Team Mitchell & Crew

The newest discovery at our house are the DVD rentals at McDonald's. They are so easy and SO cheap. For $1.00 you can choose from about 30 movies that they keep in the little red kiosk outside. Aside from standing in the cold (like I did on Saturday) and the rain (like I did today) it is totally worth the location and accessibility.

On Saturday, Scott and I rented the Simpson's movie. It was not what the hype made it out to be. However, for the $1 - it was certainly a bargain filled evening.

We have since rented Underdog, Enchanted and Holiday. Yep, 4 movies in 3 days. It MUST be Spring Break! Lainie is watching Enchanted right now. We saw Underdog last night. Cute, but silly. Great for kid movie night and I am going to watch Holiday after Lainie goes to sleep today.

Now I just have to remember to drive past a McDonalds again before 9 PM tomorrow night. That and resist the temptation of running inside for a large fry every time I am in the vicinity. No fry, no fry, no fry............

I am sad that Kentucky lost. I haven't been 100% tuned in this year with the team as I have been in year's past, but it hurts just the same.

Scott cooked supper tonight. What a great guy! He made us "breakfast." He can whip that stuff up faster than any meal I have ever seen him cook. Now mind you, the kitchen is a bloddy mess when he is finished (I mean literally standing puddles of ? on the counters,) but hey, I didn't have to cook, so what do I care? He loves cooking breakfast and is amazingly good at it too! We had cracked pepper grits (oh my goodness....his are the BEST), scrambled eggs with keilbasa, crispy bacon and biscuits. It was so yummy.

Today was a productive day. I actually crossed three major projects off my list today (uh - that NEVER happens and certainly not all at once.) I even had a good "working with the kids moment" today, which I loved. As the 5th graders wandered to the bathroom one by one the last hour of school (as they are notorious for doing) I made them answer levels and branches of government questions that refered to the large matrix poster I was putting up in the hallway beside the bathrooms. After asking 5 kids in 10 minutes, I eventually had over 20 kids "roaming" the halls, looking for me to question them on the Social Studies questions. At one point, I felt either the large pack of students or myself would get in trouble with some of their teachers down the hall! (Sorry Mr. D + Mr. S) Mrs. H and Mrs. P....you'd been proud...over 80% knew the answer to the questions. Good job ya'll!! It was funny and totally worth it!!

All I need to say is - people need a light on their forehead that lights up when the Truth is spoken.

You look good in that color - Truth?
Momma, I'm sick - Truth?
Lainie are you really sick, or is it swim lessons? Sick Mom. - Truth?
I'll send you that file soon - Truth?
I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. Truth?
This tastes good. Truth?
I'll be home by 5. Truth?

I love the rain. Truth? I wish it would stay grey and gross forever. Truth? I am desperate for a vacation in the sun. Truth? Aaaahhhkkkk!!

For all of you who have husbands who will eat anything you put in front of them, count yourself lucky! I however, do not have that husband.

Again...I will start by saying, "I love him. I really do." But honestly, he and I come from total opposite sides of the culinary counter.

Me: casseroles, vegetables, salads, new flavors!
Him: meat, potato, green beans, corn. That's it.

It has been a cooking adventure to say the least the last 10 years.

I always pick new recipes based on the ingredients. (Sure I eyeball it for taste intrigue, but bottomline...is what's in it.) If Scott will or has-ever eaten (and not choked) on the ingredients included, then I feel it is a safe endeavor. Google search engine has become a blessing when it comes to finding new recipes with particular ingredients included. And so it was Wed night.

I had chicken. I wanted FLAVOR. What to do? SO, I found this recipe for Taco Soup. Cold weather...yum! Beans, corn, beer broth, tomato sauce, chicken. easy and yummy sounding (Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup.)

So sure enough, who walks in while I am dumping the canned tomatoes onto the beans? Scott. Immediately his brow wrinkles and his nose flares. Why now? You've been downstairs for 2 hours and you now appear?

He asks, "What's that?" (My interpretation: "Oh gross!")
I say, "It's taco soup. It only has ingredients you eat."
He says, "Oh." Mind you the left side of his nose was crooked at the time. (My interpretation: "Ewwwww whine ewwwww whine whine ewwww."

So now I'm mad. I finish my crock pot agenda and stick it in the fridge for the morning. Scott and I then talk about the previous conversation of which he completely denies.

Fast forward 22 hours.

The crock pot smells delicious. Scott even admits he is afraid to eat it. I serve him a bowl just for spite. If he doesn't try it.......ah man!

He sniffs, he licks spoon, he catches my stare out of the corner of his eye. He takes a bite. He downs his first bowl.

He then asks for seconds. I sit with a smirk on my face and make him admit what he was thinking the night before. I was right. But he says that 10 years together has taught him to keep his mouth shut and make any attempt to "choke it down." Am I really that hard core?

2 BOWLS!!! The boy ate 2 bowls of the Ewww - yuk - whine soup. I however, loved it. I loved it from the get go. Let me know if you like it too!

The most brilliant thing I have ever heard Scott quote from one of his former girlfriends (I was by-far the smartest!) is this: "Believe in Tire Angels and they shall protect you on the road."

He likes to tell stories of when his car either broke down, crashed, fell apart etc. is that she always told him it was the belief in the tire angels that helped the scenario be better than it could be. Ok, so fine...there are tire angels.

Well, today....Jennifer Cook and I can verify...there - are - tire - angels.

So, I'm in Winchester and I have been "cruising" on Low Fuel since I left work this morning. Thank goodness it's pay day, because my $15 a day of gas fill ups (yes...a day. I live in Winchester and drive a Mountaineer. It's insane, I know.) my $15 a day gas trip was depleted each and every afternoon. I should have put $30 - $45 in...but I had to "scrape" from multiple sources for the $15 on Wed and Thurs. Thank you payday!

Anyway, Low Fuel light and a low battery beeping phone later, I am talking to Jenn and I start to sputter. Sputter - go - sputter - go - sputter. I lose Jenn. I call her back, tell her my problem and she starts giggling. I, however, am screaming..oh please, please don't quit, please get me into the neighborhood! I even said "Jennifer, by God, YOU will bring me gas before I call my husband, (or my Brother in Law for that matter). They'll kill me. Please let me get to the neighborhood.

Sputter - go - sputter - go. I can see my street. (Jenn is laughing) Sputter - go - sputter. My house in the distance...that's good. It's raining and a hungry 4 year old is in the back, but I can see my house. (Jenn laughing hysterically at this point!) PLEASE! Sputter - go - Sputter - go - driveway - choke - dead. Jenn - holding herself laughing...HA...Jenn gone. WHAT? My car and my phone are now dead. Dead. Dead. I am in front of my house, out of gas with no phone. What the luck.

Well, it was the tire angels who helped me (quick note..and NOT Jenn Cook). Heavy sigh. Thank you tire angels. We are dry, safe and home. Guess Scott dated maybe one that was smarter than I give credit to. Jenn - glad you were along for the ride. I'll call ya later!

This has been such an exciting journey the last month or so. Funny how the whole blog experience at first was a humorous way to "see what talking to myself, outloud" would be like, but it has really been a surprising experience. Here's why!

1. Getting to know new people in a brand new way - like Sarah, Jenn, Alyssa, Maria, Gayla, Vickie and Liz. It has been neat peeking into your lives. Thanks for letting me lurk!
2. Getting to reconnect with friends I haven't talked to in a long time. Hello again to my old buds - Heather B. and Bode, Warrick and Hannah Clay in Louisville, Christi Y, and my long time bud - Lisa from high school. Some of these people I haven't seen for 4 or 5 years!
3. Calling my parents on the weekend to "recap" my week and them "recapping" it FOR ME since they have already seen the blog. At times, I have to stop and ask, "well what are we gonna talk about now?" But, we always find something!
4. And finally, having the opportunity to sit and do what I have needed to do for a long, long time. Reflect on the AWESOME blessings in my life and realize how excitingly lucky I am each and everday!! It certainly lifts the spirit when you think back to all the fun you are having!

Thanks again for making me smile everybody. Hope you are having a great week!

S, S & L

Move over Oprah! We're starting our own - Very Favorite Things series!

For the last 2 years, we have owned one of our most "Mitchell's Very Favorite Things." It's a bit shallow and isn't doing a thing for either world peace or hunger, but it makes the Mitchell's happy just the same. It's an electric heated throw blanket. We keep it in the living room on the couch by the TV and we love it!

We love it so much that Lainie and I nearly fight over it. With her being small, I can usually convince her to scoot over enought hat she can sit on my lap under it. Otherwise, one of us ends up crying when we aren't able to use it, but both want it. We'll have to buy another when she gets larger I'm sure. Scott tries to be cool and pretend it's no big deal to him....but don't let him fool you. When he stays up late to watch TV...he is square underneath it and grinning ear to ear.

With it being so cold outside, and us feeling like we just want to crash and burn when we finally arrive home some nights....our mysical, magical blanket is there to wipe all the cares away and warm us up good and toasty! It is definitely one of the Mitchell's - Very Favorite Things!

Thank goodness I don't have to keep this pace up for long. It's only the 6th of March and already I am worn out by it. Why you ask? I have over programmed the Mitchell's. I am notorious for doing. It's a bad family trait....but still, I should know better.

The last 24 hours have been really cool at the Mitchell household. Yesterday at about 3 PM, I was in a meeting at school and my cell phone rings. The name pops up and it says Joe. For those of you who know me, Joe is my 28 year old engaged younger brother who lives in Indiana. He never calls - by never, I mean...close to lunar eclipse regularities....never - ever - calls. He's gots lots goings on and Joe (nor myself) have ever been big time phone chatters...so it's really not weird that we go months without talking. We'll take through the night sometimes when we finally are together, just never on the phone. So immediatly, I see his number and I sense something is wrong. Why else would my "phone never rings" brother call me at 3 PM on a Monday.

Well! He was in town. He and Jessica are getting married in August of next year and took 2 days from school and work to check out reception sites. It was such a cool surprise. He called and wanted to come over and play with Lainie for the evening (and he wanted somewhere to stay...I mean he is the younger brother and all :), so they came to the house at about 8 last night. We talked and laughed and played with Lainie way past her bed time. Joe decided to check out what number he would be on the sleep number bed in our room (more info to follow in an upcoming post...) but until then, FYI: Scott is a 70 and I am a 55.) I think Joe was somewhere in the 60's. We talked for a long time last night.

Then today they went to additional sites, including Talon Winery, Keeneland, Lexington Center and Signature Club. After their appointments they joined the gang at Lainie's T-ball game #2 and afterwards we all went out for Chinese. It was a super cool night and a great surprise to start the week off. Lainie was sad to see them go. She becomes very attached to Jessica when she's here and looks forward to having a new aunt soon! Although Brewtus (our Min Pin) is excited their Jack Russell "Elvie" is back in the car, the rest of us will miss them!

Whoever wrote the unwritten rules regarding the timelyness of swim lessons, forgot to include it in the "new mom" handbook!!

When I was a child, you took swim lessons at the start of every summer. That's just the way it was. If you were scared of the water, your father threw you in and your mother complained from the sideline. I remember hating swim lessons at 3 years old in my kelly green swim suit (circa 1979), but I snapped out of it within a year or two and was on my way to swimming heaven.

Oh no...not my child. She is afraid of the water. She always has been - and I pray that it ends soon. It takes all of May, June, July and the first half of August for her to feel good in any kind of water, but sure enough, it's time to go back to school and "swimming" gets put on hold. I thought - easy enough, we'll just pick up where we left off late last summer - she jumped into someone's arms, blew bubbles, left go of my neck...ya know the major things. Nope!

We started swim lessons tonight at the High Street YMCA. Poor teacher, Mr. Drew. He had no idea what was coming for him when I introduced him to the smiling brunette named Lainie. I had pumped her up all week about toes in the water, momma on the wall, ice cream scoop hands...the whole bit. As soon as her butt hit the water, she clawed up his spine and made the tile walls of the Y vibrate with her screams. Not good.

If you are as new at this as I am, apparently, it is a good idea to keep the swim practicing up year round. Year Round? This was not in the mommy manual and it wasn't until our friend Andrea told me that she and her son make special visits to hotels with pools during the year just so he can practice. Allyson and Kelly have had the boys doing their lessons since January, so my sweet little anchor has more work to do in this area. Maybe next time, our back will get wet. I'll hold off on wanting wet hair until a later date.

Here lately I feel like I am in this twilight zone of feeling like I either don't want to grow up or feel like I never am going to grow up. It's not a bad thing I guess, being that I like to think that I enjoy the smaller pleasures of life (nothing like a candy bar and a balloon to make me happy) but occasionally I wonder if something is just plain wrong with me.

Case Point #1: Friday night after ball practice, my family & I spent the evening watching movies and eating our own individual pint of ice cream. Mine - Ben + Jerry's: Cherry Garcia....same kind I liked when I was 12.

Case Point #2: The last movie I watched: Mary Poppins. Scott bought it because her knew I loved it! I know every word.

Case Point #3: I have always tried to be friendly to everyone I meet, even when they aren't nice to me. It's not realistic, and I often get hurt, but it's the truth.

Case Point #4: I cannot bring myself to throw out the old Halloween candy left from trick or treat and my Valentine bag from school is still on the counter. I never could throw that stuff away until months later.

Case Point #5: I'd rather play on the swings than go anywhere in grown-up world.

Case Point #6: I still like Pink clothing.

Case Point #7: I have only recently taken up "reading" and the love of coffee. And honestly, I feel weird liking these 'grown up' things.

Case Point #8: I still hate scary movies.

Case Point #9: I'd prefer happy meals or Dora yogurt or Applesauce cups to any other food in the world. Just ask the people I eat lunch with.

Case Point #10: I hate it when surprises are spoiled. Doesn't matter what it is.....never spoil a surprise if it's aimed at me.

So maybe my childish ways aren't too bad, but I struggle with a few. Particularly #3. Nice is nice, but I need to learn to speak my thoughts. Whether it's with strangers or non-strangers.....that part of my childhood gets hurt sometimes. Now ya know. :)

So Cool! This week I am excited to say, we have pulled another would-be blogger into the world of blogging. My sister in law VICKIE is now hooked. You can read all about the her super husband Steve and my way cool nephew Zach on her new blog Means Mania! Welcome ya'll!