new camera or bust

Well, I guess all the activity over the weekend was just too much for my little Kodak EasyShare. Somehow between the bar and the breakfast table, the lcd panel managed to get smashed. It still takes pictures, you just have no idea if the pics are in focus or not. Thankfully, we have good instincts, otherwise we wouldn’t have our Morning After Breakfast pics. God knows that would’ve been a tragedy.

I’d love to get a digital SLR but I just don’t have a spare $1000 or so bucks. So, I’m looking for a good, portable camera that takes nice quality pictures and has a pretty quick turnaround between shots.

Got any suggestions?

back to the grind

Well, I’ve recovered from the British invasion…though seriously, if they all showed back up tomorrow, I’d do it all over again. The best thing about these guys (besides how unbelievably freaking hot they are) is that they’re just really great lads. We make new friends every year…and we love it.

Today I’m blogging over at Fictionistas talking about Summertime…did you have a summer job or was it your job to play?

Click on the banner:
Fictionistas

Here’s a few more pics from last week…for your enjoyment.





Fishdog is the real hero of the week. 🙂

good to know


You know when people tell you that the older you get, the harder it is to stay out late and party?

Totally true.

I had 2 lovely drinks of this fabulous concoction my tall hunk of Manchester love, Justin, made me. Barely even a buzz…yet with a 2:00 bed time and a 9:00 rise time (which is really late for me) I’m feeling like I was hit by a train. No headache and no hangover. Just really damn tired.

New favorite drink in the world?
Vanilla Vodka + Coke (will replace with Coke Zero tonight)

OMGYum. Tastes like a Coke Float. I kid you not. Keep this away from all children. Proceed with caution.

communicable language

I’ve decided…the coaches are contagious. (no. not THAT kinda contagious. sheesh. How would I know. Besides, they all swear their mouth sores have healed…)

Here are a few things my children have picked up this week after hanging out with 10 Brits.

  1. Oy! Oy! Oy! (before the Brits, it was Yo! Yo! Yo!)
  2. That’s Ledge! or That’s Legend! or Legendary!
  3. Class. (which is short for ‘class act’)
  4. Outrageous. (which replaces ‘unbeliveable or seriously’)

Another thing we’ve discovered–they can’t walk by a mirror without primping. Cracks me up.

Don’t get me wrong, they are good-looking lads, but I seriously haven’t seen boys that interested in their appearance since Make Me a Supermodel. One of the lads takes longer to get ready than any woman I know. Now, the results are fantastic, but seriously, that’s a lot of primping.

Ian is fascinated by the coaches…especially their primping routine. He studied Justin last night and you could see his mind working. I’m wondering if this will result in a new and improved hygiene routine. He’s got quite a bit of admiration going on for these lads. It’s a nice change from before.

Sadly, last night they were going out on the town, but due to the hour+ primp sessions, they didn’t get downtown until nearly midnight. And the host mom that took them out, took them to Cajun’s…which is a hopping meat market, if you’re 40+. And it had a $15 cover charge…which was a total rip off. Sigh. I don’t think these guys are looking for a MILF…and if they are, well, I know one or two who would quickly line up for the job. LOL Hopefully tonight’s party will be Legendary. If it’s not, we’ll take them to the real bars.

As promised, here are a few pictures. I’ll post more later. Last night was “dress your coach” night, so I have some love photos 0of the coaches wearing dresses and such. Quite a lot of fun…








a Mel-O-Jumble

So, I challenged some Divas to help me out this morning because I’m braindead and was having a hard time with a blog-topic. I asked them to shout out random words and I would create a blog from them.

Of course, Kristen Painter was the first to volunteer. She’s funny, that Kristen.

Her suggestion?
fig newtons

Well, let me tell ya, I can blog all day about the ooey yuckiness that is Fig Newton. (not a fan of the fig…but the Apple? Yum.)

Did you know that Fig Newton is a brand name? It’s trademarked by Nabisco. But, Fig Newton has become a bit like Kleenex. Yes it’s a brand name, but it has become the everyday word for ‘fig bar’ here in America.

Another bit of Fig Newton trivia: Paul Newman has a product called Fig Newmans. I found an interview with his daughter that explains how he convinced Nabisco to allow him to use the name:

Q: How did you ever convince Nabisco, the original owner of Fig Newtons, to let you use the name “Fig Newmans” for your fig bars?

A: My dad wrote a very sweet, short letter to the president of Nabisco that said, “My daughter’s got a great idea for a product. Could we sit down and talk about a small royalty deal? All the profits will go to charity.” And the guy just sent back a letter that said, “Dear Paul, I love what you’re doing, we’ll just say it’s a dollar a year, and I’d love to sit down and have a beer with you.” The legal department of Nabisco had a fit, but there was nothing they could do.

That’s good info, aye?

Another Diva, Vivienne Westlake, added stargaze lillies and hells bells to the list.

That’s an easy one:

Hell’s Bells! Stargazer lillies are beautiful, but their frangrance gives me a headache every time!

🙂

And that brings us to the end of today’s Mel-O-Jumble.

[insert clever title]

Not feeling the title love this morning. Feel free to title this particular post whatever you wish. You can even leave your suggestion in the comments. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even listen.

Yesterday was a very long day for my #2 son, Rader. Camp in the morning, in 90 degree heat, 90% humidity and not a cloud in the sky. But he’s loving camp this year. He came home and rested, then had two 3v3 games last night. I thought he would do that instead of going to camp…but no, he wanted to do both. So he played his two 30 minute games, then asked to go back out to camp. What a trooper!

Fishdog says he looked like warmed over death this morning. I’m sure all this activity is wearing on him, but it’s good for him.

One of the coaches calls him “Oakland” now. That cracks me up because one of the questions we often got after Rader was born was “So, you must really be an Oakland fan?” Um. No. Spelled different, but thanks for asking.

The other question we often got: “You must’ve really liked M*A*S*H.”

SRSLY?

No. His name is not Radar. Besides, if I were gonna name a kid after a M*A*S*H character, it would’ve been Hawkeye. Sheesh.

I’ve been lax with my picture taking this round. I will recitfy that tonight. We took some pics at the cookout on Monday, and I’ll be sure to take some at tonight’s gathering. There’s a scrimmage between the Brits and the Americans on Friday…I’ll definitely get pictures that night!

I know y’all are getting tired of me keeping the lads to myself…which is no hardship let me tell ya.

the british invasion & the bachelorette

It’s been fairly quiet, actually. Which is a good thing because this is a busy and slightly stressful week. We have three lads, Grant (the big Scot I’ve known for 2 years), Justin and Mark (who are both from Manchester. And believe it or not, they live just around the corner from each other but didn’t meet until they got to the states!)

Last night after camp, we went to a BBQ that one of the other host families put on. All 10 of the soccer coaches were there (btw, there is a LOT of eye candy going on around these parts). There was a keg and a ping pong table, so it didn’t take long for a Beer Pong tournament to commence. Grant lost in the final round. I believe he was gutted. I didn’t see it though. We left right before midnight. I have to get my beauty rest. Being this hot takes work.

I’ve met some great families and I hope I’ve made a couple of new friends. Ian has already told us he wants to switch to the Maumelle Soccer Club to play and after the warm reception we’ve gotten and seen how close the families are, I think I’m in favor of the switch. Actually, the club director has asked Fishdog to consider coaching Rader’s age group so they can have a team. (they have the players but not the coach) and I am nudging him to do so. We’ll see what happens.

Tonight we’re going to a pizza party at American Pie. The real party will be Friday night…

Pictures coming soon…

The Bachelorette

Well, I called it. I was teary when Graham left last night, even though I knew he was a marked man. I know DeAnna had very strong feelings for him–it was evident they way she lit up when he was around. But he couldn’t open up. It was bizarre to see him shut down every show. Sadly, I think they would’ve made a great couple, if they would’ve met and dated like real people. I am afraid the show set up freaked Graham out. And I am very disappointed in DeAnna for admitting that she was falling in love with him but had to let him go because she was afraid he would hurt her. Honey, there are no guarantees in love. She wasn’t willing to take a risk for him, and she may have even let the ‘real’ one go. Who knows? I know that watching him leave last night made my heart hurt.

I believe Jeremy is the next to go and the final two will be Jesse and Jason. And Jason will be her choice in the end…I just hope whoever she chooses it’s because she has real feelings for him, not because she knows that person won’t hurt her. Sigh.