Heard in Room 3: Episode 3

Me: I love Olive Garden.
B: Oh, me too! I have never been there in a while.

A: I like hot wings! We eat them at this place called Putters.
Other A: YOU MEAN HOOTERS?

J: Mrs. Haney, did you know that when you put a whole bunch of Red Hots in your mouth and chew, it BURNS?
Me: No, I didn't. How do you know?
J: CAUSE I DID IT!

Not Me! Monday

It's been awhile since I participated in Not Me! Monday, so I thought I would add a few things from the past weeks.

I am not waiting ever so impatiently for Dana to have her son. It is not as though I am about to birth a (probably) 9 lb+ baby boy, so I have no right to be so impatient.

I am also not totally and completely bitter at Swine Flu because it's presence may prohibit me from going to see the afore mentioned baby when he is born.

I did not figure out how to make my own Pumpkin Spice Latte yesterday and it did not taste quite a bit, if not better than the Starbucks version. I will not share the recipe here if you beg me hard enough. Oh, and it is not totally simple.

Our bedroom TV did not up and die on me on Saturday night. It is not gone for good.

Oh, and I am not psyched about the fact that our new appliances got ordered today! We ended up going with LG-- just an FYI.

Have a good one!

Heard in Room 3: Episode 2

In Bible today, my students had to answer some questions with a complete sentence. One of the questions was, "Who do you respect?" These were some of my favorite answers and no, I did not change the spelling. Spell check is hating me right now but it's too hilarious to change.

J: I respekt my mom dad and teacher. I don't respekt them all the time but I try.

B: I respect my brother. I like him.

L: I repect my mom if she ask me.

S: I respect my mom when I get in trouble.

D: I respecit god he is the best.

Some pictures to satisfy your souls.

I don't have a lot to say today, so I thought I would give you some random shots from the last few months. Hope you enjoy the pictures as well as my lame commentary in which I try to be witty and hilarious but fail miserably. That was a terrible run-on sentence.

In current news, girlfriend still doesn't have a brother. Pray for Dana who is seven days past her due date. We are all praying that baby boy shows up tomorrow while Dana's favorite midwife (who also delivered Malia) is on call.

Brother came for a visit. It was such a delight and I loved every second of it. This was right before he left and I was about .6 seconds from bursting into tears. Love this boy who really isn't such a boy anymore. More like boy-man.

This was during Brother's visit. We went to Mongolian BBQ and I was so tickled that I thought to make a face out of my tortilla. I literally laughed for about a minute straight. Neither of the guys wanted to take a picture with my tortilla face... imagine that.

Lord, have mercy. This was the night that Libs and I decided to cook straight from PW's kitchen. We made Steak Bites, Potato Bundles, Caesar Salad, and Individual Raspberry Cobblers. Everything was to die for. SO good. I have made everything but the Steak Bites since and let me tell you, it only gets better. Especially the Potato Bundles. I could and would eat those everyday if my hips would let me. Hips, why do you hate me?

My sweet Wesley boy. His mom is one of my precious friends at school and this was on his first day of kindergarten. This boy has won my heart and holds it in his hands. He gives the best snuggles and love. Except I still might be bitter about the time when he looked me in the face and said, "I'm really sorry, Miss Rachel, but Mr. Tyler is my best friend-- not you." Thank you, precious. I love you too.

Is there anything like your best friends? These are some of mine. I went to high school and then college with these chicks and they are unbeatable. Love 'em to bits. Sara (far left) lives in Atlanta, Kristi (middle) lives back home in Detroit and Meg (far right) lives with her hubby in Traverse City, Michigan. They each have pieces of my heart and I loathe being away from them. They also make me laugh like no one else. I am so blessed to have these lifelong buddies by my side.

We were finally able to get all of us chicks together with our men for the first time and let me tell you, I don't think I could have come up with anything better myself. We are so lucky that our men get along with each other and are pals! I can honestly say that this night and the next morning that we were all together did my heart so much good. I was refreshed for days and days! I can't wait until the days when we are older and all married and going on vacations with our kids in tow (or at home!). I am so looking forward to that stage in our lives!

And finally, my two sweet flower girls, Mackenzi and Bailey. I have known Bailey since she was a newborn and Kenz since she was four and now they are in fourth grade. When did I become old? You might as well just call me Mamaw. I will embrace my age. I am off to each lunch, which will probably consist of soft foods and prune juice. That's what you're supposed to eat when you're old, right? We'll see.

Heard in Room 3: Episode 1

I think I am going to start a new series here on my blog and call it, "Heard in Room 3". There are so many hilarious things that happen in my classroom that I just have to share with the world. But don't worry, no actual names or personal information about these kids will ever be revealed. I may have a simple mind but I am smarter than that.

Okay. Episode 1.

We always pray before taking a test (I teach at a Christian school). Usually I pray, but today I asked for a volunteer. Enter "N". I love it when this kid prays. He is so genuine and prays in a sing-song voice and always thanks Jesus for our "fun day" so far. It is so precious.

N: Dear Lord, thank you that we have had such a fun day so far. Please help us to do well on our test and not rush through it but not be as slow as snails either. Amen!

Bless his heart. Third grade eloquence is so endearing.

That's all. I will just be giving you some awesome quotes from children because who doesn't love hearing the things kids say? And as a bonus, I thought I would include some pictures of my classroom from the beginning of the year. Hope you enjoy them!

Welcome to my classroom! (I have blurred some things for privacy.)

Outside of my room. I love apples but you won't catch me wearing an apple-embroidered jumper anytime soon. FYI, not a problem if you like to wear jumpers. I won't judge.

Yes, I have gerbils and no, I have never touched them.

Looking into my classroom, aka my second home-- not by choice.

My whiteboard which I rarely use anymore. Thank you, SMARTboard!

My magnificent SMARTboard. I love you.

The view from my desk.

Our little nook with the kid's cubbies.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! And just for the record, they were not "slow as snails" during their test. I'd say "fast like cheetahs" would be more accurate.

Go into labor, already!

By nature, I am not a patient person. I have gotten better over the years, but in general, I do not exude the spiritual gift of waiting patiently. I can wait for something, but I don't wait well.

Today, I am waiting. Dana is due with her second baby today. Sweet boy needs to hurry up and get himself out and into the world because RACHEL WANTS TO HOLD HIM. However, if history repeats itself, I will be waiting a while longer because her daughter Malia was five days late. Today, Malia turns 14 months.

Yes, you heard that right. Baby boy and Malia will be only 14 months apart. You can pray for Dana.

Luckily, Malia is the best baby on the planet and I know baby boy will be just as perfect. It also helps that Dana is one of the best mothers I have ever come in contact with, so she'll be fine. But you can still pray for her. She had Malia (all nine pounds of her) 100% naturally and she is going to have her darling boy the exact same way. She is my hero.

In the mean time, I will be getting my love and snuggles from this sweet girl until her brother shows up. We are the best of friends. Hopefully I'll be back to introduce you to the little man in just a few short days at most. If not, I'm gonna have to have words with Dana. Since she can control that, you know.

At my house this summer, Malia discovered my Mallow Cups. She would pick my favorite thing to hold onto for dear life.

This is what she looks like when she is happier than a clam. Those are peas (or broccoli?) in her mouth. Girlfriend loves. To. Eat.

She is just the happiest girl. I love that about her!

Just thinking about life.

She was really good about wearing her lifejacket, but that didn't mean she liked it.

No more lifejacket!

My Very First Deal!

I am a wannabe couponer. I have a great system and I buy newspapers, but often, I lack the time to cut them and organize them. Hopefully that will come with time. I was a lot better at it this summer, but then again, I wasn't working 345, 589 hours per week, so that might have something to do with it.

I am always jealous of the women who go out and get $358.59 worth of products for approximately 89 cents. It takes a lot of organization and planning, which are two of my favorite things, ironically enough. We live in a third floor apartment and we are limited in what we can store. That all will change as soon as we move into our new house. I am also lacking the time. Have I already said that?

But when I was alerted to a coupon deal at Meijer by a sweet friend, I couldn't pass it up. And so, ladies and gentleman (because who am I kidding, Ty is the only man who reads this blog), I give you my very first really super wonderful coupon deal.

There are some boxes that are hidden by my lovely display here, but if you were to count, you would see that there are 20 boxes of 100 Calorie Packs on my stove. Twen. Ty. But the quantity doesn't mean much without the price, so I would like to break down what I spent for you. (I am feeling very thrilled right now, as I have never done this before, so bear with me.)

Total Spent: $5.80

Total Saved: $50.00

I think Tyler was in shock last night. He got over it and gobbled up 200 calories worth of Golden Oreos. If you would like to score a similar deal, I will give you step by step instructions because that is what works for me. I have a simple mind and I'M OKAY WITH THAT.

Can you tell?

Anyway.

1. Print off as many of these Meijer Mealbox coupons as you'd like. I printed out 20 to start, hence my 20 boxes.

2. Go to Meijer. Wear a jacket because that place is the stinking Arctic Circle and you will freeze to death if you don't. I did and am now writing this from beyond the grave. It's very nice here.

3. Go find the 100 Calorie Packs, which are marked down to either $2.59 or $2.29 this week, depending on which ones you get. Choose as many as you want, but be sure to make it a multiple of 5.

4. Go and check out at U-Scan. Scan your first 5 boxes and then it will take off $5. Scan your Mealbox coupons (one for each box) and it will take off an additional dollar per box, making each box either 29 cents or 79 cents!

5. End your transaction and then do another. See why you need multiples of 5? You want to get the $5 off!

I did one transaction at one Meijer where the shelves were picked clean and then stopped by another one on my way home and scored 15 more boxes (3 more transactions). The checker at the first Meijer wasn't the nicest person to walk the planet, but the young man at the second Meijer was much more pleasant. I was nice to both and felt like I had scored big time.

And there you have it. Go get your 100 Calorie Packs. I think I'm going back for more today.

You can never have too many Golden Oreos.