Please Don't Hurt 'Em, Hammer

Please indulge me while I reminisce.

I was thinking this past week about bands I have seen in concert. I was remembering the good old days of Park West concerts. Those were some good times up there. Sitting in the general admission seats, watching people urinate in public along the fence, smelling the mary jane, watching the lesbians make out. Good times.

That got me thinking of other bands I was able to see in concert.
My first concert, I was 11 and the neighbors had an extra ticket to see Chicago at the Salt Palace. We were pretty far up in the stands, and I didn't really know the songs, but I remember being there.

Some friends and I went to see the Hammer when we were in high school. That was so awesome! It was my first introduction to some of the more suggestive dance moves that were popular in the late 80's.

Anyway, we don't need to go into all the gory details. I made a new playlist of songs from those great concerts I got to see. Now, before you start judging me and laughing, some of these bands or people were VERY popular back in the day when I went to see them....yes, even Michael Bolton.

Why dont you all tell me a little about some fun concerts you have been to? That would be fun, huh?

Notes from an uncool mom

I have been neglecting my blog lately. I have gained a whole new appreciation for the working moms of the world. This working full-time gig is hard! By the time I get home, cook dinner, and clean up the house a bit, all I want to do is stare mindlessly at TV for an hour and then go to bed. It is good that nothing too exciting has been going on, so the blog hasn't really missed out on anything. Here is an update, none the less.

We have been getting ready for school to start next week. Jackson is going to be in 7th grade this year which means we have a middle schooler in the house. I've said this before, but I still can't believe he has grown up so fast. On Wednesday, he and I went to his new school for their open house thing. They did not have as much information as I would have liked regarding Jackson's first day of school, for example: where his first class is to be held, where he should go to be told where his first class is to be held, or who his home room teacher will be. I was uncomfortable with just plopping him down in a new school with no real information so I offered to take him that first day and help him out. He said that would be too embarrassing and he would do fine on his own. Yep, the day has finally come that my kids are too embarrassed to be seen with me. I think this has to be one of the worst days in every mom's life.

I have been plugging away little by little on our pirate mural. I have managed to do it without any requests for help from little hands, but they all like to come sit in the room and watch me paint. The painting process is slow going, and much more detail oriented than I imagined it would be. I think I got the completely wrong paint brushes because I have to work so hard to stay in the lines with the brushes I have. Another trip to Roberts for some new brushes is probably in the near future. The paint that our builder put on our walls must be some sort of super-duper-resistant-to-new-paint type because, like any other time we have tried to repaint in this house, the paint just doesn't go on very well. As a result, my mural might require a second coat of paint. Despite all the struggles, it is looking pretty good. I love the idea that I can appear to be quite a skilled artist, when in actuality I am only a skilled tracer. Check out the progress.

Contest Winners

Well there was a pretty overwhelmingly small response to my name that 80s movie soundtrack contest. I guess all my bloggy buddies, with a few notable exceptions, are just too young to have lived the 80s. Even still, I can't believe that none of you knew the song from Xanadu. That movie is sooo cool. I have posted the answers on the side bar of the page.

Congratulations to my lovely sister Patty for naming the most movies with 21 correct answers.
Congratulations to the beautiful and talented Katie Roberts for her noble attempt and 17 correct answers.
And Congratulations to the amazing Becca Sanchez--oh I mean Devenport--for surprising me with her 80s knowledge and coming up with 7.5 correct answers.

No one knew the bonus question. Lessons in Love was from the movie Hot Pursuit, a mid-career non-winner for John Cusack.

Patty, look for your prize some time in the next 6-8 weeks. Of course, you rarely ever read my blog so maybe I will insist that you respond to this post before I send you anything.

Next contest coming soon. Or late depending on my energy and creativity level.

Yo ho me hearties

Here is the progress so far of our pirate wall mural. I think this was the easy part. And boy was it ever easy. I wiped down the boys' wall with some water and a magic eraser (those things are sooo cool) to get off all the boy dirt. Now, witness my amazing camera skills and take a gander at the wall. How boring...let's spruce it up a bit.

We (the boys and I) taped the transfer paper to the backside of the mural pattern, and then taped them both to the wall. I wanted to make the mural just a bit bigger since the boys are getting big and the wall is so bare, so I split the mural and lengthened the pole part of the picture. Easy enough. We used some left over painter's tape so we wouldnt pull off any of the wall.

Then we got to tracing. Look how intensely the boys were concentrating. It really took no time at all, about 15 minutes from start to finish. Now our pirate skeleton head is just waiting for our painting skills to give him a bit of color.

So Saturday will be the next session. See the numbers on the picture? That is so color and design challenged folks like me can't mess it up too badly. I think the painting part might take a bit more time and skill and I am hesitant to let the kids help, even though I think they will want to. I guess it is their room, but is it mean of me to want to do it myself so I can insure that it looks good? That is assuming that I don't mess it up. But this mural seems pretty mess-up-proof. At least that's what I'm hoping.

We will keep you posted.

Oh, I also just wanted to take a minute to mention that in the past week, my email account has informed me that I have won the British lottery 12 times, the Irish lottery 9 times, and Donald Trump's personal lottery twice. My amazing luck continues!

My Scout

Well, it has been a pretty crazy week around here.

Jackson was at Scout camp this past week. It was really weird not having him around. We really missed him. This is his first week long overnight camp and I was a little worried about him wandering off into the wilderness or being eaten by a bear. He came home safely though. If fun is to be measured by the amount of dirt accumulated on a person's body, I would say he had the time of his life. I don't think I have ever seen a dirtier person walk through my door. He came home with a whole mess of bug bites, a very severe case of chapped lips and a little sunburn, but overall he was no worse for the wear.

My cute sister Laura, her husband Darren, and their 3 beautiful kids came to visit this week. Laura joined me at Bunco, and we had dinner with them and my parents on Sunday. We had so much fun seeing them, and because we love them so much, we passed along our family sickness to them. Poor Riley and Laura both got the pukies from us. Sorry girls.

Also this past week, I started working full time. It has been a challenge getting up early again and leaving the kids all day, but overall it has been a good experience. I am working at CR England trucking in their recruiting department. You sure get to talk to some interesting people when you are trying to hire truck drivers. I have had to study up on my southern so I can understand some of the people who call in. There are some thick accents out there!

Lastly, I received my Pirate Mural kit this week. We are all excited to tackle the project starting Saturday (when I say we, I do mean everyone except my non-crafting husband.) I was looking at the instructions and was very pleased to find out that it just requires acrylic craft paint. I was so worried that I would have to go buy ten 1 quart cans of latex paint and that would cost me a fortune. Now, I can just go down to Robert's craft and get ten $1.00 bottles of acrylic craft paint. That, I can afford. Stay tuned!

Oh and one more thing....today I stopped by Smith's and saw that they are having their great cereal sale this week. When you buy 10 Kelloggs cereals, you get them for $10. Can't beat that deal. We stocked up and got 20 boxes. I love saving money!!

A Great Opportunity

So, you all have heard lately about my thirst for swag from bloggy contests. Well, one day in my searchings for fantastic contests, I ran across one that peaked my interest. It was a contest and an assignment rolled into one, but I was up for the challenge. Here was the deal. The winner would receive a paint by number wall mural kit for free, and in return he or she had to agree to blog about the painting process. The murals were totally cute, so I entered.

And do you guys even need me to tell you if I won or not? Of course I won! So get ready in future entries to see the process as I, a pathetically unartistic woman, attempt to liven up my darling boys' room with a really great pirate wall mural.

Thanks to Wall Story for the great product and for choosing me and my blog to give it a whirl.

If you are also unartistic and would like to liven up a space in your home, check out their site.

http://www.magic-mural-factory.com/Level_1/introducing_wallstory.htm

My Sammy

This past Sunday was Sam's 10th birthday. I can't believe he is in double digits now too. He is such a good boy. I am so lucky to be his mom.

Things I love about Sam:

He gets so excited when he hears a new random fact on TV. "Mom, did you know that an ant can carry 8 billion times its own weight?"

He is the only other person in our family who has a temper like mine.

He is so quietly shy and he hides a little when attention is drawn to him. That is so cute.

He is soooo ticklish and when you really tickle him good, his laugh is so contagious.

He is an occasional daredevil and proudly bears the scars that prove it.

He doesn't like to be called Sammy, but he lets me.

He is such a prefectionist and gets so frustrated when he can't do something.

He is just so darn cute.

He is just so darn good.

I love you Sam! Happy Birthday!