The Usual: Volleyball And Food And Ruby. Always Ruby.

Zowee, this week went by quickly! And it wasn't because it was particularly busy, because it wasn't. Just the usual: work, chauffering my daughter around, finding excuses to avoid cleaning house, continuing to fail at stupid Level 347 of Candy Crush. And now it's the weekend and time to give you my Ten Things of Thankful. I know you've been waiting....

1. My daughter had a volleyball tournament last weekend. The girls didn't place, but they played better than they have so far all club ball season. I'm thankful they are finally using their school ball rotation during club ball and can now work to hone their skills, as was the original plan.

2. I got to add to my photography collection while at the volleyball tournament:

This way all day. Seriously, how do you not feel
it when you're that exposed?

3. Twice:

Keep it covered, lady, keep it covered.

4. I've been having a lot of pain in my hips (side effect of taking Arimidex). I was researching about increasing the amount of Vitamin D I take to see if that would help when I ran across information (from reliable sites) that said to take naproxen (as in Aleve) for pain relief. Well, that's easy enough! I started taking it twice a day and have had noticeable improvement, so, yay!

5. I'm very thankful that I already learned that Aleve can be your friend or be your enemy, depending on how you take it. I now know better than to eat a lot of Hot Tamales and then take a couple of Aleve, washed down with Diet Coke, because that combination will rot your gut in the form of an ulcer, and THAT takes weeks to straighten out, or so I've heard....

6.Silly Socks or Slippers Day at preschool. This picture, no lie, took us ten minutes to pose. With me standing on a chair to get all 16 pairs of feet into the picture. Totally worth it.

7. Modern Family. I don't watch a lot of tv, but I try to catch Modern Family as often as I can. I think I like Cam the best. Yes, definitely Cam.

8. My sweet baby Ruby got her kitty maker removed on Thursday, along with her front claws. And I don't want to hear from you anti-declawers. Pete can catch a fly in his paws and pop it in his mouth without claws. I suspect Ruby will be much the same, with the added bonus that she won't be climbing me like a tree anymore. The vet called a little before noon and said Ruby did great and was already trying to sit up. I can't wait to pick her up tomorrow and look forward to seeing the reaction of the boys (especially Pete, who hates her) at her being infirm.

9. All right, I wrote #8 on Thursday, before I brought Ruby home from the vet. She is in no way infirm. She is very nearly her old self, except a little drowsy still from the anesthesia and the pain meds. She even played a little fetch with me right after we got home. The boys have stayed away from her; Pete is probably hoping her return is just a bad dream and Fletcher has not realized she can no longer inflict the same kind of damage on him as she was able to do two days ago.

Aww, you can see her shaved belly in this picture!

10. I made cupcakes for a friend and her family, and her 16 year old daughter thought they were made by Cupcakes by Liz, which is a HUGE compliment! Thanks, Kara, you made my day!

You have a cupcake compliment kind of moment (or ten) this week? Or maybe more of an I like Modern Family and avoided housework as much as possible kind of week? Either way, link up your Ten Things of Thankful here and join in the best blog hop EVAH.

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Roses Are Red, No, Those Are Feet

I admit it. I'm one of the people who think Valentine's Day is one of the dumbest observances ever. If you can't show me you love me the other 364 days of the year, I don't need you on the 365th day. That being said, I will not turn down offerings of candy or other food. Ever, actually, and not just on Valentine's Day.

Moving on to Ten Things of Thankful:

1. We had a COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED snow day on Monday. Snow was in the forecast, but only a smidge of it was really expected. I happened to wake up before my alarm went off and was lying in bed, trying to organize my day in my head (a fruitless exercise, I might add, in spite of my good intentions), when the phone rang. My husband picked it up, held it for a few seconds, then started laughing and said, "Snow Day!" I jumped up and looked out the window, and, sure enough, the street was covered with a couple of inches of snow. I celebrated by doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PRODUCTIVE.

Picture of Pete with a photo bomb courtesy of Ruby.

2. It was back to school on Tuesday, and I finally got to spend the morning with my Primary class. Both of their class days were canceled last week due to (say it with me) SNOW DAYS, so we hadn't seen each other in twelve whole days. We worked on coloring and cutting, and none of the kids cried, although I, myself, might have come close to it a few times. (Cutting and coloring are NOT innate activities, believe it or not.)

3. My assistant teacher Janet and I were TOTALLY on the ball for making a Valentine craft to go on the bulletin board outside our classroom. We started it the last week in January, and then (you guessed it!) Snow Days happened, and we didn't get to finish them until this week. Miss Janet found the craft on Pinterest, and since we are all about painting hands or feet in this class, we went for it. This project involved painting their feet red and making a heart with their footprints. Cute idea, but the only problem was the washing of their feet looked like we were trying to clean up a crime scene. Not kidding. You can see for yourself:

We had set them aside to dry, then had Snow Days. Cut them into hearts and then had Snow Days. By this time, we didn't have time to do an entire new bulletin board, so we hung them around the existing artwork on the January bulletin board and called it good.

4. Wednesday was our Valentine party in Pre-K. It was a crazy day, since we hadn't been in class on Monday (why? SNOW DAY!). We had valentine boxes, valentines, treats for the party and excited kiddos coming in the door, but we got it all sorted out, boxes set out and valentines delivered and all was good.

5. Not to brag or anything (okay, I'm bragging), but not only did we do a valentine project at the table when they came in, go to chapel, have Circle Time, have the kids deliver their valentines, AND have Center Time, but we also squeezed in an activity we hadn't had time to do when it was "P" week (and we are so mixed up about what week it is after this many snow days that it will be a miracle if any of them know the alphabet when we're done), which was to make pickle prints with purple paint on pink paper. The only bad thing is that I took the pictures on my real camera and not my phone, and I can't post them right now, since the camera is at preschool and I'm not. Smh!

6. Thursday was our Primary Valentine party. We did a little glue work with our glue sticks (again, not innate, and may I take this moment to say that I believe the genius who invented purple glue sticks should be hunted down and killed, or, better yet, forced to spend eternity in a roomful of 3 year olds who don't understand that the purple stuff is GLUE, and not an instrument for coloring). Our party was festive, the kids did an AMAZING job singing their valentine songs, and, BONUS, I received a bag of cinnamon lips from one pretty darn cute 3 year old boy! YUM!

Couldn't wait until I got home to
break into the bag of cinnamon lips.

7. You might possibly recall that I have been on a bread baking tear lately. I have PERFECTED the Italian bread loaf, if I do say so myself. Crispy crust, tender inside, delicate crumb. One of the secrets is using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, BUT bread flour is more expensive, as in around $3.00 for a five pound bag. I went to Sam's Club this week and found a 25 pound bag of bread flour for only $7.76. HOW COULD I BE EXPECTED TO PASS THAT UP?! My husband's comment when he saw it was, "Holy shit." Gonna be some baking going on in my house, folks!

8. Monday was a Snow Day? Thursday, it was 50 degrees and sunny. I ran errands after school without wearing my coat AND IT WAS DIVINE! 

9. Today at preschool, my Secret Sister gave me a gorgeous chocolate cupcake from Cupcakes by Liz, Everything about Valentine's Day isn't bad....

10. Tomorrow, my daughter has a show choir competition in my parents' home town, so she and I are spending the weekend there, and my mother is going with us to the competition. My daughter loves show choir more than any other activity she has ever done, and I'm thankful she gets this whole day to revel in it.

I may not love Valentine's Day, but I love a good link up! Join me, right here, and I PROMISE you will feel the love not only THIS weekend, but each and every week from the lovely participants of this hop. Try it and see!

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Little Things Mean A Lot

Ten Things of Thankful time, and this week, it's going to be all about the little things. Here goes:

Little get-aways.  We drove to St. Joseph, Missouri, for our first club volleyball tournament last weekend. We were only gone from home from Friday afternoon to Saturday night (laaaate), but it was nice to be somewhere that wasn't home. 

Little wins. Our team was undefeated all day and won 1st place in the tournament - a great start to the season! And in spite of the COMPLETE FAILURE of both my husband and my friend's husband Derik to protect me from errant volleyballs during warm-ups in which not one, but TWO volleyballs whizzed past my head with mere inches to spare, slammed into the wall three feet behind me and HIT ME IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD, I did not show signs of concussion, BUT I COULD HAVE.

Joplin Dunamis 15-1 Team

Little distinctions. This week, the girls are ranked #1 in the team rankings for the Heart of America volleyball region in their age group. Can't say at this point whether it will ever happen again, but THIS WEEK, they are #1. Proof:

Little hands. Precious little preschool hands made into mittens for the bulletin board. 

Little giggles. We had show and tell this week for my pre-k class. Each child got to bring one new toy ("N" week, you know) that they received for Christmas. One of the boys brought Buddy the Tyrannosaurus from "Dinosaur Train." I had him (the boy, not Buddy) in a fit of giggles when I said the sound Buddy makes when you stick your finger in his mouth is most certainly NOT a chomping sound, but a burp, and I kept sticking my finger in Buddy's mouth to prove it. He giggled even harder when I pointed out that Buddy's on/off button was located in Buddy's stinky armpit. Love it when kids develop their senses of humor!

Little candor. During the same show and tell, one of the girls was showing her new Lalaloopsy doll. I asked her what the doll's name was, but she hadn't named it yet. I suggested "Dyanne" as a good name for her doll, and she shifted her weight on her feet, bobbed her head from side to side, then, as politely as she could, gently said to me, "'Dyanne' is kind of an OLD name." Ouch.

Little hope. Got a smidge of good-ish news this week, helping to ever-so-slightly redeem what has been a crappy start to 2014.

Little talks. Enjoyed sitting with my friend Traci at Cupcakes by Liz (yum) for an hour and a half, just visiting. And eating cupcakes.

Little breaks. Through an elaborate set of arrangements caused by my daughter attending a show choir competition today and mucking up what might have been a nice, long weekend at the lake house, my husband, son and Ruby are now at the lake house with my parents, and Pete thinks life is worth living again.

Relaxed and Ruby-free

Little kitties. Ruby is living the good life right now, visiting a new house and getting lots of good nap time in while she waits for her mama to get there tonight.

Looking more than a little comfortable

Big or little, get your Ten Things of Thankful posts written and link them up here.

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Random Thanks

Ten Things of Thankful Time! Here's this week's completely random things for which I am thankful.

1. I am thankful my son's college is close enough that we get to see him every couple of weeks or so. We stopped to see him last weekend on our way from Point A to Point B and took him to lunch. His sister got to see his dorm room for the first time (and was pleased to note that the soccer team practices on a field right. next. door.).  She is suddenly much more willing to visit him now.

Don't believe either one of them. They
really do miss each other.

2. It's volleyball season! I'm thankful my daughter made the freshman team and that that team is made up of a great bunch of girls. They get along really well (i.e., no drama), have excellent coaches, and to make it even better, are having a winning season (4-0 for the season so far, plus first place today at a tournament, where they were undefeated). 

3. I'm thankful for my preschoolers and the things they say. This week, one of my pre-k girls told me she wanted to tell me a secret. When I leaned down, she said, "I think you're beautiful and smart." (She's currently my favorite preschooler.)

4. I'm thankful for Red Velvet Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting. Chef's note: I only use half the red food coloring called for in the recipe, and the cupcakes taste better the next day than they do the day you make them (and they taste pretty darn good the first day).

This is ol' Betty's photo, but I can say with all
honesty that MY cupcakes looked better than these.

5. I am thankful for my preschoolers and the things they say, part two. One of my pre-k boys ran up to me with one hand on the back of his pants and said, "I did NOT just poop my pants.... Would you check and make sure I didn't just poop my pants?" (Good news - he was right.)

6. I'm thankful for my friend Melinda. Our girls have been friends since they were in kindergarten, so we have spent a lot of time together over the years. (She's the one who threw me the Ta ta to the Tata's party last year before my surgery.) She's very organized, so whenever an event has to be planned (such as organizing food for the volleyball team), I can count on her to be the one to do the organizing and just tell me what I have to bring/wear/serve/do. 

Big cheesball pose as we work the
concession stand at the volleyball game.

7. I'm also thankful for friends who act just as stupid as I do (not that I would name names *cough cough Amy cough cough*). And for my girls night out friends, who helped me celebrate my birthday this weekend.

Let's see how stupid we can look while eating
a cupcake at Cupcakes by Liz. Amy wins.

8. I am thankful for my preschoolers and the things they say, part three. One of my primary girls (meaning 3 year old) has insisted all week that her name is Mary Katherine (it isn't). We have had some rather lively yes-it-is, no-it-isn't conversations about this. 

9. I will forever be thankful if no one EVER gives me a plaque that looks like this one I found in a trophy case at the high school that was hosting today's volleyball tournament. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Androgynous hurdler on plaque in
trophy case. 

10. If you read my TToT post from last week, you will know that a dear friend's husband had a double lung transplant last week. I am pleased to tell you that he is doing phenomenally well (but not without a hitch or two along the way), and one week after his transplant, he is being moved out of ICU and to a regular room and is being weaned off his various and sundry machines. Very thankful once again for the donor's family's gift of life to Dave and to the many others whose lives have now been prolonged thanks to organ and tissue donation.

Create your list and link up, my friends. 

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