auntjenny

YAY! Now y'all know I don't watch a lot of tv - but  I am super excited about the new season of Bones and I'd really like to see how far the show Glee is going to go - probably cause i was in show choir - hey hey don't throw thing... it was fun... I'm also really interested in seeing 'destination truth' - i didn't watch it before...

I'm also looking for ideas for a birthday trip for late march - any idea girls? 

Also, sorry I missed y'all - massive headache - went to bed around 8ish...  :o( 


ok anyhoooo....


oh oh also we're starting Daisies this week! Wish me luck - this is my first year as a leader by myself - yeah yeah  i know kelly is there but let's face it she's pretty much just window dressing...

BAHHHHHH! So my Zune bit the big one yesterday. We're visiting friend's in Atlanta before heading up to the blue ridge... and so today I went to best buy and got an ipod classic... so this evening as it's rained i've been attempting to restore my stuff from my laptop to my new ipod... everything is going well except for my phile and other fan made videos are not downloading to the ipod... any suggestions? 


happy friday

Hey gang! 

Just got home about an hour ago... we took a mini-break this weekend and went camping at Oleno state park... hot dogs, bug bits and smores! gotta love it! lol! 

anyhoo... things i learned - hailey is a good camper. kelly is not. bugs love us... we do not love them.... marshmallows can be eaten for breakfast... no really they can... lol... during the campfire saturday i learned there was a  princess and an awesome farmer who have a house in riverside, ya know where we feed the ducks..haha... i learned I completely love the Scott company and you can never have too much toliet paper (as the people camping near us actually came over to borrow some when their 10 year old left it all out the night before.... oh yeah my last thing... things get wet outside when it rains...  :o) 

hope y'all had a great weekend... see ya next sat or sun. then i'll be off again... on the road to cherokee....

so i had a suprise yesterday... my driver's license expired. How could I let this happen you might say - i have no idea... why oh why do they even NEED to be renewed? other than to make money for the state - which is clearly all it's for is to make money for the state. 

oh well just sharing - pray oh pray that i don't have to anything more than fork over $30 to get them to lift the "expired" to "active" 

lalalala

just a random suprise from the weekend...

also went to the museum of contempory art today - it's nice... small and not a lot there and they have an art area for kids but still nice.. and best part of all it's part of bank of america's family program where the museum is free or discounted.... so it was FREE! WHOO HOO! 


and i'm loving the new Eric on True Blood - he's so hot it's wrong.. love the short hair.... purdy! a lil' too skinny but handsome all the same.

Men become morons once they get married. I mean more so than before. My brother who lightly tans but is still fair skinned let his wife put a "bronzer" on him instead of sunscreen.

You know I'm a serious bitch when it comes to taking care of your skin. Just because I've seen two extremes of sun exposure to skin that's old. Our granmere had horribly wrinkled leather like skin from baking herself in baby oil and the other had skin cancer b/c she was fair skinned farm girl.  So I'm serious that tanning is a bad idea - b/c you are literally cooking yourself.

So I said to him: 

"Bub I have two words..." 

"Yeah" he said with a sigh

"skin cancer" 

He said nothing...

"leather marmee" (another name for our granmere)

And I walked away in my brain I was thinking I should have also said "don't be a wuss and put the GD sunscreen on b/c you know you need too... spineless moron" 

I hate to say this but my brother seriously married below. I not an the kind of person who looks at class lines but seriously - WTF? This girl lacks vast amounts of common sense.


Whew - thanks for letting me get that out

So all those years of ducking and covering from elementary school finally paid off this past friday as for the very first time in my life there was a threat from an actual tornado. They closed the bridges - which is a big deal down here...

the next day the news joked that the tornado that was in the southside of town knew it's way around b/c it took the jtb (james turner butler blvd) which is a popular motorway where i live and right next to my office-- my big glass office... it was a lovely hour break as we all moved to the "inside" of building - the elderly and handicappers were put in the back bathroom with no windows and we all "ducked and covered" as all the tvs in the building played the news and showed lovely pictures of 3-4 different tornados in the area --- yes yes i know my midwestern friends are gonna say big freggin deal - but keep in mind we're in the top shoulder of florida - it is a rare thing for us to have anything other than water spouts - which aren't a big deal... soooo.... just wanted to share the excitement - and we've got through the first month of hurricane season! hoo ha! 



p.s. to my chat ladies - sorry i missed y'all this week - i was out with the fam. see ya next week - happy 4th! 

Anyone watching this show? It's called "The Listener" 

It's about a guy named Toby Logan who is a 25-year-old paramedic with a secret telepathic ability. He's pretty


btw - Hailey cut her hair all the way up to her shoulders... it's very cute and low on tangles - so far we're getting a 100% approval rating! YAY! 

Pics to follow...

i can't sleep sooooooo --- i found a new user pic

Ok just had to share my yeehaw! I just got the tickets for our Rascal Flatts concert. Hoo rah! We love them and it will be the very first concert that one of my best friends, Rhonda, and I will go to together.  We're a little over excited, even if it isn't until late july, b/c this is how we became friends. The last time they were here in concert - i had no one to go with sooo of course i didn't go - it was fine i had seen almost the same concert in atlanta (which was free -yeah baby!) -- ok back to point -> after the concert she came to our bbq with her pictures - she was at that time a friend of a friend - and they were of the rascal flatts concert - our mutal friend, Liam, told her that I really liked RF as well and we started talking and the rest they say is twangy wangy country music history! lol! 

Now all we have to find is a place that will make her a neon green glow in the dark letter t shirt proclaiming that she is the "RF #1 Afro-American fan!"  -- a joke bounced around by the visible lack of african american people at country music concerts and the one (we only know of one) black country music artist with a music video.

anyhoooo ---- spreading the joy! 

Alright, so our family vacation meeting was tonight. Yes, we have a meeting amongst the adults. We each pick a couple of  places. Two or three dream places. Two or more reasonable places...

Here were the contributions: 

castle in Ireland
Suffolk, UK 
Paris
Australia
Nova Scotia
Boston
Quebec
Puerto Rico
Ocho Rios
Bahamas
Grand Caymen
Savannah (that one's from Hailey) 
Smokey Mountains
Branson
Hawaii (in general) 
Prague
Japan
Camp Rock (again Hailey..haha)
DC
Yellow stone
Glacier national park
The Dells/Chi

We fill out our budget slips - min we can pay/max we can pay.

Then we take our equally sized slips of paper and place them in one of 3 boxes. We have a box for international, one for national, & the final for budget.

We give the budget one to the person who is not coming on the trip (this year it will be Pop & Nan as Pa is having back surgery and will be unable to travel) and they go through the slips while we look at the places from the national & intl boxes.

We usually go on the trip in august the week before or two weeks before school starts. Most people have taken their "big" vacation by then. It woks out nicely.


SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo...... drum roll please! 

This years family vacation will be to Boston! Whoo hoo! Fun and educational. (I kinda wanted the mountains but Boston go the most votes and was actually more affordable than the moutains and in the even that our uncle is unable to attend then we will still be able to get there. I cannot drive in the moutains with a 6 year old and a 25 year old carring on I'd drive us off the side of the moutain.) 

So Boston and Puerto Rico were tied - we pick one international (yes we know PR is kinda not international - but whatever...) and one national - then hear the budget announced and we go from there. Hence, to save about $500 a person we are going to Boston and have decided on spring next year to go to PR - looking forward to that! hoo ha!)

So any Boston advice or something you feel we MUST see - lemme know.

I do know that we will take a trolley tour as little legs can walk only so far before they revolt. I also know we will invest in a "City Pass" b/c one they are on sale (half off - hoo ha!) and b/c they usually save you quite a bit of money. I did them last year in atlanta for IWTB group and it was a great deal. And we'll probably do a whale watching tour and visit the aquarium along with the freedom trail (like everyone else) and at least 4 museums while we're there -luckily Hailey is a museum kid - even if Kelly isn't...  (they're in trouble... they're letting me plan things! muhahahahhahaahha) 

we thought of popping over to Salem, if it's not to scary for the "queen of everything" (told me just today that was her official title) and doing the um living village thingie -

ok so anything else - if you've been or know someone who has - i've been there on business a couple of times but never as a tourist and never with my family (meaning my sister, my youngest uncle, & Hailey) any pointers i can't get on a fodor's website would be appreciated.

cutest video... I'm gonna play it at our first meeting this year for scouts.

sorry follow the linky... it won't let me or i just don't know how to embed the music video.... sorry gang...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpzyizsJcJU


This one too - it's a commercial from 1974

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIfdtleA05M


Cookie Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIfdtleA05M


This is a jingle from a Brownie troop in Virginia.. so cute! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8oJ6uwsbHU


Because every little kid I know loves the hamster song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY6R09RCd6M

ok last one i promise - i couldn't help myself they're just precious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDj_bxxQFs8

Now I'm not naturally clumsy I'm pretty agile. But today I twisted my ankle. I have a level 2 sprain. This is the first time I've ever sprained my ankle and let me tell you I'm horrible at being sick or laid up. I'm fidgity and hate to stay in one place. I also was told today that I have an extra bone in my foot -- they think. The radiologist is "double checking it" -- *sigh* I'm all for a second opinion but seriously he's "double checking it"?

And then to top this my sister in law -- who is finally getting her wedding -- has turned into bridezilla! throwing tantrums over purple shoes and a lack of help. Help which she has never asked for. I'm not worrying about it because well i can't walk and as far as I"m going for the next several days is to the the bathroom.

My one question is why oh why when applying a cold pack does it hurt so blasted much! ah! 

Anyhooo... my first sprain and I'm watching a history channel doing a special on bathroom technology. Many people don't know but my favorite invention is toilet paper. Wonderful invention! And I send my thanks to the Scott family.  


Why did it take almost 45 centuries for a toothbrush to be invented??? weirdness...

I think the subject pretty much says it all... I was watching a lifetime adaption of a nora roberts movie & the male lead was hot but the inner 12 yr old in me did not scream out an "OMG!" until he put on his glasses..... drool.... again another example of "smart is sexy" 

and why do we find colin firth so hot? is it all the bbc jane austen specials??? mr darcy?? *sigh*

Wow this week went by so quickly and I'm sitting here watching one of my favorite tv shows - the american version of Ladette to Lady -> The Girls of Hedsor Hall. And one thing comes to mind - Mrs. Shrager & Mrs. Harbord are my heroes! lol! 

We were discussing this show yesterday at work and some people think it's a bit harsh. I find it refreshing to see a 'reality show' not focused on solely winning the money. But then again the people who were saying it was harsh - i see them and have seen a few of them act the way those girls did before they went to the finishing school. I'm glad to see a 'reality show' where the focus is on respecting yourself and others. Regardless of if they win the trust or not these women should take home a new vision for their lives. They should be able to see how their horrid behavior touched the lives of the people around them. Our discussion on this show lead to the - well my thought that deportment should be taught in school - even public school. My niece goes to a private school where they have deportment class once a week. Last week, (on friday) she was on spring break. The teacher sent the lesson with her and we were able to go to class yesterday - still on spring break. It was so cte they worked on introductions. So for about an hour i heard 'ellery this is dylan he enjoys basketball. dylan this is ellery she enjoys flowers"  also my gran - who is our matriach - has "encouraged" my sister in law to take classes on 'social graces' so that there is "...less anxiety when we take you to the club dear" and a few other places. We took them when we were young so it's only right that she should as well - it's what you do when you marry into a family with social obligations.  I took her to her first garden tea at Lilian's and oh goodness I'm glad she came to our home first - she was wearing jeans and flipflops with a tshirt... to a garden tea... no ma'am! firstly she was told what to wear - min of makeup and a sundress.  She was a bit ticked off but this is an old woman's home in her 70's very poshy upper class and you've been invited to a tea - in our social circle this woman can make or break you -- her husband is a very lucrative business man and is helpful in that regard as well. anyhooo she had her first class yesterday, we've engaged the same teacher that my niece's school is using.  She is still not clear and a bit resistant to the course she's been enrolled in but I believe it will benefit her. She's afraid it will make her uptight and ill fitting with her current friends. My reply to that was that she could retain her current self image and still know how to use the proper fork and to complete a waltz and arrange flowers. I also told her that if she felt her current friends an ill fit that sometimes as we out grow people and things. 

and i've run out of steam - thanks for listening --  b/c i'm about to find out who won the trust -- i think it's gonna be Brianna - she's made the biggest transformation.....soooooooo.....

#1 yay cookies are here!

#2 in the store with the bf commenting -- no way they made a movie for 'dead like me' - that show as so great! love Mandy!

#3 later that same night -- "i can't believe you got me the 'dead like me' movie - we were just talking about it yesterday! 

#4 commenting on the really cool pop documentaries on history channel for lincoln... interesting that his body was moved 10-12 times before the final resting

#5 they made an 'american version' of the british show ladette to lady - yay! it's called 'the girls of windsor hall' - it's pretty much the same thing except the girls are american and a bit more trashier than the british girls... or maybe they seem that way b/c they don't have accents? 

Some of you may know that I'm a devoted scout aunt to daisy troop 290. Some of you might not. Today is Thinking Day for scouts all over the world. A day of reflection and a day to think how we can make a better world. As they are still mighty young to focus on this years theme of disease, we will send out good engery to other girls, discuss how we can be a sister to every girl, & what we would do to make the world nicer.

 

Just in case you're interested here is some info provided by the website about thinking day.


World Thinking Day

Thinking Day was first created in 1926 at the fourth Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference held at Girl Scouts of the USA's Camp Edith Macy (now called Edith Macy Conference Center). Conference attendees decided that there should be a special day for Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from around the world to "think" of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their "sister" Girl Scouts. The delegates chose February 22 as the date for Thinking Day because it was the mutual birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, and his wife, Olave, who served as World Chief Guide.

In 1932, at the seventh World Conference, held in Poland, a Belgian delegate suggested that since birthdays usually involve presents, girls could show their appreciation and friendship on Thinking Day not only by extending warm wishes but by offering a voluntary contribution to the World Association. This is how the World Association's Thinking Day Fund began. The fund helps offer Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting to more girls and young women worldwide. Girl Scouts of the USA, through its Juliette Low World Friendship Fund contributes to the World Thinking Day Fund.

To emphasize the global aspect of Thinking Day, members at the 30th World Conference, held in Ireland in 1999, changed the name from Thinking Day to World Thinking Day.

info from: http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/global/world_thinking_day/world_thinking_day_2005.asp

THE COOKIES ARE HERE! THE COOKIES ARE HERE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Yep all 70 (yeah you heard me 70!) cases of them. And that was just for my niece. So yesterday was spent opening cases of Thin Mints and Samoas - counting and inspecting boxes then counting them again as we made sure that each person in our family got the correct amount of cases.

I only can say thank goodness we don't get to do booths at this age. However, due to that they didn't send any extra cases - no wasting cookies this year - last year they had to "eat" about 10,000 cases that didn't get sold or picked up. So sad... I'm sure there would have been plenty of people at the local church or fire station that would have purchased them. Even the sugar free ones are tasty. No, people I'm serious. There is no way that a group of  5-7 year olds are gonna lie about a cookie. They each had two.


So the cookies are here and I'm going to go help someone put their smock on and load the car to deliver to the neighbors and collect money. No money = no cookies! 

So I bought a cute classic black dress today, a pruple (the woman used some other name) bridesmaid dress and I'm thinking of buying a new mattress - b/c i need one anyhow and this would be the perfect weekend to do it --- president's day sales and all and blast it to heck i have to work weird hours...so no randomly laying on beds for me... i know i have ruled out a few things - ok one major thing - no pillow tops... they are a waste of money if you aren't the weight and size of your average 6 year old and then it's questionable... I see Macy's is having an insane sale on mattresses online... and I've been reading a very informative website run by a man who owns a mattress store in new jersey and i'm thinking i'm gonna get this one Sealy Posturepedic® "Celestial Sun" Cushion Firm - the last one i bought was a serta pillow top and while it was heaven for like a good two years but now... well it sags in the middle and i've turned it over to the 'hard bottom' and have a down topper on it which comes off b/c unfortunately I am a 'active sleeper' and i end up half the time feeling like i'm going to fall off with the topper.... oh no! 

so anyone have an amazing bed they think i should buy?

I'm sad. Life sucks.

So for years we've been using the phrase "Smart is Sexy"...

Yesterday, I was reading my new 'Psychology Today' and now i'd like to add this article to our cause.... article as transcribed from the mag - full credit to the author Matthew Hutson at Psych. Today

"Bed Bards"

Using a large vocab to impress the ladies


Men who have a way with words may also have their way with women. Intelligence is a sign of genetic fitness, and able minds often come equipped with large vocabularies. A new study reveals that men may flaunt their linguistic peacock feathers as a sexual display.

   Psychologists at the University of Nottingham in the U.K. asked students to imagine a romantic encounter with an attractive member of the opposite sex or a casual conversation with someone older. Then the students wrote an essay on an unrelated topic. The romance-primed men unknowingly used more unusual words in their essays. Female subjects didn't show the same effect, but a previous study found that women do show creativity spikes when primed with thoughts of attracting a long term partner. 
   
    Don't go dropping 10-cent words willy-nilly on your next date unless you know what they mean, though... Richard Tunney says he'll next explore the effectiveness of bogus erudition. If men have evolved to impress women with flashy displays, women should have evolved to detect their deceptive deployment.



Isn't this interesting.... smart is sexy... cheeze

the picture that accompanies is a pic of Arthur Miller (who kinds looks like Woody Allen) with Marilyn Monroe.