 degrees and it will rain all day long! So after some discussion last night, a night to sleep on it and some more discussions today - we are pushing our travel plans out a day to give it time to warm up to a reasonable spring break temperature. Of course, this will mean fighting the crowds at Sea World which totally defeats our original purpose for going on Friday to beat the crowds. Now I have to break it to my dear daughter that she will be going to school for part of the day on Friday after all. Sorry Ash!!!

The other trip that had been causing me some grief is the trip to Vegas for my 40th bday. We were all set w/ reservations at Harrah's thru vegas.com until I went to Vegas in February and decided I didn't like Harrah's as much as Flamingo. When I checked prices that following week at Flamingo, they had great deals on their Deluxe rooms so I booked one room, cancelled my reservation at Harrah's and sent an email to my friend that had booked the other room for our group. Never crossed my mind that she might not be able to book her room right away. So imagine my surprise when she calls me that Thursday night and leaves a msg. saying the room rates had gone up $300 since I booked. Not wanting to ask everyone to pony up a lot of extra money, I've spent the past week fretting, calling, emailing, fretting some more about what to do about a 2nd room. Finally a friend of my dad's came thru as he has a contact at the casinos. She got us our 2nd room. It's more than I paid for the first room but not significantly more like we were looking at last week. I won't feel totally at ease until she sends my confirmation # but I am at least no longer fretting! My parents and brother have decided to make the trip out there the same weekend but they will be staying on the other side of the strip. It will be nice to have them out there - especially my brother because I know he'll have a blast with me and my friends. It will also be nice to have my mom there for my birthday because I was feeling bad about leaving town that weekend since she had been planning to throw me a surprise party.

I'm hoping the purpose for all this rain (besides ending the drought conditions in the area) is to wash away all the pollen and crap in the air so my son can finally function w/o a runny nose and itchy eyes. Poor baby just rubs those eyes 24/7. Even his teacher has had to give him a rag for his eyes after they play outside the past few days. Come on rain - wash the funk out of the air!!!

And a special mention for my BFF who is going thru some health related items right now and could really use some prayers and good thoughts. I need her in one piece and healthy so I can drag her back to Vegas when she turns 40!!!!

Another Weekend Long Gone...

What a rush! Friday afternoon ended w/ me rushing from the office to get to Sweet & Sassy for Ash's hair appt. I wanted to photo document the whole process of her turning into a princess for the Cotillion ball that evening. Tons of curls, hairspray and bobby pins later and we were rushing home to get on our gowns for the Ball. She looked absolutely lovely with her up-do, gown, sweater, high heels and dangly gold earrings. Dh cleaned up pretty good and looked very handsome in his dress slacks and blazer. We arrived at the Ball and Daddy presented Ash with a corsage (my idea) since he was her date for the evening. Since we were chaperons, I also got to dress up for the occasion although I didn't feel nearly as done up as my companions for the evening. My role as chaperon consisted of handing out Floral Leis during a dancing game. Other than that, I watched as Ash danced with various boys and then finally came the time for the father/daughter dance. It was beautiful and they did all the steps perfectly. What a memory! (I'll post pics later - I was never home long enough this weekend to load my pics off the camera).

Saturday was off and running to Allen for a tennis tournament. Ash was all pumped up that this would be her weekend to "Champ up" by making it the finals. Well, the first opponent went along with the plan and lost to Ash w/ little effort. However, our 2nd opponent at 6pm was another story. She was tough and played a little mind game by calling the score when she wasn't serving (this is a no-no but a common way for the players to get in each other's head). Luckily, our coaches don't teach these kind of tactics as they promote fair play and sportsmanship. In this case, the talking worked and Ash lost the first set 6-2. The 2nd set, she came out swinging and I really thought she had a chance to fight back but a few bad calls and one instance where Ash got the score wrong (in her opponents favor) and she lost that set 6-4. It was a long day in Allen but it ended with a great dinner at Ralph and Kacoo's!!! Our little guy fell asleep in the restaurant and stayed asleep the whole night. Must have been a really long day to him!

Sunday we were back at the courts but this time in TC for our first Team Tennis matches of the season. Ash has been playing on this team since spring of 2004 (minus the one season she missed after breaking her collar bone on the tennis court). Last season was an all time low. They had a weak team and just couldn't seem to win a match. This year should be different. They are a very strong team and came out yesterday and won the week. Ash won her singles 8-2, lost mixed doubles 8-4 and won her girls doubles 8-2. She played so well in all 3 sets. I think this was a big of revenge in her mind since the girl that beat her on Saturday actually plays for the team we beat on Sunday (she wasn't there though because she was sick). Unfortunately for us, it was hot and very sunny yesterday and I let the E man apply my sunscreen. Mental note, four year olds do not comprehend the value of sunscreen on Mommy's white skin!!! My arms are fairly splotchy w/ red spots and my chest looks fire engine red today and hurts like hell. Another lesson learned by me!!! In my defense, the only way he'd let me put the sunscreen on him was to let him put on mine. He is sunburn free so I am a good mother. DH put the sunscreen on Ash and apparently forgot her legs would be exposed too so the back of her knees are fried. She was not happy w/ her father last night when the pain started!!

After taking and picking up on the CCD run last night, we ended up with snacks for dinner. We ate a super late lunch so no one was hungry for a big dinner so we had crackers, lunch meat, cheese and dip. Yum!!! E actually only ate crackers and dip. Again, in my defense - he was too tired to think straight after running around between the tennis courts w/ his friend Andrew all afternoon. I cannot believe he did not fall asleep in his food again like he did the night before. His allergies were driving him nuts and he said the only thing he could eat was crackers. So crackers it was! Today I'm sure my mother will feed him much better than I do. :-)

My Funny Guy

After shower time last night, E and I were cuddling and singing nursery rhymes while sitting on the bathroom floor. I guess he did something that prompted me to give him a big hug to which he screamed, "Mommy, quit hugging me to tight, you are going to crush my ducks". I think he meant 'guts'.

Later that night, he was really going to town on his right eye - just rubbing the heck out of it due to allergies. I asked if he needed a cold rag for the eye or some drops. He said, "No, just get me a bag of ice, with some Coke in it and my blue coat". Luckily I knew what he meant. The other day in the car with my mom, his eyes were bugging him so she grabbed an empty Walmart sack, poured in the ice from her Diet Coke cup, tied it up, put it inside the hood of his blue jacket and convinced him to put it on this sore eyes. It made him feel better so now when his eyes are bothering him, he thinks the solution is a bag of ice with Coke in it, inside the blue coat.

God, I love this kid!!!

Pics

Can you see why I love this kid so much?

My Clarinet Player!

One of my pages

Another page!!! Go me!

Wanted to add some pics from my latest scrap pages and of a couple other very important items!!

10 Things

1. E is now sleeping w/o a rail on his big boy bed. We took it off to change the sheets on Saturday and he declared that he's too big for a baby rail. Now I spend my nights waiting for him to come in crying that he's fallen out of bed.

2. It is almost the end of Mountain Cedar season and I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I so look forward to the 6 months of "snot free son". His nose runs from October to March every single year. Zyrtec & Singulair help keep it from going into infections but they do not keep the nose dry during these Cedar filled months.

3. Ash had another great six weeks. I peeked on-line at her grades since the 6 wks ended on Friday and was pleased to see that she pulled out all A's again. I was worried because there were a few test grades and assignments that she really struggled on this time. We both debated whether all Pre-AP classes were such a good idea or not. Seeing that she can pull herself together like this and get such great grades validates our decision last spring.

4. I'm finally starting to feel more like myself just as DH is starting to get the crud. This means that the house will now revolve around how sick he is and I will spend the next few days resenting his every breath. See, he actually criticized me last week when I was sick and insinuated that I was not as sick as I felt. Mind you, while home sick I still managed to do 4 loads of laundry, put away the dishes, work on the computer for 8 hours catching up on work for my Dad's company and taking care of the kids who were home w/ me in the afternoons. BUT, if you ask him - I did nothing but lay around and whine. So last night when he got up to get his own refill of water, he actually martyred himself for the effort. God help me!

5. There are some big plans for the house this summer but I'm beginning to doubt we'll actually get anything done. The remodel of the master bath is a long time coming but neither of us seem motivated enough to get the ball rolling. When the kids go to WV this summer, we would like to have their ceilings stripped, textured and painted and have their bathroom counter changed out and walls painted. Another thing that I am doubting we will get organized before they leave.

6. Found a group of women that scrapbook twice a month and I've signed up for one of their crop dates at the end of March. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me! I haven't had a crop day since September of last year. To actually think I might get to spend a whole day with my scrapbooks makes me giddy.

7. I'm counting the days to March 21st when 'Twilight' comes out on DVD. I've only read the books once (unlike some of my friends that have read the entire set at least 3 times) but I've seen the movie 3 times and listen to the soundtrack every day. I'm not obsessed but I do really enjoy the whole story. If I had not had so many other books to read that I got for Christmas, I probably would have read the books again by now.

8. Ash has a solo clarinet performance next Monday before a panel of judges and we get to watch. She's worked very hard on the clarinet this year and really seems to enjoy being in band. By HS, she'll be forced to decide between sports and band so I'm hoping next year will help her in that decision because she'll be doing both.

9. I love the way E talks. When Ash was his age, we discovered that her speech problems were caused by hearing issues and multiple ear infections. We've had E's ears tested and his speech evaluated and I'm told everything is fine which makes me happy because there are certain ways the he pronounces certain words that I just adore. I know he'll outgrow it soon so I cherish each little word that comes out of his mouth.

10. I love spring! I love that the Bradford Pears are blooming! I love the warm weather, the sunny skies, the rain storms, the smells of it all. I love that crawfish are in season now.

Flying debris and one fancy gown...

My BFF and her daughter were planning to come up on Saturday to watch Ash in a tennis tournament, pick up Scentsy and hang out. Imagine my surprise when she calls to say she'd been in an accident an hour from her house and wouldn't make it after all. They were okay, thank God. A couple cars in front of them - the sunroof came off and slammed into Deb's windshield. Yep, the sunroof just flew thru the air!!! I've seen flying debris on the highways and it can be pretty scary. Imagine it actually hitting you? Luckily, it hit in the top driver's corner so the metal of the car prevented it from actually flying thru the windshield and into the car. Yes, she realizes how lucky she is. Unbelievably, she picked up a rental and made the trip up on Sunday instead. I might have taken the flying sunroof as a sign that I shouldn't travel but she is more of a trooper than I am. She met me for lunch in NRH (MJC and family met us too).

After lunch, Deb and S accompanied me on my dress shopping excursion. I needed a gown for the Cotillion ball this Friday (I'm a chaperon). Have I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of dresses or skirts? My DH calls me Ellen. I used to wear dresses back when I had actual ankles (heck I went to a Catholic school for 7 years and wore skirt every day) but for about the last 10 years, dresses are only worn when absolutely necessary and I cannot find a suitable pantsuit to wear in it's place. The cotillion ball is one of these occasions where pants just won't due. Deb actually picked out a nice dress after helping me put together two skirt ensembles. The 70% off dress won hands down! Between the fact that I will probably never wear this dress again and the fact that the shirt outfits were going to run me close to $200 and the lovely fact that the dress actually looked best - it was a no brainer. Afterwards, we took Deb's daughter to Sweet and Sassy for the time of her life!! One mini-pedi, fingernail painting, glitter stamps on her face and some glitter spray in the hair later and she was announcing that she felt like a new person. I got a kick out of watching her enjoy the pampering and was a bit jealous that they won't pamper adults for the price they will pamper kids!!!

And the best part of the weekend was watching Ash win 1st place in her tournament on Saturday!!! The wind was tornado like and somehow she managed to use it to her advantage and beat three opponents to win the trophy!! We have another one this coming weekend in Allen and if she can make it to the finals, she will Champ up (which means she makes it to the next level of play - a goal of hers for the past few months). She is ranked #2 in this upcoming tournament which is a pretty big deal all by itself. Seems like all the years of lessons are paying off!!

P.S. - I actually completed 3 pages in E's scrapbook last night. Not sure what got into me. :-)