Yes, I know...

This blog has been neglected ~ partly because of busy, crazy days and partly because of a lack of creativity on my part. So, here's a little filler post with a promise of something more entertaining to come in the near future.

Last week I got my hair foiled. There was a pile of brochures at work for a newly opened salon, along with some coupons for 50% off any service for new clients. Since 50% off of a full foil is a big chunk of change, I decided to be fiscally responsible and try the new salon.

I usually get blonde & light brownish foils. This time my 20 year old new stylist (yikes!) and I decided to try some dark reddish ones & not as much blonde. I like the red color, it's fun for fall, but apparently 20 year olds prefer the "chunky" foil look and thus I ended up with 2 big red blobs of hair right in the front. It drove me nuts for a week before I finally went back today to get it fixed (sort of) by another 20 year old stylist with 2 piercings in her lips and platinum blonde extensions. A very nice, friendly girl, but I am old and our hairstyle ideas are not, um, compatible. She suggested I try a short choppy cut, or get extensions myself at a cost of only $400 every 3-4 months. :)

So, all's well that ends well, but I'm looking forward to my next haircut at my old place with my favorite stylist who's in her mid-to-upper twenties. Hopefully she'll forgive my disloyalty and welcome me back into the fold.

are we in the twilight zone?

Hmmm....something weird is going on. I wrote the post about Talk Like a Pirate Day today (Friday, Sept. 19) but blogger seems to think I wrote it yesterday & backdated it to Thursday.

So, please don't be confused. If you'd like to celebrate this glorious day next year, mark your calendars for September 19th. Which is today. Unless we've traveled through a time warp or something.

AAAAAARRR!

Avast! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I wish I had known this earlier so we could plan to commemorate it properly, buy maybe we can squeeze in a celebratory game of "pirates dice" sometime tonight. The girls & I will miss their aunties as we all love so much to talk like pirates 'till our throats are raw.

So, in honor of this special day, I give ye a blast from the past. The cutest little pirate I ever did see along with her buddy the lovely "gothic princess" when they were 11 and almost 8 years old.

Take time for a little swashbuckling with ye mateys and lemme here ye say AAAAARRR! (yes, my pirate speak is something to be admired).

good to see ya again

Remember these totally triumphant dudes? I was browsing Netflix this week trying to find movies that were fun & age appropriate for the whole family, when I remembered Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. I'm lucky that my kids love the Cosbys, Full House, & pretty much all things 80's, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

Tonight after Kendall's soccer team won their game (yay!) and the team went to Culvers (double yay!) we settled in for a night with Bill & Ted and a trip down memory lane for mom. I have to admit I probably laughed more than anyone else in the room (I think Jer actually dozed off toward the end-not unusual), but the girls were laughing too & fun was had by all. Hopefully this weekend we'll have a chance to watch my other Netflix pick this week, "Groundhog Day". I hope it's as clean as I think I remember it was. :)

Be excellent to each other......and PARTY ON DUDES!

Quirky Customers

The job I have does not reflect the hard work I put into earning a college degree, or the student loan that took 10 years to pay off. I don't earn much money and it won't really improve my resume, but I get to work around my kids' school schedule and that's why I work there. I also get to meet some very interesting people that keep me entertained every day.

Yesterday a lady came into the shop looking for "travel salt shakers". She asked me if we had some or if we've ever seen any in the catalogs we order from. I must have looked at her kinda funny, so she began to explain the reason for her request. She likes to take her own sea salt with her to restaurants because it's "so much better for you, especially if you suffer from high blood pressure". She told me she had tried using those little mini salt shakers and putting tape over the holes, but the salt would still leak into her purse. She had been to several stores and was sure there must be SOMEWHERE she can find travel salt shakers that have a little lid to keep the salt secure. She asked me to be sure to tell the store buyer of her request and that she knows of at least 3 girlfriends that would rush in to buy them too. She then asked me to take her name & number so I could call her if we ever get them in.

I'm not a big salt user. In fact, the only food I shake it on is corn on the cob so maybe the importance of this issue escapes me. But, if you don't like regular table salt, or you have high blood pressure, couldn't you just skip the salt for that one meal in a restaurant? Or if you're really that salt obsessed, wouldn't a ziplock baggie work just fine? It just doesn't seem like something you should spend your time running all over town looking for.

I just realized that this post reminds me of Seinfeld. The show about nothing...the post about nothing. Ha! But the quirky customers make my little gift shop job entertaining, so there ya go. And if anyone's looking for that million-dollar idea.....travel salt shakers!

first day of school!

Here are my little babies on their first day of school. Aaaaaah - they look so old! I think it would be fun to find all of their first day of school pictures and put them together in one of those collage type frames. I might have to do that someday. Wish my hair would get that blonde from the sun!

Anyway, Jenna had been looking forward to this day for a long time. She even made one of her great signs counting down the days until school (with tear off sheets) and hung it in the living room. Happily, she had a great day and can't wait until tomorrow. Who can blame her? She ended up in the same class with all 4 of her best friends and a teacher who loves parties and doesn't like homework. :) Yep, gonna be a good year for Jenna. Her only disappointment today was when I picked her up & told her that her piano teacher (who is her music teacher at school) wanted to start lessons right away today. Piano lessons just aren't as fun as they used to be. A chocolate shake from McD's helped to ease the pain though.

Kendall's first day of high school went well, but she was not happy to come home with HOMEWORK on the first day. It probably only took her 45 minutes to do, but still...come on teachers! She has two honors classes this year & there is definitely a higher standard. She got to go to her first drama class & found out that she got the part of Belinda Cratchit in the fall production of A Christmas Carol! (auditions were a couple weeks ago). So next week she begins drama rehearsals after soccer practice/games. I should get to see her around 9:00 each night. Ha! She'll have a blast though! Soccer is over the end of September, so the craziness is temporary.

Kendall actually has the same English teacher that I had for high school. Now that's just weird. I thought for sure she would retire before Kendall got to high school, but...guess not. It should be interesting.

I get to enjoy one more blissful day home alone before I go back to work on Thursday. Hmmmm, what flavor bon-bons shall I enjoy tomorrow? What mindless talk show should I watch? Lucky me!

Kendall's happy day

Kendall is no longer the only 9th grader in the civilized free world who doesn't have a cell phone. After enjoying her begging & pleading for the past two years, we caved in and made the monumental trip to Costco last night to pick out a phone and add a line to our plan. Well, actually it's an "extra family phone" to be available for both girls to use as needed, but I'm pretty sure it's primary residence will be Kendall's purse or backpack.

This was a tough move for us because we have prided ourselves on not giving in to the teen cell phone craziness. When Kendall's classmates began getting phones in 6th grade, we were appalled. In 7th and 8th grade she was one of a handful of cell-less kids, and we told her she could have one when she starts driving. Just yesterday at Jenna's open house at school, a parent looked at me in open-mouthed awe when he learned that Kendall didn't yet have a cell phone. He had succumbed when his son was 12 and he told me he admired my strength...and I felt proud.

Well, now that she's off on her own more, I've been finding myself thinking how I wished she had a phone so I could check in with her, find out what time to pick her up, etc. I know there will be times when it will really come in handy. BUT, just to keep Kendall humble, she is STILL the only 9th grader in the civilized free world who doesn't have texting! We'll hold our ground as long as we can on that one too, and if you've had the opportunity to witness teen texting in action, you'll understand why.

The upside for us is that since our Verizon contract was up, we switched to T-Mobile (cheaper) and all three of us got new blackberry phones for free! Kendall has been quite busy getting them set up for us. Ha!

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

The Great Get-Together

Today we went to the state fair. I was excited to create a post about our day filled with compelling & amusing pictures, but Blogger (or my computer?) is refusing to upload them. So, free your minds and let those imaginations fill in the blanks.

The weather was perfect, clear blue skies & not too hot. We visited the "miracle of birth" barn and saw a poor sheep about to give birth surrounded by a crowd of people & a guy practically on top of her with a camera so it could be broadcast on screens all over the barn. :( I know it's educational & everything but I found it disturbing. In my mind I'm secretly plotting an escape plan for the remaining pregnant animals in that barn.

So, jumping off my soapbox, we saw a dog agility demo. (cute!), a birds of prey demo. (very cool), must-have gagets galore & our favorite talent competition. I enjoyed my once-a-year corn dog & we all engaged in our annual "weird new fair food experiment". This year it was chocolate covered bacon. Yep, what could be weirder that that? Jer & Jenna liked it. Kendall thought it was gross & didn't get past the first bite. I didn't really like it either, but managed to finish my piece just to make sure. The chocolate bacon was sold at a Famous Daves vendor that featured the loudest Elvis impersonator I've ever heard.

As usual, we marveled at the people who had most likely spent $50 in the midway attempting to win an amazing prize, that were now stuck hauling around 5-foot tall gorilla on their backs all day. We again lamented the loss of Paul Majors as we passed the KARE11 booth (ok, that was just me), and I had to settle for getting my picture taken with the Randy Shaver cutout (sorry Randy - there's no comparison).

So yeah, the fair is pretty much the same year after year, but maybe that's why we love it. Getting Sweet Martha's Cookies to eat at the talent show has become a family tradition we cherish. :) So, everyone go to the fair - and if anyone gets the hot dish on a stick, PLEASE come back here & tell me about it. I can't even imagine.....

a day on the river

Yesterday we decided to take the boat that we're "babysitting" this month for a ride down (and up) the St. Croix River. We started out with a yummy lunch on the patio of a restaurant in Stillwater, then plopped the boat in the water & off we went. The boat that we're happily babysitting is a Mastercraft water skiing boat that sits about 6 inches above the water (or so it seems anyway). Probably not an optimal vessel for river travel - especially when surrounded by yachts and miniature cruise ships. Fortunately it was a hot day, because we spent much of the ride under a steady mist of water.

But, we did find some calmer seas and pulled off to a beachy area for some swimming, and the girls found several large & small clams. Some stinky clam shells even came home with us and are now decorating bedroom dressers. It was a fun day & reminds me that I DON'T WANT SUMMER TO END! I really don't. Three months of nice weather is not enough. School starts two weeks from tomorrow. Nooooooooooooooo!

just some ramblings

Well, as much as we wanted to kidnap our auntie & cousies and keep them here forever, they had to make the long journey home. :( The start of school is looming ever closer so we're determined to enjoy every last day we have left.

Kendall returned from camp on Friday and was the most excited I've ever seen her. She told me camp stories for 3 hours straight. I'm not exaggerating...I noted the time when she stopped talking. It was great & I'm so happy she had such an amazing time! Her high school soccer (HIGH school?!?!) starts tomorrow with a 4 hour tryout/practice so the poor dear will have to get up at the crack of 7:00. Our sleeping-in days are already over.....(sigh)

Jenna is in complete heaven this week. Our neighbors are on vacation & asked us to take care of their amazing swimming pool while they're gone. In return we get to use the pool as much as we want! It has a slide & diving board & is just great! Since Jenna can do a mean "puppy dog eye", I have a feeling we'll be there every day....at least once.

AND, there is major progress happening in the basement! Jer sprayed primer on the ceiling & walls this weekend, so now we have to get busy choosing paint colors. I don't know how to pick anything other than a variation of tan or green so I'm up for any creative ideas anyone may have. I guess we need to figure out what to do with the trim too...stain or paint? AAHHH!