Busy: By the numbers

1 – Cello

1 – Huge addiction to Facebook.

6 - Little Brownies in the Troop

1 – Trip to the midwest

1 – Additional Hotel

2 – Fried computers

A bunch of birthdays.

And some pumpkins.

Okay, so I lost count.  Hey – I said it was busy.

We’re rich!

We decided it was time to try our hand at gold mining. I mean, the economy isn’t that great, so maybe we could strike it rich and retire this way. Sure… it could happen. 

It was worth a try. And we did find some gold… flakes, anyway… and some rocks and minerals.

See! Look at all those treasures!

Speaking of treasure… take a look at these gems:

See – I told ya we were rich!

Foxes at the Theater

Imagine the coincidence… all of our husbands decided to get us tickets to see Legally Blonde on the VERY SAME DAY! And… if that wasn’t cool enough – we were all sitting next to each other! Are they good or what?

So – on a Saturday afternoon we met here:

I had never been there before – but hope to go back many, many times. The theater is beautiful & has an amazing history.

We arrived (only had to circle the block once) and got ready to see a great show! It was terrific! The cast was talented and the show was awesome!

Me and the girls… only one blonde in the bunch! After the show, Jamie, Robin and I went to dinner in this neighborhood - which was really cool. We found a neat place with some of the best people watching ever and enjoyed some Southern cooking. (shrimp and grits - yum!)

What a great way to spend a Saturday – blonde or not.

Here and There

It’s been pretty eventful around here lately…

We had some of this:

… which was awesome, by the way. From what I hear from those people who live above the Mason Dixon, snow that lasts longer than a day can be sorta bad and quite uncomfortable. Our snow was melted (mostly) before we went to bed that night.

I went here:

And discovered my new favorite building (The Library of Congress):

I never knew how incomplete my life was without having a favorite building… but, now I feel much better knowing that it’s there. Man, it’s beautiful.

I also did some scrappy stuff:

These are for the kids to journal in when we go to NY in a few weeks. Or ignore them and toss them under the seats in the car. Whatever.

I know, crappy photo… I’ve been having this problem lately. This was for a J(3) challenge… I did one, Jen did one, and Julie did 753. Guess who won?

Between those things I’ve been reading a lot of books (yeah, still vampires) or networking and reconnecting (taking care of my virtual pet) on Facebook.

Exciting, I know.

Whatcha been up to?

It’s been a busy month so far… lots of stuff going on and some projects to share. I also went on a little trip to Virginia Beach to hang out with my former assistant. Had fun, fun, fun. (and we were no where near the beach)

And then she put me to work in her new office.

The nerve.

My new phone didn’t work so well while I was gone. Well it worked. But it worked like a phone…and that was it. It wasn’t supposed to be just a phone. Why would I want *just* a phone? I mean, really. A phone?

Oh – and it only took me two years… but I finally have an Atlanta phone number. So, uh, I guess that means that I really live here now.

While living here, you know in Atlanta, I did scrap a bit for Serendipity Kits:

There’s more… and you can check it all out here… along with an awesome January GIVE-A-WAY! (the photo looks like this because it was taken with my… phone)

So – don’t be such a stranger, okay?

My camera hates me.

Yesterday we went to the Georgia Aquarium.

I think the time spent having annual passes to Sea World in Orlando has jaded my perception of what an aquarium should be like. I’m sure to many people, the GA Aquarium is impressive and state-of-the-art. Me? I left yesterday feeling like it was ‘meh.’

The whale sharks were very cool & the big huge glass wall was quite amazing. I guess I missed the killer whales, the theatrics, the dolphins, and the expanse of the place.

On top of my ‘meh’, my camera decided to pretend like it didn’t know how to take photos. Maybe the aquarium and my camera were in cahoots or somethihng.

I figured that at least I could get some good photos while I was there.

Nope, not so much. You will not see any of the otter photos (they were terrible) or the giant whale sharks (very bad). Manta ray? (not a chance) 

My kids weren’t so cooperative either… maybe the aquarium, my camera, AND my kids were all in cahoots.

(Or maybe I just like saying the word ‘cahoots’)

After the aquarium, we walked through Centennial Olympic Park. It was C-O-L-D. The fresh air and blue sky seemed to energize everyone. (or it could’ve just been all the shivering)

See… look at these kids. They’re laughing & smiling at EACH other! They’re not fighting or nit-picking about something ridiculous that the other one did just to annoy him/her for the 100th time of the day.

Or maybe they do that to simply annoy me.

(it works)

Ah well… a good dinner, lovely cocktail (sangria - yum!), and it was all okay.

This really, really bugs me. A lot.

Exxon Mobil: Biggest Profit in U.S. History

Why did I have to pay $4.39 a gallon for gas this month? Can someone explain this to me please?

New! Fun! Blog!

Check out a great blog for tips and ideas on being a more Frugal Mom.

(I know I can use all the tips I can get)

Did I also mention they have give-a-ways every day this week?

Check-check-check it out!

And here’s a tree from this weekend:

Eat More Chicken

I am quite fond of The Big Chicken here in Marietta. I think it’s hysterical & I love living near it. I enjoy it so much that I even did a scrapbook page about it.

Imagine my excitement when I discovered a whole flock of chickens in Marietta Square yesterday! All painted and decorated by local buisnesses.

This one was my favorite – I would love this in my front yard.

(I’d be the envy of all my neighbors! For sure!)

This one is my other favorite… maybe it’s the glasses:

And, of course, another scrapbook page is in order!

It’s a conspiracy, man.

(that’s what my kids say when they talk like “hippies” - because to them, that’s what hippies walk around saying - all the time.)

I stopped for gas yesterday at a station where & paid a measly $2.79 per gallon. That’s right, people… two-freakin-seventy-nine per gallon. Of gas. In America. Jealous?

I thought that maybe the station had a dyslexic number-putter-upper & surely they would realize that this was a mistake. Gas for $2.79? That’s crazy-talk!

I filled up my tank while looking around suspiciously wondering when someone would run out and say – ACK! THAT’S THE WRONG PRICE! HAND OVER YOUR WALLET, LADY!

No one ever did… so I decided to splurge and paid for a car wash.

Even after full tank and the Ultimate Car Wash my bill was less than a couple of weeks ago. That was when I filled up at $4.39 a gallon.

How in the heck did the price of gas go down $1.60 (had to use a calculator for that one… whew) in a few short weeks? That doesn’t make sense. We’re still paying the same for milk, right? I haven’t noticed the price of bread, avocados, movie tickets, shoes &/or wine going down at all. (and believe me, I checked on the wine…and okay, the shoes too.)

Right before I paid $4.39 for a freakin’ gallon of gas, I could barely find gas ANYWHERE. This is what we were dealing with in the huge commuter city of Atlanta:

and this:

No gas. Anywhere. It had a lot of people panicking and even running out of gas while waiting for gas. I thought I had slipped through the space-time continuum and back into the 1970s. (where I was a wee-babe, thankyouverymuch)

If you did happen to find a station that was actually selling gas, you’d see this:

That line went on for about a half a mile. Ridiculous.

After pumping the $2.79 gas into my car, I felt like YES! I WON! I had gotten one over on those big evil oil companies! GO ME! 

I realized that I shouldn’t be HAPPY about gas at $2.79 a gallon. That is still TOO HIGH. Someone tricked me into thinking that $2.79 was a reasonable amount to pay for gas…and it almost worked! But it’s not reasonable. It’s NOT. Dammit.

That was when I gave the gas station a hair flip. (don’t piss me off or I might hair flip you too – I’m crazy like that)

And then I sat through my $6.00 car wash.