Month: April 2011

events, pop culture

An evening with a cute Scotsman

Shanny

I’m on the Comedy Zone’s email list and the other day I saw they were giving away tickets to Craig Ferguson‘s show.  I replied to the email but my hopes weren’t up.  They sent the email out at 10 am and I didn’t see it until 1 pm so I thought my chances were pretty slim.  But somehow I won!  CSP was scheduled to  close at work so he couldn’t go.  But I remembered that Gigi loves Craig so I called her up.  I picked her up after work and we had dinner at Red Bowl.  Love that place.  Then we made our way to Oven’s Auditorium.  The people watching was pretty top notch.  We ended up with pretty good seats, especially since they were free!    There was an opening guy but I don’t remember his name.  Trust me though, you don’t want to see that dude’s show.  He literally read his jokes from big cards in his hand.  It’s like they just found him on the side of the road and said “Here, read these jokes and we’ll give you $50.”  He was terrible.  Then this giant genie and a little person wheeled out a treasure chest.    Pardon the pics.  No flash photography and I was using my old iPhone.  There were a couple puppets in the treasure chest.

Then finally Craig came out.    He was really cute and funny.  I just love his accent!  It was pretty cool to see him since I’ve seen quite a few of his movies, watched him on the Drew Carey show for so long, and also watched his late night show.   Gigi commented that it must be a LOT of pressure to walk out on stage and it’s just you and a microphone and you have to entertain thousands of people for an evening.  I totally agree.  But my goodness how nice that must feel when they all stand up and cheer at the end!

shopping

Slow Boy

Shanny

CSP & I were doing some shopping the other day when I spotted this little guy.  LOVE him!Slow boy!  Slow Boy’s job is to help people slow down in your neighborhood when your kids are out playing but I just want him cause he’s super cute!  Check out his jaunty cap!  He holds his safety flag with such pride!   Ooh, AND he glows in the dark!  We spotted 2 slow boys glowing on the side of the road the other night.  I’d just put him in the corner of the living room.  A permanent, cheery little night light!

adoption

Adoption Limbo

Shanny

I get the occasional email and Facebook message from people wondering how the adoption is going.  Well, up til about a month ago it was going pretty well.  Our social worker came to visit and do our individual interviews last month and it went great.  But we have had some more speed bumps.  We are still working on the next steps I blogged about, but in the mean time we are dealing with some issues.   Long story so get comfy.  Continue reading “Adoption Limbo” →

house

Swirly

Shanny

For Earth Day CSP & I changed out all the regular bulbs in our house to CFLs , or swirly bulbs as we call them.  Just the downstairs alone that was 17 bulbs!  They are brighter and whiter than the old school bulbs plus our electric bill will go down I’m sure.  We received 2 packages of free CFL bulbs from our electric company so that really helps with the cost.  Check with your power company, they may have a similar program.  And since CFLs last forever, we won’t have to replace them for years and years.  We’re headed upstairs to change out those bulbs next!

shopping

I drank the Kool Aid

Shanny

So I’m a couponer now.  I haven’t gone whole hog yet with a big system, but I’m doing better each week.  I’m getting better deals all the time and it’s pretty exciting to start with a GIANT subtotal then walk out paying less than $20.

Things I’m NOT doing:

  • Going to more than one drug store.  I’m a CVS girl and I just don’t have the time or desire to bounce around from drugstore to drugstore.
  • Same with grocery stores.  We use the one CSP works for and the one down the street from us, plus Aldi because you just can’t beat their prices even though the don’t take coupons.
  • Turning my house into a mini grocery store.  We do not have a pantry.  We have precious little storage space.  So while this week’s deals at CVS means we’re set for body wash and lotion for like 6 months, that’s about it.  I can’t be buying 47 bottles of mustard just because they are only 12 cents.  We just don’t have the room.  We currently have 3 bottles of mustard but they all fit in the kitchen cabinets.  I refuse to turn our guest room into a bomb shelter or store steak sauce under our future kidlet’s bed.
  • Paying for coupons.  It just seems counterintuitive to me.
  • Buying 19 papers every Sunday.  I buy one.  There are just 2 of us for now.  Maybe when the kidlet comes home and the demand for granola bars skyrockets then I’ll shell out for more than one paper.
  • Dumpster diving.  I am not judging.  But I am a huge priss.  I can not stand dirt.  I understand that people throw out their coupons and it’s just money sitting in a bin somewhere but it’s just not worth it to me.  Knowing my luck I’d get stuck and have to call CSP and NOBODY wants that drama again.
  • Being as efficient as I know I could be.

Right now my system is very beginner coupon girl I know.  I am currently using a little accordion file coupon organizer like this one from Carolina Pad (holla! Gotta represent my favorite local office supply company) for all my loose coupons.  Then I make my lists and put all the coupons I plan on using at CVS or the grocery into zip loc bags labeled with the store name.  Those are all held in a little notebook in my purse with a binder clip.  Binder clips are my all time favorite office supply, by the way.   I’ve seen/heard of a couple methods and I’m wondering which you all prefer.  I’ve seen people use the big binder.   I can totally see the pros and cons of using this system.  But I’ve also heard of people just filing the entire coupon insert into an accordion or hanging file  and going back to clip each coupon as they need it instead of clipping all at once.  I also see pros and cons with this system.  What do you use and why?  Thank you for your help!

events

Just toes

Shanny

By now you’ve probably read at least one article that discusses the uproar over the ad pictured here that appears in the new J. Crew catalog.  Basically, the company’s president paints her son’s toenails hot pink.  Conservatives and right wingers have gone nuts.  Erin Brown of the right-wing Media Research Center called the ad “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.”  Really?

FOX commentator Dr. Keith Albow even went so far as to advise J. Crew’s president Jenna-

“Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid — and maybe a little for others who’ll be affected by your ‘innocent’ pleasure.”

I just don’t understand it.  It’s toes.  Just toes.  When my nephew Jacob was younger he was very interested in my lip balm.  When he’d see me apply lip gloss or balm he’d say “I want some Shanny yip.”  I loved that he called it yip.  So I’d put some gloss or balm on him.  Guess what?  He’s not in therapy.  It didn’t damage him.  He’s still a great little boy.

I just don’t understand why there’s such outrage over such a small thing.  I mean, really, will pink toenails turn this little J. Crew boy into a mass murderer?  Or a terrorist?  I doubt it.  There are so many serious things going on in the world today that could really use our attention.  So why throw all this negative energy toward what appears to be a mom and son having some fun on a Saturday?

fun, pugs

Addict

Shanny

Molly is addicted to warm laundry.  That girl will seek out a pile of warm laundry no matter where it is.  I couldn’t believe when I found her like this!  She climbed up on to the sofa, then the sofa arm then climbed into the laundry basket!  It was like a kitten climbing up a tree.  She couldn’t get down!  We may need to hold an intervention!

birthday, events, family, friends, fun

Part 3 of Momo’s 21st Birthday Extravaganza!

Shanny

Ok, so now you’ve read about dinner and pre-club drinks.  Now it’s time for the main event!  We were the first to be let in to Howl at the Moon when they opened for the public.  I ran to grab a good table and snagged one right up front.  If you’ve never been to Howl at the Moon you are in for a treat!  And if you have been then you understand why it’s so important to grab a good table.  By 10 pm it is standing room only.  Howl at the Moon is a rock and roll dueling piano bar.  I’m not a bar girl by any means but when I first experienced Howl I knew that’s where we needed to celebrate Morgan’s 21st for a few reasons.  1.  It’s not a stand around nursing your drink kind of bar.  You get a show.  A great show.  2. They play songs everyone knows.  From rap to country to classic rock to top 40.  3.  The people are friendly.  Not just the staff, but the patrons.  4. The musicians are really, really talented.  5.  It’s just really fun!  Click on all pics to enlarge.

So we ordered our first round of drinks and I got my camera out.  We all ordered something called a Pink Passion becauseproceeds go to breast cancer research.  What they don’t tell you is how GIANT this drink is!    Look how big that thing is!  It’s sitting next to Shirlee, my purse, for scale.  It was SO good.  We would have drank those all night except we saw the bucket drinks and we knew we needed some of those.    They come with a handful of straws so everyone gets a taste.  Don’t worry, the alcohol kills the germs.  They are yummy!  Note how normal the first few pictures of the evening are.  After a few buckets and a LOT of singing yelling along with the band, the picture quality gets a littlejanky! 

Behind the bar is a big mirrored wall and for a dollar or two you can get them to write a phrase on the mirror.  We snagged the first free phrase.   You can request songs so we put in for Brown Eyed Girl and they called Momo up on stage to dance along for her birthday.    She pulled Ian (one of her roommates) up with her.  My camera got passed around and we took over 300 pictures that night.  Most were of people drinking from the buckets.    At one point this cute girl stopped by our table.  She was wearing a hat and a cute dress and was hugging everyone.  Then she started drinking from our buckets too!  At the end of the night we found out NONE OF US KNEW HER.  We all thought she was friends with one of us but she was just a stranger!  She hung out with us for a good while too!

  As the night went on and the crowd got bigger and drunker, more people ended up on stage.   Even Gigi got up on stage!    There were lots of characters there that night.  Quite a few bachelorette parties, birthday groups, and even some people out celebrating recent wedding engagements.

I haven’t uploaded all of the pictures for a couple reasons.  1. There are only so many pics of people sucking mixed drinks out of a bucket through neon straws that a person should have to see in their lifetime.  B.  Some of these pictures have been sworn to secrecy.  We are all fine, upstanding adults who don’t normally spend our evenings consuming large drinks via bucket.

I will share with you some of my favorites from that night.  First let me tell you, we learned some things about each other that night.  For one, after a couple cocktails Gigi goes from hugging you to ripping your face off.  Exhibit A.  Poor Sara!   Exhibit B.  Poor Allison!   What can I say?  We’re a very affectionate family.  I also learned that our self portraits tend to suffer the later in the evening it gets. Early on:    Post bucket drinking:   Another thing I learned is that we all have some dance moves that we should probably be ashamed of, especially me.   But we all had a BLAST and that’s what counts!  

You can see more pics here.  Coming soon…part 4.  Oh yeah, there’s more.

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