The Kentucky Derby

  

Go Super Saver!!!                                                                                      

I just love  The Kentucky Derby...even if you have to wait all day for a horse race that lasts only one minute (ok, one and a half minutes).  I'm not kidding when I tell you the horse I wanted to win, won!  I was hoping Super Saver would win, partly because I love to save (coupons, etc.); also,  the jockey, Calvin Burrell, snuck up and won last year, and in fact has won 3 of the last 4 Derbys.  Lastly, a guy bet $100,000 on Super Saver, and ended up winning $900,000! You gotta love it.  That's how my Saturday went.

The Iron Man-St. George, Ut. May 1, 2010

I did go shopping alone, since Bill rode his bike out to a location where the Ironman race was zipping by. Bill is so cute.  Just about everytime the St. George Marathon rolls around, Bill loves to ride his bike up to the route, and be the biggest cheerleader for the runners.  With the Iron Man in town, he couldn't resist it, and took off around 8 am.  That's a pretty early Saturday for Bill; you gotta give him props for that.  Traffic was crazy today, since they had to close a bunch of streets to accomodate the race.  Can you imagine swimming 2.5 miles, biking 112 miles, and then to top it off, running a marathon?  I'm there, sign me up next year.  I guess St George has a 5 year contract with Iron Man, Inc., so we have this for the next 4 years.  Get ready everyone.

Bill and Mandy are in their last week of teaching, with finals ending next Friday.  I've got 3 more weeks, and then I'm free, whoopie!

Silly boys

I wast just looking over some photos I took when we drove up to Zion National Park a couple of weeks ago with Summer and Tyler and the kids.  Here's a picture of Bill, Tyler and Will as they raced us up to Zion...and back again.

Don't you love Tyler's intensity?

"Where Have All the Flowers (oops, Trees) Gone?"

I forgot a few of you haven't seen our war-ravaged back yard.  The BLM people came in last year and destroyed all (well, most of ) the Tamarisk trees in an effort to rid the area of the water depleting fire danger.

Anyone want to help?

I'm really getting serious about our back yard.  I know we can't do it this summer, but we can do some planning, can't we?  Bill and I went to a wedding reception next door, and I just love their backyard.  I'm ready to start drawing up the design.  Here's the "Before" picture, and quite possibly next summer, you'll get the "After" picture!

                                                              Before                        

Notice the pvc pipe stretched across the rock?  A couple of weeks ago, Will was pretending he was cutting down trees.  The pipe was the tree, and he would hold it upright, and yell "timber" as he let it fall.  Pretty creative mind.  By the way, no one was hurt during his lumber jacking :)

If anyone is interested in giving us some creative ideas for the design of the backyard, feel free, (unfortunately, we can't accommodate a pool, financially) so it looks like that is the only limit to the design.

Oatmeal and paper everywhere!

I've started couponing again, and even though it takes some time, I will make that time, since it saves us so much money.  Last week I bought approximately 35 boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal for about $12.00.  I also got in on a sweet deal through Staples.com.  I was able to buy two cases of their Hammermill copy paper (20 reams) for only $11.22.  That's about .55 per ream.  I've also bought a purse for $5.00, and three free movie tickets.  I'm telling you, if they want to give it to me, I'll take it!

New craft project

Everytime we have family over, for dinner (Christmas, Thanksgiving, summertime, etc.), there are never enough places to sit, especially for the little ones.  Now that the little ones are too big for high chairs or laps, I decided to get some more bar stools, and found three off of Craigslist.  They are shorter than the regular-sized barstool, and would be a perfect size for the little kids.  I'm only sorry there were only three, but they're from IKEA, and I love IKEA products. Anyway,  Bill and I drove over to Ivins this morning and picked these up, sight unseen, except in a photo on Craigslist.  They were a bit scratched and I didn't like the top, so I bought some black spraypaint, foam rubber, and some fabric.  Here's the results.  I'm pretty happy with the outcome, now we just need everyone to get here!



                                                              B E F O R E

                                                               A F T E R

I went with the chili pepper fabric, since we have both grandsons and granddaughters.  This way, there's no fighting over who gets which one.

Attendance Quiz

Ok, so I think I have finally found a way to get my students to class on time.  Nothing is more annoying than tardy kids.  It drives me crazy, and if you can imagine me crazy, that's not a good thing.  Here it goes... I LOCK THEM OUT!!!!  I really do.  I lock the door prior to the tardy bell ringing, and close it once it has rung.  As I take attendance, I can see those adorable (late) faces at the window of my door, wondering "what the heck?" The way it directly affects their grade, is, I assign an Attendance Quiz to the assignments that day, which just means they get 15 points for being on time, and zero for being tardy...I LOVE IT!  It has started to work, I think.  Some of the other teachers in my hall are doing the same thing, and it's hilarious to hear kids in the hall saying, "Oh oh, it's an attendance quiz again!"  I don't know about you, but it is aggravating to have to repeat myself almost on a regular basis.  It's kind of cute too, when I hear a student of mine ask one of his classmates who's sitting close to the door, to  let someone in.  That happened today, and I told him, "don't you dare!"  Ooo, I'm so mean.  The funny thing is, my students still like me.  Maybe they don't get it.

Mysterious Noise

I've gotten on this coupon craze (thanks, Summer), and have actually gotten in on some pretty sweet deals.  At the present, I'm waiting for two free movie tickets just for buying tons of Hershey candy! Anyway, I had oodles of coupons for Target last week and armed with a determination to get everything free, I headed to the store.  It took me a while to find everything I had coupons for, and believe me, I was a wreck when I was done.   When I got home, I had many things to put in storage, in case the world comes to a screaching halt (or slowdown). Interestingly, I purchased (with a coupon) a room deoderizer (don't laugh, I really needed it).  I finally put it together, and placed it on our kitchen table, to take care of those annoying onion, or fish smells. This air freshener is state of the art...it is motion activated, so whenever anyone passes by, WHOOSH!
I got up the first morning after I alarmed my deoderizer, and. as I walked into the kitchen at 5 :45 am, I jumped a foot or two, as it sprayed its aroma.  Not only did it spray, but it had a curious sound like a cat spitting, or some other creature that shouldn't be in my kitchen at that hour.

I still jump, but just last night, I watched it as the little red light went on, signalling imminent spraying, and I steeled myself for the noise.  It worked!  I didn't jump.  Ok, now's the time for you all to say I have way too much time on my hands.

                                 Here is that mysterious room freshener...frightening, huh?