Alissa, Me, and Beauty Pageants

Ever since I can remember, Alissa and I have enjoyed watching Beauty pageants together. I guess it is like a train wreck and we just cannot look away. We have strict rules about our viewing of the pageant which include picking your "winner" as soon as the first cut is made. This cut is made at either 15 or 10 contestants depending on which pageant you are watching. Once picked, you are not allowed to change your choice under any circumstances, so you must choose wisely.
Last night, the Miss USA pageant was on and even though Alissa was in Milwaukee at her home and I was here, we knew we would both be watching and picking our personal favorites. Alissa's computer was down so we had to converse via cell phone instead of Facebook. Even Nathan and John took part in our contest. No less than five or six phone calls were made to exchange comments just as if we were in the same room.
As it turned out, Nathan chose the big winner, Miss Michigan. I, personally thought she resembled a hooker and John feels she was only chosen because she is Iranian or something like that. He turns it all into politics which truth be told, it probably is. Alissa went with Kansas first, but when she didn't make the top ten from fifteen we bent the rules and let her choose again. Almost unheard of. She chose Maine which I thought was ridiculous. Who even considers Maine a state and no winner will ever come from there just like Wyoming or Montana, why do they even enter?
One thing I observed was that almost all the contestants had dark brown or black long hair. What happened to the blondes in our country?
I chose California because I feel they usually do pretty well, but alas she let me down and didn't even make the top five. John chose Colorado who wore her blondish hair in a ponytail the entire night. Not sure I like that so much, but she did come in third or fourth.
While I was enjoying the drama of the pageant, I totally missed the final night of Survivor. How did that happen? Disappointing for sure, but I caught up today online.
Anyway getting back to the pageant. The questions were so lame as usual. The only answer that really makes any sense to the judges is, "World peace." I know if I were up there, I would answer that to every question.
I want to thank Alissa for opening my eyes to the world of beauty pageants and the proper way to view them.

Rumage Sale Success

Well, we are $309.00 richer than we were before our successful rummage sale this Friday and Saturday. John worked the rummage all by himself on Friday because I was working and I think the sales techniques he learned from Tony the Ford man really paid off. When I got home, I could not believe all the things that had sold.
Our good fortune continued on Saturday when we had a steady stream of customers almost all buying customers, too. On Saturday morning, I woke up with the brainstorm to sell our sofa bed and our two brown chairs which had been a part of our household for at least 20 years. We carried them out and as soon as they hit the driveway, they sold! Our back room is now empty, but it was their time to go.
These are the cute hats that Courtney makes and sells on her Etsy site. They are a bit pricey for a rummage sale, but we did manage to sell four of them as well as a few accessories. We also gave her information our to four interested parties who said they wanted special order hats, so all in all, not a bad day for her either.

Here is our toy table before the sale started. By the end all of these items were sold.

This is our poolful of stuffed animals. We had Curious George, Sponge Bob, Snoopy, Lamb Chop, as well as a whole collection of Scooby Doos. At first, we were asking .50 for each stuffed animal, but we soon realized that people were not in the market for stuffed animals, so we started giving them away and almost emptied the entire pool. In the meantime, I know we made many children as well as a few dogs very happy. Who knew that so many people gave their dogs stuffed animals to play with?

This is the Mallory table filled with more Polly Pockets and accessories than any little girl needs and John sold them all to one lucky lady and I should add, one lucky little girl who was going to get all the stuff. Mal had Barbie stuff, too, and that all sold as well. Mallory walked away with $100.00, so not a bad haul for her either.

We had two full tables of Knick Knacks and glasswear. We emptied about a table and a half which also made us very happy.

And here is the Salesman of the Weekend showing his goods.

We packed up all our leftovers and will be having another sale in September. Can't wait!

As a side note, we treated ourselves to Blue Moon pizza and beer on Friday night and to Schuett's burgers on Saturday night.

All in all , a great weekend and we still have tomorrow to recuperate!

Lynne, If you are reading this post, read the previous one, too.

Our Field trip to the Library

Today I took my Preschoolers on our annual trip to the Watertown Library. My favorite reason to go to the Library is so that all of my kids can experience my friend Lynne, Children's Librarian Extraordinaire, read to them. Lynne and I taught together for 20+ years at Mary Linsmeier School. We made a super team and I enjoyed every day that we taught together. When I walked into the Library today with 29 Preschoolers in tow, Lynne never batted an eyelash. I knew that she is perfectly capable of holding the attention of 29 little ones. It is a gift and I like to think that we helped each other develop this gift during our years of teaching together. Thanks Lynne for being such a great friend, the kind of friend that welcomes me and my 29 kids! And, might I add, that my 29 were on their best behavior. I really do have a wonderful class this year.

A recap of Mother's Day and a lost camera

I am finally taking some time to do a recap of my wonderful Mother's Day weekend before it becomes a distant memory intertwined with all my other fun weekends and I forget some of the details that bear noting here.
Courtney and Tiz came on Friday morning so Tiz could join my Preschoolers at Gymtastics for our field trip. Both John and Courtney came along as chaperones. I think even John enjoyed himself. I gave him a group of four little boys who were pretty low maintenance, so I figured it would be an easy job for him. He did his fair share of pushing, pulling, catching, and holding kids on various apparatus. After that very successful trip, John took off for Oshkosh to pick up Paul for the weekend. The ladies had hoped to get out to Ebert's Greenhouse, but the weather did not cooperate with that trip. We did head over to Blue Moon in Lake Mills for some pizza and beer.
Tiz was thrilled to have a bottle of root beer. Here she and I are toasting in Mother's Day. The pizza at Blue Moon is one of our favorites and it seems that Tiz enjoyed it, too.

Gigi and Tiz enjoyed a few drinks together. In addition to the yummy pizza and tasty beverages, we had great conversation. There is just something about Lake Mills and its memories of the days when Courtney and Paul lived there that makes for happy times. We even reminisced about the time that we ate at the same restaurant although it had a different name back then with Lynne, Melissa, and little baby Meghan. That was long before the twins and Tizita were even thought of yet. Where did that time go? It seemed like only yesterday, but that is the way time marches on, I guess.

After our great night out we arrived home at about the same time that the men arrived. Tiz gave Courtney the present she had made for her in Preschool. I was not really happy with these gifts. I ordered them from Oriental Trading and they were quick and easy to complete but they didn't really convey any sentimental message or conjur up any tears of happiness. Note to self: Next year make a gift with a tear jerking poem attached.

Paul had brought this beautiful plant along for Courtney from him and Tiz. Our evening ended with some "Say yes to the Dress" viewing and an early evening.

A great start to the weekend.

On Saturday, we had hoped to meet Alissa and Nathan at Frame Park in Waukesha for a nice picnic lunch, but again the weather had other ideas so they came out here for lunch. Nathan had made a tasty shrimp salsa and Courtney brought her signature caramel bars. We all enjoyed our lunch very much. In the afternoon we visited with Mallory and spent time playing with Tiz.

Here are the four lovely ladies who have been so much a part of my life as a mom. Being a mom to Courtney and Alissa, an aunt to Mallory, and a Grandma to Tizita is the best thing I could ever be in this life. I am blessed to have each one of them in my life.

And of course, my mom was a big part of our celebration, too. We are so fortunate to have her here to spend time with Tizita. Not all kids have a great grandma in their lives. When Tiz stays here she always gets up in the morning and goes in by Gigi to wake her up and then they have breakfast together. They are making some priceless memories.

And speaking of mornings, this is what I saw on Sunday morning. Tiz could not wait until Auntie Lissy was up and ready to have a juice box with her. They both enjoy their fruit punch!

Note to self: Going to church on Saturday night was definitely a great decision. We all thought it was wonderful to hear The Word and come home for a few beers and a night of scy fy movies about Mongolian worms. It also made our Sunday morning very laid back and relaxed. So relaxed in fact, that we all enjoyed Courtney's pancakes.

While Gigi and Grunkle were in church on Sunday morning, we had some more play time with Tiz. She and I built with her blocks for a bit.

Later, Tiz went fishing with Uncle Cheddah and Lis. After lunch Courtney and Paul helped John and I plant a few more things in our garden while Tiz, Lis, and Cheddah played in their car.

Before I knew it, it was time to send everyone back home. It had been a great Mother's Day weekend for sure.

Then, on to my camera story. To go back a bit, Tiz dropped my new camera on Easter and it was not fixable, so I replaced it with the same camera only a different color and a touch screen. In the meantime, John took a wrench to the old camera and when he pulled off a bit of the lens, it was working again. Not looking so good, but working like a charm. That old camera became Tiz's own camera and I was enjoying my new camera. I had taken a few shots on Mother's Day weekend, (Duh, you know that, you can see them here) anyway, on Monday night when I wanted to do this post, I could not find my camera anywhere. I turned the house upside down and made John dig through old soggy chips, coffee grounds, and beef gravy in the garbage, which by the way, he did without complaint. We gave up the search on Monday at bedtime, but I continued it today and I retraced my steps on Sunday as I cleaned up after everyone left.

Sure enough, I checked in our art cabinet where I had put the crayons and there was my camera! I felt so relieved when I found it!

So, there you have it, my Mother's Day and my camera story!

Rereading and reflecting on a great weekend

I just got finished reading my blog entries from last May. I think I wrote better, more interesting posts back then, but maybe I will think the same thing as I reread these next year, who knows? Anyway I sure am glad to have begun blogging and keeping a record of my life because I did not remember all the events from a year ago. Maybe even someday someone will be glad that I documented my life.
Now on to our weekend which was another good one.
We began with a picnic lunch with Tizita. We went up to Oshkosh to pick her up. Her mama and papa were getting ready for JP's wedding and we were taking Tiz to visit Cheddah and Alissa. We didn't have a lot of time so we decided to picnic right out on Tiz's front lawn. We enjoyed a yummy lunch and soon were on our way to Alissa's.

Alissa and Cheddah took us to a very nice park they had discovered in Wauwatosa. We played on the playground for awhile and then hiked some of the nature trails. Tiz and Cheddah enjoyed checking out all the frogs in the water hole. It sounded just like Cape San Blas with all those frogs!

After our park time we headed back to Alissa and Cheddah's where we enjoyed some chocolate custard which was so yummy. Alissa painted Tiz's toes and Tiz, in turn, painted Alissa's toes. There was some rolling around on the exercise ball and other foolishness before we played some wii.

Here is Tiz leading the parade. Cheddah got us some pizzas and after that we headed to Watertown.

On Sunday Tiz rode around in her Cadillac again and we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. It was a very fun weekend.

I am sure it will get all mixed up with my other great weekends, so I am very happy to be able to document it here and will enjoy rereading this post sometime in the future!

Grillin' in the rain

Tonight John faced the elements of thunder, pouring rains, and impending tornados to grill up some chicken for our dinner. He is like the mailmen, not rain or wind or dark of night will keep the mail from being delivered or in this case the chicken from being grilled. He set the grill up in the garage and the rest is history.

You can see how hard it was raining on this picture.

And here is the finished meal. We had twice baked potatoes and some California blend veggies to round out the dinner. Now we are enjoying a movie and some peanut m and m's. Great way to spend a stormy Friday night.

A post about cars

This post has two parts both involving cars in one way or another. The first part is about this good looking Cadillac driven by this good looking lady. My brother's friend (or maybe more than just a friend, who can say) gave this battery operated Cadillac to Tizita. It was being stored in her mom's garage since her mom got it as a bonus for purchasing a full sized Cadillac and it was looking for a home. Well, it has found its home right here in our garage amongst the other cars, trike, and big wheel. We took Tiz over to the pool parking lot today to give it a spin. We were a bit apprehensive on how Tiz would be able to handle the car. Well, our concerns were unfounded since she could drive it like she had been behind a wheel all her life. It took her no time at all to control the gas pedal, stopping within inches of curbs and other obstacles. She also had no trouble with putting it into reverse and then back into forward with the shift. We just laughed as she drove all around the parking lot with her Mimi strapped into the passenger seat. A big thank you to Vikki for thinking of Tiz!

The second part of the car post has nothing to do with a Cadillac and is not nearly as much fun as Tiz's car story. As you know, John is currently unemployed and living off the government. He has been going to various interviews but so far, no takers. Well on Monday he went to an interview at Beaver Dam Ford for a position as a car salesman. The interviewer seemed to think John fit the profile of a salesman very well and offered him a position on the completion of a training seminar. Today, John attended the first day of the seminar, by the way, this will be the last day of the seminar for him. He said it made his stomach turn and he knows he would not be able to sell a car. I am proud of him for giving it a try, but I am also relieved that he decided against the position. I know this is probably silly, but I always think of car salesmen as being shady, even dishonest. Sorry, if anyone reading this sells cars for a living. I still think they are shady, but I also know how hard they have to work because John would be making $100.00 a week unless he sold cars. Who lives on that? So, for awhile we will continue to live on our government! Time to do some more job searching and soul searching, we know there is a bigger plan awaiting us.