88gurl’s blog

Sometimes DIY is NOT the best approach!

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:37:50 -0700

I love my fur babies. They are like my children. I ESPECIALLY love Fatso. We've had this big furball of a cat since he was born and he is just so sweet and loving, he has a very special place in my heart reserved JUST for him.Although he can be very sweet and loving, he also commands a certain amount of respect. Fatso does not tolerate things such as being restrained or even being held or fooled with for too long. He ESPECIALLY doesn't like anyone venturing into areas such as his haunches or his tail when brushing him. I'll openly admit it: I'm afraid of Fatso! Although fat, his reaction time is akin to a Jaguar and I'm NOT kidding! He has hurt me many times over the years so I have learned to be respectful and careful! Fatso is a Maine Coon aka FURBALL! He has long, long hair and it is EVERYWHERE in my house. I try to brush him regularly, but he doesn't tolerate it well and he absolutely will not allow me to brush the areas that REALLY need it! This has resulted in some knots on Fatso's chest and down in his 'neutered but still somewhat manly area'.

Michael is much braver and stronger than me (and tolerates pain much better also)! So I told him last week I couldn't take cleaning up the hair any longer and I was concerned about the knots and I wanted him to buy a shaver and come shave the knots off of Fatso and give him a bath.

Well Michael and Alyssa arrived last night with a brand new trimmer and a whole bunch of good intentions! Alyssa, being the intelectual girl that she is wants to follow the instructions that come with the trimmer and some other techniques that she's heard of from pet groomers. She's even brought him a special treat to give him after the procedure is over so he will 'associate the shaver with a treat'. Yeah right! She doesn't realize that there is no instruction booklet written on how to deal with Fatso! She soon learns this though....

So they spread a blanket out on the couch and Alyssa starts shaving his sides while Michael holds him. So far, so good. Then about 10 seconds later Fatso begins to buck and resist like a Red Bull!

Shavingfatso

After a couple of minutes Fatso is spitting everywhere, Michael can't even hold him. So they let him go. Fatso is MADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a couple more attempts Michael is about ready to give up as he is bleeding from several nice cuts on his arms. Alyssa has more ideas though: She says we should try putting something over his head to keep him calm and to put socks on his legs so he can't claw Michael. She went out to her car and got the bag from a bottle of Crown Royal and I went and got 2 old pairs of socks. She put the bag over Fatso's head and pulled the drawstring just a bit to keep it on. Then, with Michael holding him, tried to put the little booties on all four of his feet. I was laughing so hard I forgot to take a picture but it was quite hilarious! Fatso must have worked with Houdini in another life because before they could even get 2 of the booties on him he somehow removed that bag from his head, removed the booties from his feet, spit, scratched and clawed and catapulted his entire body out of Michael's grip! He was all bowed up looking at all of us like "WHAT THE HELL ARE Y'ALL TRYING TO DO TO ME?" Bob is freaking out because he doesn't understand what is going on. Heidi doesn't care because she's rekindled her relationship with Hailey.

Haileyheidi

So, the saga continues....

Although they have removed a sizeable amount of hair with the trimmer, they have still only touched the tip of the iceburg and haven't even ventured to his underbelly (I can already see that that is NOT going to happen, Fatso is just NOT going to have it and all the brute force Michael has cannot even restrain him). Finally they decide to try cutting off some hair with scissors. Fatso is a little bit more agreeable to this but still it's not very long before he rebels.

Finally, Michael is ready to concede defeat and asks me to call a groomer and get a price. He takes Fatso upstairs to give him a much needed bath.

Fatsoafterbath

Fatsoafterbath3

Fatsoafterbath2

Poor Baby! So now he has a haircut that looks like he did it himself, but at least he's clean.

I'm calling a groomer tomorrow.

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What I'm doing tomorrow night!

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:22:11 -0700

Since we live atop Red Mountain we have a pretty good view of the fireworks that are shot from Vulcan Park on the 4th of July right from our own yard. We have stayed home and watched them for the past 2 years. Homewood also has a nice little carnival, street thing in downtown and we've gone down there a couple of years also, but it's really geared more for younger kids. This year we're going to 5 Points South to attend a block party! It's a more grown up atmosphere and I think Hailey and her friends will have a great time! Michael will also be there (working) but at least we'll get to see him.

5 Points South is a club and restaurant district just over the hill from Homewood. Whereas Homewood has a nice view of Vulcan's butt, 5 Points South has a nice view of his frontside LOL. 5 Points South, also known as 'Southside' is an awesome place with many unique clubs and shops. This is where the local music scene in Birmingham thrives. It's a very walkable area and the shops are amazing! Hailey and I went down there last Saturday and went in Cloud Nine and India Shop. Both shops have unique clothing, shoes, jewelry, posters, and tons and tons of incense! Cloud Nine also does tattoes and that is where Hailey will get hers (when she does get it). Southside is also a neighborhood and within walking distance to University of Alabama at Birmingham. There are many old homes that have been refurbished and remodeled into showcases. Quaint, old apartment buildings house singles, couples and many college students.

This is the first ever block party in 5 Points South. It was an attempt by the 5 Points Neighborhood Association to provide a fun 4th of July event for people who are feeling the gas crunch and can't necessarily afford to go out of town for the holiday. I think it's a great idea and I will DEFINITELY be taking my camera along!

News Video about the 5 Points South block party

HERE'S A LINK IN CASE THE WIDGET DOESN'T WORK

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Working overtime! And other stuff...

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:05:18 -0700

Yes...THAT'S why I haven't blogged in over 10 days! Amazing! It finally dawned on me about a month ago that if I didn't get it in gear and work some serious overtime we could just kiss this trip to Cali goodbye (myself at least, fund raising has already paid a big chunk of Hailey's costs). I make a pretty good wage on regular time and since I'm still an hourly employee, a VERY NICE wage on overtime. So I withdrew from school (just put that on hold until Hailey graduates) and really buckled down on the overtime. From January through May I maybe worked 3 hours of overtime total! In the last 6 weeks I've worked over 10 so I'm headed in the right direction. I'm in real good shape this week having worked almost 30 hours in 3 days. I should be on overtime all day Friday and will go in Saturday to meet my goal of 50 hours this week. I'm tired but it's just gotta be done.

I've also been exercising. I've been doing Turbo Jam every morning (not today, since I got up late). It's really great and gives me lots of energy. There's no better way to start your day than to get a good, sweaty workout! I've been trying to do 5 days on and 2 days rest BUT since I'm skipping today I'll have to exercise on Sunday and just rest on Monday.

We've been doing this fruit flush diet and it's great too! It's a 3 day detox where you eat nothing but fruit all day, then a salad and some chicken or fish at night. I don't own a scale and the only time I get weighed is when I go to the doctor, but I can definitely feel that I've lost weight and the exercise is really toning me up.

I've also been NOT smoking in the house, which naturally keeps me away from the computer.

So, those are the reasons my blog has been kind of neglected as of late. Plus I just haven't had anything to blog about. Hailey is out of school and there's nothing really going on right now. They've cut her hours back to just weekends at Moe's so she's just basically chillin at home while I work.

There are some upcoming events that look promising though:

Senior band members get fitted for their uniforms on July 8th.

Hailey has her Senior pictures made on July 9th (I'll be there probably snapping some pics of them snapping her pics).

Band camp starts on July 22nd and I will be there spying and listening as much as I can. They don't play when they first start because they always have to teach the Freshmen how to march. Hailey will be one of 4 section leaders for the clarinets. It's going to be a great year for band!

And, my BFF Melonee is having an adoption party on July 26th (she's adopting a foster child that she's had for quite some months). I will be taking my camera so I can blog the event.

We MIGHT be taking a short trip to the beach (we SO need it). This depends upon the above-mentioned overtime.

Hailey's Senior registration is August 4th.

Band pictures are on August 6th.

First day of school is August 11th.

My Birthday is August 16th.

The band will perform for the Tournament of Roses president on August 19th (he will be here all that week).

Homewood Patriot Football starts on August 29th!

Looking at all this I guess it's good we've got this little break where there is nothing going on. But I love the fall, when band and school and football start, it's so exciting and since this is Hailey's last year, I'm not going to miss a minute of any of it!

Here's some more very good news about our school system, of which I am so very, very proud!

Homewood High School was named one of the "top 1,300 U.S. high schools" by NEWSWEEK magazine.

To qualify for the list, public schools are ranked according to the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at the school in 2007 and is divided by the number of graduating seniors. Any school with a ratio of 1.000 or higher is placed on the NEWSWEEK website to indicate that the school had as many tests taken in 2007 as they had graduates.

Homewood High School was ranked 479 out of the 1,300 schools, a ranking that would place it in the top two percent of schools in the nation.

There were very few schools in our state that made this list.

Here's the article and the complete list.

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Pie anyone?

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sun, 18 May 2008 08:00:07 -0700

I found out yesterday that you don't have to be a baker to make a great pie. I'm not a baker and have never claimed to be a baker. Yes, I made a cheesecake from scratch once and it was pretty good. I've made cakes from scratch that tasted about the same as cake made from a box mix. I love to cook but baking has just never been my thing.

But I wanted to make a blueberry pie so I decided to give it a try. I was browsing pie recipes on www.allrecipes.com and came across a simple recipe for a blueberry pie. I didn't want some big complicated recipe that called for cornstarch or other weird ingredients. I wanted it to be very simple and fresh. When I told Hailey we were going to make a pie her stock answer was "I don't like pie." I just asked her to give it a try. The recipe just called for blueberries but I wanted to include some strawberries too. I modified the recipe just a bit too. As the filling was cooking I noticed Hailey taking some interest in it. We both had a taste with a little spoon. "Yumm!" she said. It was ridiculously good!

So here's my recipe for,

88gurl's berry delicious pie for dummies!

Ingredients:

2 pre-made pie crusts (I couldn't find a top crust so I just bought 2 bottoms)

1 small bag of frozen blueberries (thawed, drained and rinsed)

1 small container of fresh blueberries (or even better, go out and pick them yourself!)

About 10 fresh strawberries, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

While you are preparing the berries bake the bottom crust for about 10 minutes and set it out to cool

Bottomcrust

Melt the butter in a dutch oven

Stir in the flour, sugar and cinnamon

Add the sliced strawberries and drained blueberries (not the fresh ones)

Simmer this over medium heat until the liquid has reduced and the strawberries have softened and let it cool a bit

Piefilling

Line the bottom crust with some fresh blueberries

Freshberries

Pour the cooked pie filling over the fresh blueberries, place the top crust (I had a bit of trouble with this) stick a fork in it a few times to release the steam.

Return to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes or so unti the top crust is brown and the filling is bubbly.

Voila! You have made pie!

Finishedpie

It ain't too pretty. I cracked the top crust taking it out of the oven because the aluminum tin was kind of flimsy but who cares? I'm sure it wouldn't win any pie baking contests but who cares? It was absolutely delicious with the fresh blueberries still firm enough to 'pop' in your mouth! And adding in the strawberries and the cinnamon (which the original recipe didn't call for) really made it delicious!

We were trying to keep the calories down so we served it with whipped cream (from a can) instead of ice cream.

Hailey couldn't even wait until after dinner! She begged me to hurry up and cut it and gobbled up a whole piece! SCORE!

Deliciouspie

So all you people out there who think you have to be some kind of master baker snob to make a delicious pie, think again! This was super delicious, not too difficult and one of the best things I've ever made! With ready-made pie crust and some fresh ingredients anybody can make a berry delicious pie!

ps: next time we're gonna try apple!

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A bunch of sumpin sumpin!

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:33:14 -0700

I haven't been blogging very much lately. Just been busy with work and school (I'm so behind it's ridiculous). Hailey has been working and finishing up the school year. I have taken some pics over the last couple of week so I thought I'd just dump them into a post. These are just some pics of some pretty flowers and greenery that's been popping up, just different stuff outside, my new tomato plant (which has one little tomato growing on it right now), a 'gully-washer' of a rain storm we had last week and a little squirrel who I met. Enjoy!

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We Love Homewood Day 2008 (May 3rd)

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:54:51 -0700

I know I talk about my city a lot but that is because I love it so much! It's a fantastic city with a real community sense about it and it has one of the best school systems around. Everyone else that lives here loves it too! They loved it so much that about 25 years ago they dubbed the first Saturday in May 'We Love Homewood Day'. I don't know the details of it's origin because I've only lived here for 7 years but today it is a huge fund raiser for the Middle and High School band programs. It starts out at 8am with a carnival and arts and crafts thingy at Patriot Park. At 6pm the We Love Homewood Day parade steps off from the library and marches down Oxmoor Road ending in Edgewood. Edgewood is a little neighborhood in Homewood that is as quaint as quaint can be. All of the streets have sidewalks and the homes are quaint cottages (the property values are through the roof in Homewood, especially in Edgewood so house flippers have descended upon the neighborhood and demolished the original homes, replacing them with gargantuous, multi-story homes that are too big for the modest size lots, this is unfortunate but many of the original homes remain). When the parade ends there is a 'dance in the street' in Edgewood for everyone to celebrate the city they love!

Hailey has been involved with We Love Homewood Day since she was in the 7th grade. She was in the H.E.A.T. group in 7th and 8th grade and working the carnival rides was part of the community service that the middle-schoolers in this group do. H.E.A.T. stands for Homewood Exploration Adventurer Team. The group was founded by a member of the Homewood Park and Recreation board specifically for Homewood students in middle school. In return for the community service they provide the group gets to go on various adventures. During Hailey's 2 years in this group she went white water rafting, snorkeling with manatees in Florida and skiing in Gatlinburg, among other things.

Of course, since she's been in High School she has marched in the parade with the High School band (that's one of my pictures by the way). The whole town comes out to watch the parade and always gives the band tremendous support and cheers! When I'm walking along side them, trying to video/photograph as much as I can I see the parents with their little kids, holding them up and pointing and saying "Look! There's the Band!". I can't even describe in words how PROUD it makes me feel that my daughter is a part of this!

So this year, Mother Nature played a dirty trick on us and decided to rain and I mean pour down rain on Saturday morning. The carnival and arts and crafts thingy was cancelled. But, by parade time everything had dried up, the sun was shining and it was absolutely perfect weather for a parade!

So here's my pics and one video that I made:

Homewood band - We Love Homewood Day part 1

Notice Hailey telling me (nicely) to go away LOL!

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Homewood Band - Spring Concert 2008

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:48:49 -0700

Well, Haiiley and I are both home sick today....yucky but at least it gave me some time to finally upload my videos. For anyone that has ever been involved in high school band you know that spring is concert season. Each band class performs songs that they performed at district and state competitions back in the winter. This is concert music and if you don't like concert music you probably won't like these videos!

The Jazz band is not a class but more like a club. They meet to rehearse before school every morning. This year's jazz band was the smallest I've ever seen but they still played very well. The band director is a trumpet player and he often jams with them. The Jazz band plays while everyone is still arriving and while the different band classes are changing out from the stage to their seats.

I had to be careful not to film too many videos so my memory card wouldn't get full before Hailey's band performed.

Homewood Band - Spring Concert 2008 - Jazz Band

The percussionists performed one song with the percussion director standing in for someone who wasn't able to make it to the concert.

Homewood band - Spring concert 2008 - Percussion Smooth

Next the Freshman band performed and they did very well. One of their songs featured a girl singing. I didn't video them though.

Next was the Symphonic band which is the band Hailey is 2nd 1st chair clarinet. They played five songs but I only filmed 3 of them and during the last song my memory card got full so it cut off the last couple of minutes (these are in no particular order as I can't remember the order).

Homewood Band - spring concert - symphonic band

Homewood band - spring concert 2008

Homewood Band - spring concert - symphonic band

After the symphonic band played the honor band performed. Honor band is mostly Seniors and I hope that Hailey makes it for next year.

As I was sitting in that auditorium I began to realize that my times there were limited. I've been coming there since Hailey's first middle school concert when she was in the 6th grade. How time flies!

Hailey met up with her friend Cami (who she's been playing in band with since 6th grade). Cami missed most of this school year due to illness but now she's back. She had to play with the Freshman band but at least she's still performing.

Haileycami

Here's a picture of them together before a middle school concert when they were in the 7th grade.

Haileycami

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Prom night!

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:14:44 -0700

Friday night Hailey attended her first prom. She went with her friend Brittany to her prom. Brittany's school is very small so they allow Junior's to attend the Senior prom. Hailey's school is very large and does NOT allow Juniors to attend the Senior prom so she went with Britt. I didn't get to see much of nothing because I didn't even go there but Britt's Mom and I took a couple of pics before they left and she took some in the car on the way. She said she had a good time although I don't have any pics to prove it. The best part of the night for me, besides her getting home safely at 1am, was her walking up the stairs saying "I can't believe I have to go to work tomorrow (today)!" LOL! Welcome to the real world my baby girl!

Haileybrittprom

Prom!

Haileybeautifulprom

She's wearing her seatbelt like I always taught her! Good girl!

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Finally! Something to blog about...

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:06:34 -0700

I haven't had much to blog about this week besides American Idol and Hailey's new job. I've been feeling kind of blah, started back to school this week, so there's that. I haven't been inspired to take any nature photos because it's just the same old stuff outside. I need a new place, something new to photograph. Anyways...I finally got the two couples together last night. Corey was over visiting with Hailey and Michael called and asked me if I was cooking (which translates into he's hungry and broke LOL). So I invited him and Alyssa over to eat and hang out and so he could finally meet Corey.

I took some group photos:

At first everybody was a bit tense...I think Corey was afraid to touch Hailey around Michael. Finally I told them to do some hugging and whatnot and I got a couple of good shots.

I liked this one of each couple (except for Michael's bird finger) so I cropped it into two individual couple photos:

Haileycorey

Michaelalyssa

We had fun! I cooked hamburgers and chicken wings and we watched some band DVDs and looked at pictures. Alyssa is REALLY growing on me. She's a really sweet and smart girl. Some people may say that I don't have much of a life hanging out with my kids and their respective beaus but I treasure each and every moment I spend with them and the fact that they WANT to hang out with me means more to me than any less important thing I might could have been doing.

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Baby got job!

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:18:26 -0700

Well, my daughter is now officially part of the work force ::sniff::

She actually got hired last Friday but I wanted to wait and see how her first shift went before blogging about it...she started tonight at Moe's Southwest Grill! She worked from 5pm until close and had a great time. They started her at $7.00 an hour! Dayum! That's more than minimum wage! Two of her friends just started there too. I think this is going to be a great experience for her...at least until band camp starts in July. If they are not able to work with her on the schedule she will have to quit. I hope they will as the area Moe's are very supportive of our band and even hosted 5 Moe's Homewood Band days back in January and donated 10% of all Homewood band orders back to the band program to go towards the California trip.

My baby was beaming when she got home...

Haileywork2

You go workin' girl!!

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