Friday Fragments: Episode #92

Welcome to Friday Fragments!  Speaking of bits and pieces...earlier tonight, I fell (going into the house carrying all kinds of crap!) and came close to breaking my right forearm. I think the bone is okay, but I smashed the muscle quite beautifully across the metal threshold.  Luckily, I started this post earlier in the week (and the brace on my arm is allowing me to type the finishing touches!  Anyway, welcome! [For more information and Friday Fragments do's and don't's, click on the button above.]

***So excited to go to the "Willy Wonka" musical at the middle school tonight, with Kendall. It's going to be amazing!

***BTW, Qoop gave me a full refund on my printing order. They invited me to re-submit my invitation photo with different parameters. I'm sticking with Office Max.
***Hey! Guess what?!

I was quoted on a blog I've never been to, until I was notified.  Quoteables in the Blog World is "a list of phrases said during the week that stood on their own and were funny as hell. They were phrases that not only inspired giggles and snorts, but frequently prompted the question "what brought THAT up?" Check it out--you'll get a good laugh or two.

***40 x 2 x 10 to 15 =  800 = 13 hours (conservatively) that it takes to reply to 40 fragmenters via email, plus spend quality time reading and commenting on each FF post and then catch up on each individual blog if I can (since I enjoy catching up and try to do so often). That's 13 hours per week, in addition to my full-time job and life, if I'm a perfect blogger, which I am not. Just wanted to explain why I sometimes don't get to your blog in a timely manner. And remember, that those 13 hours only refer to Friday posts, and I haven't even calculated the time it takes to reply to other comments, so thank you very much for your understanding. I appreciate you very much and hope you know it. Love you guys... [Oh, and P.S. Replying to your comments is much easier when you leave your email address or have it in your profile, hint hint :)]

***Adrienne is featuring Half-Past Kissin' Time on her "Tip Top Spot" on her blog, All These Things. Thank you for the recognition, Adrienne; you're a sweetheart.

***I've done very little except work this week at home, in the evenings. Summer cannot come soon enough...

***My cousin Margaret left me the best birthday greeting on Facebook!

The number 47 is not only odd, it's a PRIME number (it can be divided by no other number besides 1 and itself). Honey, you are in your PRIME! Happy Birthday!!

Thanks, Margaret!!


That's it for me; gotta get off the computer and ice my arm again. Now's your chance to make some new friends and link up your FRIDAY FRAGMENTS POST. But for heaven's sake, be careful!

Sharing the Love

I have been very busy tonight, working for hours on a really great video of photos and video from this school year. I'm sorry I can't post it here (confidentiality rules), but my heart is all warm and fuzzy, so I've decided to instead share some amazing photography from a few blogging friends. These are truly wonderful and all original works by brilliant photographers.

First, from Secret Agent Mama...

This one comes from Life with Kaishon, who loves to do the I Heart Faces meme. 

As you can see, she's very talented...

Here's one of my faves from Tara at If Mom Says Okay...

And, of course, it's always tough to pic a favorite of Lotus's (Weekly Winners hostess), but here's one...

Here's hoping at least one of these made you smile and take a deep, cleansing breath.

Make it a great day!

All in a Day's Work

My sister, Mary, and I tackled a major project last Saturday; ripping up the 40-year old carpet in my mom's second bedroom/"den." Don't believe it was that old? Does this convince you?

This is one of my favorite photos; it's my sister, Mary, who was kind enough to invite me on this "adventure."

And here's one reason why you should think long and hard before purchasing a cat (especially an adult cat from the Humane Society)...

I won't even get into the mess it was or how long it took or how chapped my hands are now from scrubbing the floor with hot water and Murphy's Oil Soap. Just check out the before and after pics!

The floor still needs work (sanding, staining, etc.) but it's really beautiful. On Saturday, we're tackling the basement. They say that "many hands make light work." If that's the case, we should be done by June.

Best Letter Ever

Lighting the Fire Within and Making a Difference II are two posts that I wrote regarding a 6th grade student whose made me earn my paychecks this year.  If you're familiar with them, this surprise journal entry of his will blow you away almost as much as it did me. If don't remember him, you'll still be pretty impressed. I'd asked the students to journal about what they've learned about themselves this year.

This one is for teachers (and parents) everywhere...

I think I'm going to get this one framed.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Me, while reading my email, to my very impressed family:  "Hooray! Qdoba is giving me a free burrito for my birthday!!"

Kyle:  Dang. Now I'll have to get you something else! (Thanks for the birthday laugh, Kyle. I love you :)

Yes, it's that time of year. Today is my birthday. The bad part is that I am now an odd number, and I hate odd numbers, especially the number 47 (though 49 will be worse, I suppose.) Sheesh. Yuck. There's only one way to feel better about this...

For many years, on my birthday, Mom calls my house and leaves a message on the answering machine, singing "Happy Birthday" to me. (I think she just did it one time, out of the blue because I missed her call, but I loved it so much, she's done it almost every year since.) I absolutely love it; it's so sweet and makes my birthday truly special. My "big day" is never complete until I listen to my song.

I dread the birthdays after Mom is gone, so that's why I asked her to let me record her singing to me (cuz I'm just that morbid!) Mom cheerfully agreed!

So, here's Mom's song: Happy Birthday to Me!

And here is an awesome outtake--(Cooper kept crying over Mom's singing.)

Thanks for the present (reading my blog). It's always a treat to have your company :)

Weekly Winners/Sundays in My City

Every Sunday, favorite pics from communities all over the world are linked up via 

Weekly Winners (hosted by Lotus) and Sundays in My City (Unknown Mami's brainchild).

This week, in my city, daffodils are blooming like crazy. 

Not at my house, certainly; but at the home of a dear friend (Thank you, Jacque.)

In any city, happiness is prepping for an amazing dinner. Here's a gift we received for Christmas 

from Mr.4444's brother and his wife. They're always good for something original...

Ready for the grill....

 

This week in my city, we are mourning a big loss...

Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Also in my city, we are also prepping for the bi-annual Boy Scout Booyah Sale!  

The peeling/chopping phase took place in our garage this morning. 

These hard workers peeled 100 pounds of potatoes without a single complaint (but one band-aid). 

They didn't even take a single sip of their hot chocolates until they were finished working!

This little cutie found a heart potato almost as big as his own :)

We had eighteen helpers. Here's the loneliest table...Can you tell what they are chopping?

If you guessed onions, you are correct!

To buy booyah tomorrow morning, go to Wouters Front!
(But hurry! It goes fast!)

And then stop by I Am Lotus and Unknown Mami to say hi!

Got Invites?

I decided to make my own invitations for Kyle's graduation party, which will be here before we know it. I used Picnic's collage feature to make the invite, which I love. Here's the almost-finished product:

This is a non-compensated review that I'm writing simply to save headaches for anyone trying to print things on-line.

The problems arose when I set out to print. First, I went to Vistaprints to find out what size I needed to make my custom invite in order to have it fit in some type of envelope. (As you can see, it's square.) I found the page easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. I was happy to see that they offered on-line chat help, as well as an 800-number. However, neither of these were available when I needed the help (on the weekend.) It seems like an odd time of the year to be unavailable (what with graduations, Mother's Day, etc. right around the corner). I was disappointed.

From there, I went to Kinkos. No luck; I couldn't figure out how to print my square invitation.

After that, I went to Jostens, where I got the idea to add a little to the left side to make it a 5 x 7. I tried very hard to use their options for personalizing their templates, but I couldn't figure it out.

Picnik also has postcard printing options, 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 only. They use QOOP.  I wasn't sure I liked the 5 x 7 option, so I went back to Picnik for help. Didn't see Customer Service option, but did find a forum. Too bad the forum didn't answer my question. What I want to know is, Why does Picnik have you make square collages that can only be printed as 5 x 7's?

Once I re-sized my invite to 5 x 7 and added the year, I went back to QOOP to print. While looking around, I clicked on the FAQ section and found this:

Top 11 Questions:

• When I placed my order I selected next day shipping. Why haven't I received my order yet?
• How do I cancel my order?
• I only received part of my order. Where is the rest of it?
• I received my order but it is damaged. What do I do?
• Can I return my order?
• I received somebody else's order. How do I get my order?
• My photos did not turn out the way I expected; some of the images have the heads cut off, and some have white bars on the sides or tops of the images. How do I fix this?
• What is the 4 x D photo print size?
• How do I order photo prints or other products from your site?
• How much does shipping cost?
• My pictures came out blurry or really chunky looking (pixelated), but they looked fine when I viewed them on the computer. What went wrong?

Really? These are the common questions? That just didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling, so I changed my mind. As time began running out, though, I decided to order from Qoop. They were kind enough to give me a discount (which I asked for via email), and I paid $18 for 15 cards, including shipping.  Here's the result:

(sorry-scanner is giving me trouble...still working on i)

As you can see, they cropped my invitation too much, cutting off parts of the numbers and taking space from the top and bottom.[Please note that the postcard quality is very good, and it's the scanner, not Qoop, that made the faded spots in this photo. For the cropping issue alone (don't they have human beings look at them before sending them out?), I'm disappointed and have sent an email to them to see what they will do about it.

Tonight, I had some time to kill, and decided to see what my local OfficeMax could do for me. The guy at the printing counter (Ben) was terrific; polite, respectful, and very helpful. Turns out he could print my invites two to a sheet for just 69 cents each. I asked him if my print was the wrong size or something, and he confirmed that it was a little bit too big, but in a couple of clicks of the mouse, he had I nice proof ready for me. He printed out one copy for my approval, and we decided that the paper was a little too thin. Ten minutes later, I had twenty beautiful invitations on very nice card stock. They look terrific!

I also bought a package of nice envelopes (12 for $2.99) for the invites I'll need to mail.

Ben told me that there are some nice on-line resources for making and printing invitations like mine. Paint.net and for printing, Winkflash.

So, to sum it all up, after all the time I spent trying to figure this all out on-line, I could have saved it all by just going to my friendly neighborhood OfficeMax. It was worth it to save you the trouble :)

Friday Fragments, Episode #91

Friday Fragments is like cleaning a junk drawer; you dump the junk, save the good stuff, put it all in a somewhat logical order, and feel great when you're done. Consider FF your blogging junk drawer, and now it's time for some spring cleaning :) (Click the buttons above for more information on Friday Fragments. Danifred is sick this week, so there will be no Friday Night Leftovers today.)

***If you're the praying type, please keep Hallie in your prayers as she journeys through the darkest path any parent can go through; the lost of a child.

***When a white-as-a-sheet Caucasian leaves a Mexican restaurant at which the food was delicious, what should they say to the obviously-Latinos/Hispanic people working there?  "Thanks!" or "Gracias!" ??? Kendall and I were tempted to say gracias, but we didn't want to appear disrespectful or seem like we were mocking anyone.I'd be curious to know your thoughts.

***Messy Mommy had a dream about me, and it cracked me up...
I had a dream that I met Mrs. 4444 IRL. I was so nervous I just stood there and pointed. Luckily she recognized me. Then we were BFFs and played basketball. Ya, my dreams are weird.

***Mary's Flashback Friday post last week really resonated with me. If you can relate to childhood roadtrips or being part of a huge family, you will love it.

***Caution was my Favorite Friday Fragmenter last week, because she was the first one to make me laugh out loud....

Unsettling news takes over: While I was in the hardware store, I bought some suet cakes for the birds and found one claiming to attract teen-agers. I wondered what kind of bird would attract teens and I actually bought it. After I got home, I realized it said Tanagers - which is apparently not a human, but a bird.

Here's your award, Caution.  (Poor thing deserves it, what with her trying so hard to be the "cool" house for the teens to hang out at.)

***You may remember Bee from my audio recording of her post about her daughter's heartwrenching request of Santa this year.  I have never believed more strongly about the value of a post than I do of her most recent post, which includes her ailing husband's account of his own death and subsequent return to life last fall.  It's a MUST read: Angels and Ear Trumpets: Chilly's Story. (Chilly, thanks again for sharing your very moving story.)

***WooHoo!!! Molly's Brandon was the winner of our local GLEE Casting Call!!! This means simply that his audition video will actually be seen by producers of the show! If you voted, Thanks!

***Don't forget to visit Danifred's Sippy Cups Are Not for Starbucks and link up.  And here's a 14-second clip to give you an idea of what goes on over at her place when she's not busy with Friday Night Leftovers:




***Thank you for your wonderful comments this week; I've read every single one (of course) and plan to reply this weekend. I look forward to being able to better keep up with everyone once school lets out for summer in SIX MORE WEEKS!  (Yeehah!! :)

Here's the Linky for anyone who has a Friday Fragments post.  Just so you know, you don't have to link up a photo or button; if you don't, it will just be blank but will show your name.  That said, I think the "quilt" of linkers last week looked awesome!! This is also a "blog hop," (I guess), which  means that not only can the links show here on my page, but fragmenter lists can be posted on your blog, too, if you want.

I'm Not Worthy

I was walking behind a woman in a purple t-shirt at the Relay for Life when she exited the track towards a young girl who was obviously trying hard to fight back tears.  It was clear that those around her had done their best to comfort her until her mom arrived and pulled her into her arms. I have to admit that, for a second, I wished I had my camera, so I could capture the emotions of that young girls' face. It was clear that she needed her mom, and my heart went out to her. Of course, I didn't stop and snap a photo; I just kept going.

A little while later, I decided to check out the Beautiful Lengths/Locks of Love area, where people came to donate their long hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients.  Coincidentally, the same young girl was there, without tears; a look of pride and determination on her face, and a shirt to match her intent...

Her cute mom was standing nearby, lit up with a smile, and taking pictures. I explained that I have a blog and planned to post the before/after pictures. We made more small-talk, and being the nosy person I am, I asked, "Do you mind if I ask why she was crying earlier?  I noticed her when I was walking the track. It looked like she was pretty upset. Was she having second thoughts about cutting her hair?"  The mom smiled and shared that she is a fourth-month breast cancer survivor; her daughter had just been overwhelmed by the whole Survivors Lap experience.

It all made sense, then; the purple shirt is the Relay for Life cancer survivor's t-shirt color.

The mom and I continued to talk while the girl got her haircut. I told her that while I personally don't know anyone fighting cancer, I'm happy to participate in Relay for Life, because I know it makes a difference.  I shared that last night (just like last year), I really didn't feel like going to the relay; I had so many things to do, but people were expecting me, so I went and was so glad.  What people don't realize is that when you volunteer, you always get far more back than you put in. You might think that signing up for Relay for Life is going to be some big chore, but then you see those people in the first lap (The Survivors Lap) and find tears streaming down your face (whether or not you know any of the walkers!) and you know; you've just been given a gift.

The mom agreed wholeheartedly and told me, "You should tell people that on your blog!" I assured her that I have and will continue.  There is nothing like volunteering to make you feel like you really matter in this world; that you have a purpose and belong to something greater than yourself. The payoff for getting involved is far greater than anything you put into it.

After I took this adorable mother-daughter shot, I told the mom I'd be happy to mail the photos and the link to my post if she'd give me her email address.  She happily wrote it out for me and added her name to the bottom; Barbie Mleziva. As she handed it to me, she looked at me and smiled, saying, "It was so nice talking with you; you're inspiring."

Wow. What a wonderful thing to say to a perfect stranger!  I'm sharing this not to "toot my own horn" (as Mom would say) but because of what happened next...

A gentleman in the center of the gym called everyone over to hear the day's guest speaker, Barbie Mleziva! The mom whose ear I had just talked-off got up on the stage and took the mic. She shared her cancer journey; the discovery of the rare form of breast cancer, how it affected her family, and how she fought it. She remarked that her "50/50 chance" of survival grew to 70/30 because of people who help fight for a cure. She demonstrated a healthy sense of humor by modeling her new "front-end alignment" (a.k.a. boob job) and related how the experience of cancer is like a rollercoaster ride; one you finish out of breath, glad to be alive, and looking for a t-shirt that proclaims, "I survived!" This mother of four who's lived with cancer, had radical surgery, and fought courageously through it, who has raised a beautiful young daughter who happily had her hair chopped off for the cause, and who wears a big smile as she listens to strangers babble on called me inspiring.

I am not worthy...

[This post has been audio-recorded. A link can be found in the right-hand sidebar.]

Bad News and Good News

I was driving to Green Bay for an appointment when I got the call from Kyle. I haven't been talking on my phone in my car lately (trying to cut back), but since I knew he had a job interview, I decided to answer it. He told me that he was okay but had gotten in an accident back in Tinytown. He said that the police had been called and that everything was okay, but he needed me to call the potential employer to explain that he would not make the interview.

I hung up the phone and continued driving to Green Bay. I had (not thinking) figured I would still make it to my hair appointment. A mile or so later, my brain kicked in, and I realized that I really should go back to Tinytown and be there with Kyle when the police arrived. Five minutes from Highway 41 North, I turned around.

Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the scene of the accident, where Kyle and the other young driver were still waiting for the police. Kyle's car got the worst of it, and the other driver's truck was not damaged at all. Attitudes were very good, under the circumstances. Thirty minutes later, I headed home.

Flipping on the radio, I heard some bad news; there had been a fatal, freak accident on Highway 41 North,
exactly between the exits I would have been driving, had Kyle not had his accident.

So, the car has seen better days, my poor kid will be paying more for insurance, and I need a haircut really bad, but there is definitely a silver lining.

Someone is watching over us...and we're very grateful.

Tech Tuesday

After my insanely busy Friday night (fundraiser roll-out) and Saturday (a different fundraiser, plus the Elton John concert--WOW), I decided to plant my butt on the couch Sunday.  Of course, you know me; I must bloom where I am planted, so I here are some of the flowers I have to share with you today...

The following are some Internet resources that I find very entertaining or useful:

1000 Awesome Things and The Book of Awesome. It will make you smile. Check out the awesomeness here.

Yelp is a word-of-mouth website that allows you to read the reviews of regular people like you and me (well, mostly regular) for local businesses or places of interest. For example, I wrote some quick reviews for a couple of grocery stores I like/don't like, as well as a diner that is great but out-of-the-way. You could use Yelp to explore places you're going to visit on vacation or simply share your opinions if, like me, you are opinionated.  I read three reviews from tourists to Green Bay about a local favorite restaurant, which was really interesting (they hated it.) The next time you go on vacation, consider giving your objective opinion at Yelp.

If you're in Education, are a homeschooling parent or are just interested in learning cool stuff, Larry Ferlazzo is an INCREDIBLE resource. I cannot tell you enough how much I have learned from this man over the past year.  Here's a link to his Websites of the Month page, which has links to all of his other blog pages, too.  I guarantee that you will find something you are grateful to have at his site.

If you need a laugh, check out Awkward Family Photos, which has also been nominated for a Webby Award in two categories, Humor and Weird.

I have stumbled upon a blogger whose writing fills my heart.  The Momplex, by Jenny Penny is a treasure; I love the "voice" in her writing and think you would, too.

The Special Education Law Blog has been nominated for a Blogger's Choice Award in the category of Best Education Blog. It's not fluffy reading, but there is a search box and some excellent information.


The Everyday Philanthropist shows you how to make a difference with the resources you have, even if you are broke. She's got some terrific ideas.

That should give you enough to play with. Have fun :)

A World of Grief

My heart is broken for my dear blogging friend, Hallie Twomey, of Wonderful World of Wieners, who I just learned lost her son, CJ, on Thursday. Please spend any time or thought you would have put here into prayer or just heartfelt sympathy for Hallie, husband John, and CJ's younger brother, Connor.

Weekly Winners/Sundays in My City

Weekly Winners and Sundays in My City are Sunday photo memes with photos
from communities all over the world.

This week, I'm posting winning pics from Tinytown, where the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life took place on Saturday. The theme this year was "Happy Birthday, because the ACS is the "Official Sponsor of Birthdays." I can take no credit for my team's birthday cake decorations at our table; that goes to Laura, Kathy, and JoAnne. As you can see, they did a fantastic job!

Of course, other teams got into the decorating spirit, as well...

I love how in this one, the mascot appears to be holding the presents...

Seventh grader Zach Prestby is an inspiration to all who meet him, he's a two-time cancer survivor who attends our middle school and is a wonderful speaker. His speech and rallying cry of "...Cuz life is worth the fight!!" was so humbling.



Another moving part of the relay is the Survivor's Lap, during which
survivors of cancer take the first lap around the track, in celebration of their healing,
and in memory of those who have lost the fight.
It's impossible not to be choked up, watching them and cheering them on.



If not for funds raised for cancer research, many of these people
would not be taking this or any lap.
In this year's relay, our small community raised $66,000!!

If you ever have the opportunity to participate in your local Relay for Life,
I strongly recommend you embrace it; the experience will be a gift to
you and bring hope (and more birthdays) to many, many grateful families.

For more Weekly Winners and Sundays in My City, visit I Am Lotus and Unknown Mami.

"Daaaad!!"

Poor Kendall...I did the best I could (last Saturday night) to keep him otherwise occupied, but he got away from me a few times. Mr.4444 thinks he's pretty entertaining (and he is, a lot of the time), but as anyone who's been a teenager knows, your dad are not typically funny when you have your friends over and he thinks you need entertaining.

Daaad! Moment #1
Mr.4444 interrupts dinner (he's standing in the doorway to the deck, where he is grilling more burgers and brats) to say, "Hey, you guys! Wanna see my horse cough imitation?!"  (He recreated the moment for me to video. As you can see, it's a little anticlimactic.)

The girls laughed, but I'm not sure if it was with him or at him.

"Daaad!" Moment #2
"Hey, while you guys are all here," Mr.4444 says to the girls, after dinner, "will you rake our yard?" [This was met with blank stares, followed by uncomfortable laughter. (I think they thought he was serious.]

As much as he is unpredictable in terms of being "funny," Mr.4444 is a wonderful dad. During the same sleepover, he grilled hotdogs and burgers for 14 girls, and he's so darned gracious, it drives me nuts.  He must have asked five times, "Anyone want another hotdog?" when the pan was full of hamburgers. Only Mr.4444 would open a brand-new package of hotdogs and run outside to grill it before he'd tell a guest to have a burger, instead. (I could probably learn something about graciousness from him.)

After supper, when the girls went outside to play "night games," Mr.4444 called a neighbor to give him a heads-up that there might be a ding-dong-ditch episode and to ask him if he might be interested in yelling at the girls a little when/if they rang his bell, just to make it more fun for them. (Unfortunately, the neighbor wasn't home, and his wife wasn't interested.) 

In the morning, Mr.4444 cooked pancakes (blueberry, plain, and chocolate chip) for the gang. Thankfully, we were down to about 10 girls by then, and they were tired from being up until 4am, so I didn't need to put my earplugs in.

And Mr.4444 was tired, so he didn't offer to do any more impressions, which is good....

...because his best impression (fortunately) is that of devoted dad.

Friday Fragments: Episode #90

Someone once called me the "Queen of Clutter "  (I'm sure she meant Friday Fragments; certainly not my house.)  Anyway, welcome to my kingdom; a happy place, where minds are free of pesky thoughts and extraneous mumblings.  (Click on the FF button to learn more.)

***I'm excited to say that I have decided to change my blog template and will be working with Lena this summer to develop the design. I like it when blogs stay the same, but mine will be two years old this summer, so I am due :) Lena has lots of terrific templates. On Saturday, I'll be switching Mrs.4444 Cooks to one of Lena's gems.

***And speaking of Mrs.4444 Cooks, the long awaited Devil's Sex Cake recipe is now up!

***As I type this, Kendall and I are watching the Life series on the Discovery Channel. I just laughed out loud and exclaimed, "How fun!" at a particular scene, and Kendall said, "Mom, you sound just like Grandma (my mom).  I said, "I consider that a compliment," and she confirmed, "It is; it's sweet."  Awwww.

***My friend Molly's son Brandon made it to the regional finals in our GLEE Casting Call!! Listen to his audition here and consider voting for him! (His is second to last.)

***I came across Getting Horizons Horizontal on a site called Digital Photography School. It gives excellent advice on how not to drive people crazy with crooked horizon lines.

***Kyle came in with the mail yesterday and said, "You have a little package there."  I replied, smoothly, "That's what she said."  Score one for Mom on the funny-front.

***Messy Mommy has one of my favorite post ideas; she takes the weekly People magazine headlines and comments on them. The result is always entertaining. I recommend you check it out.

Matty wrote my Favorite Friday Fragment last week:

Recently, I was in an elevator in a medical office. It stopped at a floor and two very old women entered. One of them looked at me and said, "You look just like my brother Bucky. And he's very handsome so take that as a compliment."  Not knowing how to respond, I simply thanked her. And with that, the depth of her compliment became rather clear, when she followed it with, "He's 90 years old."




Poor Matty. I hope this takes the sting out, my friend:

Okay, here I go with my new Linky thing. Instead of just leaving your name, now you can leave your button (or not)! Check it out. [Remember, though, this is for Friday Fragments post only. Thanks.] Oh, yeah. and I entered it as a "blog hop," which I guess means that not only can the links be here on my page, but fragmenter lists can be posted on your blog, too. That way, everyone will get more exposure. Let me know what you think!

Thousand Words Thursday

I haven't counted the words on Kendall's new whiteboard (that Mr.4444 put up in her room), but she just might have a thousand of them. Although her new bedroom decor is more mature in style, she still wanted it to be fun, so we bought a huge piece of whiteboard (4' x 8') from Home Depot, cut two feet off the long end, and hung it in her room on the big, empty wall. It didn't stay empty for long.

The other three walls are still bare, except that the multi-talented Mr.4444 also put a simple shelf above Kendall's desk...

so things are shaping up nicely :) Anyone have an extra chair laying around?

For more pictures that "say a thousand words," visit Jen, at Cheaper Than Therapy :)

Rants and Raves Wednesday

Rants and Raves Wednesday is brought to you by Little Ms. Blogger, at A Little Blog About Nothing. (Click on the button to learn more!)

Rave...Dear College Alumni Who Donate to Your Scholarship Fund,
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Rant...Dear Handicapped Driver Who Parks in the Handicapped Spot,
Hello? Newsflash--The handicapped spot is for handicapped people who are getting out of the danged car. You don't take up the spot so your able-bodied passenger can run in. The spot is not a perk; it's a necessity for people who need the short distance. Unless your handicap is a mental one, there is no excuse; stop it.

Rave...We had a penny drive last week (at our middle school) to raise money for our Relay for Life Team. I had the fun job of taking the pennies to the very patient Citizens Bank folks for counting. Guess how much we raised? (not counting the ribbon sale)

Pretty danged cool, huh?

Rave...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to those who have sponsored me (or others) in the Relay for Life cancer benefit that is just four days away. I am 61% of the way to my goal of raising $500!!! Karen, of Karen and Gerard Zemek, is one of the people who will be in my thoughts on Saturday, as she is just one of many people I know who has benefited from gains in cancer research. Thanks for helping to make a difference!

Rave...This weekend, I made the delicious Snickers Bar "Salad" at Mrs.4444 Cooks. Everyone raved about it! Soon to come, by special request, The very special Devil's Sex Cake!

Mostly raves today! If you'd like to play along, visit Little Ms. Blogger.

Make it a great day! :)

It's Party Time!

Okay, I've been avoiding the whole "blog party" idea, but I've seen the button so often (along with the PRIZES) and finally caved. What?! Oh, I mean HI!! I'm always happy to have company! Welcome to my "Ultimate Blog Party," for which the purpose is:

*To meet other bloggers and gain exposure for your blog
*To win PRIZES (seriously; there are TONS, and you don't need a blog to enter)

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Barb, a.k.a. Mrs.4444. (I'm toying with taking on the name, "Barbara" as my 47th birthday approaches [April 26th--still time to mail a gift!] Somehow, Barbara seems sexier and more mature, but I'm not sure I can handle it; it seems so grown up!) Anyway, you can call me Mrs.4444; but as the sidebar says, don't waste your syllables--It's pronounced "Fours," not four-four-four-four.

Some of my passions (in no particular order) include:

*Blogging (I know; shocker.)
*My family (husband of 20 years and teenage son and daughter)
*Teaching 6th grade middle school special ed (inclusion)
*Parenting
*Technology (keeping up and helping others do the same)
*Taking photos ("photography" implies talent, and I don't want to be misleading)
*Volunteering at school
*Cooking and blogging about it :)

Other random tidbits:
*I've hiked to the top of Mt. St. Helens (and other Washington State hikes) and hope to return one day
*I've audio recorded my favorite blog posts (see sidebar)
*I will write a book one day (no idea on what genre or purpose)
*I have a strong faith in God
*I'm only halfway to my Relay for Life fundraising goal, and the walk is Saturday! hint hint
*I believe everyone could benefit from a little therapy

Prizes I would love (in order):
*Grand Prize: Toshiba Laptop
*INTL 11 Blog design from Simply Fabulous Blogger (my favorite designer, of course!)
*#6 Necklace from Kristin, at Kristin's Custom Creations
*Any giftcard to VISA, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Target
*$50 in cash via Paypal

This party has been brought to you by 5 Minutes for Moms (Thanks, Ladies!! :) I'm glad you stopped by; it's great to see all of you. Blog safely, now, and remember--friends don't let friends blog drunk.