Mrs. Merry Mack

The moral of the story of not looking directly at the green goo coming out of your child, is your child waking to a matted eye with all the green goo coming out of her eye, it being really red and resulting in a visit to the doctor on a Saturday morning. Fun. The plan WAS to go to dance class, drive to Salado, shop, eat, enjoy. Instead we skipped dance because I sure I would have been the devil to show up with a green crusty eyed kid. We went to the doctor where we waited for over an hour to see a very nice doctor who said our child was just generally full of yuck, gave us script and sent us on our way in less than 15 min. Missy Mack was pretty sure a shot was coming even though we promised otherwise and has started taking to the ‘I have to potty’ escape route. We spent a lot of our wait time in the bathroom with her explaining to me that sometimes you just have to wait for the potty to come. Really?

We made it to Salado late and began our shopping while Mr. Mack went to find a pharmacy to fill the script and we could get on with the good health part of our day. Only to learn that if you want a script filled in a small town, you need to be available between the hours of 10:30 to noon. I tell you, I would like to have that job. Then Mr. Mack had to drive to the next town and search a pharmacy that is open. This sort of ruined my plan of Mr. Mack entertaining Missy Mack so that my mom and I could shop. No such luck. Luckily my step dad pretty a good job of keeping her entertained, however, my child is rarely naughty and she had the naughty dialed way up this weekend. Naughtiness occurs when she is tired or sick and she was both so it was fun.

Because of our late start, we didn’t get to see all of Salado because these stores close at 5:30 PM. What is up with that? Then half of the places we didn’t get to were not opened on Sunday.

While, I thought there was some fun shopping in Salado, I am disappointed. These people are missing out on a tremendous opportunity. The roll the streets up before dark and only a handful of these stores had anything worth getting excited about. I expected to see lots of girly things, lots of things to indulge a grandma with her granddaughter. Not so much. There was however, the wonderful jewelry store that I have seen the fabulous adds for on the highway for years. We spent a lot of time in there and it was so fun. They have designer jewels with designer prices. They let you try anything on so my mom and just went from case to case saying , Can I try this on, or that on? I feel in love… with diamonds.
All in all it was a fun time to get away with my mom and spend some time. It would have been more fun with a good tempered well child.

Today I am at home with the Missy resting off the infection so we will be good and ready for this week at school!

I am so looking forward to this weekend. We are headed for a little day trip to Saldo for my mom’s birthday.

This place is full of shopping. I have never been before but I know it will not disappoint. I just wish I had a few hundred dollars to blow just for fun. This would be the place to do it. Any suggestions for dining here, would highly be appreciated. This is a little town between Austin and Waco. It is quaint, shabby, chic and fun. We have been to a fun wedding there and I got a sample of the shopping delightfulness that day, but never spent anytime there until tomorrow.

The only problem is… we are ignoring the almost green crap that is slowing coming out of Missy Mack’s nose. Maybe if we don’t look directly at her it will go away. Or at least hold off until Sunday or Monday. We have plans here people.

Have a great weekend blogging world!

I wish I had something real to rant about today. I mean there are several annoying things going on in my life right now, but nothing that has really sent me into a rage. Here are a few things that are a tiny bit annoying at the moment:

1. I have come up with this brilliant idea to avoid dissecting an animal in my class. I am going to take them to Sea World to spend the night. What an awesome teacher, right? Right. Now, I have been asked to drive a 12 passenger van with the children to San Antonio. I am not sure if I have covered my anxiety while driving, and if not, I will another time, but Me? Drive? Yikes.

2. I have to wear a Medieval costume next week. At school. Dressing up. Yuck.

3.Why doesn’t it occur to men the same way it occurs to women to clean certain things or tidy up. Ever?

Then this brings me to my actual rant of the day. The little bowls in my house.

This is my dishwasher at the moment. Filled with these tiny bowls from IKEA. Mr. Mack is obsessed with these little bowls. We had a set of 8. They are great. They are great snack bowls, cereal bowls, kid bowls, grown up bowls, whatever bowls. However, we don’t need this many because our great set of 8 has turned into a 16 because we were at IKEA a few weeks ago and because Mr. Mack has a love for these bowls deep in his heart, we needed more.

Really?

When they are all stacked up in the cabinet they don’t even fit. Here are more waiting to go into the dishwasher because we don’t have enough room on this round.

At the moment, there is one lone bowl in the cabinet:

Because the rest of the 15 are in my DAMN car. Look, I get that we are obviously use them. But 16 little bowls? They take up so much room in the dishwasher and the cabinet. And my car.

Yesterday, Mr. Mack thought he was on a Food Network cooking show. While making dinner, he had each ingredient in a separate bowl. He likes it that way, so I guess I tolerate it. Whatever makes him happy.

Moving on…..

What in the world do you people do with these things:

These beautiful shiny covers on hardcover children’s books? Missy Mack can’t stand them on her books. I am a big book collector and feel that books should not be defaced in any way. Is this defacing a book? They are making a big mess in my house. I don’t know what to do with them. They are in every corner of this house. Part of me wants to throw them away, but part of me feels that is very wrong. What do I do with them? I need a system. I need order and this is disrupting my system and order.

The crazy is seeping in and it is going to boil down to the damn cover on books and little bowls.

Or laugh hysterically!

This is what Mr. Mack and I found in the parking lot of the liquor store near our house the other day when we stopped to restock. Just parked like the driver ran in to grab a cold one.

Look closely. There is a coffin in the back.

Hmmmmm…………………

For so many reasons.

The Final Season.

Thank god!

It is been such a journey. I was a late fan of LOST. A few seasons in, Mr. Mack got into it and were hooked.

HOWEVER…..

Jeez Louise, get on with it already. I am not sure if it was last season or the last two seasons, but I am ready for them to solve this mystery. I tried to loss LOST. I tried to say I would NEVER watch again, but I couldn’t stay away. I keep hanging in there.

Tonight. The beginning of the end begins and I could not be more excited. I will most likely have to get a good cocktail served up and sit with my brow furrowed and ask Mr. Mack a dozen questions about what this or that means and try to predict the ending. I am a big plot predictor and I can never guess what is next with this one. Well… sometimes, but I haven’t figured out what the deal is with this whacked out island.

Here is a link where J.J. Abram’s speaks of his writing of LOST. This man is funny, smart and just as mysterious as his products. If this is your first introduction to TED, I hope you look into more. Very fascinating. There’s that dork in me skipping out again. Anyway, this conversation makes me very nervous that he is going to leave a lot of this show unresolved and I just might have a major meltdown. Maybe take to the bed or start a crazy protest of some sort. I am o.k. with an author of a book leaving the ending open to the reader’s interpretation, but most of our imaginations aren’t on the same level as Abram’s so I will need this spelled out.

I am guessing my 4 commentors don’t watch, but it is just a guess.

Anyone else going to be on the edge of the couch tonight?

This is a random holiday but I get a kick out the fun things you can do with a silly little rodent and his shadow. We have always done something silly for this day so I thought I might pass on a few tips for you and your little ones. Here are some printables and crafts for the day. Here is some history, song and easy craft about Groundhog Day. And some more. They are actually showing the the movie at the Alamo Drafthouses in town today. I also just heard that our Texas State Senators declared it Armadillo Day here and they check with a mascoted armadillo near where I live around noon to see if he sees his shadow. It gets even sillier. I never really got this movie. However, there is a Jack’s Big Music Show with Jon Stewart that is great!

How about making some Groundhog Day Cupcakes or some other ideas for food and fun.

I haven’t decided what we will do. I did or a couple of books from Scholastics about Groundhog day so I know I will start the day with these. Let me know if you do something special for this silly day.

Will Pauxatawny Phil see his shadow? I hear it is more winter.

A friend from high school started her own business where she combined her craftiness with a smart little invention of sorts. It is called Chalkydoodles.

This weekend, she is launching her new site, blog and product expansion. She received love from Target this summer when they featured her product in online summer must-haves. Pretty awesome!

Anyway, she is a having a giveway that I have entered and I think you should too.

I am going to order a lunch bag for the Missy Mack and I considering these new sandwich bags. I am also hoping for this lunch tote for my upcoming birthday.

Cute and clever. Who doesn’t  love cute  AND clever?

This is my favorite drink. It is a Bloody Mary. The beauty of this drink is it can be drunk at any point during the day AND it is at least one serving of vegetables, if not two. Really it’s health food.

That being said, I am picky about my Bloody Mary. It can not be too thin. It can not be too spicy. It MUST not be made with jalapeno vodka. It must, however, be made with good vodka and plenty of it. Limes are good but not necessary. Celery is good, but not necessary.

I have perfected a recipe. My recipe is based on Tyler Florence’s pitcher of Blood Mary.

Isn’t he cute?

When you are lone Bloody Mary drinker in your home, it is not advised or cooth to drink an entire pitcher solo, so I have trimmed this down to one drink.

Merry Mack’s Bloody Mary

12 oz. glass

2 oz. good vodka ( I like Titos) or maybe 3

The rest, either V8 or Zing Zang

7 twists of the pepper grinder

1 good pinch of salt

7 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce

4 shakes of Tabasco

1 heaping teaspoon of horseradish

squeeze of a nice size lime slice

stir well

drink with a fancy straw

Go forth and be relaxed with some spice in your life.

Lately, it has become either worse or I am just now noticing the commercials on television more. Why are they so violent? We aren’t huge t.v. watchers around here, well, I am not and we limit Missy Mack’s viewing.  Mr. Mack, however, has it on ALL the time. He needs the background noise or something. This means that there are often times when it is just on. No one is watching, it is just on in the background. Every once in while I notice Missy Mack just standing open mouthed in front on the television and there is something loud and violent showing. Not a show. Not anything really, but the commercials that show during the news or something is bad. Bad. And seeing pictures like this I know is not good.

Did tv used to be like this?

Were the commercials always so violent?

I know I should just turn it off and I end up doing it but I am sure it is too late.

Can’t there be some sort of unwritten rule that says wait until after 8 PM for the violence?

This brings up something else that makes me furious, people who let their children see movies that are way to mature for them. I hear the things that kids watch and I am shocked. I don’t ever remember this being a discussion or argument in my house growing up, but I am pretty sure 8 year olds shouldn’t be seeing The Hangover or some other violent war movie.

It must be the reason why when asking the kindergarten students that I work with to tell me about their picture they drew, they say,

‘This guy is blowing up these guys’ or ‘These are guns to kill this guy’. Lots of killing and blowing up. They are 5 for goodness sakes!

Heck, I change the story when I read Snow White. Does it really need to say kill?

I love the nights when The State of the Union takes place.

I know, I know, most people hate it. They hate when their regularly scheduled programs are interupted. They hate it because a democrat is in office and they are republican. Or two years ago it was the other way around. They hate the boringness (this should be a word) of it all. They find it just words.

Sure. All the above are legit reasons to hate these kinds of nights.

However, if you are a political dork like both the mister and I, you love these nights. Since I was in the 8th grade, I have been in love with politics, it’s leaders and our government. I always thought I would be married to a man who was Governor or senator or something like that.

Well, I married a political dork too, who ran for office and happens to have my same beliefs as me and I would be lying if I said it wouldn’t matter. For me, it would. However, I believe that is the beauty of our Nation- we get to decide. I love that some agree and some do not.

I love it.

It isn’t just the politics that I love on these nights. It’s nuisances. I love the clappers, the non clappers. The choice of suit, tie, color, whatever. The proposals, the ideas, the demands and expectations. I love the pomp and circumstances.

I love the standers the non standers. I love the comments that Mr. Mack and I make as if we are are sports commentators.

I would go into details about who wore what, whose facial expression said one thing or another or a comment, a smile or whatever those things meant, but I know few follow me in this love.

I love that we watched a channel anticipating this evening so much that there was a count down clock in the right hand corner.

I loved it when George H. made the speech, I loved it when Clinton made the speech, I loved it when W. made the speech and I loved it tonight. No matter who the speaker, they are a leader. A leader who took on the most difficult job in the world. A leader who regardless of affiliation sparks intellectual curiosity, intellectual humility and intellectual courage not only in themselves, but in our our House and Senate leaders, in our everyday Americans, in the young children who find it all fascinating and will take on the job as our leaders of tomorrow.

The conversations and questions this starts means people are thinking. While thinking can be dangerous, it can be good and powerful and changing.

My name is Mrs. Merry Mack and I am a political dork.