Noncontest, birthday, fun giveaway

It's my birthday (Thursday, June 5) and you all get the gifts. How does that sound to you?

What do you have to do, you ask. Well all you have to do is visit my newsletter forum, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jgdsseries/ - for my Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS) series and sign up between today and Thursday to receive my monthly newsletter and then email me after you've signed up and let me know you've signed up and I'll send you a state related item. That's it - simple and free.

So come celebrate my birthday with me and get my newsletter delivered right to your inbox, and receive a small state related item - E :)

Birthdays and fun stuff

This past weekend was a busy one and I had to miss out Hailie's 15th b-day. I had to leave Thursday afternoon to head to Myrtle Beach for the SCWW writers' conference volunteers' meeting. (see next posting for complete details) I had stopped at Fred's here in town to see about getting a cell phone due to the fact that Bear wouldn't lend me his phone. I knew that the Wal-Mart in Laurens was a bit out of the way but it was okay to get to and get back to the meeting place for my ride (I don't drive long distances and definitely not somewhere I'm not familiar with). Anyway, I picked up a Gophone for the weekend's usage since I knew I would need it for staying in touch with the coordinators and whoever would call me (aka - one of my roommates used me a lot this weekend due to Sandra's phone not ringing and her answering her calls) but it was fine. I didn't mind.

So Friday was Hailie's 15th b-day and I had to call her while I was working which was fun because I was sitting in the bookstore that we had created for the authors to sell their books. We also had some individual publishers/presses selling their authors' books. So in the process of manning the booth, I found this delightful series of tween books - the Shandon Ivy League series - a series of stories written from the animals points of view - where the pets are the ones solving the mysteries (what a unique idea). Anyway about 3:30 I called bear's phone - figuring he was already picking up Hailie from school and she would answer but as it so happened he was at the high school but was in line waiting to ease up to get her and so I had a couple of minutes before she got in the car. So she gets in the car and he hands her the phone and I ask her if she would be interested in these books - at first she said no, probably not and then when I explained they were on the same level as the Bitsy books, she said yeah, probably she would read them. So I purchased all three - and the author autographed them for me to her - since it was her birthday. Ivy even has her own printed stamp - a paw print for signing the books with. The display was really cute and too bad I didn't have a camera phone or something to take pictures with.

So after wishing her happy birthday, asking about the books, and all - she headed to CVS to get some things for secret sister (colorguard thing) and to spend her money on her birthday stuff. I'm still not sure what all she got except last night she did get her $40 from her grandmother and bear gave her another $20 to get an MP3 player. So we headed over to Fred's because she wanted some shoes and they had the MP3 player for half the cost of what bear paid for Benjamin's at CVS - so I have a feeling that Benjamin will be taking his back because it has less memory than Hailie's does and it doesn't have a USB port to hook directly to the computer to download from.

Okay - so it sounds like she had a good birthday - even though I don't know what all she got or spent her money on - on the low side - our football team did lose the game Friday night - but they had a good time because the band competition the next day was worth it - see next posting - E :)

By time

Birthday and full moon

Today, okay yesterday actually considering it is now after 1 a.m. here, was my youngest child's birthday. He is an official teenager - 13 - no longer a baby. I have no babies left - wahhhhh :(

So his dad gave him some money for his birthday. I had spent all day at the school separating and checking and double and triple orders for pizza and cookie dough and making sure everyone picked up their orders. I got home about 6:30 and Benjamin comes out wanting to immediately go to dinner and spend his money. Now it's Wednesday and Hailie has gone to a friend's house to go to church with her and wants me to pick her up about 8:30. to get to town to a decent restaurant and eat and then let Benjamin do some shopping takes about two hours. Oh what to do. So we head to Anderson and on the way are discussing where to eat. We had decided on Harbor Inn which is right near the mall because that is where he wants to go to spend his money. We are almost at Harbor Inn and he looks over to the left and goes in to panic mode - IHOP, let's go to IHOP - so I had to make a quick turn, luckily at a light and no traffic (after all it is Wednesday night and most folks are in church during this time). We go to IHOP. I was thinking the crepe fest sounded good but changed my mind - had the country fried steak. So Benjamin orders a double BLT (lots of bacon made up like a club sandwich), and then decides to order an appetitizer of chicken tenders. Talk about yummy - they were so delish.

I told the waitress it was his birthday and he was an official teenager now - so after we eat she brings this humongous sundae out - with caramel and chocolate and lots of whipped cream (Benjamin has never really been a whipped cream lover - usually doesn't get it if he can avoid it) - so we both ate on the sundae.

We get to the mall at 8 p.m. I tell him he has 30 minutes to shop (he had a goal place to go and knew what he wanted). I was going to read while he was shopping, dozed off a couple of times but not anything lengthy. He pops out of the mall at 8:31 - talk about good shopping.

On the way back to get Hailie from her friend's, I look up and the moon is so full and pretty. Not a beautiful moon but a very nice one - clear sky, no clouds, no trees to obscure the view and just the brightness from the moon shining on us. So I pick on him about getting home and howling at the moon. He wasn't interested. He was more interested in the video games he had just purchased. Okay, so he wasn't howling at the moon, I did it for him while in the car at a red light. Thankfully all the windows were up and no one heard me - lol -

It was an overally enjoyable evening - spending time with my now teenage son.

heading to bed - see you all in the postings - E :)

Friends, school, and just chat in general

So my friend Chai, a youngun I met on a writing group forum, was chatting with me this evening (okay it is officially Thursday morning in South Carolina but still Wednesday night in California where she lives) and she was updating me on her plantar wart situation (she's had them burned off with acid and now has had them frozen off with something similar to Compound W but at the doctor's office instead of doing it herself. Anyway - she is in pain and says the freezing hurts more than the acid burning off - which is believable because it is like dry ice - or something like that being put on your skin.

She reminded me that today (August 9) is her birthday - so all of you drop by her blog http://raindropsays.blogspot.com/ - and wish her a happy 19th and many more.

got to hit the sack - I didn't fall asleep until after 4 last night (or Wednesday morning) and I struggled like crazy to stay awake and work all day - stay cool - see you all in the postings - E :)

June - what a month - Birthdays galore

I told you before that there were tons of birthdays and remember dates in June so here they are -

1st - one of my cousin's b-day (we aren't in close contact so I couldn't tell you if it was Brian's, Sherrie's or Christopher's - so when I say one of the cousin's you'll know it's one of those three)
2nd - my brother's anniversary and I believe it is his 17th? - hum I guess I should call and find out what they just celebrated - again not very close so don't keep in contact
5th - MINE - A milestone for me - I'll be 45 which is probably half my life expectancy - woohoooooo -
6th - Brandon's, my nephew who my son was with during spring break and they got picked up by the cops which Benjamin thought was the coolest thing
9th - another one of the cousin's (see note above on the 1st)
15th - one of my friend's from high school
19th - the other cousin's (the only reason I remember the dates is that it was the 1st plus the 9th - to make 19 - lol)

There are more I'm sure and I'm too addled-brained to think of them all - we have a slew of them between the middle of May and the end of June - then things are quiet for a bit and pick back up in the fall - so more then when I can get everything together.

See you all in the postings - E :)

Birthdays and end of school and busy days

Today was my sister-in-law's birthday - she is 39 (and now she can say she is 39 and holding forever - lol) - I wish her many more.

Saturday is Janelle Dakota's birthday - she will be 43. We only get better with age.

Monday is bear's birthday (oh yeah, bear is my description of my sort of husband since we don't really live together - separated but living in the same house on different floors and the reason I call him a bear is because he is manic depressive and when he's depressed he just kind of growls like a bear - no it's not because he's cuddly like a teddy bear - lol) - he will be 54.

Tuesday is the last day of school for the kids (we started the first week of August but this coming school year, the governor has passed something - not sure what to call it really - saying that all schools in South Carolina cannot start before the third Monday of August - trying to get them all on similar schedules with breaks and such - we think) - they have half days Friday, Monday and Tuesday and Tuesday really isn't even a half day because all they need to do is go pick up report cards and say their goodbyes. This is a monumental time for Hailie as she will be leaving middle school for good and heading to high school in the fall (no, I'm not ready for her to be in high school - the expense, the activities, the constant running here and there and everywhere to take to those activities, and whatever else comes with starting high school in this day and time). She has become friends with quite a few teachers over the past four years and so I'm sure she'll be sad (although she already informs me that she's ready to go to high school and she's excited) - guess we'll find out Tuesday when we go get report cards.

Bear's sister's birthday is either the 27th or 29th (I have a hard time remembering which) - she will be 44. She is the youngest of his sisters with a 5-year gap between her and the youngest child in the family. Bear is the oldest. There are six kids in his family overall with him being the oldest, four sisters and then a brother as the youngest - lol - you'd think being around women all his life pretty much he'd know what to do when it comes to communicating and all - but alas - nope - he doesn't - no communication or very little and no pizzazz like when we first met - he fizzled out - that is why the marriage went downhill basically.

When we get into June - there are a string more birthdays to deal with - but I'll post those later - I'm getting tired and since it is now 2:35 a.m. and I haven't been sleeping well as it is - I think I should turn in and try to get some sleep before starting work - see you all in the postings - E :)