Fairy Tales From TAKS Land

Let's chalk it up to me being super pms-y and just generally out of patience due to the end of the school year approaching, but I think I've met my 08-09 quota of kids doing stupid things. Today I had to monitor the lunch line during the TAKS test. During TAKS, the kids usually only have one choice of meal: a corndog. Well, today they got two choices: a corndog or a grilled cheese. The students can clearly see their choices through the glass covering the buffett. I can't tell you how many times kids would come through the line and say, "I'll have the pizza". What pizza? Do you see a freakin' piece of pizza ANYWHERE in the cafeteria? One kid asked for the eggroll. Where do see this alleged eggroll? The cafeteria ladies were so sweet to these kids and would say very nicely, "We don't have pizza today, sweetheart. Would you like a corny doy or a grilled cheese?" After the seventh kid asked for pizza, I started asking the kids, "Where do you see pizza?" Perhaps they were delusion from the TAKS test and starting hallucinating pieces of pizza. I know I was.....I just starting seeing mixed drinks everywhere. "I'll have the pina colada."

I don't have the patience to type anymore to tell you about the kid that Kai caught playing his gameboy on the crapper.......

Pageant Politics

Ok. Everyone is all in a tizzy over Miss California's answer about gay marriage. While I don't agree with her answer, you gotta give a girl props for saying what she believes. All the morning shows are buzzing with talk about how Miss USA contestants should be a neutral party and answer the questions in way that doesn't lean to one side or the other. That's all fine and dandy, but then someone tell me why they ask the girls politically charged questions. If they don't want to hear the girls' opinions or thoughts on things that actually matter to Americans, then they need to ask questions like "What shade of pink do you prefer: blush or bashful?" or "How many puppies would you like to save from the dumpsters this year?" or "If you had to choose between cupcakes and unicorns, which would you choose?" If you want them to be charming and not have an opinion, don't ask them about hot topics. One of the other girls took a side and said she didn't feel it was right to use tax payer money to bail out banks, but no one is angry at her because she had an answer the majority of America wants hear. What if Miss California had said she WAS in favor of gay marriage? I wonder if that would have won her the crown. It's almost like people would like the woman representing them to be a bobble-headed Stepford wife that tells them what they want to hear because it's WAY easier to live in denial than to face the fact that a beautiful, educated woman might want to have an opinion about something. (Ya know kinda like the 2004 election). So, in conclusion, while I disagree with Miss California's stance on gay marriage, she wins my respect for taking a stand on what she believes in and making the choice to not give in pageant pressure. Do you like the key word in that sentence? CHOICE.

Meet Baby Caleb

Caleb Ryan Melhart was born on Monday April 13 at 11:45pm. 7lbs 6oz, 19in.

He is slowly warming up to his big sister. He better do it quick because she is BOSSY!

Abby hasn't figured out how to smile naturally yet.

I enjoyed watching her make a bead necklace. She concentrated very hard and I was surprised at how much she was able to do.

I Made More Stuff......

It will probably be a while before I can sit down to my hobbies again so I went a little crazy this weekend!

I made these pendants out of the the clearance impulse buys I made a few days ago:

Either I am a really bad photographer, or my camera sucks, or both. I can't seem to get my camera to focus in on small things like this quirky owl charm:

I want to get a frame with a colorful matte for this little thing. I put that mark down paper to good use with this little number:

Enjoying Some Free Time

Three day weekends are awesome! I can't wait until summer. I love doing stuff around the house and having the time to enjoy a creative process.

I made a few necklaces today:

This one is my favorite:

And this frame that I will finish up tomorrow:

Ahhhh.....only 7 more weeks and I can do this everyday!

Confessions of a Mark Down Shopper

I have a real problem. I can't resist purchasing stuff at the craft store that is on clearance. I mean, I have to get it. It is on clearance after all, and once they're gone, they're gone!! I went to get ONE package of little beads yesterday and I left with six packages of beads, a book of patterned scrapbook paper, a little box of chipboard embellishments that match the scrapbook paper, and a one set of silver rub-ons that I HAD to have. It was all on clearance so I felt the sense of urgency to purchase NOW! I'm such a sucker for priced-to-move crafting supplies. So last night Natasha mentioned she needed an orange necklace and I immediately knew where to get some super cute giant orange beads.......in the clearance bucket at Michael's!!!! Of course we went to get them and then I walked out with more jewelry making supplies. But I had a coupon for 40% off, so I don't feel TOO guilty about it. I have another coupon that is only good today, so we will find out today how much will power I actually have to resist the lure of the craft store.

I went to Home Depot yesterday and bought some runnuculus to spice up my entry door. I love them, and they would look even better if it was sunny outside today!

Life After UIL

Ahhhhhh - the contentment of having UIL over with is a feeling I haven't experienced since I finished grad school. It's been such a relief. I'm sure it feels so good since we were successful. It feels great to finally have this sort of validation. I know there were people waiting for us to fall on our faces three years ago when we opened the school, which for us added another layer pressure just wanting so bad to prove everyone wrong. It hasn't been easy and it hasn't always been fun, but bringing home two Sweepstakes trophies made it all worth it this week.

And so there is life after UIL! I was about to write this blog and say that I haven't been this happy in years, and then my mom called to let me know my sister is probably going to have her baby tomorrow and I won't get to go see them until Thursday if I'm lucky. So now I'm not so happy, but I had a great weekend getting to do all the things I don't usually have the time or the energy to do. I've had a lot of fun making jewelry. Here are a few of the things I made this weekend:



This picture is totally blurry because my camera is a piece of junk, but these little charms are really cute. I can't wait to wear them this week. I'm looking forward to more free weekends, less stress, and only eight more weeks of school!!