Never wear a red vest into Lowe's...

Since Ali was over her WRETCHED stomach virus today, we decided to do some shopping in Augusta that we'd originally planned for Saturday. The girls needed a few things and I needed a thousand things. I was able to get my scrapbook frames 40% off at Michael's. I was very happy about that. I also got the girls a few pairs of cheap Target jeans since theirs have gotten too short. I don't usually buy super cheap kids clothes, but since they'll be wearing shorts and capris soon, I decided 10 dollar Target jeans were acceptable. Ali had to have new gymnastics shoes and Addie had to have new ballet shoes.

The most important thing I got today was PAINT for Addie's room!! When we were building the house, Addie wasn't old enough to be obnoxiously vocal about her color choice, so her room was painted the same color as the rest of the house, Quaker Beige. Ali was insistent on a Pepto shade of pink that I had to tone down with beadboard along the bottom of the walls. I got a suggestion from a friend of mine who used Jekyll Club Veranda Yellow in her daughter's room. I tend to like the historical colors palette and so I checked it out and ended up getting a shade just a few shades lighter, Tea Room Yellow. Pete is busy working on it now!

Today I foolishly wore my Georgia fleece vest into Lowe's and I must have been asked 100 times where the caulk was, or where some sort of power tool attachments were. The girls thought it was quite humorous! Lesson of the day...unless you want to be pestered to death while shopping, don't wear red to Lowe's!

Making memories of us...

I don't know if I've ever been so thankful for a Friday as I am for this one! It has been one hell of a week. I don't know if it's been a full moon since Christmas or what, but the four horsemen of the middle school (bedlam, madness, chaos and mayhem) have been unleashed! I cannot wait to relax this weekend and do some shopping since payday finally arrived.

One thing I must have this weekend is a scrapbook shadowbox. Anyone who's been in my house knows I'm a sucker for something unique and personal. Yesterday I mentioned that I loved a wine's "story" as much as I loved the wine. This is true about everything in my house. Many things, if not most things, in my house have a story. Before I got involved in a ridiculous pursuit of a PhD, I got into scrapbooking. I don't have the patience for it nor the attention to detail, but I did manage to buy some super cute pre-made pages off ebay. The other day Ali Grace was having a "girl meltdown" and I sat on the bed with her and went through my old scrapbooks with her baby pictures, her baptism pictures, pictures with old friends from Savannah, and pictures from great family times together. I realized that no one EVER sees them and then that SAME day I was in Michael's and saw scrapbook shadowboxes. They easily fit a 12x 12 scrapbook page. My wheels began to turn!

Before we moved from Savannah, I took a photography class. The instructor was wonderful and he told us to make sure when we photographed our children growing up, to take pictures of their precious little hands and feet. It's a memory you forget and often they cannot be seen well in full body pictures. Ali Grace was helping my daddy on the farm a few years ago, and she came in FILTHY! I don't know what made me think of it but I took a picture of her dirty hands, color enhanced it to a sienna color and it is a beautiful picture. I put it on a scrapbook page with the words "a little dirt never hurt". It's one of my favorites. I think it'd be perfect for the laundry room or bathroom. Likewise I have one of Addie when she was less than a year old gazing into my dad's eyes with her hands on his cheeks. She has always absolutely worshipped him. It would be beautiful displayed in her room.

So that's my plan for the weekend! I'm going to Augusta tomorrow, going by Michael's and then to my favorite wine market. Tenga un buen fin de semana everyone!! (Have a great weekend!)

Attitude adjustment

St Francis of Assisi once stated that great sorrow could be alleviated with a good bath, a glass of wine, and a night's rest. I tested his theory and am happy to report 'tis true. After yesterday's wretched day, and then the dance/gymnastics marathon, I came home with a killer headache, starving to death, and worn to a frazzle. I tripped over a chainsaw in the garage and tore one of my favorite pairs of pants. My dog had walked over the freshly painted garage floor at my parents' house. By the time I got home, I was questioning St Francis. I was thinking, "It's going to take a glass of wine and an excessive amount of Xanax to fix this hot mess of a day". But alas, I'm better today. Issues haven't changed, but my attitude has improved.

Lately, I've been searching out some regional wines. I am a bit of a "locavore" and few realize what wonderful wineries we have right here in Georgia. Georgia even has a "wine road" through "wine country"! They have a great Wine Road Weekend in March. The wineries I'm most familiar with are FrogTown Cellars in Dahlonega, Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Clayton, and Tiger Mountain Vineyards in Tiger. My favorites are both Persimmon Creek wines. They are Persimmon Creek Seyval Blanc and Persimmon Creek Riesling. VERY GOOD. All the Georgia wines are comparable to other regional US or Australian wines. I'm not a sommelier by even the greatest stretch of the imagination but I do find wine fascinating and If I win the lottery or if I have one more day like yesterday and do indeed delve into another career, I may look into sommelier's school seriously. :) I find the wine's "story" even more fascinating than the wine itself. Last year I tried an Australian grown muscadelle that was truly heavenly from Rosewood Vineyards Anyway, a sommelier told me that the winery was within feet of being burned during the terrible wildfires a couple years ago. Makes great table talk I guess!

There's a great wine shop in Evans next to Kid2Kid. The owner is very conversational and they do carry an array of Georgia wines. They are willing to order as well. A great website to check out all the Georgia wineries is http://www.georgiawine.com/georgia-wineries All the Georgia wines as well as the aforementioned Rosewood muscadelle are easy on the wallet too. And for a furloughed school teacher on the edge, that's always a plus.

Rough day...Rough YEAR!

Today was not one of my finest teaching moments. I am tired. I am weary. I am not having fun. This year's group is particularly challenging and I've tried hard not to let it define my attitude towards teaching and public education in general, but sadly it has. In addition to furlough days, my National Board supplement was cut to virtually nothing. Our school has no money for ANYTHING and if I wasn't so close to having a PhD in Education, I'd consider finding another line of work. Seriously y'all. It's that bad. The latest issue that seems to be another nail in the coffin of my teaching career is "pay for performance". I am so sick of hearing about it I don't know what to do. The general public thinks it's wonderful because they have no clue what it's about. If I go to the doctor, she will tell me to lose weight, to eat less red meat, to drink more water, and to exercise more. She will explain why these things are so important for my health and my future. But guess what y'all! She can't make me do it! If a cardiologist prescribes a healthy diet for his patient after a successful bypass surgery, and the patient does not follow that diet at home, how in our warped minds is that cardiologist responsible for his patient's heart attack? Teachers are the only professionals who continuously allow ourselves to be stomped into paste on the pavement. Whatever asinine things come down from Atlanta, we deal with the crap of it and do the best we can do and say little about it.

This year has put a bitter taste in my mouth with regards to public education. I'm not sure it's the best option anymore. There are fewer and fewer children I want to be around my own children. There are more and more problem children which take up a majority of the teacher's time while the children with good raising sit still and wait. There is such an intense focus on standardized testing that ELEMENTARY children only have recess once a week. The majority of instruction is CRCT practice, and beyond the control of teachers. Schools are so desperate to get students to MEET standards on the test, that there is NO focus on getting the smarter kids to EXCEED the standard. Again, this is just a by product of over testing. It has NOTHING to do with the quality of the teacher. Ali has a WONDERFUL teacher this year.

I am not sure what we'll do next year. Private school is an option for the girls although it's not an option for employment. I'm still looking into it for the girls next year though, although I'm still not convinced it's the best option. But bottom line is I don't care if they can think algebraically. I'm just looking for a few kids who can THINK period.

I am cutting edge!

Seriously if you ask any school teacher how much money they have in their checking account the last week in January, none will give you an answer higher than double digits I'm almost positive. We get paid in mid December before Christmas Break and don't get paid again till the end of January. So, around here we're scraping the bottom of the freezer.

I was reading recently where being frugal is now "chic". Of course there have always been people who choose to live their lives simply and with the least amount of monetary expenditures possible. But now, according to many, frugality is COOL. Wow. School teachers are cutting edge.

According to NPR this morning, poker night is in, weekend trips to Vegas are out. Debit cards are in, while credit cards are out. Eating out is now shunned while eating at home is trendy. Wow. Who woulda thunk it? Not that I don't enjoy eating out- I really do like it. But it's gotten very expensive with two children who eat like birds but are often charged full price. When we built our house, we built it with entertaining in mind. We wanted a large open floor plan where the kitchen and the living room were open. We also wanted bathrooms in all the bedrooms to better accommodate overnight company. While we did spend extra money to have these things, we made a trade off by entertaining company with a nice bottle of wine and much cheaper home prepared fare. We have company quite often for the weekends and we enjoy being together and having a good time.

Now apparently it's cool to advertise how much money you've saved rather than how much money you've spent! So, here are some of the ways we've tried to pinch pennies.

*We went on a passport necessary trip last summer and this summer we're probably going to stick with Hilton Head or Cocoa Beach.

*My pantry looks like a Wal Mart shelf since I buy mostly Great Value brand canned goods. I've found almost ALL of them to be of equal quality to name brands. I also LOVE the Great Value Mandarin Orange laundry detergent. I still use my trusty Gain on heavily soiled clothes, but for everyday wear, I love this laundry detergent!

* We are making tea more often and drinking less coke.

*We are trying to be mindful of the food we waste. We're taking more leftovers to lunch these days.

*We are mindful of the gas we use as well as the heat. We have been utilizing the fireplace since I love it and the wood is free. We keep our thermostat on 67 or 68 and with a fire, it is very comfortable.

*I have NOT skimped on my children's clothes- not out of vanity but out of concern for quality. I am a huge Gymboree fan and I have found that their clothes are superior in quality to almost any other. Christmas before last, when Gymboree had a big sale, I bought Addie 10 pairs of jeans. They were a little big, but I cinched them up and she is still wearing them today. They look great and I'll sell them to kid2kid in a few weeks since she'll be outgrowing them soon. I don't mind kids outgrowing clothes, but it drives me nuts for clothes not to last! I bought Ali Grace several Old Navy tops at the beginning of the school year and they were utterly destroyed by Christmas. The hem has come out of the bottom of the shirts, and the color has really faded even though I almost always wash in cold. They were definitely not worth the difference I saved. Some things are worth the extra money and I've found that kids clothes are worth it. Same with shoes. Ali Grace wanted Hannah Montana shoes and I relented and bought them at Target. They looked terrible within 2 weeks. I bought her New Balance shoes in September and they still look fine. She will outgrow them before they wear out.

So I guess the bottom line is when times are tough, it can be frugal to spend more as well as less. I'm just hoping I have enough laundry detergent to last till payday~

I'm blaming it on the wine....

Unfortunately we missed church this morning for no good reason at all. I just didn't want to get dressed. The service was great last week so I don't know why I had absolutely no motivation this morning. I had a full glass of red wine last night before bed, and while I love red wine, it knocks me out and leaves me dead in the morning. Thus was the case this morning I guess. You'd think I'd learn. But no, I'm hardheaded.

Almost a year ago my husband and I went to "Wine Weekend in the Woods" at Smithgall Woods Lodge (pictured above) outside Helen. I was upset with him for spending money on such a frivolous thing, even though we seldom do such things. However, it was WELL worth it. Chef Mac Parks was at his best that weekend. He has written several articles in Bon Appetit. The sommelier was great too. Not only was he an expert on viticulture, he knew his history. I was fascinated listening to him tell stories about the wineries that produced the wines we were drinking. After dinner one night we had an unbelievable dessert paired with a tawny port that was out of this world. The winery that produced the port had been in the same family over 300 years. Unbelievable. Anyway, to my point! While we were there, we had Gouda cheese from the Sweetgrass Dairy in Thomasville. Hands down, it was the best Gouda cheese, probably the best cheese PERIOD that I'd ever had. It was paired with a Chenin Blanc that was wonderfully perfect. Recently the Sweetgrass Dairy has begun to offer their cheeses for purchase online. I've also had their Thomasville Tomme and their Asher Blue cheese. ALL were fabulous. Check them out at www.sweetgrassdairy.com They are a family operation, running a grass fed herd of jersey cows. I love their take on sustainable agriculture as much as I love their cheese!

As if I have nothing else to do....

I started this blog mainly to share what's going on in our family with some of our non facebooking friends! I love sharing recipes, pictures, stories, etc. and I hope I can do that through this blog.

I am working on a dissertation right now. Well actually the word working is not appropriate. It's been dead in the water for some time. But, I'm resolved to get back at it. I am going to get this thing out of my life soon and very soon!

Recently, the girls got a horse for Christmas. My dad spoils my children and I usually don't mind. But a 1,000 pound creature?? Seriously that's a little extreme don't you think? I took some riding lessons in college and I have a degree in Animal Science, but this does not necessarily prepare one for horsehood! I was a little nervous about how this would work out, but the girls are in love with the horse. She's a Paso Fino with the prettiest gait you've ever seen! Thankfully Royce, one of Pete's old ABAC friends hooked us up with lead ropes, tail combs, etc. for Christmas. He gets the award for "Most useful and appropriate Christmas gift" this year. The fact that he brought a GREAT port wine to New Year's helped him win this award as well. The horse's full name is Fairwind Georgia Peach but we call her Peaches. Peaches has been especially good for Ali Grace who let's just say ... got her patience from her daddy. If she can't get it right the first couple times of trying, she's ready to forget it and wants to move on to something else. I really think it's important for kids to commit to something and learn to see it through. Her riding instructor is a midwestern type whom us southerners would consider brash and rude. However, she's very knowledgeable and puts Ali's safety above everything else. Her next lesson is tomorrow and she's excited about it.

I am hoping this will help Ali learn patience and persistence. She has always had a hard time with timed facts tests since 1st grade. Anyone who knows her knows that she moves like a sloth. It used to drive us crazy but now we've gotten used to it. But, her grade in math had started to slip because she just wasn't finishing her work in time and the timed facts scores were horrid. I'm a math teacher, so I immediately nutted up when her grade slipped from an A. My husband kept saying that not all kids have A's in math and that I was overreacting. Maybe. I don't know. But I do know that after the nutting up episode, Ali pulled her grade up to an A on her last report card and made a 94 on her last timed facts test! YAY! Maybe it's the horse.