Thank You Isn't Enough

What a terrible, frightening day we experienced 11 years ago. I didn't sleep last night, I read an old copy of People magazine that we've kept all of these years and we knew so little just a couple of days after the attack. Everything was still so unsettled and scary. God bless everyone who gave that day and those who continue the fight today. I don't even have words to express my pride and gratitude, thank you just isn't enough.

I remember driving to work the next day and seeing a man hanging an American flag off of an overpass. I cried, I felt so much sadness for the victims and so much pride in my countrymen. It's sad that it took a national tragedy of that degree to being us all together, but what a wonderful feeling it was to see people connecting like we did. And I still feel it, 11 years later. I would challenge everyone to live and love like they did that first week of our 'new' life as Americans. We told our families we loved them more times than usual, we hugged them a little tighter than usual and we were a little more polite, patient and helpful than usual. If you pay attention today, everyone that talks about where they were seems to recall what a beautiful day it was. Let us try remember every day that way. It's so easy to get caught up in the 'stuff' that's thrown at us each day, and in dealing with the unpleasant things we tend to overlook all of the good things that are happening around us. There's far more going right than going wrong. I promise.

In honor of today, we packed a Patriot's lunch.

Soccer Season Has Begun

Soccer season kicked off yesterday. Scotty's game was great, he played hard & I was so proud of him! He earned a trip to Krispy Kreme for his effort! We went back out to the fields to watch out little friend play her first game and got caught in a drenching rain shower. It was still a great day, I can't remember the last time I played outside in the rain!

I found a great dinner idea on Pinterest this morning. It's called 'dump chicken' and there are tons of different recipes. You prepare them ahead of time, freeze in a bag & use it when you want.

http://whenthedinnerbellrings.blogspot.com/2011/06/super-easy-way-to-getting-meals-ready.html?m=1

If you are going to cook it in the oven, you have to thaw it first. I think I'm going to try it in the crock pot, just dumping the frozen block in there & cook on low for 8 hours. I'll let you know how it works out! I think they'll be perfect for Thursdays, (we have soccer practice at 5:30 on Thursday's, so I need easy meals that are waiting on us when we get home).

"Skip" Days...We All Deserve 'Em

So I skipped blogging yesterday. Scotty was sick the night before, sneezing & coughing all night long so neither of us got much sleep. Therefore, he skipped school and we slept on until after 9am. By noon he was actually much better, but we were enjoying our day on the sofa so he missed the entire school day. He was feeling great by 5:30, so we made soccer practice. It was the best practice he's ever had, (guess all of that resting served him well), he played so well. I'm really looking forward to the first game of the season on Saturday morning.

I made The Lorax and a truffle tree for his lunch today. It's adorable, if I do say so myself. He's been eating so well lately and trying new fruits & veggies, it's completely attributed to his lunches. If you've got a picky eater then I suggesting getting a little creative with their plate.

Glad Yesterday Is Over!

Wow, yesterday was one heckuva day. I spent 3 hours trying to fix the non-draining dishwasher, unsuccessfully. Called the repairman who said he'd be here at 5pm, (showed up around 6:40pm), he spent 1 hour working on it and charged us over $200. I could practically buy a new one for that amount! And did I mention he didn't need to replace any parts, and he used OUR tools, bucket & towels AND scraped 8 of my tiles on the floor. It's on, Mr Fix It, you'll be refunding some of that money.

We also had more issues with Comcast cable. They still haven't finished work from the lightening strike that happened on July 19th. Almost 2 months have gone by and they still can't come over to finish the work or return our calls. When you call the customer service number, you talk to someone in Asia. When we asked for a supervisor in Charleston, the rep said, 'I can have you speak with a supervisor here in Asia'. No, thank you. Hubby drove over to the Comcast office and finally got some resolution, (hopefully), and a promise that they'll take care if it. Fingers crossed, cause we've heard this story before.

I also missed the fact that it was PTO/Open House night at school, so we were rushing to get there in time. We also had to skip taco Tuesday, maybe it'll be taco Wednesday this week. I enjoyed touring Scotty's class, though. I found this entry in his journal in his desk.

Today's lunch is Spongebob Squarepants themed! I love it! The menu is: Spongebob Sandwich Pants, 'seaweed' noodles, (egg noodles boiled in water with green food coloring), pineapple under the sea and Gary's gummies. I think it's going to be one of his favorites so far.

Hope today goes better than yesterday! 

Wonderful Long Weekend

We had a great weekend. No major plans or events but it was fun. Saturday morning we went over to Home Depot and participated in their free kid's workshop.  Scotty made a football goal.  After it was put together he went to pick out his paint colors, I thought he'd pick purple & gold, (ECU Pirates), or black & gold, (Appalachian Mountaineers).  He picked black and red, UGA colors!  Who would've thought?!?  He said that they were cousin Jenny's school colors.  Traitor.

The kid's workshop is great, they give them an apron and a pin, (different pin each time to collect on the apron), and all of the supplies needed to build the craft.  It's totally free and they have it in every Home Dept store on the first Saturday of each month from 9am-12pm.  So fun!

Scotty's lunch today was puppy themed.  I called it the 'Dog Gone Good Lunch'.  I found this idea on Pinterest, of course!  You cut a hot dog into 5 sections, one end will be the head and the other end will be the body, (the body section should be just a tad longer than the others), and the 3 remaining sections will be ears and legs. Cut the ear, and 2 legs sections in half lengthwise and assemble the dog with toothpicks.  I had to trim my toothpicks because they were a little too long.  I used a straw to cut out eyes & a nose and replaced the nose with a small bit of cheese.  It was cute.

I need to buy a waffle maker.  Scotty eats 2 plain Eggo waffles most mornings for breakfast with an egg and some apple juice.  I want to make my own so I can try to get some better nutrition into him in the morning.  I've had waffle makers in the past and they were garbage.  Any recommendations on a brand?

Beginner Yoga...Is There A Pre-Beginner Available?!?

So I got ambitious and tried yoga for the first time this morning. Ummmmmm....is there a pre-beginner version, cause I was struggling?!? I felt like I looked eerily similar to the cat in this photo below.

I'm determined to keep at it though. Maybe someday I'll actually be able to get my heels flat in that downward dog pose, (it wasn't pretty, actually quite ugly). I've got 40lbs to lose, although I'd be happy with 30, and I hope that I'll be a lighter, healthier version of me by 2013.

ECU, we love you, just not today. Go App state!

App State is playing ECU today. Big dilemma here in the Ray house. My hubby and I met the very first day we moves into the dorms at Appalachian, over 17 years ago! The dilemma comes in trying to decide if we cheer for the school where we met or the school that gives my father-in-law a paycheck, thus funding our meeting. Any other day we'd be wearing our Pirates gear, but today it's black & yellow all the way! ECU, we love you, just not today.



Movie night was fun last night, the snack necklace was a hit, (thanks to Pinterest, again!). We used white chocolate dipped pretzels, plain pretzels, popcorn, fruit loops and Lifesavers gummies, (basically, we looked for foods with holes in it). Fun stuff!