September Acres

Go take this quiz and find out which Brady you are. I was Jan. I would not have thought I was Jan at all. I always thought of myself as a Marcia. Go figure. That's why these quizzes are so important... :) I am such a Brady Bunch fan. We have the entire series on DVD. And my daughter even enjoys watching it. She, my husband and I try to be the first to guess which episode is on in the first couple of seconds of the show. My husband is pretty good at guessing but I don't think he'd want anyone to know it. :)

My name is Debra and I am a Big Brother-aholic. Ten years this has been on - TEN YEARS. I will say that we have only watched it since season 3. So that's okay, right? Why do we waste our time on this? I have to say that I haven't watched quite as much this season. I am just not really liking any of the characters a whole lot (no offense intended). Not to mention that we watch the 'after dark' show on Showtime so we kind of know what's going to happen. I do think it would be really cool to be the person who thinks up the competions. Some of the are great. Tuesday night's POV astronaut competion was very neat. I would have loved to compete in that one. So you know where to find my husband and me on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights...

So far this school year my daughter has taken her lunch every day but one. (After I put $20 on her lunch card, of course). It seems like this year's lunch menu is lacking. Maybe it's just not as exciting as it was last year, being her first year. The deal we had was she could buy 2 days and take 3. I am loving that she is wanting to take. I stumbled across this great post about a zero waste lunch the other day and it started me thinking about this lunch thing. I use re-usable plastic containers for her sandwich and anytime she has cut up fruit (strawberries, peaches, etc). I send plastic utensils which she brings home, we wash and re-use. I fear my lovely stainless will end up in the school dumpster. I was still sending paper napkins with her (I only use them for her lunches, we use cloth at home) until I saw this post. About the same time I had just been to Target and spent time at the $1 SPOT (don't you just LOVE it??). Target had the 'red' dots - get

Donny and Marie are in Vegas & we are going to see them! I got the tickets yesterday. As you might imagine, my husband is beyond thrilled. Well, not really but he is a good sport. It is my birthday gift from my mom and dad and my husband is being a good husband and going along with me. We have pretty good seats - the 'golden circle' so it should be a fun night. We decided against the VIP tickets, which include a photo shoot with D&M, for several reasons. First, they were double the cost (yikes). Second, what would it really accomplish - I mean Donny and I are both happily married now. :) When I was about 10 I had plans to marry Donny. I bet a million other girls did too. We don't go to the show until the end of September but you can bet I'll be back with a full report...

Here's the painted star on the painted wall. I love the way it looks. My husband just called to say the license plates are here for the new car (finally!) so I need to go get those today. I am also waiting to hear from the vet about a refill for the dog's meds. I would like to be able to wait and go out when I pick up my daughter from school but we'll see. I hate breaking up the day by running around. I get so much more done when I can focus for a block of time. So I am off to clean- I am not sure when the PIGS arrived to mess this place up! :)

This was my husband's thought yesterday when he came home and I had painted yet another wall in the kitchen chocolate brown. Poor guy. I also painted my new barn star robin's egg blue. I think this will be the crowning touch on the kitchen and really tie the colors together. I promised not to paint anymore walls. I will post a photo of the new wall and star soon. I had to do some touch up so the wall is still wet in spots and the star hasn't been hung up. I have some more touch up to do on the cabinets, molding, etc. Yes, I should have done it sooner but I didn't. Last night I took my daughter to a Girl Scout sign up and a viewing of the 'Cheetah Girls' new movie. The one filmed in India. Well, where do I start? No one from her troop was there but she was happy just to sit and eat popcorn and watch the movie. Cute movie, but not really appropriate for Daisy's or probably even Brownies. I even overheard another mom say that it wasn't appropriate for

I mean the real game shows from 'back in the day' (70's & 80's)? I just love, love, love watching them. These contestants played their hearts out for a new stove or some rice a roni. Love it! This week on Good Morning America they have been showcasing some of the classic game shows. Yesterday was the 'Newlywed Game'; today was 'Gambit'. It was fun to watch. My all time favorite show is 'Match Game'. I don't get to watch it so much but I am always thrilled when I have a moment and it is on. I am sure there is some type of therapy for this. Game Show Network is showcasing the classic game shows starting Sept 7 for 3 weeks. The first week is the shows from the 70's, the next is the 80's, the third is the 90's. I can't wait. This is the type of stuff they invented TIVO for...

If I had a dime for every time I was asked that question... When I answer 'no', you would not believe the looks I get. Like we are totally depriving this poor little girl. I am waiting for CPS to show up at my door and charge me with 'soccer-less childhood'. The main reason she is not playing is because she has never shown an interest (no Mia Hamm here). The main reason I am happy she has never shown an interest is the parents of the other kids. I have heard horror stories about the behaviour of many of these parents and I am happy to stay away from that. I know that a lot of people are super competitive but we're dealing w/ 5 & 6 year olds . Plus I find that bad 'sport parent' behaviour to be a bad example to the kids. The same parents who want all the kids to get a trophy (another post for another day) are the same ones jumping up and down, swearing, yelling, etc. during a game. So, no, she is not playing soccer this year... My husband is off today f

I stumbled across a new blog, Canadian Country Gal . Cheryl, the author of the blog has a website where she sells some fun country things. Like these cute signs. I am always looking for cute Halloween stuff. Nothing tacky or scary. She has a nice collection of signs for different holidays. Check it out at: Yesterday's Country and Prim Decor . I will go back to look some more after I get some freshly brewed coffee....

We arrived home from my Grandma's funeral this evening. It was a LONG weekend. The journey was not quick and easy (& right now I am too beat to go into the long, boring details) but once we arrived in town things were great. We had a 'little' get together (about 45 or so) at my dad's cousin's house on Friday night. A really great thing to do the night before the funeral as we hadn't seen a lot of the family for a couple of years. One of my dad's cousins put together a slide show of pictures when they were kids. Lots of fun. Another cousin put together a list of family recipes. Lots of things we all remembered from years ago that Grandma, Aunts, Great-Grandma, etc. made. The funeral was on Saturday at 11 at the chapel on the Oakland Temple grounds. The grounds are very beautiful and it was a beautiful day with blue skies and just a hint of a chill in the air. We arrived about 10'ish and the parking lot was packed. There were a also a coup

I saw Rev Run on Fox Business this morning talking about this book which I remember hearing something vague about a few days ago. I love the idea of taking back your family. I haven't read the book yet but will look for it at the library as it seems like something really worthwhile. I didn't realize that Rev Run was 'Run DMC' from years ago until this morning. I was never a Run DMC fan, for whatever reason but we all grow up and I am willing to listen to anything the parents of SIX well adjusted, good kids have to say. If anyone has read the book I would be interested in hearing some feedback. Once I read it I will share with you what I think. I think even if we can take one or two things from books like this and incorporate them in our daily lives we are moving in the right direction. Everyone has different parenting styles but I think the basics of 'good' parenting are pretty much the same. I have asked several parents of grown children what they did

I think every sport has a distinct 'sound'. If I am in the kitchen and my husband has the tv on I can usually identify the sport just my the sound. I wonder if that's a talent?? Last night I heard the sound of football. The Cardinals were playing the Saints in a preseason (I don't know who won, sorry). Earlier every year. Which is okay with me - I love football. But I have to admit it is hard to really get in the spirit when it's 110 out. But I try. I am a big 49'ers fan even though they have had some dismal years. The heydays of Joe Montana (our dog is named Montana), Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott are long gone but they have to get better eventually. I keep saying that. Living in AZ I really want to like the Cardinals. I really do but it's hard. I am liking that Kurt Warner is there - such a great guy. I was thinking about who my favorite player is now. I keep coming back to Brett Favre. The 'retirement' debacle aside, he too is a great

It has been almost 3 weeks since my last trip to Wal-mart. My life is just as rich and I think the bank account is even richer! haha. I honestly think I spend LOTS more money there on all the 'bargains' I find. Plus, our new Wal-mart is a HAUL - it's not so much the extra ga$ but the time it takes to get out there. I have been taking care of my shopping at the grocery(check out this blog for ideas on doing your gift shopping there), Kmart, Walgreeens and drugstore.com (I order from there about once a month-no shipping if you order a certain amount). Life is less hectic for sure and all those stores are 5 miles from my house or less. I don't do the Walgreens thing like the folks who get tons free or very cheap. We just don't need that much. I did find some great bargains on some things at Kmart yesterday in the 'clearance' aisle. They had beach towels 40% off plus an extra 20%. I didn't get any as we have plenty of beach towels but what a deal! My

Here are some shots of the kitchen. I still have to put on the knobs and make a valance for the window but other that that it is finished. The island is all new, the rest of the cabinets were painted. I totally LOVE the faucet. It is my favorite thing besides the 'recycling center' which is in the island. I decided not to show a photo of the recycling center but it is on the side opposite of the one you see in the pic. I am finally getting used to the microwave in a new location. I was still walking over to the pantry for a few days. It is so convenient to have it over the stove. I really like the chocolate walls but you can see there is not a ton of wall space. I think the valance will all a little color - the chocolate and blue - and I will still look for some blue accents although there's not too much room left. And I want to try to keep the counters from being cluttered. I do like to keep the mixer and cuisinart out so I will use them (which I do). If they