Drives Me Batty

Know what drives me batty?

Well.  There's a long list of things that drive me crazy but this has to be at the top of the list.

How hard is it to scrap the peanut butter off the knife and back into the jar?

Seriously.

I guess I should be happy that Owen made his lunch.  (Gripping the whole time but he made it!)

I guess I should be happy that the knife made it into the sink.

Small miracles do happen!

But.  Really.  

Is it THAT much more effort to scrap the peanut butter back into the jar?

I mean I'm not even asking them to clean it off and put it in the dishwasher.

THAT would be to much to expect.  

But for the love of all that is holy...scrap the peanut butter (or mayo or ketchup or whatever condiment you use) back into the jar.

Jeez.

"In A Relationship"

OMG.

Someone shoot me.

Shane's facebook status is "in a relationship".

For the record, his girlfriend (OMG...really) is A*berly.  She's a really sweet girl. 

OMG.

When did Ken get so old?

LOL

From My Play Book

As a teenager, I was famous for washing my clothes and then leaving them in the dryer.  I would either use the dryer as a second closet and just pick through it to get the shirt or pants that I wanted to wear or my dad would fold my clothes for me in the hopes of thwarting a war between my mother and I.

And by "war", I meant my mother yelling at me to fold my damn clothes.

All justified.

And as all other paybacks have been coming to fruition, - (thanks mom!) - I went to move my laundry from the washer to the dryer today and low and behold, Shane had pulled a play from my playbook.

After getting over the initial shock and AWE (like the skies parted and the sunshine shone BRIGHTLY with a big smiley on it's face) that he actually did his laundry, I started laughing because he pulled a fast one on me.  And I knew it.

As I had 10 loads of laundry to do behind him, I folded his stuff and made a mental note to myself that he pulled a good one but it was going to be the last time he did that.

Yeah.  Right. 

Game on boy.  I *know* THAT move.

I DID that move.

I got away with it some times.

As you will too.

But I've got my battle face on baby.

Damn teenagers.  LOL!

65 Things I Love!

On the occasion of my mom's 65th birthday (oops...I mean 29th birthday), I decided to not clutter up her house with more crap that she's going to try to give back to me anyway.  Instead, her gift is below.  Yay!  No dusting.  :)

65 Things I Love About Ginny

65.  I love that her nickname growing up was Chicken Hawk.  Because her last name was Hawk.  Not sure where the Chicken came from.

64.  I love that I get my red hair from her.  :D

63.  I love that *I* am her favorite child.  Yeah.  That's the best!

62.  We love that she is good at laundry.  "I'm doing laundry.  Give me the clothes off your back."  Yeah.  Just like Doris.  LOL!

61.  I love that she's so giving.  Ever since we were little, she was always volunteering for causes.  Usually through the Elks Club (or the Does).

60.  I love that she instilled in us the value of treating every human being with respect.  This comes from the volunteer work that she always had us doing with the "Mentally Retarded" as they were called in the day.

59.  I love that I did NOT get her cold nature.  

58.  I love that she gets focused on a hobby for a while and then tries something new.  That gives my family endless "so...what is Ginny interested in now?"  lol!  I *may* have gotten that trait as well.

57.  I love that one of those hobbies was started 20 years ago, dropped and then resurfaced about two years ago when she decided to finish the quilt that she started for me...20 years ago.  LOL!

56.  I love that she has a NJ attitude in the south.  Some people, however, are not as appreciative of that.

55.  I love that she's bossy.  Okay.  She just knows what she wants.  Nothing wrong with that.

54.  I love that Shane is now in marching band and I am living her life 20 years later because she went to every single football game when Susan and I were growing up to watch us.

53.  I love that her birthday is September 15th.  That is one day before Owen's birthday and now I can finally remember if her birthday is September 10 (her and daddy's anniversary) or September 15th.  I could never remember which one was which.

52.  I love how she drops everything if her children need her.  Yeah.  I love that.

51.  I love that she was 51 when Shane was born.  He's now 14.

50.  Speaking of him being 14, I do *not* love that her "I hope you have one just like you" is coming back to haunt me.  Yeah.  I don't like that!

49.  I love that she and daddy still live in the same house that I grew up in.  I'm not so sure *she* loves it.  And by "not so sure", I mean...she would be happy moving.  But she'd have to uproot daddy first.  Yeah.  Good luck with THAT one Ginny!  LOL!

48.  I love that her experience with the school's PTA was exactly like mine.  "You're preaching to the choir sister!"  

47.  I love that she is good with numbers and math.  Because that SURE didn't pass onto me. 

46.  I love that her math sense *did* pass onto Shane tho because he's a wiz at it.

45.  I love that she likes to shop.  

44.  I love it even more that she has lots of friends to do it with.

43.  I love it that she will humor me and daddy and go to Skin's Hotdogs when I come home.  Yeah.  I love that place!

42.  I love it that when we go to the original Skins that the waitress there last time said "OMG.  How big HAS he (Shane) gotten."  Yeah.  We don't really know her but we do. 

41.  I love it that she seems to know everyone in Anderson.

40.  I love it that she keeps up with all of my friends.

39.  I love it that she keeps up with all of her friends.

38.  I love it that she goes on a cruise with her friends every year.  Yeah.  That's cool.  And that's important.  BFF's are important to a girl.

37.  I love it that she has a good eye for color.  Her house is all kinds of coordinated.  Yeah.  I love that!

36.  I love to watch her scold Sheldon.  It's like turning back the hands of time about 25 years and watching her and Susan.  LOL!

35.  I love it that she has a granddaughter who is a girly girl who will indulge Ginny's bows and cute dresses.  Yeah.  I'm talking about Mary Mayken.  Definitely not Sheldon.  

34.  I love it that Ginny encourages Mary Mayken's girly side.  I hope that doesn't backfire on her.  Talk about a diva in the making.  :D

33.  I love that she sucked daddy into taking me and Susan to our first concert when we were 12 to see Rick Springfield.  She did it under the "it's for my Mother's Day present" guise.  Yeah.  Good one, Ginny!

32.  I love it (now anyway) that she got so mad at me when I was about 13 that she told my dad to go into my room and beat me because she couldn't do it.  It was like she was channeling Bill Cosby or something.  I think she would have killed me if she would have started.  LOL!

31.  I love it that her 12 year old granddaughter is taller than she is.  

30.  I love it that her 14 year old grandson is taller than she is.  No.  Really.  I love it.  I was worried that he wasn't going to be as tall as I am.  Whew.  At least he'll be 5'4".  Woot!

29.  I love it that she is finally 29 years old!

28.  I love it that she knows a lot of Shane and Owen's friends.  Even though she lives 9 hours away.  That means that she comes up here enough to get to know them.

27.  I also love it that she knows a lot of *my* friends.  Because that means that she comes up here enough to get to know them.  

26.  I love it that she and daddy took us camping at Oconee State Park every weekend during the summers in our RV camper.

25.  I love it that I learned how to make monkey bread during those camping trips.  

24.  I love it that I've passed along that monkey bread making and loving skills to my children.  They both request it for their birthday breakfast.  

23.  I love it that she did not kill me and Susan growing up.  Yeah.  That wouldn't have helped anyone. :D

22.  I love it that she and my dad were so active in the Elks Club when I was growing up.  We made some of the best childhood friends growing up when they were in the bar and we were running around the Club looking for trouble to get into.  We usually found it.

21.  I love it that she moved to SC from NJ.  Although I love my Joisey family, growing up in the south is something special.

20.  I love it that I had the Joisey roots tho because I learned to tell it like it was...oh so sweetly.  Bless you heart.   :D

19. I love that we had a pool growing up.  So did my friends.  And theirs.  Night time swims were the best!

18.  I love it that my parents always supported Susan and my activities.

17.  I love it that Susan loves to go to Disney.  Because mom does too.  And I don't.  So they can go together.  :)

16.  I love it that my mom is such a loyal friend.  Obviously her friends love her too because she's had the same group of friends since the Elks Club days.  (Jo, Mary and Nelly)

15.  I love it that she has to go shopping when she's at my house or she'll get stir crazy.

14.  I love it when she gets stir crazy that shit gets done in my house.  Like tons of cleaning.  Yeah.  I LOVE that!

13.  I love it that everything in her house is organized.  Everything is in bins, labeled or in baskets.

12.  I love her sarcastic sense of humor.

11.  I love how she isn't as black and white as me and my dad.

10.  I love how even though she has the ability to make decisions based on how she feels about a situation, she's very logical.

9.  I love the one picture that I saw of her as a platinum blond when my dad was in the service.  That was almost as good as when Susan went bleach blond.  Almost.  

8.  I love it that she taught me how to make shoo fly pie.  No one here knows what it is when I make it but *I* do and it's my part of my Yankee heritage.

7.  I love it that she and my dad share the same ancestors about 7 generations back.  That would actually explain some things.  :D

6.  I love it that I share her middle name.

5.  I love it that she nicknamed Susan Fruita Fats instead of me.

4.  I don't love it that she nicknamed me Sam, Sam the Garbage Man.  Maybe Fruita Fats wasn't so bad.

3.  I love it that she and my dad took us to Clemson Homecoming bonfire every year.  They said it was for Susan and my birthday but I think that they just wanted to party.  

2.  I love it that she got a dog (Sadie) and waited to tell dad until she was at my house.  Yeah.  That was the best!

1.  I love it that she's the best mom ever.

Happy birthday Mom!!!

A House Full

I now understand how my friends mom felt when we were in high school.  You see, my friend had an older brother and a younger sister whose friends were always at her house.  There was always a ton of kids at her house.  I think that she must have cooked a Thanksgiving meal every day it seemed because she was always feeding us.

Because there were a lot of us.  And a ton of teenage boys to feed.

I have five high schoolers here right now and five middle schoolers.  The middle schoolers are here to celebrate Owens 11th birthday and two of the high schoolers are here hanging out with Shane watching movies.  The other two high schoolers are neighborhood kids who just showed up.

And I heard them say "so and so" are on their way.

I knew I was going to have a ton of boys to feed so I planned to make piggies in a blanket.  I bought enough creasant rolls to feed all these boys.  I felt pretty good about myself.

Until I just realized that I forgot to take out the hotdogs from the freezer.  Doh.

So, I ordered pizza.  Oops.

The boys are playing football in the yard.  Hopefully running all of their energy out.  And probably getting stinky in the process.  Peeyew.

But I wouldn't change it for the world.  We have a house full of teenagers.  I'm glad the kids like to hang out here.  Love it actually!

Obligatory First Day of School Pictures - 2013

Every parent has that obligatory first day of school pictures.

You know the parents and grandparents on your facebook page just by scrolling through a newsfeed from the first day of school.

Most of them put their kids first day of school pictures on their to proudly display their kids.

Or to celebrate the fact that they survived the summer and now the kids are back in school.

Yay!

Oh.  Wait.  Maybe that's just me.  :D

This year was a bit different.

Shane entered his first year of high school.  Ninth grade.  OMG.  Where does the time go?

He loves that shirt.  He says it's so comfy.  <3 p="">

Not to be outdone, Owen started middle school this year.  I'm not sure which one traumatizes me more.  LOL!

He's cool.  :)

 

Sometimes they will oblige me and take nice pictures.  Like they sorta-kinda-almost-but-not really-like each other. 

I'm looking forward to them having a great year.  Shane started marching band this summer and seems to be enjoying it.  Owen joined band (playing the French Horn...because, you know, "everything French is good...French fries, French toast."  Thank God he didn't say "French kissing."  LOL!

You can look back through my blog posts to see his other first day of school.  Including kindergarten.  :(