School is Flying By

Hard to believe we are already one month into school.
Carlie is learning so many new things.
I'm amazed everyday at her grasp of concepts.

One of her weekly assignments is to memorize a scripture verse.
These aren't 3 or 4-word verses, but 3-4 verses!
Last week was Philippians 4:4-8.
We have a contest to see who can memorize the verse first.
She always wins!
Clearly, I need to do more brain exercises to improve ST memory.

She recently had her cell test.
Honestly, I don't think I would have done as well as she did.
Probably because I like science about as much as I like eating liver.

But, it is pretty cool the way God made stuff.
She also had to make a cell model.
I didn't help with this.
Yawn!

I'm just waiting for her to get to write a paper on what a bust Keynesian Economics is.
I'll be all over that assignment.

Get It Sold Part 2

Here is our hall bath before and after the home stager visit...

Before (I can only find a thumbnail photo of this,
don't know where the original disappeared to.)

After (Not a lot done here.
She just said my PB red berry trees looked funny on top
and to add some greenery.
So, I bought a potpourri apple and dug my
Pottery Barn topiary out of storage.)

Get It Sold Part 1

Since our house hasn't sold,
and we don't have access to HGTV's Sabrina Soto,
we called in a local stager to help us figure out
what we could do to help sell the house.

She was very nice and helpful.
Let me first say, that every realtor we interviewed said our house was fine
the way it was, and we didn't need to make any changes.
Apparently, they wanted our business and didn't want to offend us.

The stager said the house was the cleanest she had ever been in.
She said the problem was, it was too clean.
It felt sterile and uninviting. I would have to agree.
There wasn't anything that made the buyer have
an emotional attachment to the house.

Anyway, as I finish up the changes,
I'll post more pics.
I really think it makes a HUGE difference.
Let me know what you think.

Master Bath Before

Master Bath After Staging

Magic House

We recently went to the Magic House since the kids got some free passes from the library's summer reading program.
I only take them when we can go free because it is expensive
(my definition of expensive these days is pretty much anything that isn't free.)
But, they enjoy it a lot more that way.

Working quickly to get the food out

Ringing up the charges

Hey, I ordered pepperoni! What's with the help at this place??

Trying their hand at post-natal care

Clearly their swaddle technique needs work

Diaper change

It's a boy!

Dr. Noah recalibrating the scale

When You Give A Kid A Camera...

...You get pictures of their bottoms

And Silly Faces

And Dad coming home from work

And Cars
(more like 20+ pictures of cars)

And Kitty

And Flip flops ???

Vroom! Vroom!

I uploaded photos from our "fits in the purse" and "need to replace at some point" camera, and it looks as though I've forgotten to post about some things we do from time to time.

Mike took Noah to a Classic Car Warehouse (don't know if "warehouse" is the right word, but that's what I'm calling it) because he LOVES cars. Loves is probably an understatement. He says he wants to marry his cars. Silly little guy.

Yes, that's a $55K price tag. Yikes!
Being the car aficionado that I am,
I can't tell you the make, model, or year,
but it looks like it was a pretty sweet ride back in the day.

My mom is looking at this picture saying,
"Oh, I dated a guy who drove a yellow vette just like that.
Bud Whatchamacallit.
If I would have married him, you kids would all have big noses!"

Batman, and his youthful ward, Noah.

He should be a car model. :-)

Yowzers, Batman! $53K!!!

Reminds me of a jingle my sister taught me on our
Griswald California Adventure when I was six...

I've got an old piece of tin
Nobody knows what shape it's in
It's got 4 wheels and running board
It's a 4-door, It's a Ford
Honk Honk Rattle Rattle Rattle
Crash Beep Beep
Honk Honk Rattle Rattle Rattle
Crash Beep Beep

Crying Blue Tears

Former STL Blues hockey player Pavol Dimetra was
killed in a plane crash today in Russia.

He played for the Blues from 1996-2004.
Pray for his family.

Ohno, the Olympics are Coming

I didn't have time to do this post because we were busy cleaning for another showing yesterday.

Well, that was time wasted because it doesn't appear that they even showed up.

That is becoming an all too common scenario.

Anyway, I went ahead and signed up to volunteer for the

American Cup 1 Short Track Speedskating competition

that will be held here in October.

I will be serving in the official and volunteer hospitality area.

That's the best place to be because that's where all the food is!

They still need people to serve as "shadows".

You are assigned an athlete and then must follow that athlete

around once the competition ends making sure they aren't

ingesting or injecting any illegal substances.

Then, you have to watch them urinate in a cup

and verify that it is their urine.

This doping stuff is serious business.

I decided to pass on that task.

"Scheduled to appear" are Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski

(not the South Korean in the middle.)

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Apolo won Dancing with the Stars!

(Oh, and 8 Olympic medals)

J.R. nearly had his leg sliced off by a speedskate

but recovered in time to win a few medals in Vancouver.

If they don't show, that's okay. It will still be fun.

And, I need to start volunteering again so I can have first pick when

the Visa U.S. Gymnastics Championships/Olympic Trials come here next summer.

Speaking of gymnastics, did you see the U.S. Championships last week?

Rebecca Bross, defending champion, who spent most of last year

recovering from an ankle injury went and did this.

Ugh! Dislocated her kneecap.

Hopefully she will recover in time to make the Olympic team.

About one month earlier, Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina, defending world champion did this

Tore her ACL. I hope she recovers too.

She is unbelievably talented.

The Olympic gymnastics competition won't be the same if she can't be there.

Now The Magic Loogie has to prepare for the

Festivus Fantasy Football Draft.

What's that smell?

Oh, it's me grilling up a T-Bone in my division.

Vegas Trip

Or on Blogger (HA!)

If you go, be sure to eat at the Peppermill on the North end of the Strip.

The decor is a little tacky, yes.
Definitely vintage Vegas.
Apparently CSI and the movie, Casino, were filmed here.

The food is great,
and the portions are HUGE

There had to be at least 8 eggs in that omelet, not kidding.
Good thing we decided to share.
Most people in that restaurant weren't sharing, thus the obesity problem,
but I'm not going to tell them what they can and can't eat.
Free country (at least for the time being.)

The dining experience pretty much went downhill from there.

We stayed at the Wynn, which is always fabulous.
Wouldn't stay anywhere else.
The food, however, is ridiculously overpriced
(but what place isn't in Vegas??)

Luckily, we had a resort credit that came with our stay.
For breakfast one morning, we ate here.

And, these were our choices

I can get 6 bagels at Trader Joe's for $2.29.
And, 3 Denny's Grand Slams for their $12 "Eggs Your Way".
But, I'm on vacation.
Don't care... total waste of money.

Yes, this was a $12 Frittata.
And we shared it.
Like I said, ridiculous.

Anyone who thinks Vegas still has cheap food
because people gamble are sadly mistaken.

Besides the fact that this is the dirtiest McDonalds I have EVER been to,

they charge $8.99 for their Big Mac combo.
Something tells me that Big Mac is not made with Kobe beef,
so I don't know where they get off charging that.
It's the one by Harrah's.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Gross. Dirty. Disgusting.

Let me talk about something positive.

FAB.U.LOUS.
Worth every penny of the $2/minute ticket price.

Although some of the patrons were none too pleased
when the ushers said the concert was only 90 minutes.

No, you weren't allowed to take pictures.
"Celine's rules" the usher said.
(Celine doesn't want to end up on Facebook.)

I highly recommend it as a "once in a lifetime" kind of thing.
Don't buy a t-shirt though.
They are $55.
Her favorite number is 5,
so I guess Caesar's thinks that justifies the price.
Whatever.
Not that I was even going to buy a t-shirt,
but I thought it was absurd.
Would I go again?
Yes. Definitely. Yes.
IF I can be guaranteed she would sing this

Because she didn't, and I wanted to cry.
I don't want to say too much about the show
because I don't want to ruin it.

If you like her, you will love it.
If you don't like her, go stand outside and watch
Sirens of Treasure Island.
It's stupid, but at least it's free.



Next time we go to Vegas will be when we visit the Grand Canyon West Rim Skywalk.
(And when Harry Reid gets voted out of office.)
And, we'll stay at the Wynn.
Again.
And lounge at their fantastic pools.
Again.





And pay insane prices for food.
Again.
And complain about it.
Again.

Tomorrow... Ohno, The Olympics are Coming