Day 243 - August 31

This tree in our backyard appears to be on the "school year calendar" schedule, rather than "rotation of the earth calendar" schedule.  There is no need for yellow leaves to be falling to the ground on August 31st when it is 95 degrees outside!

Day 242 - August 30

This is our "on hold" list.  I have the kids write their requests down and then I add them to the computer because they don't carry around library cards.  We picked up right where we left off - with the majority of the kids desperately seeking a copy of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" or "Guinness World Records" with a few "Chesters" and "Scaredy Squirrels" thrown in.

Day 241 - August 29

Mike got this exercise ball thing at Target on sale this weekend.  The pump that came with it blew it up pretty quickly, but made an odd squeaking noise with each pump.  This terrified the animal.  However, instead of running for cover like he usually does when he's scared of a noise, he stalked the ball from across the room.  (That slow, stalker walk and stare down that you see wild cats do on Animal Planet, etc.) He still can't get over this weird object that has come to inhabit his space.  I rolled it around the dining room, chasing him with it to see what he would do - and he refused to turn his back.  He just ran backwards to keep eye contact on the ball at all times.  Weird!!

Day 240 - August 28

As seen at Barnes & Noble tonight .... HA!

Day 239 - August 27

Both Mike & I prefer Sour Patch Kids to regular fruit snacks.  Last year, we were excited because we found 100 Calorie packs at the grocery store and BJ's!  We stopped buying them though because they were way more expensive than they should be.  We lucked out on this BJ's trip though because they had the Halloween candy out.  You see, to make 100 Calorie packs, they make the food tiny.  Mini Doritos, Mini Ritz snacks, and indeed, Mini Sour Patch Kids.  I guess because they're different and small, they can charge you double. These Halloween bags were 1/2 the price per ounce as the 100 Calorie packs!!  The only downside is that they're regular sized pieces, so there are about 5 in each pack. 

All week, I reached in and grabbed a bag of Sweedish Fish. (It's a variety pack.) I don't particularly love them, but I figured I'd eventually get to a SPK.  That is - until I realized that Mike always throws the fish back if that's what he pulls out.  No wonder I never get the good stuff!

Day 238 - August 26

I only had 4 classes yesterday ... and already, this is what the drawing books section looks like!! No matter how many times and ways I teach the neat shelf lesson, excitement over getting their hands on something wins.  Someday I'll figure it out...

Day 237 - August 25

You can tell it's the first day of school when everything is still this perfectly organized. :) Each basket has a crisp ziploc bag with the nice flat cards for the game we're playing, 4 juicy dry erase markers, and 5 pencils with points and erasers.

I give 'em 45 minutes... :)

Day 236 - August 24

Visual proof that the kids come tomorrow!  28 sheets of paper, 12 boxes to slice on each paper.  I could have used the paper slicer, but I did it on the couch with scissors while I watched my DVR'd Mad Men from Sunday night.  Made the time go faster. :)

Day 235 - August 23

Today, we had a breakfast provided at work ... and then we got these goody bags. 

Definitely makes a rainy Monday a little better!!

Day 234 - August 22

Today we all headed down to La Palapa in Ellicott City to celebrate Tracie's bridal shower.  It was a fun time and the food is always good there!!  It was nice to see people that I don't see very often. (Although with all the showers and weddings, it seems like I've seen some people more often than usual!)

Day 233 - August 21

Today, 3 friends & I took a "Dessert Crawl" through Fells Point. 

We started at Pitango Gelato, which had a big selection of both gelato and sorbet.  Some of the flavors were a little too wacky for me to try (Cardamom, for one) but I settled on lemon and mojito sorbet.  It was probably a good choice, since we were making a bunch of stops. 

For lunch, we stopped at Bagby Pizza to make use of a Groupon Alison had recently purchased.  I wasn't that hungry and knew I needed room in my stomach for the rest of the journey.  After eyeballing the size of the pizza other people were eating, I just ordered a slice.  I didn't know a slice was going to wind up being a quarter of a pizza!  But it was good. :)

After meandering back to Fells Point, we hit up Maggie Moo's.  I have been to this particular franchise a few times in my life, and each time the marble/granite mixing table hasn't been icy and frosty like they are elsewhere.  The other disappointing thing was the cookie dough mix-ins.  At Coldstone, they take a hunk of cookie dough out and mix it in.  Maggie Moo's used the pellets like you can get at the movie theater.  My Cake Batter with Twix, Cookie Dough Pellets, and fudge was tasty - but it was soup by the time we got outside.

Finally, we went to Mr. Yogoto.  The store itself is great.  It has a tiny TV with old school original Nintendo!  Also, the back room is "The Park" with lawn chairs and fake grass.  Super funny.  I liked this the least of the desserts I had today.  It was frozen yogurt, but not like TCBY.  TCBY is very close to soft ice cream in flavor.  This place really tasted like yogurt.  Very different.  And they didn't just have flavors like "Vanilla" or "Chocolate." The one I had was named "Tangy."  And that's about as descriptive as I can be.  (Note - Just checked the website and they claim that caramel is a flavor of the month.  I definitely would have gone that route if it had been an option!)

For our evening entertainment, I was introduced into the wackiness that is the Charm City Roller Girls.  Well, really I was introduced to roller derby in general.  It's a crazy sport but it was really fun to watch!  I bet all of those girls are home on ice now...

Day 232 - August 20

Crazy, huh?  3 books in 3 days.  I enjoy Laura Lippman's books about Tess that are set in Baltimore, and I *really* liked "What The Dead Know" from a few years ago.  (I love books that I don't figure out!)  This one was good, but I didn't feel like there was a big A-HA moment.  Sometimes that's ok though.  Danielle made a comment in her Empire Falls review recently that some TV shows (FNL & Mad Men being the ones she mentioned that I watch) and books (like Empire Falls and this one) can go on and on without anything super big happening because the characters are being developed.  I hadn't thought about it in those words before - but it made sense, so now I know what category to put this book in. :)

Day 231 - August 19

Another day, another book.  I went back to work today and this is actually a book I had to read for school.  It's on the Black Eyed Susan list for grades 4-6, but it was really sad so it'll be interesting to see if the kids like it.  Of course you shouldn't judge a book by its' cover - because then what would we do with the cliche?!  But this cover looks happy and fun, and the story isn't.  It's about an older elementary aged girl dealing with the sudden death of her brother.  He dies in a freak hockey accident, so she becomes a hypochondriac who is worried about everything. (She even wears her bike helmet in the car.)  Her parents don't realize how badly she needs a counselor or someone to talk to, because they're dealing with the loss of their son.  So yeah, really heavy. 

Day 230 - August 18

Earlier this summer when I was contempating getting a Nook, I spent some time flipping through the Maryland digital E Library to see what was available for download.  Somehow (I guess I was living under a rock) this book had never hit my radar, but there were hundreds of people on the waiting list for the digital copy so I figured I should add it to my list.

I decided not to get a Nook so I put myself on the waiting list for the regular library book.  Weeks and weeks later, I got the email notification that it was in.  That day, Mike also emailed me and asked me if I could get it from the library for him.  That was amusing, because we had never talked about it before.

(Also, not fair, because I waited 6 weeks and he waited less than 6 hours!)  So I read it this weekend.  I figured the mystery out pretty early on, but I give all my deducing power credits to the writers at General Hospital for making sure I saw every version of a story back in the 90's. :)  So now Mike is reading it, and I'm getting ready to read the other 2. 

Day 229 - August 17

My poor car.  It just recently had it's bumper all nice and fixed due to the parking lot scrape, and now the ladder in the garage falls and does this.  But now I know how much it costs to fix a stupid scrape, so since this one is my fault, it will stay like that forever. :)

Day 228 - August 16

Yeah, because THIS is going to stop me. :)

Day 227 - August 15

Wegman's flower department is fantastic and super affordable - and my husband takes advantage of those things on a regular basis. :)  These are from Friday afternoon, and they still look great!

Day 226 - August 14

Earlier today, I drove my mother to the airport for her flight home.  As we were driving, a Prowler passed us before changing lanes and getting in front of us in the slow lane.  It caught my eye because it was silver, and most of those cars are purple.  But then we noticed that the license plate was "ORIOLES."  I am seriously interested in who managed to get that plate.  They've probably had it for a long, long time.

Of course, my mother had never used an iphone and I was driving, so i was just verbalizing directions.  I forgot to mention that you have to hold the phone still after taking the picture.  I can only imagine that movement is the reason for the interesting curve/arc of the picture...

Day 225 - August 13

Forget this Friday the 13th Doom and Gloom stuff!  I have had enough bad days in 2010 to last a lifetime, so I am excited that good things happened today.

One of the most filling fattening exciting things that happened today was that my mother drove back from LBI and was able to bring me salt bagels from Bageleddies and elephant ears from Crust & Crumb Bakery.  Yum. 

I may have even eaten half of my first bagel in the parking lot when I picked her up at the rental car place. ;) We did restrain ourselves and eat the elephant ear after dinner.

Day 224 - August 12

About 8 years ago, I purchased this comforter set for my first "all by myself" apartment.  I had my eye on it a year before that, but it is Tommy Hilfiger brand and was at stores like Macy's and was super expensive.  I bought mine at either TJMaxx or Marshalls.  It started with the comforter, and then I started stalking the clearance racks at Macy's as well as the "random packages of sheets and pillowcases" areas of every local TJMaxx and Marshalls until I had a full set.  For years, my mom or I would find one little piece.  Eventually, I had the comforter, 2 sheet sets, 4 pillowcases, and 2 matching valances.  (Of course now it's in a room with 3 windows and is almost a decade old pattern. Doh.)

When we got married, we registered for a Nautica king size set from a store.  We were lucky enough to get the whole bed set from my school as a group gift - which was spectacular.  We also got the matching bathroom rugs and shower curtains.  It made me happy.  Plus, we got a set of sheets that is a diffrent brand but matches really well.  Still, I suppose out of habit, I always keep my eyes open at those types of stores.  Yesterday, I came across a whole aisle of Nautica old patterns at Burlington Coat Factory when I was at Arundel Mills.  At first I could only find a small set that matched our comforter, but then I hit the jackpot and found one that's our size. :)

Day 223 - August 11

Since I was in Columbia for work this morning, I stopped by Arundel Mills in the afternoon.  My original idea was to attempt to buy some clothes, but that never works for me at Arundel Mills.  So in lieu of clothes purchasing, I enjoyed 2 things.

1 - The scene in the food court as depicted above.  The black stripe you see on the balls is a water and air tight zipper.  According to the sign posted next to the activity, they unzip the ball and let you in, and then fill the ball with fresh air that will be more than sufficient for the 5 minutes you'll be playing.  (Cost was $10 for 5 minutes) It looked like something that would be fun to do if you knew all your fellow water gerbils.  There was quite a crowd watching.  I took a picture and went on my merry way.

2 - I got re-prints of the receipts for our wedding rings.  (Exciting, right?) We got them at a Zales outlet center in the mall because we both wanted simple things and we happened to be killing time there one day and the outlet was having a super sale and giving away free cookies.  The cookies got Mike in the door, the sale got out to buy our rings.  Since it was an outlet, they were wacky sizes - so we bought the protection plan that offers free resizing for life.  (It was cheaper than the cost of one resizing at our local jeweler.)  We were assured that all Zales (outlet or not) would honor the plan, so we went on our merry way.  The local shop did do our resizing, but after that we lost the receipts and the proof of protection plan.  Our local store has been zero help.  They claimed that the "real" stores can't look anything up about stuff bought at an outlet because they're different entities.  (Insert rant here.) So, since I was at Arundel Mills anyway, I went in and they printed me new receipts.  And gave me a person to email to tattle on the local store, because what they told me was false. :)

Day 222 - August 10

I know, it's just a picture of the couch.  But what was different about this couch is that for about 90 minutes today, I got to sit on it and be the only human in the house.  Between vacation, work, and my parents visiting, I hadn't been alone for that many minutes in quite some time.  It gave me enough energy to recharge for the next couple weeks.

Day 221 - Aug 9

We had these for dessert last night after we got back from the Sushi restaurant.  (Sushi Hana in Towson, which we hadn't been to and impressed them in taste even though it was expensive.)  I have been seeing coupons for these brownies a lot lately, but yesterday was the first time I saw them in the store.  After I got home from shopping in the afternoon, I realized I had forgotton to use my $2 in free money at the grocery store and that it expired yesterday.  So on the way back from dinner we stopped and used the free money plus a coupon to get dessert for 69 cents. 

I enjoyed them for what it was, but there is NO WAY I would spend $3.69 (regular price) on two brownies normally.  They were better than the slightly cheaper quick brownie or dessert bowls that Betty Crocker has that you mix in a tiny plastic bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, but still.  $3.69 is crazy.  They also came in a "Brownie Bite" version for the same price.  It'll be interesting to see how long this product stays around.

Day 220 - Aug 8

One last project - a mini one.  I bought a box of brushed, silver looking knobs at Home Depot and replaced the old fashioned ovals in the whole kitchen.  The older knobs were not a nice color, and since they were all tightened differently, the ovals all pointed different directions.  The cabinets are still a tad old-school, but the knobs alone make a difference, I think.

Day 219 - Aug 7

Project of the day - make the rain barrel disappear!  When owner #1 built the deck, he probably had the drainspout doing something similar to this, and then going under the deck steps to the grass.  However, owner #2 decided to hack the drainspout off at the mid section and have it pour into a self made rain barrel.  This rain barrel did not have a good seal around the spout, so it was leaking and making the deck and wood under it gross.  In addition, the spout was really high up, so there was always 6 inches of gross bug infested water at the bottom.  So now there's a pretty drainspout that goes out to the back yard and the rain barrel is elsewhere for the time being.  If we decide to get another one, it will be more professional than the one that was there.

Day 218 - Aug 6

Evidence of my parents arrival - tools.  We stocked up on things at Home Depot and Target today, including towel bars for the upstairs hallway bathroom.  Several times a week I get out of the shower and realize I forgot to grab the towel from the rack on the back of the door, so this will solve that problem.  Oddly enough, even though we own a TON of screwdrivers, none of them were the right size to get the little screws out of the towel bar.  The tiny one we had fit, but didn't have enough strength to turn the mini screw.  After a trip to purchase yet another screwdriver, we were able to finish the project.  After all that - the screws wouldn't go all the way back IN!  But hey, we have another screwdriver.

Day 217 - Aug 5

Although that green stuff on the ground under the tree may appear to be a bush in this iPhone-from-a-distance picture, it's actually evergreen clippings from the bushes alongside the house.  Our garbage doesn't pick up yard waste - so we're trying to figure out what to do with it.  This is the unbagged stuff with wide saw-cut branches.  The other corner of the yard has several black trash bags filled with other stuff.  We don't want or really need a new car, but today's the kind of day I wish we owned a pick up truck!  My parents got here yesterday, and once they had an SUV rental car.  No such luck this time.  Mike had to work, but my parents & I got to try a non-wings-and-Yings night meal at Dark Horse Saloon with our BOGO coupon.  It was tasty, so I'm happy.  It's nice to have affordable places nearby that are good.  I hear rumor we may get to go out for dinner too.... ;)

Day 216 - Aug 4

Mike's cousin & wife had a new baby recently and their other child just turned 2.  Due to the wedding, we missed the joint "Welcome to the World" and "Happy Birthday" party.  These have been wrapped for a really long time, and I keep forgetting to trek to the post office to mail them.  Luckily we're seeing Mike's parents this weekend so I can pass them along the chain of relatives. ;)

Day 215 - Aug 3

Our bedskirt is 3 panels, so there is a little gap at each corner.  As soon as the thunder rolls in - Moose BOLTS for what he thinks is a cat door to the safe zone.

Day 214 - August 2

When I woke up this morning, my big plans were to grocery shop and lay around all day.  Unfortunately, since we were both home we decided that was probably not the smartest thing to do and so we spent a lot of time working on the awful bushes on the side and back of the house.  Double unfortunately, we do not own a pickup truck.  Our trash contractor won't take yard waste and we have too much for a car! (Not to mention, we don't particularly want to fill our cars with yard waste.) :)  It's bagged and piled, and now we just need a plan.  But as you can see, now I have my feet up on the couch, so there will not be a plan tonight.

Day 213 - August 1

On the way to the wedding yesterday, we had to stop at Target.  As we were leaving, I just happened to notice a Christmas Tree Shops in the parking lot!  Much to my darling husband's chagrin, I couldn't leave PA without stopping there. :)  We did get some good stuff including the always super affordable brownie, cake, and pizza pans - all of which we were in need of.  I heard about this store almost 10 years ago from a friend who had recently visited the New England area.  The first time I was in one was on a trip to Boston to see the friend who got married yesterday.  2 of my other friends and I stopped, filled a shopping cart so high that we couldn't see over it, and spent less than 50 bucks on the contents.

Years later, the store has been purchased by a chain so it isn't as cheap and the stuff isn't as random, but it's still a great place to stock up on certain items.  I wish we had one closer to us!