Today Momo & I painted faces for the Chantilly Flutterfest. 
Three and a half hours of non stop little faces in our chairs asking for rainbows, hearts, and most surprisingly, snakes. 
I swear I’ve never painted so many snakes! 
My favorite request was a little girl who wanted me to paint a self portrait on the back of her neck. So sweet! I convinced her she did not need my big white head riding around on the back of her neck the rest of the day. She chose a snake instead. Smart girl. 
The Flutterfest was the cutest festival at a local elementary school. They set us up under a tent under a HUGE shade tree. Perfect! The weather was great too. Sunny but not too hot. And since we were in the shade I didn’t get any sun, thank goodness. We thought we had our lines under control at one point. Momo & I both had literally never ending lines from start to finish. We had to post a mom at the end of the lines to shoo kids away. Kinda felt bad about that. We would have gotten all the kids done earlier but the fire truck turned their hose up in the air and soaked all the children. That’s a lot of fun on a sunny day but guess what happens when water based face paint meets a fireman’s hose? Yeah, we had a bunch of water logged kiddos back in our line for round two! We had a great time and I hope they’ll hire us again next year! Oh, and by the way, got this job via Twitter! One of my tweeps tweeted that she was looking for a face painter and within 2 minutes I’d landed the job. Viva technology!
Month: May 2009
Because I love the little star bullets
Kind of a lot going on lately.
- Booked hotel & flight to Vegas, baby! So excited! CSP has Vegas programmed into the custom weather tracker thing on the tv. He checks it all the time. I’m like what’s to check? It’s constantly hellishly hot. Our room at the Paris is only $69 a night! Woot! You can’t even get the Hampton Inn here for that!
- My biological father & his mother, my Nanny, are coming for a 4 day visit in mid June. The planning of this trip has resulted in many, many, MANY phone calls. My Nanny is 86, never gives a straight answer, does not hear well or pay much attention to what you say, and probably makes stuff up. We’ve gone from her staying here to not to staying downstairs here to upstairs to staying at my BIL’s mother’s house. Who knows where she’s staying. Sara has the pleasure of hosting my father at her house. Better her than me, man. If you haven’t experienced the freak show that is my father…well, just wait for the pics & the stories of his visit. You may want to book your therapist appointment now. I know I am.
- Saturday Morgan & I are face painting at a school festival. I got this job via Twitter. Fun! Wasn’t trolling for jobs either. Just happened to read one of the tweets from someone I follow & now Momo & I will be making some extra $ while having a blast this weekend.
- I’m seeing my knee surgeon Monday to see if he’ll inject me with Synvisc One. It’s this cool new stuff for osteo arthritis sufferers like myself. They shoot it into your knee and it creates a cushion where my cartiledge used to be before arthritis ate it up. I’m praying I’ll be approved and can get it. I’d love to be able to walk around Vegas without pain. Cross your fingers!
- Took Zoe to the nursing home to visit Gmommy with Momo today. Got some really cute pics. I’ll share them after I show Gigi on Friday. Zoe was a rock star. Everyone loved her there! Well, except one moron woman who thought she was a bulldog and warned people that Zoe bites. Zoe has never bitten anyone in her life and how would Madame Moron know anyway? Whatever. All I know is Gmommy couldn’t get enough of Zoe and if it makes Gmommy happy then it’s a good thing.
- Papa & Gigi come home tonight from Arizona. They’ve been there since Saturday on an anniversary trip. They celebrate 3 years married on June 1, although they’ve been together over 10 years. They had breakfast in the same restaurant as Vince Vaughn! I can’t wait to see pics on Friday when I go visit.
- Speaking of Friday…CSP goes back to the dentist under the influence of Valium Friday morning for the 2nd attempt to fill his cavity. I really hope they can do it this time. Cross your fingers. He’s a big guy. I hope that Valium is a big pill!
Missing the point
I was in the living room when I heard a bit of commotion in the kitchen behind me.
CSP: Son of a bitch!
Me: Who are you calling a son of a bitch?
CSP: Zoe!
Me: Honey, you can’t call her a son of a bitch, she’s a girl!
CSP: Oh yeah. You’re right. Hmmm.
pause.
CSP: Son of a whore!
Slim pickings
What I had for dinner last night:
- 2 eggs
- 1 pack of Ramen Noodles
- 1 can of pineapple chunks
Yeah. I need to go grocery shopping.
33
Happy Birthday to my talented sister Sara! 
Shanny & CSP: Origins
11 years ago today CSP & I became inseparable. This is how it happened… I have been friends with my BIL, Marc, since 1992. Our group of friends would go on a fun trip once a year or so. Well in 1998 we chose to take a 7 day cruise to the Southeast Caribbean. Marc, Jackie, Landon, Amy, Kevin, & I signed up to go. I got a bonus at work and my tax return so I went ahead and paid for my portion of the trip. (All these odd details become important later, I swear) Marc & Jackie were dating when we booked the trip, but as the date of the cruise got closer they broke up. Continue reading “Shanny & CSP: Origins”
They only look sweet and innocent
Last night CSP & I gave the three pugs a bath. We’ve got it down to a science. I get in the tub. CSP hands me a pug. I wash the pug & hand said pug back to CSP who dries her off. So on and so on.
After their bath we settled in to watch American Idol (recorded so I just zipped to the end to see Kris win. Yay!) then Taken. Taken was so good! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Especially when Molly fell off the arm of the sofa and slammed the lamp into the wall causing the glass globe thing to shatter! I about jumped out of my skin. Everyone’s fine and CSP jumped into action. He’s nothing if not good at Haz Mat clean up. Once everything calmed back down we were able to get back to watching Liam Neeson kick some ass.
Budget Birthday Bonanza
Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up on August 3rd. We have a credit card that accrues miles with each dollar spent. Recently I started noticing that some of my miles were disappearing from my balance. We’ve been using this card for years. We started it so we could earn enough miles to go to China. Then Guatemala. Well, neither of those are in the cards now. And we haven’t been using the card lately because we’re trying to eliminate credit card usage. Because we’re not earning or using miles we’re being punished 12 miles a month. That’s not good. So CSP & I were talking about using the miles before they are all taken away and going some place fun. But we’re on a budget.
Where can you go to have fun but not spend too much $$? Vegas! We’ll be spending my birthday in Vegas! We’re so excited! We have enough miles to fly first class (very important as CSP is too long to fit comfortably in coach seats- last time he flew coach his knees were bruised for weeks). We haven’t been to Vegas since our honeymoon 8 years ago. We stayed at the Paris then and we’re staying there this time around too. Except now it’s recession time so the room is only $69 a night! Woot! Our honeymoon was in March when the weather was 73* and perfect. This time we’ll be visiting during hell heat time so we’ll spend as much time as possible indoors in the a/c. I hear it’s a dry heat but 103* is still 103*! We’ve been wanting to get back to Vegas for a visit since the day we left over 8 years ago. It will be so much fun spending my birthday on the strip!
Happy Birthday Lisie!
Happy Birthday to sweet, funny, wonderful Lisa!
Salty dogs
Papa & Gigi converted their pool to salt water a couple months ago, just in time for the warm weather. I tried it out on Mother’s Day. Morgan, Mom & I swam for just over 2 hours. The difference between the chlorinated pool and the salt water pool is just amazing!
Cons: the initial cost to convert the pool. That’s it!
Pros:
- Cost: before Papa & Gigi had to spend about $80 a month on pool chemicals. No more! Salt is super cheap & rarely has to be added.
- Fewer bugs. You know how you have to skim out the pool before you swim? Now it takes no time at all because there are so few bugs! And no frogs or snakes either.
- Taste. I was wondering if it would taste like I was swimming in the ocean. Not at all. It’s like swimming in saline/contact lens solution.
- Doesn’t sting your eyes. I opened my eyes under water while swimming and there was no sting. Also, my eyes didn’t get all red afterward.
- Skin/Hair- Usually after swimming my skin feels really tight and it dries out. As soon as I got in the water I could tell a difference. It was softer and my skin felt smoother. After swimming there was no tightness or dryness. And my hair felt like it had been conditioned instead of all brittle from chlorine. I could run my fingers through it both in and out of the water with no problem. I have excema so the skin thing is a huge deal to me.
- No pruney fingers. This was weird. We didn’t prune up. 2+ hours in the pool and no wrinkly fingers. I also didn’t get thirsty like I usually do while swimming. Wonder if those two things are related.
- No chemical smell. I could smell the flowers surrounding the pool instead of chlorine.
- Other benefits: easier on your bathing suits (won’t bleach them out). Won’t ruin your highlights or hair color. More gentle on pool toys. The salt & the pump equipment still produce chlorine- just naturally through the salt. No more pool shock chemicals. No stinging eyes when you get splashed.
I’m so excited about swimming at Papa & Gigi’s this summer!
Bless Your Heart 