Thursday, June 30, 2011

What do you do after a night at the ER? and A Simple Pleasure

Look pitiful so that your mom will let you eat Ritz crackers and watch cartoons all morning.

 But seriously my boy deserves a break...
Last night after Cub Scouts we went over to our next door neighbors to chat with her about the dog sitting we will be doing for her this weekend.  She is the owner of Bear, Sadie's best dog friend.  He is younger than Sadie and still has his razor sharp puppy teeth.  Do you see where I am going with this?  Jake was throwing sticks for Bear while we were talking and Bear jumped up to get the stick from him right as he was getting ready to throw it...Next thing I know, Jake screams and blood is dripping down off his wrist.  Fast forward 20 minutes and we are sitting in the ER waiting. We were pretty lucky  we were only there for a total of 2 1/2 hours which has got to be some kind of record.  Looking around the waiting room there were just a bunch of people that honestly looked liked they had no reason to be there (which made me happy.  I am not a fan of germs, blood, or puke that comes out of anyone other than my own family).  No wounds (besides Jake of course), broken bones, or even coughing.  Just people with their wristbands on, chatting with whoever brought them.  It was kind of strange actually.  Usually you see all sorts of creepy or gross things in the ER.  Luckily for us Jake's "flesh wound", as he was calling it, was it for blood.  Aaron said they were probably there to get out of the heat and into the air conditioning. :)

Jake entertained the hospital staff and us while we were there.  The man who checked him out and took our information before being seen was amused when Jake told him he didn't need stitches-just a band aid and we could call it good.  The man also asked if Jake had any recent illnesses or infections (no), and Jake asked if the wart on his thumb (that we have been to the doctor 6 times for to have them freeze off and we have gone through a box and a half of the at home freeze kits and large amounts of duct tape.  This wart seriously will not go away.  Next stop dermatologist..) counted.  The man laughed and told him it didn't. :)  When we actually got into the room another man (maybe a nurses assistant or something) came in to get more info. and tell us what we could expect.  He looked at Jake's wrist and said it needed stitches but because it was a dog bite (more like a tooth slash.  Bear didn't chomp down.  His tooth just made contact.), they may not close it up because of the risk of infection-they wanted it to be able to drain.  Jake was so happy that he might not need stitches and told the guy it really wasn't that bad.  To this the man said: "It looks pretty bad to me."  When the doctor came in to numb it, she was telling Jake it shouldn't hurt.  Jake looked at her and said; "Shouldn't?"  She laughed and said: "Oh you caught that part did ya?  You are pretty bright, because most people don't hear that part." (It did hurt by the way...) Before the stitches were put in she took out this big bottle (a one liter maybe) of saline solution to clean it out and told Jake she was going to clean out the wound and that it wouldn't hurt but it would be cold.  He looked at the bottle and said: "You are using that whole thing?". I guess you had to be there to see his facial expressions for most of these moments but we were all chuckling the whole time and I had to document them.  Especially when the doctor showed him the "fish hook" she used to do the stitches after she was done.  Jake took one look at it and said: "I don't know how I survived it!"  He is one funny kid.
I think his humor and quick wit is a defense mechanism because he had a few moments of tears.  Aaron was joking with him in the waiting room about rabies and how they use part of your intestines to treat you for it.    We obviously know that Bear does not have rabies (and that intestines aren't used to treat you for it...), but it was more than Jake could take and tears started to well up in his eyes.  Which Aaron didn't notice right away because he thought was being so funny.  Way to go Daddy. :)  Turns out in stressful situations Jake can only handle his own jokes, not other peoples.  

To look on the bright side:  I was glad to see a coupon that I could use for one of Jake's favorite treats, that was on sale BOGO free (I got it for $1.20 that is 20cents a bar.  It tastes even better when it is so cheap.).  Out of all the not fun stuff, it is definitely a simple pleasure to let Jake eat a yummy Klondike bar BEFORE lunch and cheer him up.

You can do things like that when you have stitches.  In fact it may actually be a mandatory step in the healing process.  Jake's sweet face when I told him I didn't just get his antibiotics (you have to take them with a dog bite), I also got him a treat is definitely my simple pleasure.  What is your simple pleasure today?  It may very well be that you weren't in the ER last night with your child getting stitches. :)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer posting...Not really feeling it...

As many things do in the summer, posting has become a chore.  It really is much more fun to lay in the sun in 98 degree weather and spray myself with the hose when I am supposed to be spraying Jake as he runs by...I looked at a ladies legs at church on Sunday who had white hose on and realized that my hoseless legs were the same color...I have not pool to tan by (except our little $10 Walmart kids/puppy pool) so the hose will have to do, because another summer with out tan legs just isn't happening.  I bet my cousin Mallory (who is the tan queen every summer and who lives in VERMONT for goodness sake!!!  How can I live in the the hot and humid South and be whiter than a Vermonter...It is sad...) that I would be tanner than her this year and I am not going down with out a fight!  So, that is just one of my excuses for lack of blogging...Another excuse is that we are having too much fun homeschooling.  We have our...We still can't think of a name for them...Mine is "my compass" (it is what is leading us in our educations) and Jake's is his "Case-It" (the name brand of the big binder all AIG students had to have at his former school and it broke half way through the year so we had to replace...but I wasn't going to waste our money again so I let him use a cool Stephen Covey planner/small briefcase I found on clearance at Sam's Club for $12 a few years ago....), but I am trying to convince him we should have a really cool name for it...Jake isn't buying it so far.  But any way, I took pictures of our "whatever you want to call 'ems" because I am really into paper products and pretending I am organized. :)

This is my "Compass".  How cool is that name? The whole idea behind it is that we can take these binders with us wherever we go and have what we need to homeschool.  Some one with more homeschooling and grammatical knowledge tell me if homeschool is one word or two please...When I type it is says it is spelled wrong, but when I type homeschooling it is right...Things like that make me wonder just what kind of education my son will be getting....Any way I love the idea of an education from the classics, but I have to say that I don't think I am ready for it.  So, this is my happy medium.  No, we don't have a curriculum we are following.  I have the list of what Jake has to know in NC for the 5th grade and we will of course cover all of it and then some.  Yes, we are going to focus on reading and studying the things that interest Jake because those things will lead easily into the things he "needs to know".  In the Thomas Jefferson Education books they believe that you must educate yourself as you help your child educate themselves, so I made my own "Compass".  In the book it tells you to make a list of what you want to study  and get to it-that is your compass.  We made the list and the binder is just something I thought would help us focus.  So, here it is:
Have you heard of Peter Walsh (I think that is his name) he was on an organizing/redecorating show and he has a line at Office Max of organizing "stuff".  I could spend all day in Office Max...I am a paper product junkie-that is one of the reasons I retired from scrap booking...I liked to collect the paper not actually use it.  Any way, his line is called  [IN] PLACE and I am kind of in love.  It is just the fancy version of regular things like binders, page protectors, and subject dividers...but I still love it.  I bought this binder a long time ago and never had a reason to use it (at least not a good enough reason to use it...It was too special for just any old paper holding job...) until now!
I have this cute pencil case so that I will have pencils and pens on hand whenever we need them.
And this amazing post-it note thingy-ma-bobber.
I have a calendar, our chore lists (that I believe is totally part of homeschooling), attendance records, a place to keep track of grades because Jake still wants to get report cards, and all other things related to being a homeschooling mom! (I have a section of things I am going to be studying right along with Jake-right now it is the states.  No I do not know all I should know geographically or other wise about this fine country...) I even a list for library books (found it at http://donnayoung.org/homeschooling/index.htm,) and their due dates because we ALWAYS have late books-but not anymore!
I have a section with answer keys to the math worksheets I found at one of my new favorite websites:  worksheetworks.com.  We aren't really going to get into math until we get back from Vermont (in September), but Jake wanted to do some sheets (math geek). Which I think is an awesome idea if that is what he likes to do.
I have my compass which has all the things I want to spend time learning about for the next 6 months.  I am going to do some sewing, canning, and dehydrating-the domestic side of me is dying to come out.  The "academic" side I am focusing on studying: US history, the Constitution and the way our government is supposed to run, the Federalist Papers, (you get it-all the things the founding Fathers laid out for us...).  On the spiritual side I am going to continue to study the Book of Mormon and read the Doctrine and Covenants, that I am going to admit for the first time ever:  I have never read the D&C all the way through...I am a sad person I know...
This is Jake's.  His is binder is broken into the 3 main categories he wanted to study this summer:  The States (location, capital, order of statehood, and interesting facts.), animals (he wants to research a few different animals-you may remember he started a project a week or so ago on the Black Mamba snake), and History (he wants to research Blackbeard, Beethoven..and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment...).  His binder has built in pencil/pen case and calculator.  He loves it and everyone in his AIG class was jealous of his "briefcase".  He has a section in the back labeled "other" with his "Math: Keeping Skills Sharp" section and a section to take notes on things he is reading-especially the Book of Mormon, which he would like to finish reading by his birthday.  Behind the first page (a picture of a compass) is the list of things he wants to learn in the next 6 months, that he can add to any time he wants.

This is his "compass".

We also went to the library and signed up for the summer reading program.  They gave him a bag with info. on the program, a book mark, and some other cool things that I really can't remember off the top of my head...He did get a free book called Extra Credit by  Andrew Clements, since he signed up the book club for it in a couple of weeks.  This is the plastic bag that he wanted to keep but I talked him into taking a picture of it to preserve the memory and then tossing it. :)
Jake checked out several books (he has already read almost 3 of them since Friday) and these 2 DVD's that he thought looked awesome.
This is Jake doing his first math worksheet.  We weren't going to officially start until July 5th, but neither of us could wait any longer!  Our binders are so cool and were just waiting for us to use...
We had fun going through our little turning in and me checking it process (we have a turn in folder and a graded folder in one of those wire magazine holders.) and Jake was seriously thrilled at his first 100%.  So excited that he gave me a hug. :)  I am glad he is so excited to homeschool.  It isn't like he isn't used to getting 100%'s on his math worksheets, but there was just something about it being the first one for our school. :)
It was fun for me to use my red pen to check it and then put it down on my grading sheet. :)
  We also did our first state yesterday: Florida.  Jake decided he wanted to do Alaska and Hawaii tomorrow.
How cute is Jake's manatee?  Did you know that Florida was the 27th state (I thought it was a state way earlier...) and that 80% of the US's oranges and grapefruits are grown in Florida?  It also has more varieties of fish than any other place in the world has.  Pretty cool.  We also learned that while Crayola's eraseable colored pencils are great for coloring or highlighting...they are not so great for writing with...Jake's handwriting really isn't as sloppy as it looks on this sheet. (Seriously-I wised up and switched to a regular pencil half way through my sheet. :) )  He wanted to make sure everyone knew that....but don't look to closely at his math worksheet that he decided at the last second he wanted to sign and date (in case I got it confused with another students)...not sure why he wrote that so sloppy... :) 

I realize that this is an awfully long post about binders and papers, but we are really excited to be homeschooling and I wanted to document this so on days when we want to pull each others hair out we can remember we really do like each other. :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

We really didn't forget Father's Day, I swear...

...I just forgot to post about it.  And we forgot (didn't forget just didn't make a priority...) to get cards in the mail to Papa G. and Papa Harmon-but we did talk to them on the phone.  Happy (late) Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

We started the celebration on Saturday by surprising Aaron with 2 of his favorite things:

1. Sweet and Sour chicken from his favorite local Chinese restaurant and
2. A blueberry cheesecake milkshake from a little drive-thru hamburger joint called Cookout.

I went to pick Jake up from his friend Corey's house after a day of swimming (yes I was jealous) and we picked them up on the way home.
We also let him do this since he:
Going to school full time and working 3rd shift full time is not much fun. (The little blue rug is for Sadie.  When we are sitting on the couch and she sits down next to it for us to pat her, she slides around on the hardwood floors.  How spoiled is that mutt?  Ruining the decor of the living room with an old blue bathmat just so she can sit her furry bum down without sliding all over the place.)

The next day I made 2 more of his favorite things:

1. Homemade rolls and
2. Homemade chocolate cookies.
So, you see we didn't forget Aaron.  Jake even wrote a song and played it on the piano for Aaron.  Thank you Aaron for all you do for our family.  Jake said it best one time when he said: "Daddy makes too many sacrifices for this family."  At first I didn't know how to respond, but then I just told him that is what good Daddies do and yours is the best.  Thank you Aaron. I love you.

Simple Pleasures: The Wind on Their Faces...

Today we had to head out early to drop Sadie off at the vet to get spade. We won't see her until tomorrow and we are really going to miss her.  Jake is having a friend over to keep his mind off Sadie' surgery-he is a little worried. On the way we rolled down the windows to let her enjoy the breeze and Jake decided to join in.  At first they started out enjoying the wind at 2 different windows.



And then Sadie couldn't resist and decided to join Jake at his window.


There is Sadie's nose...
...And here they are enjoying the wind on their faces together!
That is my simple pleasure for the day: watching two buddies enjoy the wind on their faces together. What is your simple pleasure? (These pictures didn't turn out that bad considering I was just sticking the camera out the window or by my seat and didn't even look because I was...well...driving.)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Finally Done

I finally finished:
It took me a month or so.  It is long five hundred and something pages, but I don't usually take me any where near  that long to read a book.  It was a definite departure from what I have been reading lately (Anne of Green Gables), and I think more of a boy book. It is a Cowboy and Indian book.  It is a book about lose and starting over.  It is a book about growing and learning who you are and what you are capable of.  It made you feel like you were in the desert with Johannes, the main character.  He endured things not many people I know could.  Read this book.  You really will enjoy it and find many life lessons and wonderful quotes...That I don't have time to talk about right now because Jake is dying to play the Wii with me and I said I would hurry.  He just spent the day with me at Bi-Lo (from 7am to 3pm...I am working one day a month to be kept on the payroll, that way if I need to go back I can.), so I promised to play some Lego Wii...whichever one he feels like!  I just had to tell someone I finally finished Lonesome Gods!  I think  anyone 12 and up (Jake started reading it but lost interest.  I am glad he did because I think some of the things that happen later in the book when Johannes grows up, are things anyone under 12 wouldn't understand.  A few outlaws have plans to assault a young lady.  Of course their attempt is fouled, but it is a concept my almost 10 year old would not understand-thankfully.), girl or boy, could read this and enjoy it.  Especially if you like Cowboys and Indians. Dad I think you would like this one. 

After reading a  more "boyish" book , I am in the mood for a real girls book again.  So, I am reading:
For the first time!  Can you believe it?  I am I the only female out there who adores the movie (the new and old version) but has never actually read it?...Or any of Jane Austen's other books either for that matter...Tell me I am not the only one...I am so excited to read it!  After I finished Lonesome Gods last night at almost 1 o'clock in the morning I couldn't help but read a few pages of it and I love it already. :)

Monday, June 20, 2011

A very long catch up and a brain declutter. (I am not proofreading this-just warning you...)

It seems like forever since I have posted!  Did you miss me?  I wasn't really gone.  I was at home enjoying FREEDOM!  We have had a fun time getting ready to home school, going to the park, playing the Wii, working on a project....We have been busy doing nothing and it has been FUN.  I am going to just make this a MASSIVE picture and brain declutter extraordinaire!  (I warned you ahead of time so don't be surprised when you see just how long this is...this is what happens when I don't post for a while. This could probably be about 5 separate posts...)

*I have mentioned before I am a Yankee (born and raised in NH), but I consider myself a converted Southerner (except when it is really hot and I wish I wasn't....).  Well, I often wish I had an accent like Paula Dean, but I don't think it will every happen.  What I am getting at, is that the other day we were watching something on the History channel or Discovery channel  (2 of our fav's...I also love Fox News and HGTV) and a Southerner said "thang" instead of  "thing" and I was instantly mesmerized...Not enough to remember who it was or what it was on apparently, but I really wanted to sound like that.  It wasn't a redneck or uneducated accent like people who don't live in the South think it is.  It was a civilized "thang"...Maybe one day I will get my wish and have a Southern accent...I girl can dream right?

*Jake was playing his recorder the other day and decided to write a song.  It took him about 10 minutes and was really AWESOME.  I am so impressed.  I told him that he could probably play it on the piano (which he wants to learn to play and is going to when Nee get home to teach him us.).  So, we sat down at the piano and I found the notes and he played it.  It really is a great song.  He played it on Father's Day for Aaron and Papa G.  He decided he wanted to wait and surprise Papa Harmon by playing it for him live on their piano, when we go down to Spartanburg some time soon. So, Nana don't tell.

*While I am typing this post Aaron is teaching Jake to play the guitar and they are writing down all the cords in a notebook for him to practice.  I told Jake the other day that when he was writing his song and playing it on the piano that, that was homeschooling.  He didn't believe me, but I asked him: have you ever written a song before?  (No)  Are you learning the first few notes on the piano (Yes).  That is learning!  It is educating yourself and finding your talents.  He was pretty psyched to think that an education is not just worksheets.  :)  I am excited too. 

*The other day while I was doing something (dishes or something...), I heard some noise coming from Jake's room and when I went down the hall to see what it was this is what I saw:

What is it you ask?  A club house of course!  This happened to be the day we thought maybe we would put Sadie's crate in Jake's room to see if she would start sleeping in there.  The night before she slept in his room, (not in her crate just on the floor...she has a nice comfy dog bed but choices to sleep on the hard floor?) but she peed on the floor!  I think she was nervous or something because she didn't know what to think when we shut her in there and Jake said she was pacing for a while.  She never pee's on the floor any more...Except today when we put a rug back down that she peed on a couple times when she was tiny, so we put it up until she was potty trained.  Fast forward a couple of months with no peeing....She pees in Jake's room and then pees on the rug we literally just put back out...Any way...back to the story.  This is what was going on in the club house:
Jake rediscovered his dress up clothes and was sharing them with Sadie.

I like to call him "Obi-wan-ca-Jakey" when he puts this old Halloween costume on, but he had another name for himself that I can't remember at the moment...He wants to post some pic's on his blog too so he will probably tell you on there what his name was....
****BY THE WAY**** Did that get your attention?  His blog has changed to: jake-myschool.blogspot.com and it is not private after all.  Aaron thought it was fine to be public since I talk all about him on my blog anyway...Good point...So, if I sent you an invite to the old one, just forget all about it and go to this one from now on...Back to the regularly scheduled post. :)

He got hot and changed.  Can I even tell you what a joy it has been to watch Jake play and enjoy himself again?  It seemed any time we played before it was in a hurry because we had to do homework or get to bed since it is a school night.

*I forgot to mention Jake has been lucky enough to go to a b-day pool party and to a  friends house who has a pool in his neighborhood?  He is a fish and loves the water like I do.  That just popped in my head for some reason...Probably because I really want to go swimming...

*This is a picture of Jake reading from an awesome new collection of books a friend of mine from church brought to Cub Scouts to see if Jake wanted them.  She got them a the school she works at and thought her kids would like them.  They didn't...at all and since Jake had excitedly told her at Church (she is our Primary pianist) that he was going to be homeschooled she thought she would bring them to someone who would appreciate them.  And he does!  They are so cool and it is the whole set A-Z talking about cultures in different countries.   On a completely unrelated note (I can do that because I am brain decluttering...) see the peach he is eating?  I told Aaron I got peaches and he excitedly went to eat one and then informed we they weren't real peaches.  We are used to the peaches that are almost the size of a softball, that are so juicy you have to eat them outside because the juice drips down your arm all the way to your elbows...I wish I had one right now...Which makes me think of one other quick thing...Nana, Jake thinks you are very tough.  (Why did that make me think of Nana?  Because you get those awesome peaches in SC and there are awesome peach stands off the highway on the way to Nana and Papa Harmon's house....See how randomly my brain works...)  Any way.  Nana has a broken foot right now and went a week after hurting it before she went to the doctor to get it checked out.  So, in Jake's book you have to be tough to walk around on a broken foot for a week...In my book too, now that I think about it.  Jake stubbed his pinky toe today and said if it is broken (it's not...) than he will just be tough like Nana.  Just thought you would like that Nana. :)...


*Here is Jake working on his first homeschooling project.  We aren't "officially" starting until July 5th because July 1st is when we can start taking attendance according to the county we live in.  This is a project that Jake decided to do on his own, just because he wanted to.  That makes me a happy camper. :)
This is what it looks like so far.  It is a report on Black Mamba snakes, which happen to be the most dangerous snake, but not the most poisonous.  Jake will have to explain all that to ya.  He learned it in his research and it is all pretty cool if you like that kind of stuff.  Jake some how became a big snake fan and I am not sure how...The pattern on the poster is an extreme close up on the what a black mamba's scales look like.  Pretty cool huh?  I was excited because he let me help. :)
Aaron serenaded us while we painted.  He of course would not look at the camera, since he is a PTPP (picture taking party pooper).
Sadie just hung out looking all cute like she does.
So cute Jake couldn't resist playing with her and a few days later the project has not moved any further along than printed pic's from the internet of black mamba's (that I was REALLY sick of looking at on the computer desk so I made him move them to his room), and a sheet with "fun facts".  Did you know there was such a thing as "fun facts" about snakes because none of it sounds fun to me....

*This is a park close to our house (we gave up on the ghetto park after we had to leave because several cop cars pulled into the parking lot with their lights on, to arrest a bunch of people in what was apparently a drug deal...And we had one of Jake's friends with us.  Luckily his grandmother understood when she came and picked him up...), that we LOVE.  We went twice in one day the end of last week.  Then we went back the next day again.  Jake made a couple of new friends and had a great time running around with them.  I had a great time not having to be the one running around and I painted my nails and cleaned out my purse while he played.  Actually it was the other way around.  I found the nail polish in my purse while cleaning it out and then I painted my nails.  We had to cut playing short (it had already been over an hour so they were getting tired since it was 9,000 degrees out) because one of the boys Jake was playing with a had teenage cousin who was playing too, that cussed a couple of times and then when he said "rape" and "hey my cousin tagged me and tried to touch my private parts!".  I don't think he was a child molester or anything like that.  I think he is just an idiot and doesn't know what is and is not appropriate to say around younger kids..  At any rate, I called Jake over and told him it was time to go, which he understood.  Sad isn't it?  I remember when I was little and  we used to play outside all day with our friends...It is a different world.  On a more positive note.  I showed Jake all the fun things we used to do on swings on the playground when I was a kid.  Like twist and swing at the same time.  Or hold onto each others chain and swing sideways together.  All those things he doesn't know about because he has never had swings at his schools because they are too dangerous.  And the last time we had a swing in our yard he was too little to show those things too. :)  I have heard more of my favorite Jake belly laughs in the past week than I have in a long time.

*This is Jake getting ready to roll the dice and pick what 5 states he is going to research first.  He decided he wants to start with geography, researching a few interesting people, and researching animals this summer.  Sounds good to me.  We are also going to be reading the Book of Mormon. 
Where ever the tiny little dice landed would be one of the states he would start with.  With exception of Florida and Texas, he just wanted to do those 2 first and he helped the dice land where it needed to land. :)

We were having a game day last Tuesday and took turns picking the games.  I love this card game called "5 State Rummy".  You have to get cards for 5 states that border each other.  While playing Jake decided he wanted to learn the states.

*We made Aaron blueberry streusel coffee cake one morning.  Don't be too impressed-it was out of a box.  But you can be impressed that I got if for almost free on sale plus my coupons...which I really need to cut out, I am so far behind...This is the best pic we could get with our resident PTPP.  Jake was concerned when we first started making it, that it had coffee in it, since the box said coffee cake.  I assured him it didn't and we enjoyed it's yumminess.
*This is a random picture of Jake playing Wii Fit Plus on our game day last week. (Out of order but I don't feel like moving it...)  He was doing the flying chicken one...It was much funnier than the picture makes it...
*I can't believe I haven't posted all this stuff already!!!  This is the very first lightening bug Jake caught of the season last week...I think it was on our game day last Tuesday...Yep it was because Sadie turned 6 months that day.  She goes to the vet on Thursday to get spade.
Sadie played with our neighbors dog "Bear" (he is the vicious looking one in the picture, but he really isn't...), while we caught lightening bugs.  Bear is Sadie's best dog friend.
I couldn't for the life of me get a shot of them running that wasn't blurry.  They are way to fast.  They ran from one yard to the next.  We don't have to worry one bit about Sadie running off if Bear is out to play with...If he isn't?  Forget about it-she is gone.  Little stinker...
Here is the mason jar filled with the bugs.  One lite up as I took the picture. :)
Love this sweaty headed boy.  Nee you can see your little bushes growing back in, in the back ground.
See all the little guys in there. Don't worry we let them all out before we went in for the night.

*Here is a where a picture of the Papa John's pizza we got the other night would be...but I can't put it up here because it is one of the pictures I took for the secret shop we did...don't tell them! You just order the pizza (you have to be approved to do it obviously...), answer some questions about the customer service. Take a few pictures of the pizza with your shopper number on it and you get a free pizza. This time it will cover the cost of the pizza, tip, and I get a $10 bonus because I haven't done it for a while and they really needed someone to do it. Did you know you could do that? It is the only time we order Papa John's. :)

*And last and definitely least...Did I mention that I dyed my hair "dark mahogany brown" about a week and a hal ago?  I have dark brown hair and I have been dying it for a few years because I am getting gray...I would have a skunk stripe on both sides of my face and they are starting to pop up other places throughout too...I usually just go with dark brown, but since I have red undertones anyway I decided to try the mahogany for a change. This is me waiting...

I got bored waiting for 30 minutes, when there was no one around (Jake was asleep and Aaron was at work) to distract me from the fact that I may look like a clown when I rinsed it out, so I took a picture of myself...That makes sense right?.. Can you tell by my facial expression how I am feeling about it? It was so much runnier than the regular dark brown and where I could see it on my forehead it was BRIGHT red...I have no after picture...yet.  I haven't really worn my hair down since because the roots are so red.  The rest of it looks pretty much like what it always looks like.  I am just waiting a couple of weeks to go back to my regular color.  After 4 days and 4 times washing my hair red dye was still coming out of my hair in the shower.  That never happens with the brown I use and it was the same brand.  So, I learned my lesson:  I will just stick with the color I've got...as long as it's not gray.  I am too young for gray...