Ok, so it's not thundering here, but I couldn't think of anything "cute" to go with Thursday. Too early!

Starting to get a little "nervous" about Gustav. Too many memories flooding back. ack.

Good news is we had a wonderful day at school yesterday. Good behavior all around due to giving out "tickets". I bought a bunch of prizes from small trinkets to pretty good toys. The kids can cash in their tickets on fridays to "purchase" prizes. All the prizes have different values from 1 ticket for a sticker to 300 tickets for a really good toy. They can save their tickets to build up to something really good. They are pretty exited and I handed out over 100 "I was caught "beeing" good" tickets yesterday. (the tickets have a bee on them) They each have a pocket that is attached to the board with magnets. They fill out their name on the ticket and then put it in their pockets. The art teacher even complimented them and me on their wonderful behaviour yesterday along with the lunchroom monitor. yeah!!!! They are great kids, but the talking and commenting on everything I said was making me nuts. Hope this works for the long haul.

Zeff, on the potty training front. Have you tried letting him "shoot" toilet paper? It worked pretty good for my two boys. You tear off one square of toilet paper and put it in the center of the water in the potty. Then make a game of letting him "shoot" the paper and sinking it. My boys loved sinking toilet paper. They are both in their 20's now and I don't think they shoot paper any more, but according to the condition of the toilet they use most often, their aim is still great! My daughter was so easy to train. She and I went shopping together and I bought her some cute eyelet panties and told her that they were big girl panties and we couldn't wet them and that was pretty much that.

I've attached a picture of one of the puppies we are keeping, NOLA De La Roux. The other we are keeping, Eclair De Lune (Clair) is black and tan and tiny. We are nuts for keeping 2, but just could not resist.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

Nothing exciting here today. I have to run to IKEA to buy some storage for the toy room. The challenge will be putting it together or shall I wait for DH to do it after work? I'd rather get it done myself so that when he comes home the toy room (technically our formal living room lol) is organized but I don't want to frustrate myself putting together so many shelves.
Right now we just have bins and the kids pick up just fine, but can't find what they want when they want it. Everything needs it's own designated space so it can be located easily. Less frustration for them, and selfishly less frustration for me too.

Cat....Keeping an eye Gustav with you in mind.... and great idea with the tickets! I know my kids would be motivated by that!

Good morning! The coffeemaker is working just fine now, Jake claims I didn't have the pot lined up just right.

Cat, thanks for getting us started today. I would be a nervous wreck if I lived down there! I did just hear the latest report that Gustav is taking a southwest turn, so I'm hoping it misses you all. It sounds like you've created a fun way to keep your students in line! Girls seem to be easier to train than little boys. I never tried your shooting paper trick, but the buying pretty new big girl panties for girls always worked like a charm for me, too.

I'm just getting a few last minute things done before I finish packing my bag. Caite's stuff is taking up so much room in my car, that Monica and I have to really conserve what we're taking. My poor car is going to be loaded to the limits with a roof-top carrier and a bike rack. It will be interesting to see the difference in gas mileage going up with a full car, and coming back home with a practically empty one. I'm going to head on over to Monica's after the morning rush-hour traffic is over.

Loriann, how are you doing this morning?

Good Morning all...in a hurry this morning as I completely forgot to set my alarm....hope everyone has a great day!!

Getting really nervous about GUstav now....have never evacuated before...but now have plans to leave.

Cat...did you hear that Kevin Davis will order a mandatory evac for 100% of St. Tammany parish?? I'm originally from Folsom and that's where I was for K....unbelievable.

Have a Fabulous Thursday everyone!

Quick pass through but am really worrying about the chickies in the South. Take no chances, OK?

It's garbage to the road day here so I'm going to glug the rest of my coffee and lug it out. Should call it Glug & Lug Day!

Haven't checked my calendar but it's Donna day and one meeting tonight so should be a good one. I hope to get some baking done for the weekend when I am once again invaded by the Hyper Pypers and my grand-dog.

See y'all later.

wow --- I'm on early!

All you southern chickies - we'll be thinkin' of you!

Cat - my son would sure LOVE the ticket thing.

Me - work as usual. I get to go in an hour late, which is great since we went to the county fair last night (of course, both kids are up already, so it's not like they're sleeping in!). DS's meet-n-greet is at school today, so that will be my lunch break. He's having a countdown to kindergarten!

Have a good one!

Good Morning,

No time to chat, puppy is a little under the weather. (nothing serious, just a tummy ache.)

I'm keeping all you Louisiana Ladies in my thoughts and prayers.

Have a great day, all.

Good morning Chickies

My thoughts and prayers are with the South Chickies, My mom and Dad live in Gulfport so I will definitely be paying attention to the weather channel.

Have a great day

shuffles in, exhausted, sleep still in eyes, not wanting to be out of bed yet to say hi to all.

So I'm frustrated, at myself, at my doctor, and at the ER. At myself for going in, at my DR for insisting I go to ER. The DR cost 93. The ER because God knows how much I'll have to pay just for them to tell me "We don't know whats wrong." Sure, they ruled out Appendicitis, but they couldn't tell me if it is a cyst, or if it is a gallstone, or why I'm STILL in pain this morning. Walking into the ER alone is expensive, but the CT scan, the BP 4 times, the nasty stuff they made me drink... and the various nurses/dr.s that walked into the room just to ask "how are you" with no updates as to the condition, will no doubt cost a bundle. Being unemployed, uninsured, I should of stayed home!

I guess it was a relief to have ruled out the Appendix.

Sorry to vent like this all. I appreciate all your concerns. I think the pain, the lack of sleep, both have me irritated right now, with the idea that I can't pay bills as it is, and I just foolishly created a monster!

Lori, I did that back in March!!!!! Had horrible pains, called the doc, they said GO TO THE ER RIGHT NOW!!!!! Of course, as soon as I got there, the pain subsided. They did all the bloodwork and gave me the IV and made me pee in a cup, then when that all came back fine, I drank the 2 cups of "tang" (oh good Lord, and the anti-pukey meds they put in my IV so I could choke down the last 1/4 of it were $1000 alone,) then the CT (did you feel like you were wetting yourself on the table too?) and all they noticed on the CT was that I had a lot of fluid in my pelvis, so I had to have a pelvic exam to top it all off. They determined I had a good-sized ovarian cyst that ruptured as soon as I got to the ER, thus why the pain subsided. Hopefully someone will have some information for you today and it's nothing serious. Keep us posted.

Louisiana chicks, please stay safe!!!!

I just have to get through today now, then V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!!! I am so excited to not have to work for 10 whole days! I'm ready to curl up on the couch and go to sleep. Tomorrow we're driving down south, pulling Little Guy out of school at noon so we can get down there before dark. In the morning, I promised to help my mom move one last piece of furniture from Grandma's into the back of her Blazer so she can get it home. We didn't have room in the U-Haul.

And my Doubleday books haven't come yet!!!! What the heck??? I mailed the thing in on the 9th.... hopefully they come before my vacation is over or I'm going to be really bored.

Well, time to start getting ready. Hope everyone has a good day!

Lisa

Good morning! I over slept this morning which put everything behind and I sure hate that.

Those of you in the storms way I have been praying for you and will continue to. I made the comment to dh it would be nice if the storm would just disappear so we said a prayer asjing for just that.

Have a great day everyone!

Lori sending prayers you way that they figure what is going on quickly.

Cat, love the shooting toilet paper idea! Can't believe you are old enough to be a mom of grown-ups...you seem like you're in your 30s! My sisters' favorite teacher was one that had that kind of prize system in their class. It works SO well! Your puppy is adorable...love the names!

Autumn, I envy you your IKEA. I love putting things together, but understand the frustration.

Have fun in ME, Cottage! Jake probably moved the pot and doesn't want to take the blame. Boys!

and prayers for safety, Mandy. Stay safe, okay?

Hope you rest up for the weekend, Ruth!

Have fun at the meet n' greet, Twynn!

Belle and Pearl!

Sorry about the mess, Loriann. Do you have Medicaid? I bet if it had been the appendix, you'd be very glad you'd gone in. Glad it's not...hope you feel better soon!

Yay for vacation, Weezle!

Me:
Wow, work was SO busy yesterday! I'm praying today is quieter. I have gym tonight and then a quick shower/walk with dog/dinner of leftovers before I head to the movies with a friend. We're going to go see the second Pants movie. We both loved the books, so it should be fun!

Hope everyone has a safe day. We'll be thinking of you, Southern chickies!!!

Avoid the spaghetti and go for the company alone...or stay home and catch up on sleep, Jelly!