Halloween Party 2007

Every year we assist in hosting a wonderful Halloween party at my in-law's house. We set up carnival style games for the kids to play where they can grab fists full of candy as well as rent a huge spacewalk-slide for them. The adults enjoy a little good cooking (my favorite are the mini "ghost" pizzas) and great company!

State Fair 2007

Saturday afternoon was the perfect weather for going to the fair. WD and I took Erin, Dylan, our Godson Zackary, and Erin's friend, Callie. The kids had a great time. I think Dylan spent all of his allowance on the "games", while Erin and Callie indecisively walked around wanting to spend their money, but not quite sure. My favorite part was watching them attempt the rope bridge game. It kicked their butts!

Real Cake from College Drive Wal-mart

I kid you not! My friend Stacie e-mailed this photo to me today. Her aunt's friend ordered a cake from the College Drive Wal-mart for a coworker's "going away" party. She placed the order over the phone saying: At the top I would like it to say "Best Wishes Suzanne", and then underneath that "We will miss you". Look at what they put on the cake! If it were me, I couldn't stay mad long, because I'd be dying laughing! Another reason to get an education... check out "Under Neat"!

Daylight Saving Time

I was sitting at work about to collect my things to go home, when I looked out the window to find how dark and dreary it looked. I know with the chillier weather (hooray!) it looks more dreary out, but I got to thinking about the upcoming time change... I knew we did it in October most years, so I was wondering when it was this fall. We will roll our clocks back on November 4th. Here's some other info I found about Daylight Saving Time!

Moody Maybe?

Before I even left the office today, both Erin and Dylan called me a number of times... one time to let me know they were home safe... one time to ask homework questions... one time to tattle on the other... one time to give me an update on the dog... one time to ask what chores they could do (so that I'll pay them!)... I can assure you this is not typical or I'd pull all my hair out. It's normally one call to let me know they are home. Somedays it's this way though... and I want to throw my phone out of the window. It's ironic how many times these days coincide with many other dictates in life that demand attention... like today I had a flat tire to get fixed. By the time I got home, I just wanted to "chill". I stood in the kitchen after greeting the kids, only to listen to Dylan incessently go on and on. I remember a time I couldn't wait for him to speak... and now (only sometimes) I can't wait for him to "hush". I think I even told him to "get to the point" today. Moody maybe? Or perhaps I just need a time of "silence"? I'm about to enjoy just that... I'm going to put both my little sweethearts to bed and I think I may sit... no T.V., no computer, no telephone and just enjoy the silence ;-)

Corn Maize

We escaped across the river to Port Allen to visit the "corn maize" Sunday afternoon. It was nice and dry but still a little warm for October. It was a great outing for the family. We even ran into one of Dylan's friends, Matt... who'd have thought we'd run into someone we knew in the middle of nowhere at a corn field!?! I'm hoping that WD got better photos... my camera's batteries died after about 5 shots. I'll have to post more later when I upload WD's photos, but until then, here's a shot of the kids getting to play with old fashioned water pumps -

"Red Ribbon" Week is Next Week

Just a little thing you might want to chat with your kids about. There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like pop rocks. Some of it smells like strawberry. It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange. It looks just like pop rocks. Please instruct children to not accept candy that looks like this even from a friend. They need to take any that they may have to a teacher, principal, etc. They call it strawberry meth or strawberry quick.

Check it on Snopes.

My Favorite Breakfast

I have made a habit (good or bad?) of stopping by Chick-fil-a in the mornings for breakfast. Oh my how I enjoy their chicken biscuit and sweet tea. After checking out the nutritional content (the biscuit is 420 calories and the large sweet tea is 230 calories!!!), I can see now that I'll have to not go as frequently and when I do go, get the unsweetened tea (and add Splenda once I get to work). Since I don't drink coffee, I typically drink a diet DP, but have recently subbed it with the sweet tea. Yes, Chick-Fil-A does sell breakfast! Look for me at the Siegan Lane location at about 8a.m. if I am having one of my "indulgent" mornings!

Got my Picture!

As you may recall reading, Erin was just too "cool" to allow me to follow her to the bus stop with my camera on her first day of middle school. Sadly, I had no "bus stop" photos to put in her scrapbook. Not anymore! My neighbor was able to snap one and only one. Here they are... Erin and her friends waiting to catch the bus for their first day of middle school (Erin's the blonde in the middle).

St George Fair Performance

Erin performed with her company dance team at the St. George School Fair today. It was amazing how much her and her teammates have improved in their dance technique. I was so impressed. Here are a few shots from the performance!

Blogger Images

It is fascinating to scroll through and randomly look at various blogs. It is amazing the wide array of topics people choose to write about, but even more interesting are the images they upload to their blogs. Here is a new, fun feature from blogger called "Blogger Play". It is basically a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to blogger. Very interesting!

Rubik's Cube

While reading the news, I ran across an article about the Rubik's Cube world championship being held in Budapest. I've never been a huge fan of the cube (even at its height of popularity in the 80's), but some of my family members are enamored by it. After reading a few articles on the pop-culture icon, I realized that people are passionate about their cubes. Some even filed down parts and added silicon lubricants to make twisting the little cube more effecient. It looks like the time to beat is 12 seconds. Anyone up for the challenge?

Movie Review

I finally got to watch the new "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" this weekend. Typically not a huge fan of comic book, action movies, I was surprised by my interest in this one... I guess it was because I so enjoyed the first one. Some of the other comic-book spin-off movies that I have enjoyed are Spiderman and X-men. I guess the reason why I like these movies is because there is the "good" versus "evil" thing where you can celebrate in knowing that "good" will prevail. In all of these there is a small element of humor that's subtle and not too over the top which makes me smile, too. One of my favorite parts in Fantastic4 was when Johnny Storm touches Ben Grimm and they switch powers... Johnny turns into rock while Ben has fire power (see photo above). Gotta love good movies!

Visited my old Alma Mater

I had to do an assignment for one of my classes today. I was charged with having to visit a school district, diagram out their network, and chat up the network administrator. After thinking about some of the places where I taught school, I ditched all of those ideas, and decided to call up the district office in Zachary. I was connected with a really personable girl, Adonica, who serves as the district's webmaster. The district's network administrator is Joe, who also was full of techie info. I drove out to Zachary... boy that brought back memories. I grew up out there in the "plains" and graduated from ZHS. Zachary High School ended up being the campus that Joe and Adonica took me to so that I could diagram the network. Very cool walking through campus although it looks quite different from when I walked those halls. We ended up in the library where I got the details of the network and when walking out was amazed that the very same librarian, Ms. Mills was still there. She was busy with students so I didn't interrupt, but that brought back lots of memories too. It was a great place when I was a student there and it still looks like a wonderful place even today.