Potatoes aren't Fruit!!

Last night my son pointed a certain vegetable was that was sitting interspersed with the other fruit on a plate that my children grab freely from for snacking. He asked me what it was.

I told him, "those are gold Yukon potatoes." I didn't think to ask him why he asked me that question. It certainly looked like other kinds of potatoes, except it wasn't the typical brown color.

This morning while getting stuff ready for school, I saw my son take something odd from his lunchbox when he cleared out yesterday's old lunch stuff and threw it away.

I looked in the trash can there was a raw Yukon gold potatoe, with a large bite taken out of it.

Please join me in a lovely symphony of gut busting laughter!!

(I am still giggling a half hour later)

(

P is for Pearl

Today my son found a wood lid stuck behind the dresser.

It has fancy scrolled letter P on it.

I was missing that lid for a really long time. I really wanted that lid back!

This old varnished cracked lid with a "P" on it is my jewelry box lid. I am guessing that my jewelry box is about 30 years old.

My mother gave me this wood jewelry box to me when I was 12 years old. It used to be her Aunt Pearl's. I didn't really know Aunt Pearl. She was my great Grandpa Busby's companion. I remember the cool 70's beads in their kitchen. That's all I remember about Pearl and Grandpa Busby.

But getting that jewelry box was the coolest thing ever. I used to share a small bedroom with 4 other kids. A brother in the crib. A sister in a mattress pulled out from under the crib. A sister on the bottom bunk. And me on the top bunk with my "secret stuff" stashed under the mattress. Lots and lots of "babyish" stuff and Barbies in my room, ugh!

I didn't have any the latest teen stuff at the time. Just a few Kirk Cameron posters on the wall, and my very non-babyish jewelry box with the letter P on my dresser.

Yep, I was real proud of my jewelry box with a letter P. I polished it once a month with my Mom's lemon polish.

I smacked my siblings hands if they dared touched my jewelry box.

A year later I was looking at the letter P thinking that it was too bad that it was not a letter M.

A year later I was really wishing I had a reason to have a letter P! No cool nicknames for me that started with a letter P. And "pumpkin" from my Dad as a little girl does not count.

A year after that I thought to myself, "I really really want my last name to start with a letter P."

A year after that I thought to myself, "I am pretty sure that I will have the last name with a letter P"

A year after that, I went to Lake Powell for the first time. And I LOVED it. I loved that name of the lake so much. Lake Powell sounds so cool. It IS so cool and beautiful.

Almost 3 years later I was standing by a large bonfire introducing myself in sign language as a one of the counselors at a summer camp for deaf kids. "Hello, my name H-E-A-T-H-E-R M-C-N-E-I-L"

Soon afterwards there was a hand towards my right shoulder. I could only see the hand. I thought it was a very nice looking hand. And I saw the name being spelled "R-Y-A-N P-O-W-E-L-L"

Well two weeks later, and the rest is history.

Now I have a good reason to have an old varnished cracked wood lid with a fancy scrolled letter P on it.

And I am still proud of it.

I smack my kids hands if they dare to touch it.

And to this day I still introduce myself as "My name is Heather Powell, Powell as in Lake Powell"

(otherwise they write my last name down as Powers)

PS My husband is quite possibly related to John Powell, founder of Lake Powell.

Thanks son for finding my  jewelry box lid!

And P is now for Powell. (Sorry Aunt Pearl!)

I Smell Like a Man

Yes, you read that right!

I smell like a man, and I love it!

Now I do not mean sweaty, sticky, icky and stinky man... (gaggagagagag)

I am talking about this:

Oh yeah baby!

For the past 18 months I have been gradually using my husbands stuff from the bathroom while ignoring my bottles and vials of stuff from Bath and Body works.

I discovered that I love Old Spice!

My favorite one right now is Swagger. isn't that such a fun and cool name? But I got a problem. The entire family loves it too! I caught my daughter using Swagger deodorant and my teen sons are requesting their own Swagger products so that we don't have to share.

So currently I have two Swagger body washes in each bathroom. My kids are sharing Swagger body spray and deodorant, and they all insist on having their own stash of Swagger products in their room.

My husband has been an Old Spice fan since boyhood and still uses Pure Sport or Fresh.

Pretty soon the entire house will be filled with OS Swagger products.

Now if they will make Swagger body lotion, I will be a happy woman!

If you are ever at loss on what to get me or any of my family members for our birthdays, we will be very happy to get this:

Have a nice Old Spice kind of day!

What is your favorite Old Spice smell? (on yourself or on your man)

The Candle Sniffers

I have a little pet peeve about something that EVERY cashier has done to me since I starting purchasing supplies at the store for the last 14 years.

1. I get an candle (and a bunch of other stuff)

2. I wait in line FOREVAH

3. I bite my tongue when cashier is SO slow

4. Cashier rings up my candle from my stash of other stuff, opens the lid and takes a sniff.

5. And I snarkily say "yeah, that smells good, don't it?" (thinking: make me wait a little longer, will ya?)

The first year during shopping for my family was fun.

The second year was okay.

The third year was boring.

The fourth year and continuing: STOP WASTING MY TIME!

If the cashier starts sniffing my gum and treats, I am seriously going to lose it.

(BTW: no male cashiers ever do this)

Maybe I should learn and make sure I get in line with the MALE cashiers. But they move so much
slower!!


Next time I am bring my friend Flower with me when I go shopping. I guarantee that the cashier will speed things up and stopping perusing over the items I decided to buy:

Summer Plans So Far

This is what I have been doing thus so far with my summer vacation with the kids:

This is what I wish my dogs could do this summer, I swear it seems to be more work:

I have also been doing lots of fun sewing projects. I do have four polka dot fabric stashes:

I have also been hosting a summer camp. The first week was Outerspace and Alien Day followed by Pirate Day. Next week is Hawaii/Beach Day. Then Diary/Car Wash/Farm Day. The third week will be Magic and Talent Show/Circus then followed later by Camp/Patriotic Day.

My kids have so much fun having their friends over for summer camp every year.

So that's my summer so far in a nutshell?

What have you been doing this summer? (and don't make me jealous and say that you are in Hawaii, or San Diego, or anywhere where the climate is cooler to the point of being able to walk outside without passing out by the time you reach your mailbox)

"I already told you!"

You would think that I would have learned by now...

Today while paying for a purchase at Ace, I scanned my card and said, "Debit please."

Then I saw that the info on the screen 'thingie' where you make your payments with a card said "credit."

Then I said, "I wanted debit please."

The young female cashier gets exasperated with me and said, "I just already explained and told you that the credit will run like a debit, (talking to me like I was some sort of toddler.....yadayayaydayaydya-I stopped listening at this point, I have heard this conversation before)

*whatever*

So I said, "Oh, so while I was fiddling with my wallet and this machine, you were talking to me the whole time? Sorry. I am deaf. I didn't hear anything you said."

I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. You would think I have learned how to sidestep this problem next time.

Next time I go shopping, I think I will tape a big note on my forehead just before I get to the cashier:

"I AM DEAF. Please don't speak unless spoken to and I am looking at you."

This is what I am making next

GO see Brassy Apple Lady at

http://www.brassyapple.blogspot.com/

(photo above is from the Brassy Apple Lady)

I am totally going to copy her idea to make a chandelier for my daughter's room for about 18 dollars using stuff from the dollar store!

It's simply three wire hanging baskets for plants spray spainted and a bit of wire to hold stuff together. Then whatever bling you want.

See her blog for a great pic by pic tutorial!