Harry Potter Smells

I know that Harry Potter just came out. I have already finished it, but I will not give it away. There is a part in the beginning of the book where Harry and Hermione are in potions class. Harry smells treacle tart, a broomstick and something from the Burrow. Hermione smells new parchment, freshly mowed grass, and she doesn't finish the sentence. I think she was going to say Ron, but that is beside the point. Anyway, they smell these smells because of the potion Amortentia. It is a love potion and everyone smells something different because it is supposed to attract you individually.

Ty and I talked about what our smells would be. He said my hair, coffee, and cedar. Mine would smell like dryer sheets, rain, honeysuckle/wildflowers, and freshly cut grass. My mom said gasoline, which I think I would throw up. What would your Amortentia potion smell like?

Blogging Attire

Almost everyday I have the same ritual. I get up...let my dogs out, then go back to sleep on the couch for an hour. I then take a shower and come blog. My perfect attire for this is wearing my bath robe with my hair wrapped up in a towel. I am usually running late, so I don't always leave comments or post, but I check emails and other stuff. I'm normally stay long enough for the towel to fall off of my head then I have the weird air dry problem that hasn't been brushed to fix. If I'm in a real hurry, I dry my hair while I'm blogging. It is hard to type and blow dry your hair at the same time.

I have tried blogging in several different outfits, but the one best suited for me is fresh out of the shower with bathrobe and towel. What do you like to wear while you blog?

Ike

Ty and I love animals. We have had a cat named "Doc" and a dog named "Patton" for several months in our small townhouse apartment. We've discussed that all of our future cats will somehow be related to Looney Toons and our dogs will be named after generals.

At our fireworks tent Ty and I discussed having children. Now, I'm so ready to have a baby, but Ty is not, so I said..."if i can't have a baby can we get a pug" We now have an 11 week old full blooded pug puppy. His name is Ike after Eisenhower. He's adorable, and Patton loves him. I'll post pictures sometime soon when I can borrow my mom's camera again.

If you could have a dog, what kind would you get?

Criminal Littering

As some of you know, Ty and I run a fireworks tent in Tennessee. This year we had a new location, and they wouldn't let us use their dumpsters. So on July 6, we loaded up all of our trash into a trailer and headed off for the dump. This was like a 25-30 minute trip. We're having fun talking and then all of a sudden police lights turn on.

We pull off because we didn't know if he wanted around us, but no he wanted us. This deputy comes up to the truck and the first thing out of his mouth was...."here's where you stand. i saw a cup fly out of your trailor that's a minimum of a $700 fine and a class a misdemeanor which you could go to jail for. you don't have a tarp on your load which is also a class a misdemeanor and a minimum of a $400 fine. Depending on how you act is gonna decide whether or not i haul you to jail." so ty hands him his license and registration and the guy has a cow about us living in clarksville and having arkansas plates. we tell him we live in arkansas and then he gets mad that we are in tennesee. he's goes to his vehicle for a long time and then he has ty get out of the truck. i'm like crap...my husband's going to jail over a cup flying out of the trailor. we were one mile from the dump. the deputy told us that if we had driven any faster he couldn't have stopped us once we got to the dump. he then gave ty a must appear in court ticket. this wasn't one of those tickets where you pay this amount or go to court...it only had go to court. the deputy told us that he was going to ask for the maximum penalty which included 300 hours of community service.

to add more salt to our wounds when we got to the dump....five or six cars pulled in and none of them had tarps. they were breaking state law as well and had to drive by this deputy, but he didn't stop them. stick it to the out of towners. ty has to appear in court on july 19 or a warrant goes out for his arrest in the state of tennessee. isn't this just wonderful?! just so you know...there is no such thing as a tarp law in arkansas. we had no clue. our distrubutor for fireworks had no clue, and he has 70 loads coming and going all the time with no tarp. he will change that now.
more adventures to come....Kyla

Patton asleep 

Patton

My dog's name is Patton. He loves being outside and allowed to run loose. We live in town at an apartment, so there is no place to just let him go. This weekend my parents had a big get together for Memorial Day. They have 26 acres, so we thought perfect place to let our dog run. My parents land had ticks everywhere!!! They haven't put the granules out to control them, so they are all over the place. We bring Patton home after a fun day of running wild, and start searching for ticks. We finally got them off yesterday. We sedated him with two benedryl, so he would let us look between his toes. He had at least 50 just between his toes. It was awful.

The funny thing about all of this is Patton on benedryl. He was out. He hasn't got off the couch since yesterday about 6pm except when I made him get up to go use the bathroom. He's hilarious. He just lays there. If you walk in the room, he'll open his eyes to look at you, and then he's right back to sleep. I think two benedryl was a little much for him, but he's such a big dog. He ways 80 pounds, so how were we to know. It was Ty's idea to make our dog a druggie, but I was the one who actually put the drugs in his mouth.

What I Don't Like About my Job

I love being a teacher, but there are a few things that I hate. Just for ease they are put in list form.
1. 50 minute commute one way
2. passing farm equipment on a two lane road
3. the pencil sharpener
4. end of year testing
5. not having a supportive administration
6. reading first program
7. tattling
8. people who are supposed to work on a team but don't
9. a counselor, principal, music teacher, reading recovery teacher, librarian, and p.e. teacher that don't do their job
10. grants/americorp helpers what a waste of time and money
11. not being informed
12. last minute change of plans
13. field day
14. six year olds that say the f word in class
15. principals that lie
16. kids that use the bathroom on the playground or in their pants

needless to say, it's been a long day/week. i'm actively seeking another job. my school stinks.

Getting Old

Our family has been experiencing a grandparent getting older. In December, my grandad (Pa Jim) fell in his house. He lives a lone and 4 hours away from the rest of the family. Anyways, he was on the floor for probably 3 whole days. We called, but he didn't answer his phone. We finally got a hold of his neighbor to go check on him. It was scary, and we weren't sure he was going to make it. He got out of the hospital in February and then moved to a rehab center. We moved him here with us in Arkansas. He has been living in Harding Place since the beginning of April.
A couple of weekends ago, our whole family, including him, went to a dinner honoring my belated grandmother. I sat next to Pa Jim and explained everything that was going on because he couldn't hear. Well, a couple of days later I had to go over to his house because the remote wouldn't work. He told me every detail about that dinner including what he ate and drank, but he couldn't remember that I was there. How crazy is that? I hope I'm not like that when I get old. I think I would rather die early than have my family so stressed about when I might leave this world.

I want to die in my sleep.

Wedding Weirdness

This has been a weird month for wedding and engagement news. What is the proper etiquette for asking someone to be in your wedding? If you were in someone else's wedding should you return the favor? My best friend from growing up is getting married in July. I am not in here wedding, but she was in mine. I know this is petty, but it really bothers me that I am not in the wedding? Should I be upset, or should I just forget it and go on?
The real problem I think is that she is marrying my ex-boyfriend. I feel that I am not in the wedding just because he doesn't want me in it. I feel that I am closing a door on this friendship. I do not want to, but I feel that I can't be a part of her life because of the man she is choosing to marry. Yes, it was a messy break-up and things weren't really resolved, but why should that change my relationship with my friend. Can't we all move on? It's been five years, and I've been married for 1 1/2 years. Could we please act like adults and share in each others exciting times? I almost don't want to go to the wedding because of all the weirdness. What should I do?

Pencil Sharpeners

As a child, we always had cats growing up. Whenever my mom would open a can of tuna with the motorized canopener the cats would come running knowing they would get to drink the juice. If we couldn't find our cats, we'd just push that button and they would run into the kitchen. I say all that to say this.
I have recently discovered that kids in a classroom are just like the cats. When one child needs their pencil sharpened they all do. When that pencil sharpener makes that whirring sound they all come running and line up. We can just being using scissors and glue, and they need their pencil sharpened. I think I'm about to throw the sharpener away because they are driving me crazy about it.

Nerves of Steel

Recently I was so nervous that I threw up. This got me to thinking about what about being nervous, makes us sick to our stomach? I thought about different times I've been nervous. Sometimes nervousnees makes us perform better in the task at hand like in a track meet or softball game. I've had some of my best times and performances in a nerve racking time period. Being nervous can also make us fall flat on our face like I did once in a cheerleading tryout (believe it or not, I still made the squad). Another key time when people are nervous is their wedding day. I was not nervous, but I was tired of waiting around and being in that dress for 3 hours before it even started. I was definitely nervous about the wedding night though. HA! HA! Sorry about the overshare. I just don't understand why we get nervous. Why it makes us do silly things and above all why does it make me throw up?!!

R.I.P. Favorite Pair of Pants

Last night I had to have a funeral for my favorite pair of pants. I am heartbroken! The worst part is, there is nothing wrong with them. These pants are so cute! They are red, which is my favorite color. Here's the situation:
I came home from work and was standing in the living room with my red pants on. I forgot to put a belt on, so they weren't exactly up on my hips like they need to be. Anyways, my darling husband said, "Do you like those pants?"
Me:"Yes, why do you not?"
Him:" No, they make your belly pooch out and they are too long."
Me:"That's because I don't have on a belt today." I then pull my pants up where they go and he says:"Well, that makes your thighs look too big."
By this time, I'm slightly upset. So I sit down kind of frustrated.
And he says: "Are you mad?"
Me: "A little, I don't like you saying that my pants don't look good on me."
Him: "Well, they don't and you should be big enough to handle it when I tell you something like that."

Needless to say, my feelings were hurt. Maybe guys can tell each other things like that, but girls do not need to hear this from their husband or for that matter any guy.

I'll never wear my red pants again.

Thursday Night T.V.

In my opinion Thursday night has been the best night of t.v. for years. Let's rewind all the way to Seinfeld and E.R. There was aslo Mad About You and of course Friends. Now there is Survivor, CSI (the original), ER (still), Joey, and more. Why is it that Thursday is always the best. I have had many dilemnas on what to watch on Thursday. I never plan anything that night, because of the wonderfulness of t.v. land. Speaking of caliber of shows I think Extreme Makeover Home Edition is a Thursday night show. From what I hear Desparate Housewives should be too. I haven't decided about Grey's Anatomy yet(but it is good...only two shows though) or Numbers. What do you think should be on Thursday? Any additions, or should we lose something?

Hypocriticism

Recently I was watching t.v. with some friends. We were discussing our favorite shows during a commercial break. Someone brought up Desparate Housewives. I myself do not watch it, but not because I think it is a bad show. Anyways, one person started going off on how awful of a show it was. She said the moral values were terrible, and that no Christian should watch that show. I was not offended, but I did feel she had overstepped her bounds. Then, we started talking about Survivor (I am a huge fan). That same girl kept going on about how much she loved Stephanie. I like Stephanie too, but she did flat out lie, which I think you can play the game without losing your morals. I played the Devil's Advocate and pointed out that she lied and that wasn't right. That girl said, I don't care, she's playing a game. That girl is also a huge fan of Friends, and Seinfeld. Both of those shows don't have good morals either. What gives her the right to okay what she is watching but condemn others? That really bugs me that she does not care if she watches it, but she can pass judgement about other people's t.v. viewing habits. I am just very tired of having to deal with hypocritical people.

The Perfect Piece of Toast

I have had my toaster for about six years. It has taken that long to get the setting to where it my bread is toasted exactly right. I've gone through burnt toast to bread that didn't even look like it had been in the toaster. I was so excited about this breakthrough, that I have had toast for breakfast for 2 weeks straight. Yesterday, I became heartbroken as I was dropping a glass out of the cabinet. As I jerked to catch it, I hit the knob on my toaster. Will I ever find that perfect spot again. I have not been able to find it yet. Will it take me another six years to fix it? I hope not. I'm not sure my toaster will last another six years.

Crying for some toast with peanut butter and honey,
Kyla

Terrible Shoe Decisions

Saturday I finally gave into the pointy toe, black heel idea. I found some way cute shoes that are versatile enough to wear with jeans and my Sunday dresses. I was so excited. So that night I went out on the town to a pizza parlor and to a comedian downtown in Little Rock. I really didn't walk that much. Maybe like 15 minutes combined. After the comedian, I had to walk back to the car without my shoes on. My feet hurt so bad. It was so frustrating. I couldn't wear any shoes on Sunday because the balls of my feet were bruised so bad. That is an extreme breaking in. I don't think I'll ever conform to fashion again. I felt like Monica on that episode when her boots hurt. Only, my husband wasn't nice enough to give me a piggy back ride. He just said, "Walk barefoot through the RiverMarket." It won't hurt you! Thankfully, I didn't step on any broken beer bottles. Ha!
On the notes of fashion, why is it fair that women have to go to so much trouble to look good, and guys don't. It's not fair the amount of money, time, pain, and energy that women have to spend to even appear normal and healthy! What are your thoughts?

Twilight Zone

There was once a Twilight Zone episode about little men that go around and build the future. Sometimes they are forgetful and don't include things like your keys or an important piece of paper. That's why we can't find things the first time we look, but when we look again it is right there. This week alone I've experienced this phenoma several times.
1. Somehow my internet was disabled at my house. I called the repair man to come check the cords, and it was just two clicks on the computer and it was fixed. Who would change that and why? I think it was the men.
2. Last night I put my keys in my purse. This morning they were in the couch cushions? Me being forgetful? I think not.
3. I made a spelling test on Monday. It was with the word search and other spelling activities for the week. When I went to copy it this morning it was no where to be found. I borrowed one from a fellow teacher to copy. I later found it in my desk drawer right where I had put it.

I think the answer to all of our stuff disappearing and reappearing is the men. If I ever catch one of them, I think I'll shoot him. They make me so angry!!!

Spring Sing Weekend

So Spring Sing was this weekend. It was crazy. Lindsey came down and it was so much fun! I am totally in shock. I cannot believe that Monopoly didn't place. I totally thought they should especially over Wal-Mart! I mean come on!!! Wal-Mart's smilies were hilarious, but Monopoly was so cool and fun. I really enjoyed it.
I witnessed some very embarrassing moments for my friend Lindsey. Thankfully everyone involved could laugh about it.