Still Remembering...

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. Princess Diana

It has been 11 years today since Princess Diana died. So sad. So tragic. I still miss her! I followed her fascinating life as a little girl and throughout my life. I had glossy books. I made scrapbooks with any piece of published information I could find. I loved her! She felt like a friend. That fateful night 11 years ago I was living in Atlanta and had returned home late from a Labor Day party when I received a voice mail from my mom telling me that she had been in a serious car accident. I turned on the TV and received blatant confirmation of my mom's message in the form of crash site pictures and the constant rerunning of the footage of her leaving the Ritz Paris. I had been watching mere minutes when they announced her death. I was in complete shock. Numb. Mr. Pink and I went to Jamaica that Monday morning and I watched TV coverage there. I remember aching watching her grieving sons. I think she would be proud of them today. Where were you when you heard this news?

Five on Friday!

Random things to end the week.


1- Today is Michael Jackson's 50th birthday! Madonna turned 50 on the 16th! Can this be? In my mind I still see the one-gloved boy wonder moon walking in sequined outfits in MTV videos (remember when MTV actually broadcast videos?). I see the Material Girl in big tulle hair bows, torn tights and lots of gaudy pearlish/beaded jewelry. I think life was a whole lot simpler for both of them back in the 80's! Don't you agree?


2- The Caylee Anthony missing Florida girl case. I saw on Yahoo that now investigators are confirming that tests show there was evidence of a decomposing body in the trunk of her mother Casey's car. Meanwhile, Casey is out of jail. This case infuriates me. She is so guilty and has already been caught lying about her employment, the baby sitter's name, etc. Then she manages to go out partying on a regular basis while her child is "missing". Was this girl EVER truly a mother?

3- My football team was SHUT OUT last night on ESPN! How embarrassing! And two linebackers sent our first string quarterback to the hospital. I think it's going to be a very long season for the Wolfpack!

4- Mini#2 may be a future hoarder. Is it just my kid or does your kid smuggle items into his/her bed? Case in point, yesterday mini#1 went to wake up mini#2 from his nap (with my permission of course!) and he told me to "Quick, come look!" Upon my arrival Mini#2's bed looked mysteriously lumpy. I pulled back his quilt/comforter and there was his mini 4-piece drum set! He did at least unhook the cymbal and it was somewhat flatter than usual. But that's not all. He also had a book, an Atlanta Braves' batter's helmet and a baseball in his twin bed. My jaw was on the ground, but mini#2 just sleepily smiled at me and said "What?" like nothing was wrong with this!

5- We're going to two Labor Day parties Saturday in the neighborhood and then to the NC Zoo in Asheboro on Sunday where we'll meet my parents and brother. I have not been to this zoo in about sixteen years when I went with an old boyfriend. A lot has changed since then - at the zoo and in my life!

What are your plans?

Blog Friends help my budget!

I finally ordered the skirt I have been salivating over at J. Crew. It's a denim pencil skirt with a little stretch in the material. Love it! If you've been reading for a while you know I love J. Crew for the minis, but try to restrain myself from making purchases pour moi. Remember, you're a SAHM, I remind myself daily. No workie, no extra checkie. However, when I won the gracious J. Crew gift card from Jillian, Inc. as one of her fabulous blogiversary giveaways, I told her I would spend it on ME. Another blog friend, Momx2 turned me onto this great "new" blog, J.Crew Aficionada that I read from time to time and where I found a discount code for items in their fall catalog. It's F5X73L (15% off full priced items; expires 8.30.08) if you want it. So with gift card and code in hand I set out to make my purchase on the internet because the skirt was not yet in our J. Crew store. However, I'm glad I went into the store because I tried on a similar skirt and found I had to go down a size! Got to love that! I digress. The J. Crew site was acting very peculiar this morning and I was having trouble all the while it was slowly crawling along through screens. Being _____ (add any of the following: impatient, agitated, pissed) I called the 800 customer service number and a lovely lady (I should have gotten her name to give her proper credit on this post) went ahead and placed my order AND gave me free shipping for my trouble! I had internalized my frustration, too. I only sweetly commented that the site was moving at a snail's pace. SO thanks to Jillian, Inc, Momx2, and sweet customer service lady, this $100 skirt cost me only $38.92. And Mr. Pink wonders what I do all day! I save us big bucks! Thanks ladies for your great blogs!

Running around, dancing and a transforming bus!

So far today I've:


1- Gone to the bank to notarize a preschool form.

2- Gone by the pediatrician to drop off a medical form, sign a release and request immunization records. I'm a little late doing this. It may or may not have slipped my mind. Is the mind the first to go? I'm well on my way.

3- Dropped other paperwork off at the preschool. No one was there. The director wasn't even in her office so I attached an argyle post-it note (thanks Belle in Bloom!) to the paperwork and left it on her desk. Then mini#2 and I located his "duck" class and the playground for a sneak preview. I really played it up, but not necessary. He's already extremely excited to start.

4- Went in search of new tennis shoes for mini#2. First and only stop was Kohl's. Found a pair of slip-on Nike's on sale for $19.99. SOLD! He wore them around the store so he could test out jumping and running. It was precious. He's relishing in all of this preschool attention he's getting. Then I found a Carter's navy jacket with an embroidered-like football on it on sale for $9.80. SOLD! I probably have 15 jackets from mini#1 days, but fear they are probably worn out. Anyway, I love to shop and feel sorry for little man not having his own clothes. I'm nice that way.



We're home, lunch is over and he's napping (or yelling down "Mom, I love you!" every few minutes!). I checked my emails prior to posting. Of course, I get a daily email from PEOPLE magazine. Did you hear the new Dancing With the Stars lineup? I didn't really watch last season, but I'm a little intrigued by this new lineup. I may have to give it a viewing or two. Love Rocco DiSpirito, the chef. He's desperately trying to revive his career, I believe, after some failed business attempts. Anyone watch him on The Restaurant reality show a few years back? And Susan Lucci? Anyway, here's the list:



• Toni Braxton, singer, 40, and season one DWTS champ Alec Mazo

• Lance Bass, singer, 29, and Lacey Schwimmer

• Ted McGinley, actor, 50, and Inna Brayer

• Cloris Leachman, actress, 82, and Corky Ballas

• Warren Sapp, former NFL star, 35, and Kym Johnson

• Rocco DiSpirito, chef, 41, and Karina Smirnoff

• Kim Kardashian, TV personality, 27, and reigning DWTS champ Mark Ballas

• Maurice Green, Olympic gold medalist track and field star, 34, and two-time DWTS champ Cheryl Burke

• Misty May-Treanor, Olympic gold medalist beach volleyball player, 31, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy

• Susan Lucci, Emmy-award winning soap opera actress, 61, and Tony Dovolani

• Jeffrey Ross, 42, comedian, and Edyta Sliwinska

• Cody Linley, 18, actor, and two-time DWTS champ Julianne Hough

• Brooke Burke, 36, TV personality, and Derek Hough



Lastly, I was sad to see the Olympics end. We watched the closing ceremony last night. The Chinese can really put on a show! The British need a little work. I did enjoy seeing the transformer double decker bus! It transformed into a stage and up popped Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page to perform. Of course, David Beckham was aboard and had to kick a soccer ball out to the crowd. A little predictable, but the bus was "awesome" as both minis say! But why did Michael Phelps have to go to London as part of the "closing" or handover to London? I really think he should have remained in China and had more of the spotlight in the ceremony there. Just my opinion. Loved Team USA Ralph Lauren (HUGE emblems!) uniforms. They all looked super preppy. It was comical to see some of the heavily tattooed athletes wearing Ralph Lauren though. Ok, anyone left reading this? This is a "marathon" post! Sorry! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

Thanks Preppy Mama and Belle in Bloom for the diamonds! You can never have enough sparkly diamonds.

Rules:

1. When you receive a diamond, make a post about it on your blog

2. Name the blogger from whom you got it

3. Award the diamonds to seven other bloggers

4. Link them and tell them that they got one.

Now it's my turn to share the bling bling with seven others. I award more diamonds to:

One Fabulous Mom

Pink Cashmere Cardigan

Preppy Engineer

Mom x 2

It's Toile Ya'll

Belle in Bloom (Happy early birthday. I'm giving you more!)

Magnolia Belle's Musings

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Mine started last night. I went to dinner with six friends. It was a lot of fun, but we had to compete to be heard because of the eight men at the table across from us. They were so loud. Apparently they go to this restaurant EVERY Thursday night after playing golf! I think we need a weekly outing! Tomorrow we're going back to the lake for the day.

Conversation with a soon-to-be preschooler

Me: Are you excited to be in the duck class in preschool? (Each class has an animal theme)

Mini#2: A-huh. Mom?

Me: Yes?

Mini#2: Will you be sad about me?

Me: (confused) About going to preschool?

Mini#2: Yes, 'cause you'll be alone!

Me: (slightly lying) Yes, I'll miss you.

Mini#2: Can I get a new lunchbox?

Me: (ever so slightly disappointed) No, baby. You'll be home in time for lunch with me.

Mini#2: (crushed) Oh....

Me: Do you think you'll like your teachers? (Miss Ruthie is already Miss Roofie to him!)

Mini#2: Yes. I not scared of them either.

Me: (laughing) Of course you're not scared of them. You're brave!

The thing is they should be very scared of him...I'm scared to give him to them for 9 hours each week actually. Will he say "fart"? Will he hit some unassuming pre-schooler in the back like he does when his older brother frustrates him? Will he share embarrassing family details? It's funny how when the second child starts school your concerns are completely different than when the first child started school! And I may or may not be singing and dancing to my Girls' Weekend CD approximately 15 mins after I drop him off that first day, September 2.

**I have to add this. Today while I was doing the lovely laundry, mini#2 took it upon himself to go into hiding beside the den sofa. Why you ask? Because he found the jar of peanut butter I had not yet returned to the pantry. When I found him he was sitting with a spoon spooning peanut butter into his already full mouth! He said he was hungry! Oh help us!

Tag! You're it!

That's mini#2's favorite thing to do these days. Smack you on the back and yell "Tag, you're it." You better run right after him and return the tag or there's hell to pay! Anyway, I've been tagged by Belle in Bloom to list 5 words I find unpleasant, gross, yucky (as minis say) or distasteful when spoken. This was hard! Here goes.


1- "bowels". Enough said really, but especially when MIL was living with us I had far too many conversations including or revolving around the word "bowels". Ewww. Yuck. Gross.


2- "fixin to". Not a word I know. This is a phrase highly used in the south, but most definitely with Georgians. I learned it when we moved there. It grates on my nerves. For you northerners scratching your heads, "fixin to" means "getting ready to" or "about to".


3- "Ya'll." Another southern word, but I will not use it. I refuse to. "You all" takes a little extra effort, but it's appreciated!


4- "fart". Hate this word. Little boys love this word. We still try to use "toot", which sounds stupid, but it's better than "fart".


5- "vomit". The word sounds like the action to me. I have been lucky that my minis don't do this too often, but it's gross. I hate it and I almost do it when they do it!

So if anyone wants to play along and hasn't go ahead.