IN MOURNING!

**NOTE: SassyMarie is still staring at the screen in disbelief.
She will most likely be in mourning for most of the football season as Rudi and Willie have both been cut.**

Looks like the Bengals are in worse trouble than initially thought.
Not so sure if being a season ticket holder is such a good thing right now.

Namaste.

Caffeine

I started thinking about caffeine this morning. . .
I know that coffee has more caffeine than pop, but I couldn't remember about tea.
So, I did some researching. . .
Google is my friend!

Yes, coffee has the most caffeine.
Did you know that tea is second on the list and has more than pop?
Yep. . .A 32 oz container has roughly 188mg of caffeine.
I can drink five Diet Cherry Pepsi's and consume less caffeine!
WOW.

Has anyone else thought about the amount of sugar in those 32oz to make it "sweet tea"?
That thought completely boggles my brain.
I don't even want to think about the number of people who carry around those 32 oz containers since a popular place has reduced the price to $1.

Namaste.

Changes. . .

MBB started back to school last night.
Full time.
Yes, he works full time.
Yes, you read that right.

Yes, this has brought some changes to our household.
We are both working 7 - 3:30 and aren't able to carpool any longer.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are going to be the biggest adjustment for me.
MBB won't get home from class until after the kids are in bed.
We're right in the middle of football and volleyball seasons, so I'll be hopping trying to stay on top of everything.

If all works out as planned, he'll have his Bachelor's the end of this school year.
Happy Dance!!!

Namaste.

It's Gonna Take Forever!

I have a zillion (yes, a zillion) pictures that have been taken that need to be sorted through, edited and uploaded.

I did manage to sort through the pictures from OB's two scrimmage games this weekend.
I started uploading the first game before I went to bed last night.
I started the second game before I left for work this morning.

It is taking roughly four hours to upload 80 pictures.

This is going to be a LONG process to get caught up!

Namaste.

Excuse me?

The kids have a game that they play when we are in the car:
How many people they can get to wave / honk / hollar. . .
Sometimes they can only wave through the window, sometimes they get to roll down the windows.
Of course, they prefer to have the windows down because they get more responses.

We were on our way home last night and they were racking up the points since they were yelling out the windows.

Here's were the story comes in:
We were driving down a particular road and came up next to a car that had its windows rolled down.
I should mention that I was extremely tired and I tend to drive slower than the speed limit when I'm tired. I don't know if I was or not, but as I was exhausted, I wouldn't be surprised if I was.

MaBell yelled "Hey Dude!" out the window at the car.
I went on by it. . .Not speeding up, not slowing down.
All of a sudden, the car blares it's horn at us.
We come up on a red light. I stopped and started to turn right on red. . .
The car comes up beside us and I hear. . .I kid you not. . .
"IT'S NOT A RACE RETARD!!!"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. . .
MaBell (and OB) was being nice, yelling at people out the window.
Granted, most people either either returned the niceness, looked surprised that someone was being nice to them or ignored them.

This is the first time that the niceness was responded to with anger.
And we won't even talk about the words she used - That is another rant for another day.

Go figure.

Namaste.

He Who Shall Not Be Named. . .

No, I'm not talking about Harry Potter.

I am in favor of giving someone a second chance. . .
Heaven knows that I have needed a few of those myself.

In certain cases, I may even support a third chance.

I do NOT support giving someone their 100th chance.
But the Bengals disagree with me.

As a result, there is a player who I will refer to as: He Who Shall Not Be Named. :)

Namaste.

Technical Difficulties

I'm having major technical difficulties at work. . .
I'm having major time difficulties at home. . .

The result?

Not much, interesting blog posting going on these days.

Namaste.

Colors

MBB and I are still in limbo on the rest of the paint colors for our house.

The problem?
We have each vetoed so many colors that there aren't many left.

I vetoed yellow and blue (we already have one room blue).
MBB vetoed pink, purple, orange and green (we already have one room green).

That pretty much leaves us brown, black, metallic and gray.
See the problem?
We are going to have a pretty boring pallet of colors!

Painting done (I'll try to get some pictures of the paint):
Kitchen - Three shades of gray (one looks black)
Entry way - Two shades of green
New Full Bath - Caribbean Blue

Current plan:
Living Room - Gray (that has a bluish tint)
Upstairs Hallway - Blue
Half Bath - Dark Gray (looks like black) and Metallic
OB's Room - Orange (1 wall), Red (1 wall) and Gray (2 walls)
MaBell's Room - Dark Purple (2 walls) and Gray (2 walls)

No idea:
Master Bath
Master Bed

Namaste.

Dragging

I've been dragging a bit lately.
So much to do and not enough time.

Of course, when something has to be cut out of the schedule. . .
Sleep is the first thing to go.

I'm hoping to get some more shut eye soon, but I seriously doubt that is going to happen!

Namaste.

TGIF

WOW - I am so glad that it is Friday!
Granted, we have quite a few things to get done this weekend, but I am still looking forward to being able to sleep until at least 7:00am!

The kids are now in day four of school and so far so good.
I have a few more "last minute" supplies to pick up today and then we'll be all set for the first half of the year (crossing my fingers).

We'll be heading up to my hometown on Saturday for a quick trip. . .
Gonna pick up some meat to fill up our freezer now and our tummies over the upcoming year! :)

Namaste.

Sport update
VBall Records:
Freshmen Team 0 - 1 (MaBell played this game)
JV Team 0 - 3 (MaBell played on one of games)
Varsity Team 2 - 1 (MaBell played all of these games)

It's Vball Time!

The first three days of school are also the first three volleyball games - all AWAY!
So, last night was MaBell's first volleyball game.

We thought we were going to be late, but since the bus was running late too - we got there just as the first match started.

The Freshmen Team didn't do so well - lost in 2 matches (MaBell played both).
The JV Team didn't do so well - lost in 2 matches (MaBell played half of the first match and all of the second).
The Varsity Team ROCKED! Yep - they won in 2 matches (MaBell started and played the entire time!).

We won't be making it to tonight's game - by the time we would get there, the games would almost be over. We'll be booking it to get to Thursday's game - wish us luck!

Namaste.

First Day Of School. . .

Yep, today was MaBell and OB's first date of school.
We packed up backpacks last night and made sure that all was ready to roll this morning.
Good thing - the bus came 15 minutes earlier than it did last year!

Seems kinda early to me. . .
I always started the end of August - usually the week before Labor Day.

And to make my head spin a bit more: I found out that we aren't the first to go back!
One of my coworker's kids went back last week.

WOW. . .I feel like it is still middle of summer!

Namaste.

Time Flies!

Seems like yesterday that I:

• Jammed to Violent Femmes (did I spell that wrong?) on the volleyball bus.
• Held C-Boy for the first time.
• Awoke to post-it notes on my college room mirror when waking up.
• Started working for the Big T.
• Bought my condo.
• Went to my first Bengal's game.
• Met MBB.

Time certainly does fly when you're having fun!

Namaste.

Olympics!

I am an American Football junkie - at least when my favorite teams are playing.
I don't tend to watch other sports much - unless someone who is on the field.
The exception to that statement - the OLYMPICS!

I love watching the Olympics.
I like learning about the different cultures.
I like hearing the stories about the athletes.

I've been reading Kimberly's Blog for awhile now.
She is experiencing the wonderful country of China and provides much "truthful / realistic" information about the country and the events.
Since I started reading her blog, I have stopped ready about "the Olympics and its host country" in the mass media. Since I don't want to come across "soap boxy", I'll move on to the main purpose of this post.

Kimberly has been posting a countdown to the Olympics with various types of information. The other day, the information was about the Olympic Mascots. OB and MaBell enjoyed looking at all of the details, so I thought that I would link to her post for everyone else to enjoy as well.

Namaste.

BTSS Part 2

On Saturday, we went out on a mission to find school clothes for the kids.

At our first stop, I was hanging out around the dressing rooms while OB and MaBell were trying on clothes. I had to be the fashion critic and give the yeah / nay decisions.

OB finished up and gave me the "keepers" to put in our cart. He then headed across the store to put back the ones that got the thumbs down. MBB walked up and called after OB to tie his shoes. I made the comment that he needed to put his shoes on first (he was walking on his tip toes with his heels on top of the back of the shoes).

Before I could say anything else, MBB swung around to look at OB and yelled for him to "get over here". At first, I thought he was just going to have him put his shoes on completely. Then I heard "Are you missing something?"

I started laughing so hard that I had tears running down my face.
The look of utter horror on OB's face when he saw his shorts in his dad's hand was priceless.

Yes my friends, OB was walking around the store in a shirt, his light blue boxers and tennis shoes.

Namaste.

BTSS

It has been years since I was involved in Back To School Shopping.
I am now thankful that I had so many years not involved in BTSS.

We received a copy of OB's potential supply list earlier this summer.
There is one list if he is "downstairs" and another if he is "upstairs".

I was hoping for upstairs. . .The list is very simple, straight-forward. All of the teachers (five of them) got together and agreed on everything - and get this: The list only has eight things on it AND the kids only have to carry ONE binder!

Our luck - he got downstairs. Each of the four teachers gave their own list - the list was huge (about 18 items after I crossed out duplicates) AND the kids have to keep track of FOUR binders!!! Let me also note here that we bought the "approved" backpack offered at the school.
There is no way that FOUR binders and all of OB's books will fit in this backpack!

We will be picking MaBell's supply list up on Wednesday - our pocketbook is still / already crying. . .
Wish us luck!

Namaste.

No, They Didn't!

My job entails me helping people with a computer system.
No, I am not in the I.T. department.

I got an email the other day concerning something that had to be done THAT DAY in "my system".
Not enough information was given for me to investigate, so I found some time to visit their desk.
As I was discussing the issue with them, their phone rang and. . .

Oh no, they didn't!
Oh yes, they did!
As I was in mid sentence, they answered the phone.

After ignoring me for at least a minute (yes, I was starting to see red), I hear "I'll have to get back to you later."
OK, they will call that person back. I can take care of their important thing and get back to my desk and the other things that I need to get done.

What?
That was directed at me?
Not the phone?
I took time out to go to their desk for THEIR important issue and I get blowed off with a snotty "you will help me later"?

Hmmm, let me think about this one. . .
I DON'T THINK SO.

I believe "I think I have some time tomorrow." is what came out of my mouth.
I heard a big, annoying sigh.
They gifted me with a moment so that they could show me how my system wasn't working.
I was fighting a smile as I showed them how my system was working.
Gotta love it when it's user error. :D

And I should help, why?
Oh yeah, cause I get paid too.
Doesn't mean that I have to like it.

Namaste.