Still here...

It's been a week since little brother's wreck. We are still hanging out in the same chairs of the ICU waiting room. Visits with him have been very roller-coaster. Some days he responds well, and then he'll throw us all with a non-responsive day. We have learned that he's blatantly honest while sedated, and has made comments that have had us rolling. The part of the brain that suffered injury in the wreck is the part that influences behavior/personality, so we are waiting to see what this will mean. He will speak to us, but usually just a yes or no answer. He told the nurse on more than one occasion that he couldn't sleep cause "those people were messing with him." Today he has been much more responsive, asking for his BoSox hat, and for allergy medicine (but not too much). When his wife told him she couldn't wait for him to open his eyes and give her a big kiss, he replied, "you can wait." He hasn't opened his eyes since the wreck, but the Drs have assured us this isn't unusual with a brain injury. While it will be a long slow road, he is expected to make a full recovery. Thanks to those that have stopped by and offered comments and prayers. I would never have imagined spending my Thanksgiving in a hospital waiting room.

life comes at you fast

My younger brother was injured in a head on collision yesterday morning while driving to school (he's a teacher). He was air-lifted to the nearest head and trauma hospital. He had to be cut out with the jaws of life. He has a bleed in his brain, a cracked vertebrae and a compound fracture in his leg. He is still in intensive care today. He is currently in surgery to repair his femur and try to stop the bleeding. I drove in to be with my family and friends and have a somewhat spotty internet connection. If you visit my blog, please keep us in your prayers.

grumble grumble grumble

I hate washing dishes. despise. would rather stick sharp things in my eye. Truly abhor it. As a result, the sink and counter typically look like this.

Maybe if I had these.

Photo from casasugar

Or these.

Photo from Mark Concrete

Is there anything that can make dish washing a pleasant experience?!?

P is for Panthers

I spent all day Saturday (15 hours!) filming the season finale of Friday Night Lights. Unlike our usual shoots, this one involved nearly 2000 people and some pretty windy weather. We arrived at Memorial stadium bright and early for our 8:00 A.M. call time and proceeded to wait in line for nearly 45 minutes to check -in. We made a mad dash through wardrobe, grabbed breakfast and headed out to the very bright, very chilly morning.

The first hour or so was spent waiting for the cameras to be set up and for everyone to figure out what shot they wanted. You can see from the picture, we were pretty bundled up. I'm sure the Starbucks inside the stadium had one of their best days ever! After the entrances were filmed, we changed seats to start the game. I was lucky enough to sit along the 50 yard line, just down from Connie Britton, who plays Tammy Taylor on the show.

For the next 12 hours we watched the same plays being filmed from every possible angle. We cheered, we booed, we tried desperately to stay warm.

At the end of the night, as the lights went out on Panther football for another season, all that remained was a little blue paint.

Linking it Up

With the holidays rolling on in, I am all about winning some fabulous prizes to lighten the gift load. Two of my favorite blogs are holding giveaways this week, and I am here to spread the linky love.

Laurie at Tip Junkie is hosting her 12 Days of Junkie to promote the Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon. She has some fun treats, so be sure to check it out!

Skip to My Lou is having a just in time for the holidays giveaway. Up for grabs? Some seriously funky Digitial Christmas Cards and Postage. She's picking 5 winners, so I'm ok with sharing this contest :)

Good enough to eat

You know how I feel about candy corn. I'm sure there's some type of amphetamine ground up in there. Well, I found the perfect way to carry candy corns from Halloween to Thanksgiving. Last year we made the sugar cookies found in the header. This year (thanks to a random night at Chick-fil-a) we're trying these bad boys.

It takes 2 Oreos, 4 candy corns, one whopper and a little bit of icing. Pull one oreo apart and use it as the base. Stick the other oreo into the icing and stick it to the base. stick candy corns in the creme filling of the oreo to make feathers. Dip a whopper in icing and place it touching the oreo tail. Break off a piece of candy corn for the beak. You can also use some icing/gel to make eyes. Chick-fil-a had red gel which resulted in a very demonic turkey! Super simple. Super tasty!

P.S. Tonight's cheeseburger joes & sweet potato fries turned out great! the picture, not so much

Rainy Days and Tuesday get me down

I know. We need the rain. The yard is slowly dying becuase of the drought-like conditions in which I live. But do you know how hard it is to get student's to stay awake when it looks like this outside?

I've got a plan...

A menu plan to be exact. In an effort to take control of the chaos that my life becomes at the first sighting of Christmas decorations, I am trying out Menu Plan Monday. After reading organizing junkie's helpful links, I gathered the husband and the young un around the computer to find some family friendly meals, printed out my lists, and hit the grocery store. Here's our Menu for the week:
Monday: Baked Teriyaki Chicken & Brown Rice
Tuesday: Cheeseburger Joes & Sweet Potato Fries
Wednesday: Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo (I'm adding shrimp to mine)
Thursday: *Slow Cooker Meal* Easy Cheesy Chicken
Friday: Leftover Buffet :)

So cross your fingers and wish me luck! I'll let you know how many times the fire dept has to visit our house this week.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

It seems like the days have been flying by at lightening speed lately. I have to admit, I love this time of year, but it really sneaks up on you. It's quite possible to get overwhelmed driving home in the dark at 6:00, but there are a few things I can count on to keep my head above water.

The perfect bubble bath. Seriously. It has total healing powers. Calm One Calm All is completely fabulous. It has a not too flowery/not too fruity scent and the bubbles last till you reach the prune-y stage.

I have a serious craving for the shortbread chocolatey goodness of Milano cookies. I can't keep them in my house because I'll eat the whole bag. They are the perfect amount of sweet and bitter. Deliciousness.

My new palm centro. It's hot pink. It's got a facebook application. It's my new bff.

Palmer Cash tees. Quirky and irreverent. Just like me :)

I've learned that middle schoolers will talk simply to fill the silence. I just have to make sure there's never silence. Pandora Radio lets me create my own radio station and prevents random conversations about people getting poked in the eye. I have a station for just about every situation (tests, independent work, group work, study hall, fire drill).

Ninjas, Grills and Racecars

We spent last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, just out of Ft Worth for the Dickies 500. My family has always been involved in racing, from dirt tracks to driving school, and we've been to a race at TMS every year since it opened. With this year's race falling on Halloween weekend, the young un and I decided to hit the road for a little "truck or treat" at the racetrack. Unfortunately, traffic slowed us down (one of the things I DO. NOT. MISS. about DFW) and we didn't get to walk around. The boys did get to haunt the campsite though. Mine is the ninja, of course...look at those sweet sword skills :)

Race weekend is difficult to put into words. There are trailers set up from every major sponsor (Coca Cola, Nicorette, U.S. Army, Red Cross, Lowe's, etc) and a ton of freebies to be had. One of our favorite tents is Brookshires, where you can spin the prize wheel for eco-bags, playing cards, or a chance to be in the money booth. Another is the Lowe's trailer where the kdis can make a pine wood car and the adults can play games for free tools. And when we go to the track, it's all about the freebies. Free t-shirts, license plate frames, TUMs, sun visors, coozies, key chains, pins, lanyards, and posters. We turn nothing down. We haul our stash back in one of the thousands of plastic bags they hand out and make sure everyone got one of each. This year we wer efortunate enough to have garage passes that allowed of access during the entir race. It was mom's first trip into the garage/pit, so we tried to give her the whole experience.

My favorite thing about race weekend? The food! Dad loves to bring out thr grill and the dutch oven for a little breakfast.

Tagged.

I was tagged by CL in a weekend post. I misunderstood and thought it was freeze tag, so I've been sitting at my computer not moving. Now that I've thawed out, here's 7 random things about me, because I do not have C's OCD issue with even numbers :)

1. I can quote every moment of Steel Magnolias. Seriously, I'm like a one woman show and sometimes don't even realize I'm doing it. I can slip it into every conversation. I love it more than my luggage.

2. I stay up all night looking through blogs I find by hitting the "next" button on blogger. I once found a blog of a guy who took a photo and wrote descriptions of his outfit each day. I also find a lot in languages I don't understand.

3. I make random lists all day long. "Things to make for Christmas", "Songs to download for my i-pod", "Recipes to try", "Craft Projects to create", "Hit lists", "The best 80s albums", "TV shows to record", "favorite paint colors", etc. I keep them on post-it notes in my desk at school.

4. I can't write with plain wood/graphite pencils. I've tried. They creep me out. I can use mechanical pencils, but no # 2 Ticonderoga for me!

5. I ate Lucky Charms for three months while I was pregnant. Every. Single. Meal. My brother worked at a grocery store and I would have him bring boxes by on his way home from work. I haven't eaten them since.

6. I have shoes in my closet I have never worn. I look at them all the time. I move them around to different boxes. I even put them on my feet. But they have never left the house. I know I have a problem, but I think they are happier sitting on my shelf than they were sitting on the department store shelf.

7. I used to rodeo. Like Rocky Mountain Jeans rodeo. Growing up I had a horse (for 4-H) that I took to a couple of shows and another that I rode in play days. During one barrel race my cinch broke and the saddle slipped underneath the horse. I fell off and the horse stepped on me. I did not get back on for a while.

I tag:
Casey @ Casey's Southern Fried Blog
Jessica @ The Great Northwest
Monica @ Monica's Musings
Carrie @ Oh Happy Day!

It's Time!

Today is the day to put democracy in action. It doesn't matter who you are voting for, just that you're making your voice heard. Think one vote doesn't make a difference? Think again. So what's so great about 2008?

• This is the first time in history that the two main opponents in the general election are both sitting Senators. The last time a Senator was elected President was John F. Kennedy in 1960.


• Our next president will become the first to be born outside the Continental United States! Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and John McCain was born at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, a U.S. naval base.


• This is the first election in which the Vice President is not a candidate for either the presidency or the vice presidency since Nelson Rockefeller in 1976.


• Barack Obama and John McCain are 24 years and 340 days apart in age. This is the biggest age difference between the two major party presidential candidates in U.S. history!


• McCain would be the first president from Arizona, while Obama would be the third president elected from Illinois…the first two being Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.

Who doesn't want a chance to be a part of history? If you're still one of those undecided voters (you procrastinator, you) Check these links for some questions to help you make your choice.

Candidate Match II

Vote Match

No matter the outcome for today's election, it will have an impact on you. Why not do something about it? V-O-T-E!