Knitting + Dieting = Perfect Pair!

Note: Yet another post that I started and never posted... Bear with me- this is the last one, I promise!  

This is one of the newest commercials out there dedicated to helping all us fatties lose some poundage.   Just a note, I laugh every time I see this commercial...

    

  

  

This commercial really speaks to me.  Why?  Well, because I have battled with my weight for as long as I can remember, and I just feel cosmically connected to this poor woman!  A sisterhood if you will.  Then there's the fact that I have recently picked up knitting, thanks to my friend and co-worker, Meghan.  I have been working on my first project, a purple scarf!  I can only dream of being amazing enough to knit a BASKETBALL JERSEY!!!  Holy smokes!! That is sooo cool!   I do think that this lady needs an intervention, and her hubby needs to invest in some contacts, (or at least a decent pair of glasses.)  I was just impressed that a company had the foresight to combine dieting and knitting. (um, I'm joking. Kinda.)  I think that they are the perfect combination.  (again, joking...)  I am soo gonna try this the next time I am hungry!  Imagine the projects I could complete!  I'm picturing baby blankies, scarves galore, shawls, hey, maybe I'll even knit me my own Snuggie!

Gotta run!  I've gotta a hankerin for some Girl Scout Cookies!  Maybe I can get that scarf finished instead of scarfing down an entire box of tagalongs!!  (then I can get to work on that cool snuggie!)  LOL!

40 days...

NOTE:  This is a post that I started a few weeks back.  With the Quarter coming to an end, and all the work that involves I kinda have fallen behind on the blog... Sorry!  So I am posting a few of the ones I started and never finished.  Forgive me?? Enjoy!

Ahhh, Ash Wednesday is here again... and so begins Lent.  The 40 days of preparation for the Holy season of Easter.   I am amazed by the opportunity I have each year to become a better person, draw closer to my Lord, and become the person He created me to be.  This year I am really taking Lent seriously, not that I haven't in years past, but I always find myself at Easter Mass thinking that there was so much more that I could have done during Lent.   So I am doing more than I have before to make the most of this time.  So today, like all Ash Wednesdays of years past, I attended Mass.  I went with the Williemas Munchkins, and we received our ashes.  Here we are, all holy and ashy:

Notice anything about Brian and JP?  No, really look... see it?  Of course you don't, because what you are looking for is NOT THERE!  This was right after Mass, and their ashes are already gone!  Seeeeeee- I still had mine, but theirs were wiped clean... they swear that they didn't wipe them off, that they just rubbed off; but I had to SCRUB mine that night to get them off.  So I have to wonder...

I have to retract an earlier statement I made earlier... "like all Ash Wednesdays of years past, I attended Mass..."  to be completely honest there was ONE year I didn't attend Mass on Ash Wednesday.  It's one of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me.  It was 2000, the Jubilee Year, and I was in Rome during the first week of Lent!  Amazing, I know!  So I was there with my friend, Leslie, and we were having a wonderful time.  It was my first trip out of the country, and my mom was a wreck.  She says that she drew comfort and strength from the thought that it was Ash Wednesday, and that I would be receiving ashes at the Vatican, maybe even from John Paul, The Great himself.  Well, I called her that night to tell her how things were, and she started going on and on about how wonderful it was for her to know that I had been getting ashes from the Pope, (maybe), and that she had been crying throughout the day thinking about it.  Well, I HAD to tell her that we didn't!  What kinda daughter would I have been if I hadn't?  We did TRY to receive ashes that day, but it never worked out.  We really tried, but it wasn't to be.  To this day I regret that I missed Mass on that Ash Wednesday, especially every time she tells that story!!  Thanks, Mom!

I've been really focusing on the 40 Days that Jesus spent in the desert, this Lent.  Many of you know that I love the music of Matt Maher.  He is an amazing Catholic artist who has just broken onto the Christian Music stations with a lot of success.  His music is beautiful and speaks to my heart.  He has a song called "40 Days"  and it's about Jesus' time in the desert and ours as well.  I found this little clip on You Tube, and wanted to share it with you.  Not sure who did the pictures and slideshow, but they did a great job... pay attention to the numbers in the top left hand corner of each slide- they number the days in the desert.  Here's a little "I Spy" game for you:

- find a snake

-find the flower

-find the cow skull

-find and apple

I loved the angels, and the fact that Satan chose to appear to Jesus looking like Jesus was very thought provoking.  

I pray that you will have a blessed Lent, and that you may use this special time to grow closer to Our Lord and the Church.

P.S.- I will not be giving up Facebook, Twitter, or blogging for Lent.  I know some of you thought that I had given up that last one on the list since I hadn't blogged in a little while. But,   NOPE!  Try not to be too disappointed...

Mardi Gras!!!

Today is Fat Tuesday, AKA- Mardi Gras.  The day typically dedicated to the debauchery and overindulgence typical of New Orleans around this time of year.  The day went mostly unnoticed by the munchkins until Donna brought out some beads she had left over from a Mardi Gras celebration we did for the kiddos a few years back.  They wanted to know what all the "stuff" was for, then they wanted to know why there was such a big party in The Big Easy.  After a few attempts at trying to explain to them that some people feel it's necessary for one last "hurrah". 

Kids: "But why?" "

Me: "Um, because they think it will be difficult to go without the things they will be giving up for Lent."

Kids: "So they have a big party?"

Me: "Yep."

Kids: "That doesn't make any sense."

Me: "Well, fine then, they just have a big ole party just because they can.  OK?"

Kids: "Oh.  OK."

I snapped a few pics of them in all their Fat Tuesday Finery... enjoy.

Celine bedecked in all her "beads".  I still don't know how she was able to stand up straight with all those beads on!  I think they weighed more than she does!!

Bead frenzy!!!!! Every kid for themselves!

Too cool. (Yes Grant DOES have 3 masks on.  One on his face and 2 on the sides of his head.  Fun times.  Fun times.)

SEE ME!!!

Did you ever receive a note on your work when you were in school that read, "See Me!"  This was  usually just a way for the teacher to get your attention so she (or he) could further explain something to you, but sometimes it was an indication of the bad things to come.   Well, yesterday as I graded JP's Religion workbook there were an abnormally high number of incorrect answers or questions that he had just skipped.  Knowing how this is not how he "rolls", I left him a few little post-it flags on the pages that we needed to go over.   Well, when I went to look over his work from today, I noticed that the "notes" were gone.  He hadn't come to see me, or ask me about them, or even acknowledged their being.  Or so I THOUGHT.  Upon closer inspection I saw that he had indeed taken notice.  So much so that he had FOLDED THEM into the book so I couldn't see them, hoping I'd forget.  WHAT????  I was amazed and, to be honest, amused.  Now, I do not have the best memory, but I can assure you that it isn't THAT bad.  He was sitting right next to me when I realized what he had done:

ME:  JP, did you not see the "SEE ME" tabs I put in your book?

JP:  I saw them.

Me: So why didn't you "See Me"?

JP:  I Dunno. (I flip through the book looking for the pages I had so diligently marked the day before.)

Me: Did you just fold these into the book??? 

JP:  uh, huh.  Yep.   (Notice the lack of remorse or acknowledgement of wrong doing...)

Me: Really? Did you think for a minute that I put those there for a reason?

JP:  Not really.

Me: OK, then.  I'm so glad I took the time to put those little guys in your book.  Now that I have your attention, let's go over the ones I wanted you to "See me" about.  You're a trip, JP.

JP:  Thank you.

As I finished going over the pages with him, I would hand him the sticky flag.  Would you like to see what he did with them? Too bad. Here you go:

Welcome to my world....

Knock OUT!!!

I have come to expect and actually cherish the adorable little "gifts" the munchkins leave on my Mac.  Well, sorta.  

Today I found a plethora of images of JP doing only heaven-knows-what in Photo Booth.  I might not have found these little beauties if it hadn't been for Brian.  He was in the process of filming a video of him "beating JP up".  I have graciously included both the multitude of stills of JP and Brian's video:

Is this thing on??

Wait, you have a little something on your nose...

I have no clue what was going on in this one...

Oh, no!  Double Trouble!

AHHHHH! Now there's three of him!

This is how I see JP after a day like today- all twisted and swirly!

The Crimson Chin! Minus the crimson, of course.

This is JP after the head shrinkers finally caught up with him!

The Hulk after his skin bleaching...

As you can see, it wasn't JP who was knocked out, but Brian.  He wore himself out trying to demolish JP's image.  Maybe I should have told him it was just a picture of JP, not ACTUALLY JP, but it was much more fun to watch him do this.  I'm SURE there will be many more antics to report on tomorrow, so for now...

HOLY SMOKES I NEED TO POST A NEW ENTRY!  

I promise one is coming!  I have a few in the works... I have WAY too much on my plate right now.  Can you forgive me???

They Love ME!! They Really, Really Love Me!!

I know it's a day early, but...

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

My munchkins had quite the surprise planned for me!  This was waiting for me when I arrived at work today:

In case you can't see the picture clearly; there is a box of Diet friendly chocolates, a lovely note pad, Never dying roses (aka fake or silk for the fake flower connoisseurs o

ut there), "XO" shaped cookie cutters form Meg, and oodles of beautiful cards!

I feel sooo special and loved right now!  The cards were the best part, though!  I have a box of all the cards they've given me throug

h the years.  Well, it started out as a shoe box, bust has grown into a GIANT plastic storage tub.  One acquires a TON of cards over a decade of nannying!

I brought them each the cutest crazy bendy pens made by a 10 year old girl I met recently.   Jp's was a guitar, Grant's was a jet, Brian's a sea turtle (that he immediately named TOM),  and Celine received a heart.  The older kids liked theirs as well, but remember- we're not allowed to talk about them on here!

Here's a few pics of the kiddos with their new pens:

May you have a blessed St. Valentine's Day, and may you experience the GREATEST LOVE OF ALL in a very personal way!

God loves you 

and so does the Super Nanney!

JP

If you were a pirate, what shoulder would you wear your parrot on??

This was the question JP posed to me today.  It came as most of the munchkins' questions do- out of the blue.  We were in the car, heading to somewhere... this must have been something he was thinking about, because he had been pretty quiet up until this point.  I was far from surprised by this inquiry, I get a lot of these types of questions in my line of work.  

I was a little surprised by how seriously I considered my answer, though.  After a few moments of considering the options I decided that I would rath

er my fine feathered friend to primarily perch on my left shoulder.  Why?  Well, it should be obvious why, but to clarify...

I am right handed, and should I find myself in a heated life or death sword fight, I'd like my right arm free of Polly.  Plus, he wouldn't be very safe on my fencing arm, anyway.  

Now that I've cleared that up, I would also like to add that I'd like my parrot to be a Hyacinth Macaw, and I would so NOT call it Polly!  That's just unoriginal!  I'm not SURE what I'd name it, that would be a little TOO much thought on the subject!  Geesh!

So, now you know MY answer, how would YOU have answered JP?  And what type of parrot would you have?

Dry as the Dessert...

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!  Before you go correcting my spelling- I purposely typed "dessert", rather than "desert".  Why?  For the shock value, of course. But also because as I was typing the title for this post I could audibly hear my buddy, Meg's voice saying, "Desert has one 's', dessert has two.  Ask yourself which you would rather have two of; dessert or desert?"  So I had to give her a shout out for weaseling her way into my brain ONCE AGAIN!!!  Thanks, Meg, for helping me to look like less of a moron!   Now, if Yvette could only teach me how to properly use a semi-colon, I'd feel like a real writer!  Ha! Ha!

So back to the exciting topic for this post.  Oh, wait.  There isn't any!!!!  My life has gone from far from interesting to down right boring.  Well, as far as blogging goes.  I have been soooo busy lately, and I think I may be over tired.  Huh, imagine that, an overtired grown up.  Never heard of such a thing!  J/K, I know that the majority of us would fall under that category right this minute, much less at some point in our adult lives.  Didn't someone, somewhere once say, "Strength in Numbers"?  I think maybe not in this case, just picture a jammed highway littered with weary drivers with blood shot eyes and you'll get my point.  You may or may not be asking yourself, "What has Shannon SOO busy these days?"- OK, so you weren't asking yourself that, but I bet you are NOW!  The answer would be, "A LOT!"  Between 10 hour work days, working out 5-6 days a week, and being a volunteer youth minister; you would think that I had enough to keep me busy.  But why be "just" busy when you can be "insanely busy!"?  Add to the afore mentioned activities: Tuesday evening square dancing lessons(youth group activity), a Thursday evening night class, then learning to knit (Thanks again, Meg), and working on Shananagins Bags orders.  But the insanity doesn't end there.  My sister and I have decided to jump feet first into the sea of E-commerce by starting a business together!  "What?!!  In THIS economy?!!"  Well, if you thought that them you would be right, but I think we have made a wise choice in WHAT we've chosen to sell.  When times are hard, and money is tight, people will still spend money on select few things.  Cosmetics, weight loss aids, their dogs, and their children- in that order!  (Isn't it nice to know that our priorities are in order?)  Katie and I are combining our talents and starting a baby business.  No, we aren't going to become surrogate mothers, or open an adoption agency, or illegally trade munchkins, (I know SOME of you were thinking that!).  We are making and selling baby products!!!  We are in the final stages of web development, and as soon as the site is ready I'll give you all more details!  I'm really excited about this, and it is a lot of fun working with my sister.  It's our hope that we will one day be able to open a store front, but for now we will be hocking our wares on the world wide web, to friends and family members, and at craft shows.  Oh, and we have a store in St. Augustine who wants to carry our stuff too!  So we are moving right along!!

To make a LONG post even longer... the reason I titled this post "Dry as the Desert" was because that's how I feel right now.  With all the exciting and crazy things going on in my life I've had very little time or ideas to blog about this week.  I feel like a loser not posting as much this week, but there just hasn't ben the motivation or the material.  (I would like to mention that, as I pen this post, Celine is standing VERY close to me writing all over my desk planner- trying to figure what everyone's name would be spelled backwards.  Yes, it is cute- but now my planner is a MESS!  ;) It's fun to listen to her try to pronounce them, too!  I've just been informed that I have to refer to her as Enilec from now on.  Oh, joy.)  I'm sorry that I haven't had what it takes to post this week- I promise to try to do better next week!

Thanks for reading- and keep the comments coming!!!

Fabulous Friday Fun!!

Today is Friday.  No biggie, right?  Not around here!  Friday means a day of lighter school work, hilarious antics, and usually lunch out somewhere or a movie.  Today was both.  We went to see the new Pink Panther movie... don't bother- it wasn't worth running out to see.  Slow and stupid.  That's my official review.  The kids were pretty funny, JP wanted pictures with all the movie cut outs.  

They're pretty excited about the new Night at the Museum.   Man these cut outs have gotten really detailed!   

Celine and Brian posed next to Steve and his GIGANTIC pink #2.  I want a giant pink number.  Better yet, I want my name in GIANT pink letters.  I doubt my roomie would allow me to keep it in the living room, and let's face it, my name is really long and would NOT fit in my room.  Therefore it would HAVE to go in the living room!  So- what do you think, Yvette?  HUH?  

After the movie, 2 tubs of popcorn, and FOUR GIANT cups of Coke, we went to lunch.  Needless to say, no one was very hungry.  But they had a little something at McDonalds, (blech!) oh, and they all made room for ANOTHER Coke!  Can you say hopped up on sugar?  Any mom of kids who have had copious amounts of Coke know WHY it was named Coke; because the kids get STRUNG OUT when they drink it!  Lucky me... they're bouncing off the walls. (note the sarcasm...)

I gotta go referee a squabble.  They sound like they are bringing down the house!

I Need a Padlock!...

FOR MY MAC!!!

Isn't there a saying that goes something like:

"Trick me once- shame on you!

  Trick me twice- shame on me!

  Trick me thrice- then it's time for a sophisticated security system to guard my Mac against     future goofy pictures!"

OK- so maybe that isn't an exact quote... 

but it's very close to the original saying!  In know, I've had two previous posts similar to this one,  but when you find pictures like this one staring at you:

You have little choice but to share the wonderfulness with all!

But wait!  There's MORE!!!

In fact, there are MANY MORE!!

WOW, Brian!  That's really close.  And that's quite the face!

Um, Grant... I think there's something wrong with your EYE!

Even Meghan participated in the shenanigans!  Can I not trust ANYONE??? JK

I've always secretly thought that Grant was an Alien from outer space, now I have PROOF!!!

Can you see the family resemblance?  Both have BIG mouths!!!

Now this one is awesome!  No trick photography here, folks! He really does this with his tongue!

This is an awkward and somewhat disturbing picture...

In closing, I think I have a decision to make.  Choice A.)  buy a heavy chain and padlock to secure my Mac.  (But that would be REALLY heavy and I doubt my Mac would fit into my briefcase with all that "bling")  There is a choice B, though...

I do believe that there is another well known saying:

 "If you can't beat 'em, JOIN 'EM!!!!"

I opt for Choice B!

Jp and I hamming it up for the Mac!  OOOh!  We're in a tunnel!!

This one gives me nightmares.  How about you?

There are many more where these came from, but I think I'll save them for another post...