What is it about Chick-fil-a

What is it about Chick-fil-a that makes us love it so much? Is it just in certain parts of the country? Is it a Southern thing? Is it the tea? Share the love...

Laugh - It's Good For You!

This made me laugh SO hard!

Have a Happy Monday!

It Is Good To Laugh

I love Pioneer Woman's website. She makes food of the type you want to linger over the photos... and she's funny. And she doesn't pretend to be perfect.... and she's funny.

Some days I need to laugh with other Mom's. In case you're having one of those days I recommend you go read this.
Pioneer Woman: How Dominos Pizza Saved My Marriage by Mrs. G.
Don't be daunted by this being under the homeschooling part of the Pioneer Woman Website - if you're a woman in charge of a household you'll be able to identify...

On Starbuck's, Mommy Guilt & Gift Card Budgeting

OK I Tweeted this idea this morning & it is getting very good responses but since it was in an @reply only some people saw it, so I decided to blog it.

Katie blogged about her new goals for the month on her blog Hungary for Adventure http://hungarytrip.blogspot.com/2010/01/monthly-goals.html she mentioned that the cost of her favorite Starbuck's tea is going up, and she needs to start drinking FREE tea at home and at work instead of the yummy tempting $4+ tea at Starbuck's. Well this reminded me of MY way of not overdoing at Starbuck's (now that I am addicted again thanks to the fairly new Caramel Brulee Lattes they evil-ly concocted with malicious intent to snare people like me who finally were "over it" (it being Starbuck's.)

So I Tweeted this:

If you put say $20 on the gift card then you set the rule that you can only pay at Starbuck's with the gift card. So when your gift card is empty... no more Starbuck's for you until next month when you can load your card again. Easy designated budgeting. And you can even have roll-over dollars if you want to (or splurge if someone gifts you a card.) This idea is part of the natural progression of my way of looking at gift cards that I recieve as gifts, if I use a gift card, then it's "free!" and I don't have to feel guilty about getting Starbuck's.

Now to take this gift card budgeting concept backward to its origin. I have a child with a December birthday and then there is Christmas & I often am entertaining guests for Thanksgiving. We have a LOT more things going on in December. In some past years between hubby & I both gift-buying... (or hubby deciding to pay Jan. mortgage early for a tax break) well anyway some years there has been a breakdown of communication & I have had to get VERY creative to come up with groceries for the Christmas dinner... It hasn't happened in quite a while but I tend to have anxiety about it every year. SO while discussing this with a friend she came up with the BEST idea. Why don't you just buy a Kroger gift card occasionally during months when you don't use the full budgeted grocery money... and set it aside for the holiday grocery shopping (or other rainy day.) BRILLIANT!!!

I have a tendency to plan to do things for myself, then feel guilty about spending the time or money & not doing it. For example: I have not had a pedicure in probably 10 months and I live in Houston where we wear nothing but flip-flops 8 months out of the year. I wait WAY too long before having my hair cut and getting back to cover the grey roots... I just seem to have trouble allowing myself to take care of myself. I think this is a common Mommy problem.

I usually don't work during the summer months, so I have lots of time to do fun things (with my child because no family to leave him with) but no income coming in to fund activities. In the past when I have put aside money for myself for summer activities I usually end up using it on other things that come up. This year I'm getting gift cards for the lunch spot where I meet the girls from work & the movie theatre... the things I always want to do in summer... but feel guilty about spending money on. Yes budgeting for these things would work... if I would let myself have them... but the gift cards will be better for me... because gift cards are money already spent that you can't get back... and I can't buy a Wii game (or an educational book) with a gift card for the nail place so I won't feel guilty about it.

Dear My Hubby: I own a Kindle. It would be really really nice to have an Amazon gift card for buying new books guilt-free.

My Silly Critters

Yes I am making little stories & putting words into the mouths of my dog & cat. It amuses me.

"You Can't see me"


No!
I have NOT been eating the Christmas Tree!














Why do you ask?


Well at least I have the dog to match.

Darth Golf

The boys in my house have been laughing over this one.

May the force be with you.

Silly Walks

This is just one of my all time favorites. Because laughter is terribly good for you, please enjoy Monty Python's


Now don't you feel better!

If you don't already know about http://icanhascheezburger.com/ it's a great place for a laugh, but be careful because you can end up spending more time than you intend. Ethan and I thought we would share a laugh with all of you....

more animals

Footnote: not even of any kind -The Importance of Being Earnest

This is a line out of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest (a favorite of mine dating back more years than I will own) As much as I love Colin Firth *swoon* and appreciate Judi Dench I recommend the 1952 film version over the modern one.




Lady Bracknell. The marriage, I think, had better take place quite soon.

Algernon. Thank you, Aunt Augusta.

Cecily. Thank you, Aunt Augusta.

Lady Bracknell. To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.

Jack. I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Lady Bracknell, but this engagement is quite out of the question. I am Miss Cardew’s guardian, and she cannot marry without my consent until she comes of age. That consent I absolutely decline to give.

Lady Bracknell. Upon what grounds may I ask? Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?

Jack. It pains me very much to have to speak frankly to you, Lady Bracknell, about your nephew, but the fact is that I do not approve at all of his moral character. I suspect him of being untruthful. [Algernon and Cecily look at him in indignant amazement.]

Lady Bracknell. Untruthful! My nephew Algernon? Impossible! He is an Oxonian.

Jack. I fear there can be no possible doubt about the matter. This afternoon during my temporary absence in London on an important question of romance, he obtained admission to my house by means of the false pretence of being my brother. Under an assumed name he drank, I’ve just been informed by my butler, an entire pint bottle of my Perrier-Jouet, Brut, ‘89; wine I was specially reserving for myself. Continuing his disgraceful deception, he succeeded in the course of the afternoon in alienating the affections of my only ward. He subsequently stayed to tea, and devoured every single muffin. And what makes his conduct all the more heartless is, that he was perfectly well aware from the first that I have no brother, that I never had a brother, and that I don’t intend to have a brother, not even of any kind. I distinctly told him so myself yesterday afternoon.

Lady Bracknell. Ahem! Mr. Worthing, after careful consideration I have decided entirely to overlook my nephew’s conduct to you.

Jack. That is very generous of you, Lady Bracknell. My own decision, however, is unalterable. I decline to give my consent.

dialogue copied from http://www.hoboes.com/FireBlade/Fiction/Wilde/earnest/act3/