no granny panties.

you know what is pretty sad?  how about the fact that my mother called me last week and said, "michelle, i'm putting $30 into your checkings account so you can go to victoria's secret and buy some new underwear."

{source}


ouch.  but, mother does know best!  and, considering that the contents of my 'unnawears' drawer were mostly purchased before i had children, well, it was time.


for what it's worth - i do not own any underbritches that look anything remotely like the pair pictured above.  never have, never will.

designer dog?

earlier this month we took our kids to the skinny dip for some froyo and as we were leaving malia noticed a dog in the car parked next to us. 

malia:  oooh, look at the cute dog!

aidan:  what kind is it?

adam:  i don't know.  maybe a retriever of some kind?

me:  i think it's one of those goldendoodles.

adam:  a what? 

me:  you know, a golden retriever & poodle mix.  they call it a designer breed.

malia:  isn't that like a snickerdoodle?


{source of the cookie, i added the text}

neither here nor there.

{the continuation, finally, as promised.}

once again, i've become that really crummy blogger who a) doesn't post much any more & b) doesn't respond to comments.  i want to apologize to each & every one of you.  life has sort of taken over.  who knew that i would be as busy, if not busier, than i was when i was working?!

grad school started on august 30th.  i'm taking three classes this semester - that's a full-time graduate school load.  my classes are in the afternoon, three days a week, at two different campuses.  so far the work load has been okay - lots of reading & article reviews.  the semester will get hectic, i know, especially once i start doing my observation for the semester.  i'm happy to say that i've been placed at a local elementary school to do my 30 hours of observation.  the fun part has been trying to contact & coordinate this with the teacher.  also, lis {she and i attend the same university!} & i joined delta sigma lambda which is a group for returning women students who are over the age of 25.  it's not affiliated with the greek network on campus, but still.  our induction is next weekend.

bonus:  i'm not the only returning student & i'm not the only "older person" in any of my classes so i'm happy.

the kiddos went back to school on september 7th.  as if graduate school wasn't enough, juggling the demands of a 2nd grader & a 4th grader has been fun {and it will only get better from here on out}.  and, even though my days are free, i still find that i need to manage my time well, very well, because i am the school bus.  {m & a go to a school that is out of our neighborhood's zone; therefore, the city does not provide transportation to & from school.} 

on a semi-exciting note, this is the first year in a very, very, very long time that we have not relied on child care.  i'm sure come tax time we'll miss not having a full year of child care payments to claim on our taxes, but it's not like you really got much back in return.  at any rate, it is nice to have the children home right after school.  and, considering our oldest has been in some form of child care {whether full-time or part-time or after school only} for nearly eight years - and she's only nine years old - well, this is huge.

i've been listing things on eBay like a mad woman.  i actually made a decent profit last month & put all of that money towards paying off a credit card.  my goal now is to get most of the kids' leftover clothing listed & i have a couple halloween costumes that i need to get rid of, too.

one day i'll work on revamping my etsy shop.  it needs to be overhauled & resurrected.  i'm not sure which direction i want to go with it or if i even want to keep up with it at all.  decisions, decisions. 

did i mention that i had a birthday this month?  september 18th came and went, but thirty-three is here to stay until next year.  i don't feel any different.  and, surprise, surprise, i'm okay with the fact that i'm almost seven years away from turning forty. {i'll post pictures of my birthday night soon...promise.}

lastly, i've made the decision to find a part-time job.  part of me regrets quitting the one that i had, but the logistics of keeping that particular job just didn't make sense.  i need something stress-free & easy on my already demanding schedule.  good thing there are so many retail places near my house to choose from! 

what's new with y'all?

waiting for superman.

will you pledge to watch?

waiting for superman

did i shave my legs for that?

{because i really did shave my legs the night before earl was supposed to arrive...ha ha ha!}


speaking of earl, he came & went.  it rained - sideways.  the wind blew - hard.  and, that was it.  our power didn't go out.  our trees didn't fall.  hell, they didn't even drop any limbs.  i think our grass grew another six inches because of the rain, but the point is - we got lucky.

unfortunately, our weekend plans to camp on ocracoke island were cancelled thanks to earl.  even though hatteras & ocracoke islands were open to visitors again on saturday morning, we opted to stay close to home.  we went to sandbridge on saturday & sunday.  saturday's beach trip was a big deal because we spent all. day. long. on the seashore with friends.  there were some drunken shenanigans {because there's always one person who has to be that dude, if you know what i mean}.  after the beach, we feasted on blue crabs & chit-chatted late into the night. 

{a pic taken by moi of a blue crab at oregon inlet, nc a few years ago.}

sunday's beach trip was more quiet & subdued.  it was also so relaxing that i fell asleep - face first - on a towel for a good hour {thank goodness for spf 50!}.  we also treated the kids to some she-crab soup from margie & ray's again.

it seems like the weekend went by quickly because before we knew it, it was monday.  labor day.  adam had the day off & spent his morning mowing the weeds lawn.  while he took care of the house, i went grocery shopping & did many loads of laundry and got the kids ready for their first day of school...

{to be continued}

complacency & 90210.

com·pla·cen·cy [kuhm-pley-suhn-see] – noun, plural -cies.

a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.
 

if you've been following the weather & the latest updates on hurricane earl, then you've heard this word thrown around in the media.  even with a category four hurricane bearing down on the east coast, complacency is an issue.  case in point?  me.  we have batteries, water, propane.  our camping gear is easily accessible.  all of our outdoor furniture is put away.  i'm taking a picture inventory of the house today.

complacent.

or, maybe we're reluctantly complacent.  after all, i am packing bags today, too, just in case.

in all honesty, we have no reason to be complacent.

 that red circle is my neighborhood.  that blue off to the right?  that's the atlantic ocean.  we don't live in a flood zone, believe it or not.  the potential for flooding is there, though {this is a hurricane surge map}.  however, we are not required to have flood insurance.  and, we don't. potential flooding doesn't worry me.  the wind.  the fierceness. the uncertainty.  that's what worries me.  and, even though we are not planning to evacuate, i am starting to question our reason for staying.  and that is why i believe we are reluctantly complacent.  after all, we faired well during isabel.  the news is saying this is kind of like isabel {ha ha ha}.  but, this is earl, not isabel. 

---

on a different & completely unrelated note, do you know what today's date is?  quick, go back & re-read the title of this post.  i'll wait....

well?  did you read it?  do you get it? 

ha!  today is september 2, 2010 which is otherwise known as

90210 

pretty clever, huh??  if any of you gen whatevers {what are we...x?} are with me, then you will agree that 90210 was the show to watch back in the day for ten years. 

i know i'll will be watching today - in between checking the weather for an earl update - catching reruns on the soap opera network.  shoot, who am i kidding, i try to catch reruns of 90210 every damn day.

at least going gaga over luke perry will help lessen my anxiety about earl.

earl-maggedon.

{yet another blog title idea that i stole.  for shame, for shame!  this one came from the preppy bumpkin.  part of me feels like i need to rename earl as shrek since fiona is behind him.  and, we'll call the other tropical depression behind fiona, donkey.  but, i digress...earl-maggedon, it is.}

my area {i'm not just talking virginia beach, but all up & down the eastern seaboard} is not immune to coastal tropical/subtropical weather systems.  we've had some intense storms lately, but nothing like nor'ida from last year.  it's also been quite a while since a hurricane did a "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" of our coast.  sure, there have been tropical storms, a couple hurricanes & a few nor'easters here and there, but nothing sticks out in my mind like isabel. 

september 18, 2003 {also know as my 26th birthday}.

isabel crushed our plans to spend my birthday weekend camping on hatteras island in the village of frisco.  in fact, this was as close to hatteras as we got that weekend:

{our mailbox - that i painted - with my interpretation of the cape hatteras lighthouse.  clearly, this picture was taken AFTER isabel blew through our area because my neighbor's yard is never that messy.}

we made the best of it.  we were fortunate enough to be the last section of our neighborhood to run out of electricity.  we had eggs & bacon {and beer & birthday cake} for breakfast while others were scrambling for ice & batteries.  we were NOT going to go thirsty because i had nearly $100 worth of bottled water in the house.  i mean, i had to keep these guys in good spirits:

{aidan, 3 months old, september 2003}

{malia, 30 months old, september 2003}

clearly, even at 2.5 years old, malia was on point with being prepared for isabel:  blanket in one hand, change of clothes in the other & a spare pair of undies...on her head.

we did not evacuate.  the thought didn't even cross our mind.  we were going to stay.  if anything happened to our home, we wanted to be here.  fortunately, we were spared.  our pine trees stood tall.  the clean up was a pain {because who likes raking pine needles?}.  we did lose our fence & a small tree of our neighbor's did fall in to our backyard.  we were without power for nearly a week.  we filed our one & only homeowner's insurance claim.  but, this is all we had to deal with:

---

fast forward nearly seven years & here we are: sitting, waiting, wishing.  sitting around watching the news & hurricane coverage.  waiting to see what earl will do.  wishing earl would take a more easterly path & stay off of the east coast.  period.  i'll admit, when i heard that earl was a category four storm my mind started to race.  my children are older now.  they watch the weather with me.  they know a big storm is coming.  they might not say they are scared, but i'm scared for them.

should we stay?  should we go?  i'm pretty positive we'll stay.  but, we go back & forth in our decision.  for the time being, we're making preparations.  water, batteries & extra flashlights have been purchased.  patio furniture is being put away.  we're taking the cover off of our canopy this afternoon:

and, just like isabel cancelled our camping plans seven years ago, earl has cancelled our labor day weekend plans to go camping on ocracoke island. 

it's the last "official" weekend of summer.  the kids go back to school on tuesday.  come hell or high water {pun intended?  golly, i hope not.} we will make the best of it.

pigskin.

{grainy because the photo was taken with el crackberry}

i guess there's no doubt about which football team frisco is rooting for this season!

it's pretty funny to watch frisco with the football.  he drops it at adam's feet.  he waits.  when he sees adam reach for the ball, frisco "tackles."  if frisco gets the ball, he'll just drop it again.  if adam gets the ball, he throws it across the yard.  frisco brings the ball right back & drops it at adam's feet.  and that's how footfriscoball goes.