Am I a Bad Person?

Am I a bad person if I'm so tempted to spray Odor Eaters in one of Strawberry Frap's friend's shoes? The boys play golf together and since we carpool, his shoes are left in my car (cuz you've gotta put on special golf shoes I guess). It took me a couple times to realize what the distinctive odor was in my car. Holy Cow! After they get out of the car, I have to roll down the windows to get a little fresh air. I have a can of the Odor Eater stuff and I could spray his shoes and they'd dry before the boys carpool back to my house in the evening. I mean, if the kid doesn't notice that his shoes smell BAD, would he notice if they smelled a little BETTER?

Oh, I am so tempted.....

I AM THE GRIM REAPER

I had to do the grossest thing everrrr the other day. I had to go buy mice for the science teacher's pet snake. My Strawberry Frap was supposed to feed the mice in his science teacher's class, but they had a substitute that day and he didn't know where the mice food was, so they died.

Eight of them.
Gone.
Apparently the snake can't eat DEAD mice, that would make too much sense.

Off I go to find real, live mice (as opposed to dead, frozen mice - didn't know I could buy frozen ones. Can't say that I really needed to know that either.)

The pet store has hundreds of mice and the little college girl sales associate asks me what kind of mice I want to buy. Umm....seriously???  Just live ones, I guess. The thought of purchasing a living thing that will be consumed by another living thing was making me nauseous. I needed to get out of there.

I tried to make conversation with college girl and distract myself from the nauseated feeling I had. I told her I didn't feel right about purchasing these little things and she told me not to worry.

"Mice reproduce every 3 weeks and have litters of 10-20."

 (OMGosh! Can you imagine birthing that often and then having to nurse them all???)

The girl casually puts them in this box that ironically says "live animals" on the side. And I go to the register to pay for something that will be dead shortly.

Thirteen dollars and 80 cents later I carry this "live animals" box to my car and put them in the farthest place away from the driver's seat and turn up the radio. I didn't want to hear them.

After delivering the mice to the school office, I get a call from the science teacher stating that I didn't need to purchase the mice after all. It wasn't Strawberry Fraps responsibility that they died - it was his own.

Ugh!

A Little Potty Talk

Bought a new toilet seat 6 months ago. Installed it myself today. Yeah me!!!

Chipped Tooth

The summer would not be complete without one more tragedy at the Frat House. Frap No Whip dove into the SHALLOW end of a friend's pool and chipped his front tooth.

I seriously believe the only reason this happened is because another neighbor chipped his front tooth (while playing IN the water) just a few weeks before and I had thought to myself, "OMGosh kid, how could you have done that to yourself?!?  Hello!!! It's the SHALLOW end. Duh...."

Yes, I thought something like that and then my Frap had to go and DIVE into the shallow end.

That's what I get. And a $156.00 bill.

Sure wish God couldn't read my thoughts sometimes. :)

Oh how I've missed you

The Fraps have been out of school playing summer baseball for 3 weeks and all we have to show for it are two 1st place trophies and 22 stitches. Yes.....we have 22 stitches between Mr. Coffee and Mocha Frap.

This pretty much describes my life perfectly.

Mr. Coffee was hit by a ball during warm-ups, split his lip completely open, grossed out the kids and continued to coach the game because there weren't any other coaches at the game that night. I took him to the 24 hour Urgent Care - didn't know we had one of those around here, but now I do. Seems like a HouseMom like me should have had that information on speed dial on my phone.   My bad.  So 14 stitches later, we return home.

Then just 9 days later, Mocha Frap nearly severes his finger while closing a fence/gate thingy at another baseball tournment. Urgent Care again with 8 stitches this time and the possibility of losing the end of his finger.

Gee Whiz Peeps! Enough with the drama and blood - I'm not cut out for this job. Seriously....I shouldn't have gone to school to become a teacher. I should have gotten my nursing degree!

One More Day!

Four more hours of freedom

 before the Fraps are home for the summer.

Y'All

Y'all are so saweet (sweet....get it?).

I just spent 5 days with my Mr. Coffee's grandma and 2 aunts from Mississippi and Alabama. I had to try so hard not to imitate their fantastic Southern drawls - I didn't want them to think I was making fun of them.
Mocha Frap asked me on the way to school one day if they were from Australia? He couldn't place that drawl of theirs. I tried not to laugh in front of him. Australia!!! That kid makes me laugh (and cry....a lot....but that's another blog story).

So, so sad....

There are some things about this life that I'll never, never understand. I've had two girlfriends lose babies this week. One was about 8 weeks along and the other at 34 weeks. My heart just breaks for these families to lose the baby they wanted and loved. I don't get why God allows those things to happen and I know He's not obligated to tell me either. It is one of those times when I wish I could wrap my little brain around the situation and have it all make sense.

So here's the one thing I do understand....I can pray for these families. I will ask the Lord for His comfort and love to be poured out in their lives and for His peace to surround them throughout the day and night. I am honored to carry these women and their families to the only One who can ease their pain.

Yeah for Sandra!

Sandra Bullock and I have never met, but can I just say.....I think this little man is adorable. Here's to you Sandra!!!

This one is ALL mine!

I'm only letting you know about this fabulous giveaway because I want you to be jealous happy for me.....I'm totally going to win this. It's so obvious that BOTH Traci at Beneath My Heart AND Lisa Leonard want to give me something, but they need to make it "look good." Probably some legality thing I'm sure. So there's really no need to enter yourself in Traci and Lisa's giveaway. You'll just feel bad when I win and I'm really trying to save you the heartache. I'm nice like that.....

ANOTHER Beautiful Giveaway.....

Traci has another unbelievable giveaway. One of her sponsors, The Vintage Pearl, is giving one of her readers a $50.00 gift certificate. The Vintage Pearl has some wonderful jewelry items and my description would not do them justice. Go check it out - you'll just love it all! And of course, leave a comment at Traci's (just click on the logo above) and you'll be entered in the giveaway too.

A Frat House Mom's Dream Come True....

Traci's doing it again. She's having a $25.00 giveaway from Garnish. I've never been to their website before today and they are FABULOUS. For a Frat House, disposable dishes are a must and Garnish has the classiest "to go" dishes and bags and containers boxes for party favors and...and.... Here's just a few of their wonderful items.

For taking dinner to a friend or the new neighbor.....

 

Cute birthday party favors......

A picnic..........

Aren't they terrific??? A House Mom's dream. Disposable, cute stuff. I love it! Click on Traci's link and you'll be able to enter the drawing (until Sunday night) too.

.{aefilkins}.: Etsy Envy::Vinyl Decals & A Giveaway!

Here's another great giveaway in Bloggyland.

Amber has teamed up with Single Stone Studios and they are offering a $25.00 gift certificate to their Etsy store. They offer some really great vinyls for your home - go check them out through Amber's blog and enter the drawing. Wait a minute.....who am I kidding??? I wanna win this drawing. Oh well...I guess you can join in too.

It's a Party

Once again I'm Cinderella with nothing to wear to this party (I know...it's becoming a habit), but I'm definitely going to be there lurking in the shadows taking a peek at the great work everyone else has done.

Traci has a great re-do on an armoire for an unbelievable $100 to start the whole party. It is bea.u.tiful!!! All of her work is.

Head on over to check out the details if you have a project to link up or if you just want to be a lurker.....like me.

My Goals in Life

1.  Visit the pediatrician's office as many times as possible in the year to ensure that they will have a comfortable retirement.

2. If the pediatrician's office is closed, support a variety of  Urgent Care facilities to spread the wealth.

3. Make sure everyone at the pharmacy knows your name by visiting several consecutive days or even better......several times in a day.

I am happy to say I've achieved my life goals in just this past month.

Gee whiz....I need some new goals.

It's a Giveaway!!!

No - it's not a giveaway on my blog. :(
But it is a fabulous giveaway on Traci's blog! Traci at beneathmyheart.blogspot.com has a wonderful giveaway with Leen the Graphics Queen for $50.00!!! The Queen has a great selection of vinyl monograms and embellishments for your home. You've got to check out Traci's blog and The Queen's for more details. Join in.....

It's another fabulous party!

This is an amazing party Beth is hosting at her blog. You should go by just to see the shoes SHE found for an  unbelievable price. She is such a gifted shopper and you'll be jealous inspired.. I'm working on NOT being jealous and I haven't even clicked on the all the other gals who've added their shoe finds.

Now go on....you know there's nothing else to read on my blog....go to Beth's....quickly.

Y'All

Did you y'all think I just fell off the face of the earth or what? Yes, I say y'all and I was born and raised in California.

I haven't been doing anything too fun or crafty lately. Just been taking care of sick kids, kids with stitches, and now my old sick self (*cough, cough*). Drat those sick kids!

I finally got out to Costco today and what did I see?  A lady talking on her cell phone with her head in the freezer. Yup. I can't even get good telephone reception when I'm inside Costco, much less a freezer inside Costco. I'm waiting and waiting for her to get her frozen food items that aren't going to be frozen for anyone else if she doesn't hurry up. All I wanted was a box of Bagel Bites and she's carrying on a phone call. She finally pulls her head out of the freezer WITHOUT anything in her hand. Geez lady!

Bu Bye Mr. Coffee

Adios.
Sayonara.
Auf Wiedersehen.
Ciao.
Shalom.

Mr. Coffee is on his way outta here....to his NEW JOB. Yessiree - after nine months of being unemployed, he's back to work.

I may be more excited about this than he is though.

You see....working curtails all of his coaching. And he LOVES coaching A LOT.

And I LOVE job security A LOT.

And I think I may love money too!

It's Cinderella again......

I worked and worked and worked to get my mantel in order for this week's....

 

Unfortunately Fairy Godmother never showed up, so I was on my own. The first thing I needed to do was get rid of the non-mantelish items that were taking up my space. And now I'm going to do something I NEVER thought I'd do....show everyone on the World Wide Web my crap. *deep breath*

Another problem I have with this area is that the wall is two stories high and has a mirror of sorts, but the middle piece fell off the wall about....um......8 years ago. Yup! That's right. Eight years ago! I have been hoping "someone" will take the rest of it down, but alas.....nope.

And these pictures really weren't taken in 2003 - gotta change that problem on my camera.

Let's continue. I do have some cobalt blue hurricanes that I purchased with some birthday money a few years ago from Home Goods.  And since I have other cobalt blue in the room, I thought I'd start with those.

Next I added a mirror that I got from Lowe's last year (for a bathroom upgrade project and lost the receipt for and is still sitting at my the house).  I really like the mirror and I think it is a good addition for the "mantelfication" project for now. I'm not sure how long it will survive since it's only leaning on the fireplace wall and there are plenty of balls that fly around here.

I added another piece of cobalt that my mom gave me. (How do you tell someone you don't want anything else added to your collection 'cause you don't want to dust it???) I love this piece though - it has some nice definition to it. I don't know what it's really called, so I'll show you a close-up of it and you can help me out when you write your really nice comments for me and tell me how proud of me you are ('cause you know my Fraps aren't going to be telling me!).  :)

Yes, that's my naked Christmas tree. Still standing in the living room. Still waiting for "someone" to pack it up.  Someday my prince will come....

I did add a couple of items to the fireplace. The candlesticks are from Costco (from 6 or 7 years ago) and the candles are from some ritzy spa the Fraps and Mr. Coffee sent me to for my birthday a few years ago.

I think the mantel is pretty simple and I'd love some ideas on what to add without making it look cluttered. Thanks for stopping by the Frat House and thanks for your help and ideas on how to improve the mantel and fireplace area.

I feel like Cinderella.....

I want to go the party, but I have nothing to wear. You've GOT to check out this party.

There are such great ideas for decorating, and not one of them is mine. But since the party will happen every week for a very long time, I might have a chance to come up with something. Or at least copy some great pictures off of other people's websites. :) Here's what IS on my mantel right now.

No, the gladiator isn't on my mantel, but the Nerf guns are. If he wants to sit there though, I'd probably let him . ;) And a few of these.....somehow no one knows how to put these back in a drawer after church. So go check out the party and be inspired. I'll be here hoping my fairy godmother comes by and gives me a hand.

The Rose Bowl

I went to the Rose Bowl last week. We were given tickets by a well-meaning "friend." It was a Christmas gift and I felt like such a brat because I didn't want to go. I should say that I didn't HAVE to go. Mr. Coffee was more than happy to go with the Fraps by himself, but for some reason I felt like he shouldn't have to drive all that way alone and that he would enjoy my company. Hahaha.

So I brought along a couple friends to read during the game.

And.....

Mr. Coffee says he won't be taking me anymore. Tee Hee.