the end is near...

We spent the weekend at Lake Nocona...covered in towels for blankets. I guess it's time to pack up the swimsuits and pull out the pumpkins?

ok people, am I that boring?

No commenting? Ever? :(

Total bummer in the blogging world.

Grady's First Day

Today was Grady's first day at his "bigger and stronger school." He coined that phrase last year when he went to Learning Ladder during my long term sub position. Noone knows why, that's just Grady. We really had to pump him up to go. Everytime we asked him about it, he said he'd just stay home with Mommy instead. Uh-oh. So, we bribed him. It's true. Todd went shoe shopping for himself, and stumbled across some light-up Sketchers that Grady thought were THE MOST AWESOME THINGS ON THE PLANET. Todd made a deal: shoes, for excitement. It worked. Grady pulled on his backpack and grabbed his lunchbox this morning, only to attach himself to my leg when we got to the school. I hate that. hate hate hate that. I was able to pry him off and send him on his way to the playground, but my day was tainted with worry and guilt about how his day was going. Again, he's not pumped about going tomorrow, so I'll have to begin the bribing process again. In my head I know he needs to go. I can't have a crying kindergartener on my hands, but in my heart it's still hard.

the first day...

and the usual pics...It's amazing how much they change in one year. This year we were first grade and third grade bound. Madison came home with a STUDENT PLANNER (can you tell how excited I am about that one??), and Tanner came home proud he didn't pull his card the first day. Baby steps. :)

Tomorrow is a biggie. I'll have a picture of Grady's first day at his "bigger and stronger school" as I take him to his new preschool. It's taken a lot of convincing, but the new Star Wars backpack from Aunt Patti, and the new light up shoes might have won him over. I'm just hoping he runs into class excited, and not permenantly attached to my leg. Hoping and praying for that small victory.

finding my place

So, the new job. The learning curve is high for me on this one-on a jillion different levels. Most of all the technology. Now, I like to think of myself as a techno-savy girl, but in my teaching world, I'm a fan of the overhead projector. I've dabbled in projectors, powerpoints, microscope cameras, probes, and graphing calculators, but as far as the day-to-day nuts and bolts of running my classroom, I love the overhead.

Well, there are none in my new school. Zero. They have smartboards and document cameras. Like I said, high learning curve.

Other than technology on the brain, I also have my classroom on the brain. More the fact that I don't have one; I'm one of those traveling teachers with a cart. I think I've come up with a great system for said cart, but still, I'm worried how that's all going to work out. I'm constantly in someone else's space, and just kind of wishing I had my own. But, I knew what I signed up for, so here goes...

And then, there's just getting to know new people. I've found my safe place in the back of staff meetings, but wandering around all day like I am, I'll be forced to come out of my shell. I love my shell. I'm happy in my shell, but I suppose I'll come out someday. After the first day. After I learn that smartboard, and after I figure out where I'm going. :)

Family Movie Night

We are grilling hamburgers, cooking some school bus cookies, and gearing up for Family Movie Night with Hannah Montana. It's time to say goodbye to the schedule-free summer, and cozy up for an early bedtime. I'll let you know how super-awesome this little movie is. :)

Edit: The movie was actually pretty cute. Miss Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus had a little epiphany us parents only wish for-it was expected, but still cute. And I kinda want to move to Tennessee and own a million acres. Very beautiful.

I gotta give him credit...

This week of teacher training has been a drain on the ol' fam, and a beat down for Todd. Even though I'm half-time for the school year, I've been working overtime to get ready for that school year-meaning gone before sunrise, and home at sunset. There are some stories in that alone that I will save until I'm a little less brain dead, and a little more positive. :) I'm sure you know how that goes...

But back to Todd, the best husband on the planet. Yes, you read that correctly; go ahead and print it out. I know I don't brag on him that often, but he really has picked up the slack this week. He's done the Morning Routine of breakfast, clothes, beds, and bags for the day. He's dropped off the kids and Marley at their designated locations; he's picked them up, and fed them dinner. He even stopped by his Mom's this afternoon to help with Grady's naptime, an ongoing debate and battle. In addition to all that, the kids told me he read a few bedtime stories and tucked them all in super tight and cozy. AND, the house is not totally wrecked. I'd even say it was clean.

And then today we all pulled the rug out from under him.

This morning, Madison locked his keys in the truck. He was already late for a meeting at work, but luckily could borrow his Mom's car and get there relatively on time. She was saved by the hair on her chinny chin chin. Having friends in high places, he was able to problem-solve that situation through the James Wood Dealer by lunch. Bumps to Roger for that one. :) Then, this afternoon, I had a flat tire. In Southlake. Besides that, I used my girl card, and played helpless. Todd drove from Decatur to Southlake to fix the tire, and did so without too much complaint. And after all that, he patiently listened to me as I showed him my little teaching-without-a-classroom setup. He didn't offer his 2 cents a single time! He just listened! I know. Pick your jaw up off the floor. It's true!

So, in my moment of supercrazy, Todd was my hero. Who knew? :)

I guess, deep down, I did.

Finally!!!

Tanner lost his first tooth! AND the Tooth Fairy REMEMBERED!!! He was beyond excited to finally reach this right of passage since EVERYONE had already lost some teeth. :) Yay Tanner!

River Trip 2009

One of our favorite getaways is a float down the river. I know, classy. But we are who we are, right? It started in college, and then was intermittent throughout the "baby bearing years," and now we have a yearly date with the river. I'd say we are dern close to making it a tradition to float the weekend before Back to School Chaos. This year started out a little rough for me; I was under the spell of a Stress Cold as I like to call them. Fevery, snotty, coughy. The Works. But, I plowed through, doped up, and came out ahead of the game by Saturday morning. Good thing. Also this year, there were no ipod issues, instead there were sunburn issues. I distinctly remember the river always being in the shade, but this year, that was not the case. But then, my memory could be going. We are getting a little older, it's true. We did have a tad bit of culture shock upon opening the door to our "condo." And yes, I used quotations there for a reason. Technically, it was a condo; after we saw past a few carpet stains and outdated kitchen gadgets, we were able to slip back into true River Trash Status-but it was sketchy up until that first popped top. By the end of the weekend, we were resigned in the fact that it "wasn't that bad," because at least we weren't driving anywhere-ever so responsible of us. See? I told you we were getting older. Wiser too.Great friends, great food (because of all the pre-floating planning-another sign of the Wiser Times), and awesome music made the weekend one for the memory books. One last fling with summer to give us the boost to give Fall our Full Attention. The football games, the pumpkins, the Holiday Shopping...only another year until Toobs, coolers, and ice cream topped with Crown for dessert...

Intense...there's a word.

Today was my first day back at work. Officially. My brain is in overload. My stress level is increasing, and I will I'm sure put it out here for you to read all about.

But later. I've got to clean the house right now.

and then the weapons...

So, I promised more information on the weapon saga of Ohio 2009. Here you go....

I mentioned that dad bought Tanner a bow and arrow, Correct? The bow was wooden, very realistic looking, and the arrows were plastic, but fitted with suction cups on the end instead of piercing metal darts. In addition to this weapon, Tanner purchased himself a light saber. You know, because we don't have any of those around here. This is a picture of said weapons:

I honestly did not think twice before purchasing such weapons. I really didn't. Yes, I knew we had flown up there, and yes, I knew the airlines frowned on weaponry being carried on the plane. But I truly, in my heart of hearts, did NOT consider this fact when purchasing the items. For real.

My dad, the former airline pilot, decided to play things safe, and put the arrows in his golf bag to be checked with his luggage. I agreed it was probably a good plan, that way the arrows themselves would not be harmed during travel. The bow would be with us, on a different flight all together. The light saber would also be with us.

Tanner and I were the last to leave Ohio. My parents and sister were gone by 6:30 a.m., and Tanner and I were not due to leave until 1:30 that afternoon. But, since Tanner was so enamored with the airport in general, we headed over there early. About 10:30. Good thing. We hadn't planned on checking our luggage, saving the $15 fee per bag, and were properly packed according to all airline rules. We showed up to security with our ziplock baggie of 3 oz. liquids, our suitcases, and our backpacks. Tanner carried the light saber, and the bow was across his back like a real-live Indian. The first security check-point guard eyed the bow curiously, but let us through to the next level. We continued, putting our bags in the proper plastic containers, taking our shoes, jackets, and anything-else-resembling-metal off and placing it in the other (smaller) plastic tubs. We also sent the weapons through the x-ray, just to be safe. Upon passing the metal detector test, we were met with 2 security types, who asked me for my ID and boarding pass. They also told us to meet them "at the end of the security checkpoint" for review.

As this transpired, the x-ray technician confiscated a sealed water bottle we'd packed from the hotel. Tanner watched in horror as this person threw away the water bottle AND his apple-both of which Tanner was planning for an at-the-gate snack. Breakdown #1 ensued. I quickly tried to explain how water bottles and apples could be deadly in the wrong hands, and we just needed to abide by the airport rules so all passengers could be safe. Tanner looked at me like I was crazy, and in hindsight, I'm sure I sounded that way.

After acquiring our items, we met the other security personnel at the end of the checkpoint, who asked for my physical address and explained that since the weapons were "exact replicas of real weapons," they had to run a security clearance on me. Yes, the $2 light saber, and wooden bow (minus the arrows) needed to be checked out by this mom and kid in flight from Ohio to Texas. I quickly explained that both were toys, bought at a festival in Ohio, and that the accompanying arrows were ALREADY IN TEXAS ON A PREVIOUS FLIGHT. But, of course I agreed to the checkpoint, and we took our seats as they checked out our threat to National Security. Breakdown #2 was on the verge, because these security people, they TOOK THE BOW WITH THEM as they went into the back room to check out the "incident" (I heard them explain). Again, I was quick with the explanation of National Security and how it applies to water bottles, apples, light sabers and wooden bows. Tanner seemed to understand, and we settled.

Then, the security person came back. She told me the address on my license was not correct, and inquired as to why that would be the case. Bumbling over my words, I explained that we'd moved to Decatur, lived with my parents while we built a house, and only recently (albeit 1.5 years ago) had a new permanent address of our very own. I wrote down my new address, which she eyed suspiciously (that whole Hlavek Road thing), and disappeared into the secret room again. When she re-emerged, she explained we'd have to check the weapons at the ticket counter and then ESCORTED US THERE. Yep, we were the people being walked by a uniformed guard (with her holding said weaponry) throughout the airport, and back to the ticket counter to have the "incident" cleared up. Once there, I explained to the ticket agent the issue, also explaining that neither weapon would fit into an actual suitcase, hence the whole "carrying on" situation. I also explained that I'd already dealt with TWO breakdowns, and if those weapons-the super special purchased-in-Ohio weapons, were broken when we landed in Texas, I'd be dealing with Breakdown #3, and I'm not sure I'd be able to survive that. She nodded in agreement, and set about trying to find the "best solution for this unfortunate situation." Here's what she came up with:

She wrapped both weapons in plastic, and taped them with "fragile" stickers. Honestly, by this point I was so spent with the process, I just let it go. It was only later, at baggage claim, that I realized she didn't give me a claim ticket. So, if the weapons were lost or broken, I'd have no claim on them. Smart me. Luckily, this wasn't the case, and they made the voyage safely. After she wrapped the items, she looked at me and said...wait for it. "That will be $30 please." Yes, after all of this weapon commotion and mandatory checking, they planned on charging me for TWO checked items, the light saber and bow. You could have fried an egg on my forehead. I was that mad. But, being a Southern Lady, all I said was. "Are you sure?" She nodded that indeed she was, and I handed over my debit card, fuming. Now, God gave us a little break, and when the charge came through, it was only $15. I guess he thought we'd had enough idiotic safety behavior for one trip, and spared us that extra cash. Thank You. I'll be sure to put the extra dollars in the collection plate next Sunday.

So, we made it back through security. Back through the x-ray machine, the metal detector, and security guards. We finally made it to the gate, where we settled in for our long wait. I pulled out Tanner's Nintendo DS, and got him settled with a newly purchased $4.35 bottle of water. Then, I went to get my book from my suitcase. When I unzipped the outerpocket, I had to move my razor out of the way to get to my book. The irony. In that, I laughed and started calling all my friends and family to tell them the story of "The Security Clearance Checkpoint gone all wrong." Because, man...having that razor, a bow AND a light saber? Watch out world...here we come.

Another Todd Pick...

Odd. Just really odd. I'm not sure why it wasn't on my List of Fun Things to Watch; you'd think something like this would be right up my alley, but it just didn't sound wonderful. It sounded kind of sad to me, and it really kind of was.

some recent tastes...

We took this bottle with us to San Antonio to enjoy in our fancy hotel room. Frances Coppola, Claret, and old favorite. At $18ish a bottle, it's worth every penny. 5 stars from the Scroggins.

Natalie brought along this lovely taste during her visit. Firefly Ridge Merlot. I'm not sure how much she spent, but I'm guessing $10 or below. That's pretty much the budget in my little group of fellow winos. It was super super yummy! We give it a 5. I think I had most of the bottle on my own. :)I bought this bottle last summer on my trip to California and the wine country. In my excitement to be among all the wine trees, I spent $50 on it, so we had to save it for a wonderfully special occassion. What exactly was I thinking?? It was from the Tensely Winery, and a Syrah. I guess I knew we'd have a reason to celebrate this year. We opened it in honor of my new gig at the Messenger. It was ok yummy, but I don't know about $50 yummy. Those are some high expecations, ya know? We gave it a 4. I guess we might be getting a little wine snobby in our wino old age.

My Choices for a Movie Tonight In Order

I have placed my movie selections in order of preference for tonight knowing full well what I am up against when it comes to the signficant other. My selections range from a guy/girl flick, to a chick flick, to an all out...well I won't even say what I would call "500 Days with Summer". I can say I love the actress in that movie though (very dry sense of humor funny) and so I will deal with it if that is what it comes down to.

1. FUNNY PEOPLE
2. UGLY TRUTH
3. 500 Days of Summer


Because we all know that:

4. (1) GI JOE






Is not going to Happen in the next million years!

EDIT: The Verdict is Two Thumbs Down for Funny People...such a bummer when you spend a rare night out without the kiddos on a crappy 2 and half hour movie. At least GI Joe would have been fun! :)

Why Daniella Loves Reunion

Go forward to 5:06 if you can take hicksville talk that long. If you can, you will see our very own Daniella giving her thoughts on why she loves REUNION! Personally I thought her comments were the most enlightening, but I am biased.

You knew it was coming...

My Political Views
I am a center-left social moderate
Left: 1.47, Libertarian: 0.99

Political Spectrum Quiz

and that's all I have to say about that!

Since Jarhead Did It...Why not?

My Political Views
I am a center-right social libertarian
Right: 1.15, Libertarian: 4.21

Political Spectrum Quiz




I guess my conservative business views push me right a little so center does not surprise me...I knew I was libertarian.

Who cares right? Sometimes it is interesting to think about your views and see how they have changed through the years.

Ohio 2009

It's become a little family tradition that every year, during the first weekend in August, we trek up to Ohio to visit family. My extended family doesn't seem to extend very far, but what we do have is nestled in and around Columbus. We hang out with Grandpa, go to the Irish Festival, and participate in a Family Golf Tournament. We have it down to a little routine. A little routine of fun.

Since there is usually flying involved, we have to count our pennies and decide who is going each year. Most of the time it's just me, with a few exceptions. I took Grady when he was four months old-I wanted him to meet my Grandparents. A few years ago, the four of us drove up there, and made it a traveling Scroggins vacation. This year, I enlisted Tanner as my travel buddy. He didn't have as many memories of my Grandparents or Ohio in general, plus it was really his turn since Madison did all that skiing over spring break.

He was pumped.

I think he was mostly excited to ride on an airplane, but secondly, he was excited to be the ONLY kid around. No fighting for attention or goodies. Everything was all about Tanner. It was nice to be on this 5-day date with him, too. Those one-on-one times are hard to come by, but enormously wonderful and special when they do.

So, we arrived in Ohio and headed to Uncle Carl's house. Tanner thought Uncle Carl was pretty much the coolest adult. Ever. He had a game cube, complete with Sonic the Hedgehog-a new game to Tanner, but one he quickly mastered, and one he used to beat the crap out of Uncle Carl. Good Times. I mean, look at him:

Friday, before heading to the airport Mom and Patti (because the Miller clan can NEVER go anywhere together), we drove by Ohio State. Dad wanted to impress Tanner with its awesomeness, but Tanner was true to Aggieland, and said it was just "ok." From that moment, the rest of those Ohio People were putting on the Ohio State Sale, just crushed that Tanner was not in a state of awe. Gig 'Em.

After acquiring the rest of our family, it was on to the Irish Festival. I've mentioned this before, but my Grandmother was Irish-born in Ireland Irish, so when we hang out with those Ohio peeps, it's all about being Irish. The Irish Festival is part of that. We watch Irish stepdancing, drink Irish beer, and just in general sit around being Irish. It's superfun.

There's also your basic non-Irish things like funnel cakes, ice cream on a stick and cotton candy. All of which I think Grandad or Uncle Carl bought for Tanner. Result seen above. In addition to sugar in any form, there were weapons purchased for Tanner, weapons he's been in love with since that moment. (There's more to the weapon story-and I will elaborate on a later post.) Tanner met some cousins, played with his weapons, and slept in hotel rooms. It was his own personal form of paradise.

Sunday, we headed to the golf tournament, where he met MORE cousins, and had a BLAST. I didn't see him the entire time we were there, and when we left, he announced that those kids were his best friends (nevermind that he couldn't remember their names.) As the kids played, the adults laughed at "old times" as they always do. It's a weird walk talking with your parents about their childhood one minute, and then sharing a beer with them as a peer the next. It's a fun walk, but a weird one nonetheless. All too soon, it was time to leave. It always happens that just when we get in the groove, just when we relax and settle into the scene, we have to pack up. It's been like that forever. That's the trouble when your family lives states and states away. But, like always, we hugged and kissed our goodbyes with promises of seeing eachother BEFORE another year passed. We made tentative plans for future fun birthday parties and college football games. We promised to stay in touch.

And then we drove away. We settled into the airport hotel for one last night in Ohio, already reminiscing about the weekend with family. I sometimes wish travel was free for family to family-like cell phone minutes? Then we'd have a constant beaten path between our two homes. But, it doesn't work that way, and so we'll move on to start the school year with these fun memories fresh in our minds, and new email addresses fresh in our pockets.

Author

So, I'm guessing most of you are my Facebook friends, right? And, I just posted that I have some big news coming, right? Well, here you are...a little sneak peak.

For most of the summer, I've been talking with The Messenger to set up a Mommy Blog, complete with a link off their official site. Kristen Tribe contacted me initially with the idea, knowing my complete spastic love of blogging, scrapbooking, and writing in general. All of which are coming together for me in one little package. I've emailed and chatted with the manager, owner, and technical geek guy to get it all rolling, and tomorrow is the day they plan on advertising the new blog alongside their school supply ad. Yep, you are reading words written by the newest member of The Messenger team, and they even wrote "author" next to my name as they set everything up. AUTHOR!!! AND they are taking the time to ADVERTISE it to all of Wise County! ME! and actual AUTHOR!!!

I can't tell you how excited I've been about this. I mean true, absolute giddyness. To think that someone thinks enough of my thoughts to recommend me for something AND THEN SOMEONE ELSE ACTUALLY AGREED! It's just almost too much. My cup runneth over AGAIN. It's been almost torture to keep it all under wraps, as they asked me to, until the actual launch date. I swear, if you asked me about blogging, I might have just come unglued at the seams to tell you all the little details. Good thing you didn't ask.

So, as a result of this new adventure, this blog might take a hit. Not a big one, but I might resort to more picture posting here, and more word writing over there. It was also the main reason I went private with the blog. With my name OUT THERE as an AUTHOR and all, I thought I should try to give the 3 hoodlums that live here just a tad bit of privacy, since any little crazy act they might throw at me could end up on the "evening news." Literally.

Where is over there?

http://www.wcmessenger.com/blogs/mom/

So, go check it out. Read it, and tell your friends. Hopefully, they'll pass along the word and it will be infinitely successful. That is, until I suffer from writer's block now that there is actual PRESSURE from someone to write something.

And, who knows? Maybe we can give ol' Liberally Lean a run for his money. :)

13 years of "I do"

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

And everyone who saw that look wanted to throw up a little.


-brought to you by Hallmark, but purchased by Todd.

Thank you for the card Mr. Beancounter. It was wonderful to come home to your arms after the long weekend in Ohio. I'm your biggest fan today, as I have been most days since the day we met. I love you. :)

Where's Daniella?