Pictures from My Very Successful Dinner Party!!

If you want to hear about the details, read my mom's blog! But here are the pictures from our evening. It was tons of fun and I would definitely classify it as a success. My mom left me with a time-line and we sat down to eat at 7:59. My target was 8:00! So see, mom, you can have a sit-down dinner party for 17! (Of course, only if you have a "Barb!") The food was delicious, and everyone was complimentary of my mom and her abilities.

The tables:



Merrill, Tucker, & Matt:


Nicky, Me, & Jimmy:




Some friends from work:

My baby's all grown up!

Jordan had her first formal dance yesterday. She looked absolutely beautiful - and so grown up! Her boyfriend is as big as a grown man - which is good for Jordan since her 4" heels makes her tower above most. I should have gotten a picture of that - Jordan towering over me!

We went shopping together for her dress and shoes. After last year's fiasco with dress shopping (graduation and confirmation), we were both reluctant to go. We put it off until the last minute, but we made a game plan. It was pretty simple (and was modeled after my mom who had taken Jordan shopping after me last year and had fabulous results):
1. Eat lunch together first (so we remember that for the most part we like each other)
2. Start at Macy's (No independent mall stores - too long and pricey!)
3. Try on at least 5 dresses (even if they didn't look so great on the rack)
4. If none are good, hit next department store
5. Repeat
I told her I'd spend up to $150.00 for both the shoes and the dress, so if she wanted something more expensive, she would have to pay the difference. With those rules in place, we went shopping.

We had a nice lunch (Mexican, which we both adore). Then - Macy's. We went straight to the Juniors dress section. Jordan didn't really know what she wanted, but she did know she wanted a short dress with fun color. We pulled about 6 dresses to try. Then, right before going into the dressing room, we saw one that was black and steel grey. It did not meet her requirement of color, but it met my requirement of try it on even if it doesn't look awesome on the rack. Several of the dresses were really cute, but the black and grey one was by far the best. She loved it. I loved it. It was well within the budget. Bought it.

Moved to shoes (always easier, but usually pricier). Tried on 2 pairs, loved the second. Were within budget. Bought them. The total shopping experience lasted less than 45 minutes and she came in about $10.00 under budget!! We were both thrilled.

The day of the dance, I let her get her nails and toes done, and I helped her with her hair. She looked so beautiful. And I'm not one to usually gush about my kids - but I was proud. As it turned out, some of my friends were here (long story - another blog perhaps), so I think we sufficiently embarrassed her and Nathan (remember Greg and Sandy?!) Merrill cried - which made me tear up - but I kept it in check!

Nathan had purchased a really beautiful corsage - Calla Lilies. They were dusted with a shimmery something - really gorgeous! Nathan's a good kid - he had purchased his "outfit" to match Jordan's - and it did, perfectly! So they really looked great together. Here are the pictures.



Jordan said she did not have a great time at the dance. For one, she doesn't like to dance. Plus, her boyfriend doesn't know any of her friends, so she thought he wasn't as interesting as he usually is. She had brought along a pair of flats just in case her feet started to hurt, which of course they did. But the chaperones wouldn't let them go out to the car and get them and then come back in the dance, so she was miserable. But the most "awful" thing was that a girl she really doesn't care for had the same dress as her! I know to a teenager that can ruin a dance, but I told her to think about how much better she probably looked in it than that girl! The thing I was most upset about: she didn't take any pictures of her and her friends so I could do a scrapbook page for her album, nor did she get the professional picture at the dance! She said she didn't think they had a photographer, but it's not like she looked for one! Leave it to Jordan to be so oblivious as to the fact that every dance has a photographer, and getting the pictures is a must!! That girl, I swear!

Overall, she rated the anticipation and getting ready a 10. The actual evening, not so much. But I have hopes the next dance will be better for her. After all, my mom's offered to teach her how to dance! :)

Steph's Stressed - & the Season's Just Begun!

I can't believe that we are only 3 days into the Christmas season, and already I am totally stressed out!

Our tradition is to decorate the house the weekend after Thanksgiving. Usually my dad and I go to get our trees on Saturday. We have our favorite seller where we've gone for years. Dad and the owner know each other by now, and I think they both get a kick out of the haggle. I don't mind so much seeing as since dad gets such a big tree, the owner almost kicks mine in for free! But this year, dad didn't want to get the trees this weekend. I don't know why, but I can't go without him - that's the tradition! So that has thrown me off. I thought I may go ahead and do all the other decorating, but I had so much to do this weekend that I wasn't really "free" until about 2:00 Sunday. Even with the girls "help" I'm not sure I could have gotten it all done by the evening, and the cleaning ladies come tomorrow, so it had to be done and out of the way so they could clean...the outcome - I haven't started decorating yet! I hate putting it off - that means less time to enjoy it before I have to take it down. Plus, next weekend I have agreed to help a friend move (I know, what was I thinking?!), Morgan has a basketball game, and Jordan has winter formal. It's not like it will be less busy than this weekend was!

I decided to be a good mother and make memories this year. The girls and I haven't done any holiday baking in years. So, I bought the stuff to make the peanut butter cookies with the hershey kisses on top and gingerbread cookie dough & cream cheese icing. Ambitious, I know, for a non-cook! I decided we would make the peanut butter cookies today. Of course, the girls didn't want anything to do with the baking, only the eating! So much for making memories...The first batch I undercooked and put the kisses in too soon so they totally melted. The second & third rounds went a little better, but they still aren't as pretty as when my mom makes them. At least they taste good! But that sucked up an hour and a half of my day.

Moving along to the shopping. I am actually in really good shape. I am done with my family's gifts. All I have left is the girls, my boss, and maybe a friend or two. And I have the money to shop (thanks, Dave!) so that's no big deal. But when will I have time to go shopping?? I would rather shop online, but then I'm peeved when they charge you an arm and a leg for shipping and handling. I like the mall this time of year, so I will probably venture out soon, but the girls have asked for items that I won't really be able to get at the mall, but rather at places like Walmart and Target - which are not fun this time of year!

My calendar is filling up, I haven't bought an ornament for the ornament exchange (& you know I'll have to cook for that, too), my friends want to have a Christmas celebration so I guess I'll be planning that! Yeah - it's official - the holidays are here!

The Girls Visit Me at Work

A few days ago, the girls had to come to my office at the end of the day. This is always stressful as my office is pretty quiet and the girls are, well, not! As I led them to my cube Jordan blurts out, "Oh my God! I would die if I had to stay cooped up like this all day!" I agree, but that's not the point. The point is that everyone heard her. As if we don't feel bad enough about our lame station in life! Then they began picking apart my desk space. Neither were happy with the pictures I had of them, but Jordan did comment (again, loud enough for everyone to hear), "Wow, I'm really busting out in that shirt!" And they think I 'm embarrassing!

I needed to finish a couple of things before leaving, so the girls occupied themselves by writing on my whiteboard. At first, they were writing silly stuff, then Jordan decided to write "I 'heart' Women" - like it was some funny joke on me. I started muffle yelling at her to erase it - that I work with lesbians, and didn't want HR to pay me a visit for sexual orientation slurs in the workplace. I said, "You want me to get fired?"

So they decided to play hangman. They were pretty good, but still a little loud. As we were living they only caused a minimal stir tromping through with all their crap.

On the way home Jordan informed me that she wouldn't get any work done if she was me because she would spend the whole time writing on the white board. I told her that I like it, too - and in fact Jeremy and I do play hangman every now and again when we need a break! To which Jordan responded, "So you're not worried about getting fired for playing hangman during work, but for having 'I "heart' Women' on your board?" From the mouths of babes!!

More Stimulating Conversations With the Girls [and their friends!]

On Friday nights, the girls usually go to the Father Ryan football games. I try to carpool with some of the kids that live close to us so I don't have to drive both legs - trust me - being the girls' chauffeur is exhausting! Thank goodness they have lots of friends whose parents are willing to share the burden.

This Friday, I had just picked up the last rider - making a total of 4 girls in the car. We were pulling out of her neighborhood when Morgan says, "Oh crap! I'm totally on my period and forgot tampons - anybody got some?" Surprisingly enough, no one had any, but I had a pantyliner in the console of my car (don't ask me why, no I don't usually stash pantyliners in my car console!) so offered her that. I said, "It won't replace the tampon but will give you back up if you start to overflow." To which Morgan responds, "Let me tell you, I used to have such a heavy flow, but this time, I have such a low flow that I am using the regular tampons instead of the supers! I am so loving it!" So what exactly does one say to this you may ask? All I could come up with was, "That's great. I hope it continues like that for you." Seriously! It was the only thing I could come up with. Jordan pipes up telling Morgan that no one wants to hear about her flow. Then launches into a long diatribe about how much she hates living in a household with 2 women while going to school with 200 more, and how her period can't seem to decide to whom it wants to sync with! No one really responded to that - so I guess no one really wanted to hear about her synching!

A little farther down the road, Jordan says,"I hate how whenever I wear lipgloss I end up swallowing so much of it." To which Morgan replies, "Jordan, no one wants to hear about your lipgloss flow." Touche. This exchange must have reminded Addison (Morgan's friend) about mouths, and she tells us all about the cut she has on her lip. Morgan (my brightest child) says, "Don't worry, I'm sure Griffin [Addison's boyfriend] will wound it!" "You mean heal it?" I ask - obviously the grammar freak in me running her mouth before I realized I didn't want to explore this topic of conversation with them at all! So we are all laughing and Morgan says, "Mom, you totally have to blog this car ride!"

I agreed that this was definitely blog worthy, but I have a terrible memory. So many times things will happen and I'll think, "I have to blog this" - but then forget and never do. So, I was determined to remember the events. And what better way to do it than with the voice memo app on my iPhone! I hadn't used this app yet - all you do is record a voice memo. So I start recording what I want to remember for the blog, while the girls are howling in the backseat about what a huge dork I am. But I must not be too nerdy, because Alex [Jordan's friend] said, "I want to be in the blog, too!"

The next hot topic was the fact that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were touring Overbrook that day (Morgan said she actually got to meet them and that Nicole was huge). I said how cool I thought that was and that I never see any famous people in a city where a lot of them live. Morgan was like, "We need to add that to the blog." And how was I to remember? That's right - the voice memo app...but this time Morgan wanted to record the details! I guess it's only dorky if you're over 30 and use that app? So she starts talking and says, "Morgan, Stephanie's daughter..." like I wouldn't know who Morgan was when I played the recording back! I may be bad, but I think I can remember my own kids!!

About this time we were getting close to Father Ryan. Who knows what prompted the next topic of conversation, but we were all enthusiastic about it - our favorite months of the year! We were all naming our favorite months, and the only one to name a month other than their birthday month was Jordan. She pointed this out, saying, "What are you, 5 year olds? Only little kids like their birthday month the best! And I guess December, too, for Christmas." Ok, maybe she's right, but is there anything wrong with that? We decided that the worst months were March (mostly cold, teasing of Spring and the end of school) and September (being excited to go back to school has worn off, and who can really remember anything at all from September?) - sorry for any folks with those as their birthday months - they stink!

And then we had arrived at the destination. As the girls were getting out of the car, I heard Addison say, "I love riding with your mom. The conversations are always so fun!" So maybe I'm not as dorky as the girls pretend I am!

Top 10 Signs I'm Officially Turning Into My Mother

10. I, too haven't ironed in 15 years
9. I often tell the girls, "I can't have anything nice!"
8. I volunteer for things I don't want to do that take up way more time than I anticipated
7. I use my dictionary almost on a daily basis
6. I look forward to having the house to myself so I can watch old movies
5. I make myself do all my work before I can play
4. When my house is messy, it stresses me out
3. I can't survive without my lists
2. I look forward to putting away my groceries because I get to reorganize my pantry and refrigerator
1. I consider waking up at 7:30 to be sleeping in

And only one reason I will never be my mother: I can't be on time for anything!

How to Pick Up Guys in a Depressed Economy

So I'm at the grocery store checking out. Background: I hate grocery shopping. I will live off butter noodles and cream of mushroom soup for weeks before breaking down and going to the store. I try to limit my visits to Kroger to about 1 a month. So when I go - it's a doozy. Back to the story...

So I'm at the grocery store checking out. Everyone knows I am on the "Dave" plan [Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover]. My dad is nice enough to save the coupons from the paper for me. I am fanatical about my coupons. So, as I'm checking out, I have quite a few to redeem. And it's taking the guy a really long time to scan them all in. I turn apologetically to the [cute, single - with groceries I approve of] guy behind me and say, "I know it's a pain, but it saves me a lot of money." He replies, "No problem!" It takes the check out guy a couple more minutes, as he meticulously separates the manufacturer coupons from the Kroger coupons, then he's done. He says, "Here's more coupons, and you're really long receipt..." to which the guy behind me asks, "How much did you save?" I told him I had saved about 30 dollars. End of story, right?

Apparently not. So now I'm loading the groceries into my car, and here comes the guy - who stops and says, "The coupons really weren't bothering me." "Good" I say. And he goes, "But I bet that check-out guy was annoyed! He'll just have to get over it - I mean that was a lot of money to save and it must have been a lot of work for you to get that all together." Ok - clearly, he was impressed with my coupon-cutting skills. [Or maybe it was my zebra print bra you could faintly see through my t-shirt (that I didn't know until I got home and the girls pointed out).] Then he was kind of hanging around...waiting. It would have been as easy as saying, "Wanna come see my coupon collection?" and he'd have been hooked! Guess it's a turn-on that a woman is into saving money in this state of economy! Then again - maybe that's a turn-on to a guy in any economic period!!

*For the record, I did not invite the guy to check out my coupons! :o)