ALDI. MY LOVE.

Man, I love summer. I mean, I really really love summer. I feel so incredibly lucky that I have a job that allows me to be done working at noon or so most days.

Yesterday after work, I grabbed James and we headed to Aldi and did some shopping. If you’ve never tried Aldi, you need to. It is SO CHEAP but still good quality. I have some Doubting Thomas friends (well just one that I really know of) who think you absolutely should not buy meat from Aldi…but they never have, so how would they know?? I get lots of ground beef and chicken there, and last night I cooked some baby back ribs I got. They also have a rotation of stuff that seems to be mostly seasonal. Right now they have some fun summer stuff…I saw yesterday a six piece (table, four chairs and umbrella) patio set for $60! What a steal! I might have to get one. I think that is so great! They also have slip and slides, blow up pools, pool toys, and I have in the past bought a cordless stick vacuum that I like. The best part of Aldi is their $2.69 bottles of Winking Owl wine. It’s pretty good stuff, actually.

One of our favorite dinners starts with a $5 GIANT cheese pizza (I’m saying, I literally might not be able to put my arms around the circumference of this thing) and add toppings of our choice. Quick and easy and we can use turkey pepperoni and veggies to keep it semi-healthy.

Anyway back to loving summer. After Aldi, James and I went to Target to buy the few things that we couldn’t get at Aldi (the one drawback of Aldi, but with the money you save, its worth it if you have the TIME to go to two places), and I decided that James and I needed an indoor activity since it’s so flippin’ hot outside. We got an 800 piece Star Wars puzzle. James “helped” me do the border, and then he pretty much lost interest. Not Dorky Me, though! I spent probably another 1.5 hours on the thing. Haha. So much for togetherness. Well, he did play his DS at the table next to me…you have to appreciate the small things, right?

James at Target yesterday…isn’t he cute?? Yes, I let him go out like that in public with orange crap on his face. Who cares?? Not THIS lazy momma!

 

Clara’s still at the beach with her dad. I miss her like crazy! She texted me a photo she took of herself in which she is SUNBURNED! That is pretty much one of the biggest sins you can commit in my house. Someone is getting a spanking…not sure yet if it’s her, her dad or both.

So…summer. Yes. Today James and I are meeting Stace and Andrew at the pool. When it is this hot out, the pool is kind of like bath water, and the only relief from the heat is when you first get out of the pool and stand in front of the fan for the 10 seconds before all the water on your body evaporates. Don’t care, it’ll be fun! Always have fun with Stace. :)

Ok so, if you do decide to try Aldi out, here are a few things you need to know:

1. Bring a quarter. You use the quarter to get your grocery cart, but you get it back when you return the cart to the corral. One of the ways the groceries are cheaper – Aldi doesn’t have to spend money on cart people.

2. Bring your own bags, or be prepared to buy some. They sell paper sacks for like 15 cents or something, but they also sell reusable earth-friendly bags. I have collected a lot of those over the last few months since I started shopping there. And don’t forget your reusables when you go!

3. Bring cash or a debit card (or a food stamp card, however that works). They don’t take checks or credit cards!

4. Be prepared to sack your own stuff…another way they save money. Also it makes the lines go FAST. Each Aldi item has like, I dunno, three bar codes, so no matter which way the cashier swipes them across the checker, it beeps. So they don’t waste any time looking for the bar code or trying to bag stuff for you. By the time I’m done loading the conveyor belt, they’re done scanning my stuff.

I think that’s about it. If you try Aldi, let me know! Tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya.

annoying and LOLing

Things that annoyed me today (well, yesterday actually:)

Answering the phone at work to the sound of someone chewing and then swallowing for ten seconds and THEN finally responding to my cheerful “Attorney’s office” greeting. Dummy, if you are calling someone, then don’t put something in your mouth. Are you just assuming that nobody is going to answer? Because if you are, then don’t call in the first place. This JUST happened as I was writing for today, and now I’m pissy. I hope I am not offending anyone who does this…no wait I hope I have completely offended you and made you pissy if you do this, because you deserve it.

Things that made me LOL today (well, yesterday, actually)

These two pictures from www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

I realize that LOLing at a photo of a poor toddler who apparently fell, or was dropped from someone’s arms, or was shoved off of something shelvy (the possibilities are limitless, use your ‘mag!) is horrible and mean. But someone had to submit this photo and I would assume it was either the toddler herself as an adult or the toddlers mom/dad/aunt/grandma/sibling, and they thought it was funny too, so at least I won’t be alone in the handbasket.

The other photo – oh I just LOLed because the dog is so cute. Not because of anything else. What else could it be? I don’t see anything else that might be funny….do you, PERV?

I wish there was a way to talk about the stuff that my kids do that makes me LOL without embarrassing them. But there just isn’t. The majority of the things they do that make me LOL are things that they would kill me for if I made them public. Too bad!

 Ok - I can't help it. I don't *think* James would be mad if I put this on my blog. Also that whole thing about easier to ask forgiveness than permission, so here goes. What I won't do is tell you what he's doing in this photo.

KTHXBAI

F-burg

Warning! This post is probably going to be super boring to anyone who is not me :)

What a weekend!

Jennifer and I finally arrived in Fredericksburg around 630 and met Kristen and Adrienne at Fredericksburg Brewing Company at 7. I had some great beers and a couple of the hottest fried pickles in the world, and then we moved on to a German restaurant where we each tried something different. I had the traditional bratwurst with spatzle and sauerkraut. I felt so…cultured! And it was deeeee-licious!

We asked our waiter where we should go after dinner, and he suggested a place across the street that would be open until 2am and that has live music every night. Oh, and that is filled with people “our age”…meaning HIS age and my and my friends’ ages. Which I figured had about 15 years between the two, with ours being the higher number. Turns out he was 25 years old and I decided he was my favorite person in the whole world!

We went to the little bar and had a couple of cocktails (ok. some of us had more than others) and then back to the hotel, where we acted like idiots at a slumber party (ok, so that’s exactly what it was) and then finally went to bed. Kristen and Adrienne in one bed, and Jennifer, me, and a ghost in the other bed (as evidenced by the orbish creature spooning with Jennifer in the picture I took with my phone).

Next day we ventured to Luckenbach, Texas. We headed down the road, and we all must have blinked the first time we came up on the tiny town, because we passed it and had to turn around. We followed some traffic to a parking lot, not knowing REALLY what we were doing or where we were going. We knew there was a concert there that night and we were concerned that we were about to accidentally park in the concert lot and get stuck. Oh well…so what, right? Anyway, we follow the herd of cars, park, and then follow the herd of people right through a booth where we were asked for five dollars each for entry. Entry to what? We didn’t know, and we didn’t ask! Why? I DON’T KNOW! We each paid our five bucks, had a bracelet slapped on our wrists, and were given a “voting paper.” Upon examination of the voting paper, we realized we’d just paid to go to the Luckenbach car show. Yippee! Best girls’ trip ever! Turns out we would have had to pay anyway to get to the t-shirts we wanted to buy, but it just cracked me up that we ended up at a car show on accident. Does it crack you up???

We went through the store and bought some goodies for ourselves and our families, posed for a couple of photos, and headed back to Fredericksburg. We shopped, and shopped, and shopped and shopped. I bought myself the most ridiculous necklace that pretty much covers my entire chest in pink, green, and blue stones. In the shape of a peacock. I LOVE IT. The girls talked me into buying a maxi dress with a peacock theme. I am just not used to wearing maxi dresses and I must have waffled for 30 minutes about buying it. I’m very glad they were able to persuade me, as I decided that it is a fantastic dress. Yay! We bought some more stuff for ourselves and our families, basically had a lunch of samples at a gourmet food store, and headed back to the motel to rest and get ready for dinner.

I ended up doing all hair and makeup for the evening and it took us three plus hours to be ready. By the time we walked out of the room, I think there was one restaurant still serving. Thank goodness, because otherwise I don’t think we would have tried this particular restaurant, and it was incredibly delicious! I tried Weiner schnitzel that night and it was awesome! I think I enjoyed my bratwurst just a tad more. But only a tad!

The four of us were dead tired and I wasn’t sure if we would even do anything after dinner, but since we’d spent so much time getting ready, we thought it would be a waste to NOT go out and do at least a little something. So we headed back to the bar from the first night. This time, we ended up befriending three couples who just happened to be staying at our same motel. We had a blast with them and wished that we had met them the night before when we were rarin’ to go and not dying to go to bed. We hung out as long as we could, then went back to our room where I think we all slept like the dead for about 4-5 hours.

We all got up and left Fredericksburg before 8am on Sunday and made it home at a decent hour to spend some time with our husbands/dads for Fathers’ Day. I promptly passed out on the couch for a couple of hours. I just could NOT make myself get up.

So, that’s our Fredericksburg trip in a nutshell. I have left out some details…some because they are just too tedious to write about, and some because they are embarrassing. HAHA.

Can’t wait to go back…seriously. I’d like to go back maybe with Scott….or my sisters…or the girls again :)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack in the saddle again

Hi! It's been a while, huh? Coupla months. Or like a year and a coupla months. Or like a year and a few months. I had no idea it had been that long. Time flies when you're having fun. And I'm having a ball!

Speaking of having a ball, this weekend I'm going on a girls' trip to Fredericksburg, TX with three of my friends - Adrienne, Jennifer and Kristen. Adrienne is mad at me because I want to take my own car. She hopes she gets over it by the time she dies. I hope she does too.

I'm so used to updating my dadgum Facebook status that I have forgotten how to blog. I feel like I should be saying everything in 20 words or less. You're going to have to be patient with me while I get back into the swing of things.

I had once said that I would do product reviews. And I think I still want to do that. I feel SO STRONGLY about some of the makeup and beauty products (along with other things) that I want to share it with the world. Since I don't have access to everyone in the world, the 4 or so people who read my blog will have to do. But fear not - you will learn SO MUCH from me. HAHA. Maybe. Well, at least you'll learn my opinion on a few choice products. For what it's worth.

 Believe it or not, I'm still on my weight loss journey. LOL. I think I just will be for the rest of my life. I have been gaining and losing the same five pounds for literally 2-3 months. I hate those five pounds. I feel like if I could just lose SIX, then I'd be back in the game. You know? This time around I have approached weight loss in a whole new way. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want it. No restrictions, no calorie counting. I do have some prescription appetite suppressants that I use when I know I'm going to have a really hard time that day. It worked for me SO well for quite a while - 30 pounds down. The "whatever" I want and the "whenever" I want it just changed so much for me when I wasn't banned from eating certain things or at certain times. I tried not to eat after 630pm, but I knew that if I was starving or just felt uncontrollably eaty, it was better to make some 94% fat free popcorn and JUST HAVE IT than to sit there and think about how hungry I was and then lose my head and eat everything in the house and make my family sad that the cupboard was bare. If I knew I could have chips whenever I wanted...I was ok with having a few and saving the rest for later. Or not having any at all right then and saving them all for later. It's been a few weeks since I felt really on-target with all this stuff and just writing about it has made me want to refocus. So, yay! THANKS, AUNT BLOGGY! (shout out to Stacie - she knows what that means)

Welp. Since I forgot how to blog, I am wrapping this up before I make a fool of myself.

Love always,

Shannon

It's a...Fam'ly Tradition

OK! I have another dream for you. This was last night's dream. Well, really more like this morning's dream. Because it was happening as my alarm went off.

I dreamed that I was taking a shower in my shower that I really have in my bathroom. Weird thing is...it was a vehicle. I was driving south on Cooper Street in my shower. It had a little steering wheel and a button that said "STOP" for the brake. I have no idea why I was in the shower, but I was naked...and my shower is fully surrounded by glass. I got a little self-conscious so I sat down in the shower. At least people could then only see my naked upper body, instead of my lower privates. Lower privates are much, much more private, don't you think?

Anyway, I was really ticked because someone had taken my conditioner out of the shower. Suddenly I hear cop sirens and start looking around, realizing that they might be coming after ME, since I was just buzzing through lights and down the street with no steering, no paying attention to red lights or other cars. Thankfully, I had not broken any laws and the sirens alerted me to the traffic jam ahead of me. Whew! I pushed the "STOP" button and squealed to a stop right behind a port-a-potty. The cop started looking around at everyone in their cars, and I was a little ashamed of my nudity. Being the professional he was, he didn't blink an eye. That's when I woke up.

So, what do you suppose that is all about?

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If you know me well, you may know that I love family traditions. Christmas morning is spent at Mom's and Dad's. It's such a given that Santa always comes to their house instead of ours. Every year on the kids' and Scott's birthdays, we make posters for each other. This was started by my mother. We have posters all over the house, behind dressers, under beds, etc. from years gone by. Anyway, just a couple of examples that show how I adore tradition.

James is certainly his father's son. What a salesman. Last night he pitched me the following: "Mom, I think you should take me Lego shopping on the third Wednesday of each month during the summer."

"Uh, wha?" I said.

"Yeah. It would really be *fair*. And it would be a *tradition*."

Haha, if there are two things I honor, they are fairness and tradition. How can I say no? Well, I didn't. I am just hoping he forgets about it.

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Clara recently tried out and made the track team. She is doing shot put and discus. I know NOTHING about track or shot put or discus, except that Stacie did shot put in jr. high as well. I guess I'm about to learn! It's been really fun for me to see her try all these different sports (since she started 7th grade, she's done cross country, basketball and now tract), and I think it has been fun for her too. Who knows if she will continue to do any or all of them, but the fact that she's getting some exposure to a little of everything really tickles my ribs.

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Well, Scott and I are kidless yet again tonight. Clara will be with Doug and James is spending the night with Kim. Yay! But...Scott is SO busy with work, we probably wont get to do anything. BOO! Even if we DO do something (haha - DO do), we'll more than likely be home and in bed by 11pm. That's just how we do these days. That's ok. It's nice!

BIRTHDAY WEEK. HOORAY!

What a fabulous birthday week I’ve had so far!

Saturday Adrienne picked me up right before 10am and we headed to Massage Envy for hour long massages. Knowing myself and my nervous bladder, I knew better than to drink a lot of coffee before my massage (yes, I have had to stop in the middle of a massage, don a robe, and use the restroom down the hall. How embarrassing!)

Anyway, since I hadn’t had my coffee that morning, we ran through Starbucks (not really – we used the drivethrough) and got some much-needed caffeine. Next we headed to a nail salon where we sat in a massage chair for the next 1.5-2 hours and had our piggies done first, then our hands. We also were offered a glass of wine during our pampering treatments, which we eagerly accepted. Unfortunately, as I soon found out, each customer is limited to ONE glass of wine. What?! WHY!? This makes no sense.

Oh well. Adrienne and I decided that we would pick up a bottle of wine and head to her house, and sit on her deck and have a glass since it was SO INCREDIBLY nice out. We stopped by Albertson’s rather than 7-11 for the wine because she needed dog food anyway. We decided that we were hungry but I wouldn’t allow her to buy REAL food because I wanted us to be starving when it came time for dinner (more on that later!). So we went through the Albertson’s checkout with wine, one can of dog food, peanuts, and a box of tampons. It struck me as funny!

So we went to her house, had a glass of wine, got out our junior high yearbooks and had a fine time laughing at what babies we were and how we and all of our friends used to wear our hair back in 1990. Eventually I left, came home just in time to soak in the bath and get ready for our hibachi dinner, followed by karaoke and drinks at KG’s (my new fave place). FUN!!!

Yesterday was my *actual* birthday, though, so business was usual until about 6pm (although Scott unloaded AND loaded the dishwasher in honor of my birthday, which was definitely not usual!) Scott’s mom and sister, Cindee, showed up to babysit the kids about 6pm, at which time, I was presented with posters that the kids made me (a tradition started by my mom), cards from Scott and his mom, gifts from both kids and Scott, a gift from Cindee (a GORGEOUS candle thingy with crosses on it – sorry Cindee, what else could I possibly call it? Haha!), and notification from Dee Dee that I would be receiving a gift certificate to Kohl’s in my email inbox. The kids were steered to the jewelry section of Target and instructed by Scott to “pick out something big and ugly” because apparently that is my kind of thing. It worked, because I sure love everything they got me! Scott picked a giant “diamond” ring (seriously, the “diamond” is like an inch long and half an inch wide), Clara picked out a PERFECT bracelet, and James got a long-chained necklace with a heart-shaped pendant on it. Kind of Brighton-ish. All gorgeous! I promptly put on all three pieces of jewelry and headed to dinner at Eddie V’s with Scott.

Until last night, Eddie V’s was my 2nd favorite restaurant in all the world, closely following Lonesome Dove Bistro. After last night, the two are definitely tied for 1st. I just can’t choose between them. They’re very different, so I guess my favorite at any particular moment will depend on what kind of a mood I am in…am I feeling more casual and laid-back? Or do I feel swanky tonight?

Anyway, Scott and I had a FABULOUS time and I ate enough Weight Watchers points for an entire month. Oh well. Totally worth it. Sometimes it is…sometimes it isn’t. This was a case of IS WORTH IT for sure! Of course I couldn’t decide between the filet, the lobster, or the crab stuffed jumbo shrimp…so I ended up with a small (haha, that’s what they said anyway) filet and crab stuffed lobster. Hoo boy. I can’t say enough about that place. The service was kind of slow but we rather enjoyed it. Plenty of time between courses so that we would have room for the next. Maybe they do that on purpose, but I don’t remember them doing that the first (and only other) time we’d been there.

The best part about birthday week is that even after all of the above, it ain't over! Sunday we'll do family dinner at Mom's and Dad's. More celebration, more presents, what could be better!

Cat, bat, hat, WHAT????

James had his kindergarten readiness testing day before yesterday. Let me just preface this with the fact that he did excellent and more than passed with flying colors. In fact, on the reading portion, he flew through the regular tester books so well that they brought out the big guns - the end of the year reading book. And he flew through that one, too.

That said...

One part of the test was rhyming words. i thought, "Well this'll go great; we play the rhyming game all the time!" It's just james, me and the tester lady at this kid-sized table in the library. She says, "Ok, i'm giong to say three words, two of them will rhyme. tell me which words rhyme."

So she does, and he does, and everything's fine.

THEN she says, "Ok, i'm going to say THREE words, and i want you to tell me a word that rhymes with all three of them. ready? Cat, hat, bat..."

He looks at her for a few moments with eyes that are focused with concentration. then he says very slowly, dragged out for about 10 seconds...

"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick" (kind of like when ralphie says "fuuuuuuudge" on A Christmas Story).

I just died, busted out laughing, i cant stop, it's like I'm 10 years old in the front row at church or something. Nothing is helping. Even 10 minutes later, as I'm watching him take the rest of the test, if I thought about it I busted out laughing again! I'm sure the tester lady was tres impressed with little Mr. Rhymes-a-lot (or not!) and his immature mother!

And every time i think about it still, i can hardly contain myself.

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So we only have four days till I have a kindergartener and a 7th grader! What a whirlwind summer it seems we've had. I'm supposed to take Clara shopping today, but I have put my foot down and told her that we are NOT buying any more sports t-shirts and shorts. She has more than enough for the rest of her life, and if she gets new clothes, it will be decent stuff, you know, like jean shorts! Grandma Dolloff gave her a million dollars in Visa gift cards, and I told her we'd be spending it all on bras and underpants before I let her buy any more soccer shorts. She needs that stuff anyway.

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James has gotten me absolutely hooked on the Star Wars Complete Saga Lego Wii game. I love it so much. We're *this* close to beating the whole game! Anyway, playing the game got me wanting to watch all six expisodes of the Star Wars movies. James and I decided it would be our mission to watch them all as quickly as possible. We had the first three, bought the next two, and borrowed the last one from Stacie. I'd asked Clara if she wanted to watch with us, and she wasn't interested. However, as we are on the last leg of the 5th movie, she came in and got interested. Now, mind you, James and I have invested about 10 hours into Star Wars movie time, and she has the nerve to ask us if we will start over because she wants to watch now! :) I'm glad she wants to watch with us, but we are not starting over...not until we finish this last one anyway. Then we'll watch them all over again. It makes for some good snuggle time, as we put the movie in the DVD player in Scott's and my bedroom, throw all the pillows in the entire house on the bed, and cuddle down.

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Tonight we go pick up Clara's schedule for school. She's so excited/nervous. She'll be going to the school that USED to be the high school when I graduated. I think that's kind of neat. It's the first time she'll be at a school where I went. I wonder how many classrooms she'll sit in that I sat in before, 15 (jeez) years ago. She'll work out in the same gym and eat in the same lunch room, that's for sure! Too cool :)