Today...

Today I took a test.  I haven't taken a test in 10 years.  To say that I was a little nervous would be a gross understatement.  I swear, I totally forgot how to study.  Now, I teach study skills to my students but actually practicing what I preach was a little more difficult than expected.  Perhaps I should reflect on that...  The purpose of the test was to add an ESL certification.  We were given 5 hours to complete it....70 questions, most of which were roughly the length of a Twilight novel (Insert my Dad here, "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate!!"), and I finished in roughly an hour and 15 minutes.  Aced it?  Failed it miserably because I was too dumb to know that I didn't know anything?  Only time will tell.

Today I went to Cake for a celebratory "I aced or possibly failed my test" cupcake.  Cake is my version of Heaven.  Rows upon rows of cupcakes piled with 4 pounds of buttercream, trifle bowls, and cake push-ups (whatever the heck that is).  After selecting my Banana Pudding cupcake, the little girl behind the counter asks, "Would you like to try one of our free mini-cupcakes?"  Um, DUH!  Let me just say, Chocolate-Peanut Butter kicks the wang-doodle out of Banana Pudding.

Today I bought 5 items from Banana Republic for well under $200.

Today I watched an entire Phineas and Ferb movie with my 6 year-old.  Dr. Doofenshmirtz is possibly the most hysterical cartoon character of all time.

Today I discovered a plethora of photos that I didn't manage to get blogged last time.  It's lucky for you that I'm going to post them now!


This kitty thinks he is hot stuff.  He loves to venture into the backyard...but after 2 months, he has yet to figure out how to scale the fence.

I'm quite sure the Slip-n-Slide has violated the city's water code at least 37 times during this drought.  But what else is a kid supposed to do when it's 107 degrees everyday of summer??  Seriously!  Our grass is only green because I Photoshopped these pics.

In June I got to spend a few days in VEGAS BABY! with my super amazing bestie.  This is us at the Bellagio...

Kyndra wanted to take this pic for Matt.  Of course I had to tip the guys just to get the pic and when I asked them where they were from, all they could say was, "Oh, somewhere far far away."  

I have a sneaking suspicion that they might not have been REAL Stormtroopers.

Our daily view from the pool lounge chairs...

Caesars and Serendipity!  Yum...

And then my nephew came to visit!

The coolest Patrick evah...

Mr. I'll Eat Five Kit-Kats in a Row if You Don't Catch Me in Time...

Upside-down goggles are cool when you're 6...

I have no words for this one...

And to answer your question, yes.  Yes I could possibly post more pictures.  But the potatoes are ready to be mashed, so I guess you'll just have to wait until next time.

Bargain Basement

I'm a sucker for a good bargain. I could *almost* be one of those psycho coupon people. You know, the ones that use their mad couponing skillz to get 412 packs of diapers for next to nothing. Even though they don't have any children. Maybe I'm not the bargain shopper I like to think I am, but I have to draw the line at decorating every inch of available space in my house with canned beans and tomatoes. And diapers.

But I'm still pretty adept at squeezing blood from a turnip (who decided that was a good saying?). I'm the bad consumer who gets the $10 "gift" coupon from Kohl's and will dig through the entire store until I find something fabulous on clearance for $10.99. Check out my super cute bargain chair...

Now take a closer look at the left leg...

And, this is not the best part. The only chair they had left was the one on the floor....SO, of course I asked if they would mark it down to account for the wear and tear of being the display piece. The manager dropped the price to $35 AND I had a $15 coupon from Kirkland's for my birthday AND a $10 coupon from their weekly flyer. YEAH baby! A $10 dollar chair is what I'm TALKING about!

That's nearly as good as free diapers.

As it turns out, the circus is NOT such a bargain. They bill it as a great deal by selling $10 tickets to the opening show. But then, after they've got you seated and thoroughly trapped, the cotton candy guy comes hiking up the stairs with his 14 foot pole of cotton candy goodness thus causing every 6-year old within a 15 ft. radius to go crazy. And one little bag only costs....wait for it....

TEN DOLLARS! Yes! Ten dollars for 4 cents of spun sugar. What a racket.

At least I got a cute picture and a happy 6-year old out of it.


Additional summer exploits include...

Swimming. Please note that the cotton candy at the Seahorse only costs $2. Still a racket but it feels like a humdinger of a bargain after the circus.

(Check out the date on the picture above. Gotta love iPhone photo apps. Think this retro-ish picture from "June 1981" is gonna cause me a little consternation when I'm 88 someday?)

Bowling.

Say hello to Zippy...the fastest, wildest, rootin' tootin'ist bowling ball launcher in the West. It's truly a wonder he didn't leave any dents in the lane.

Science Spectrum. Thank you Groupon for your $25 6-month membership! The boys and I only have to go 1.19 times for the Groupon to pay for itself. Score!!

Jiu Jitsu.

Highlights puzzle time! Can you spot the differences?

and Skate parks...

We found the illusive McAllister skate park a few weeks ago and Jaden was delighted to discover it was a designated graffiti area.

Jaden: MOM! Let's run to Wal-Mart and buy some spray paint!!!!!

Me: Um, I'm gonna go with, NO. ***kicking myself repeatedly for having taken them to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo a few years back and letting them spray paint the cars***

Most of the graffiti was innocuous enough. But of course, some dunderhead had to go and paint a number of inappropriate things all over the 130 degree concrete. So, it's doubtful we'll be going back to this park anytime soon. Moron teenagers.

Note the skating apparatus flying through the air in this pic. This thing is a Sole-skate...a three-wheeled-squirrely-little-sonuvagun-from-Hell-type-thingy. He was trying some trick here, thus sending it airborne. But this boy is jaw-droppingly fluid on this thing.

I don't know if I'm amazed or horrified that he will probably be a professional skater someday.

Amazed.

Horrified.

Amazed.

Horrified.

Amazed.

I need a drink.

Baby you're a firework! Except not this year because there's a drought and fireworks are banned.

LOVE the 4th of July!  The cute little Chinese pedicurist even painted American flags on my big toes for the occasion.  I didn't take a picture to show you because frankly, it doesn't matter how cute your feet are, toes are creepy and thusly don't belong on the internet.  But nonetheless, my feet are festive and even though we are enduring a wretched drought and fireworks are banned all over the area, I still love this holiday!

Behold!  The most patriotic jeep in all of LRC!

Dressing up Papa Pat's jeep to ride in the LRC parade has been our tradition for the last several years.  This year, however, a certain big kid is finally big enough to ride in the parade all on his own.

Papa and Grant....the Jeep Brigade.

Grandma Sherry and I are always on spectator duty.  We get to sit in the shade and wave at everyone parading by while the boys get to sweat in the sun for the entire parade route.

Notice the Boba Fett shirt.  When questioned about his attire, Matt insisted that there's nothing more American than Star Wars.  Touche.

One year...

Oh the difference 12 simple months can make.

June 30, 2010

June 30, 2011

Where does the time go?

Supah Dupah Ramblings

***ALERT*** This is a ridiculously lengthy post full of seemingly unrelated photos representing the randomness that is the World 'o Potts. So, if you opt to click the back button on your browser right now, I will only be a little bit offended.

Let me start by saying that my blood pressure would be so much lower if United Supermarkets would STOP doing their summer "Collect and WIN!!" game. For years I have been collecting and collecting and collecting but we have yet to actually "WIN!!" anything. Unless you count that can of beans from an instant winner ticket a couple years back. Which I don't. Yet here I am...immersed in another summer of licking and sticking those wretched little stamps because I know that the only guarantee is that if I don't play, then I definitely won't win. Sigh. That being said, I would greatly appreciate it if all of you would kindly refrain from playing the United game so there will be more tickets for me. It is SO irksome to get every prize section on the game board filled up to the point that you only need ONE more ticket to win then BAM! They run out of game pieces on July 28th and you're left standing there trying your darndest to not cuss out the teenager at the register for giving away all the tickets before you got there! ahem. Moving on...

Here begins the aforementioned stream of random pictures...

This kitty looks sweet, but he is BAD. He really likes eating whatever he finds on the floor and then yaking it back up for you later. And he is obsessed with liquids. Of all sorts. He meticulously licks all the water off the shower door when someone gets out, and if you're not fast enough, he'll lick it from your legs too. If you leave your drink unattended, or even turn your head away from it for a moment, he'll dunk a paw in and have a taste...this includes alcoholic beverages. The varmint has no shame. If he finds a glass left sitting on an elevated surface, but no one has been considerate enough to leave a drink for him, he will simply swipe it off onto the floor.

And don't get me started on his furry brother's penchant for shredding rolls of toilet paper. I threatened to kill the rascals today and Grant said, "If you do I'll just never forgive you and then you'll be sad!"

Dang.

Miscellaneous day at the park meets new photo app...

Spring sprang so we took a trip to the cookie store after school one day. Just because. Everybody should eat overpriced balloon and cake shaped cookies for no good reason every once in a while.

Then it was Easter. Oh the joy of trying to convince two little boys to dress nicely for just this one special day.

Grant: Mom! Can't I wear my t-ball jersey to church? Pleeeeeeeeeeease??!

Me: No.

Grant: But WHY did you pick out THIS shirt for me? This has GOT to be the STUPIDest color EVER!

Me: ...making a beeline for the paddle...

Jaden, on the other hand, was unusually cooperative. Of course, this was after a shopping trip that I made him go on so HE could pick out his Easter shirt since I knew he'd veto anything I chose for him myself. 6 stores and 2.5 hours later, we finally agreed on a shirt that had a collar (my requirement) and was not totally lame (his requirement). So we finally made it out the door to snap a quick Easter pic.

Attempt #1 -- Two smiles...yay! Eyes closed....boo!

Attempt #2...

Attempt #3....yeah right.

After Easter came my yearly trip to sunny SoCal. LOVE me some San Diego....especially when I fly through Austin to get there. If you've never been to Austin, you should go, simply so you can experience Amy's Ice Cream. There's one in the airport so you don't even have to rent a car. I pig out every time I go through there. Oh my sweet Lord. As if their Mexican Vanilla topped with hot fudge and praline wasn't delight enough, they had a Star Wars thing going on too. Check out this chalkboard!

And the sign on their tip jar...

Now I absolutely despise tip jars. Why in creation do I need to pay you another dollar or two when all you did was pull a donut out of the case/scoop my ice cream into a cup/do the job you were hired to do? And so, for all of you in cyberspace that I just totally offended, consider this. What would your first reaction be if you walked into your kid's classroom and saw a tip jar on the teachers desk? The bank tellers counter? On the checkers register at United? Okay...sorry. My soapbox slipped out. (bad soapbox! bad! get back in your closet!) But that's the joy of having your own platform for spewing nonsense now isn't it?! Which brings me back to my point, the tip jar sign. Who knew that a clever sign was all it took to knock me off my box and get me to drop some bills into not ONE, but BOTH tip jars?! (have to keep the force balanced you know)


After San Diego, the end of school came rushing in. Grant lost some teeth...

The planets aligned and I managed to snap a decent pic of two boys at the same time...

A few students left me lots of love on my board...

And then there were awards assemblies. Yay for the Potts boys! Grant received 3 awards: top kid in math, music, and citizenship. Now, I know you're thinking, "Citizenship? Really?" Yes. Really. He had an amazing kindergarten teacher and we will SO miss her next year!

Super proud of Jaden too for making the UIL Spelling team this year and for earning the 2nd most AR points in the entire third grade. He should've been in first place but AR was new to him this year (they didn't do it at his previous school) and for the entire first semester, I couldn't convince him that he was allowed to take AR tests on the books he read at home as well as the ones from school. Oh well. We're pleased as punch anyway.

Then there's the bad news...tornado season.

In Huntsville, my best friend and her family spent a day in hiding as a ridiculous number of tornados swept across the upper half of the state. Fortunately, they only had to endure several days without power. My cousin Randi and her husband Shawn were also ducking for cover in Tuscaloosa on this day. The tornado that tore through the town passed just a couple of blocks from their home. Thankfully they survived, uninjured, but lost a lot as a massive tree crashed into their house.

Then, the Sunday after school let out, we received a call that a tornado had ripped through Joplin, MO, and that Matts grandparents had been in its path. The F5 destroyed most everything, and 10 inches of rain the following day took a lot of the rest. But they too survived, uninjured. Matt, his brother, mom, and step-dad immediately hopped in the car and drove up to help out.

But these stories deserve blog entries of their own...maybe I can talk Matt and Randi into being guest writers so they can tell you firsthand what they experienced.

Please pray for the people of Joplin and Tuscaloosa as well as those in OK, KS, and MN.