Observations

Why do things get "used up" all at the same time?
One light bulb burns out, it seems like they all burn out (the light in my closet and the light in Jon's closet burnt out within 1 day of each other). One set of batteries goes dead, they all go dead (Rylee's toys, TV remotes). You know how Rambo wears that cool-looking chest harness for bullets. I need one of those so I can strap a set of batteries around myself.

Why do micorwaves smell like popcorn?
No matter what you cook, no matter how you clean it, everything comes out smelling like popcorn...

Just Desserts

Let Them Eat Cake
My Mom made my favorite "birthday" dessert on Friday - yellow cake with chocolate frosting (I had this at every birthday during my childhood and teens). We only ate three pieces out of it so there was a whole pan left basically. The only other person I know who loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting as much as me is Jess. I invited her over on Saturday to help me eat it. I tried to con her into taking some home (she is eating for two), but she declined. This meant I had to eat more cake on Sunday. Luckily, I sent the rest of it into work with Jon today. Bonus: he actually remembered to take it, usually he forgets things in the fridge for several days first. So I think I only ate 4 pieces. 1- Friday, 2-Saturday, 1-Sunday. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember having cake for breakfast Saturday morning... :)

As Easy As Pie
Do you ever wonder why you wait so long to do certain things? Or why some things seem worth their weight in gold, whereas others are not worth it at all? Well, I spent the best $300 I've spent in a long time today.

I finally had the sliding glass door fixed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, now I'm asking myself why I waited 6 years to have that done. It's GLORIOUS! Just be careful when you come over, because if you go to yank on it like you had to before, it'll probably fly against the frame and shatter into a million pieces. It's strictly a one finger push to open now. Slides like butter, baby! :)

Chunk-a-lunk

My great-grandmother was a crazy fun gal. She liked to buy the bar a round (and put it on my grandparents tab). She had a beer can coat that she made and wore with a mask on Crazy Days. She requested a red lace bra for Christmas when she was 80-something and when she got it, she modeled it for us all (on top of her clothes!).

I think about her a lot these days for a couple of reasons.
1) She could play a mean harmonica. Her favorite song was Johan Pa Snippen. Every time she played it, she would get up out of her chair grab you by the hand and do the shoddish. For the unfamiliar, the shoddish is a one, two, three hop step. I can't tell you how many laps I made around my grandparents living room over the years. Since I decided I hated the electric slide a few months back, I replaced it with the shoddish. Rylee loves it! I know my great-granmda is right there with us every night. I think I need to get a recording of Johan Pa Snippen for full effect though.

2) In later years, when my great-grandma's health failed and Alzheimer's set in, she started to dislike big groups. She would get confused and aggravated, but my Grandmother always had something positive to say. It was usually, "but she eats good." Over the years, this phrase has been used over and over in different scenarios. With all of Rylee's fussiness issues, my Mom and I always joke, "but she eats good!" Tonight she ate a full bottle, but still wanted more. I held the empty bottle up to her mouth and she started sucking right away. Something about her big chipmunk cheeks just cracked me up. She definitely eats good!

Point of No Return

Rylee woke up early this morning demanding her bottle and even though she is now snuggled back up in her crib sleeping, I'm at that awkward time of morning where I can't decide if I should I stay up or go back to bed. I thought I'd blog (since it seems like I haven't done that much this week) and see if I feel sleepy enough to return to bed.

(Uh oh, does that make it sound like this post is going to be so lame it will put us all to sleep?)

Probably. Nothing too exciting to report. I've spent the better part of the week getting ready to return to *gasp* work. I pulled out all my subbing tools from years ago, dusted off my pre-pregnancy work clothes, and made flyers to hand out at school to get my new sub info out there. In the meantime, I got hired to help a fellow teacher organize her classroom so I've been working with her some afternoons.

And I think Jon and have made the decision for me not to return to the classroom full time next year. I say "I think," because I still have a couple of weeks to make my decision and I'm sure I'll continue to agonize and over-analize it right up until the deadline. At this point, the only thing that would make me want to return full time would be an opening in Kindergarten, so I'll ask around to see if anyone is requesting a transfer (there are no open spots at Sawgrass right now). If not, then it looks like I'll be subbing next year (and staying home with Rylee part time!). Like I said, we'll see...

In baby news, my friend Tracy was in town for work so she came over for dinner last night. She's due in 7 weeks and looked fantastic. With the sweater she was wearing you could only barely tell she was pregnant. She doesn't have the torpedo belly that I had! :) It was great to hang out. Plus, we turned it into a mini-shower with gifts and cake. Rylee even got a gift - an adorable outfit with pink overalls and a little turtle toy that pokes out of the pocket.

(Well, blogging hasn't made me sleepy - if reading this made you, sorry!)

I guess no more sleep for Shannon. I think I'll read instead. I have way too many good books right now - I can't get through them fast enough.

Dairy Princess

Do you ever have one of those days where you've got a little bounce in your step when you walk out of the house because you know you're looking extra fine? Well, yesterday...

...wasn't one of those days!

I had managed to grab a shower during Rylee's morning nap, but I never really fixed my hair so it was looking extra limp and pathetic. I was wearing my glasses (again!) because I burst a blood vessel in my eye. It was what I call the "Halloween kind" where the blood has oozed down around the iris on both sides for maximum "eeew" factor. I wasn't wearing any makeup - not even tinted chapstick.

Mom had come over for dinner and then we were kind of craving ice cream. We loaded Rylee up in the car and drove to D'Lites to get some of their carb-free, calorie-free, chemical-laden soft serve. Of course, Rylee zonked out during the drive so Mom stayed in the car and I hopped out.

That's when my dancer's hip locked up on me (HIMYM reference for ya - and like Marshall, mine is really from dancing too). I hobbled my way over to the store in a "one of my legs is shorter than the other" limp.

There is a happy ending to this story though. I somehow escaped Murphy's Law and didn't see anyone I know! :)

Goonies

When I posted the pictures of Jon and I back in high school, Jon was out of town for a week. The guys love pulling pranks when someone is out of the office so I really provided them with some good ammo.

Let's just say that screen savers were changed, flyers were printed, and I'm pretty sure I'm never allowed to post photos of Jon without his approval again. (Actually, I think he handled it pretty well for a guy who doesn't like to be teased!)

So I'm probably gonna pay for this later, but I had to post this pic that our friend Jerry photo shopped. I have to agree with his interpretation. This is a ragtag-looking group of goons if I ever saw one - myself included! Enjoy...

Not Me Monday

I AM NOT reading blogs tonight instead of blogging myself.

I AM NOT playing with Rylee when she should be going to bed.

I AM NOT staying up late to watch 3 episodes of How I Met Your Mother (2 old, 1 new).

Or maybe I am...