Fantasy football- not just for the boys anymore

For years I have wanted to be involved in the insanity that is NFL fantasy football. Matt has been managing teams and commisioning leagues since his teenage years and it was tortorous listening to him talk about his players, trophies, blah blah blah when I was just thinking to myself "it's not friggin real!" At some point, if you can't beat em, join em, right? I wanted to get in on the fun so 2 seasons ago, I asked Matt if I could join his league. Big mistake. Not only did he laugh hysterically, but he said there was no way in hell he'd be "that guy" who let his woman into the league. I am confident that his overt display of sexism was really fear that I would be victorious my first (and consequently only) year in, and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take. Or, he may have thought my wealth of football knowledge was on par with this guy...

In an effort to rectify this injustice, 2 seasons ago I began my own all female league, the "Pigskin Princesses"and last year the "Football Fems"". Sure, there were a few team mangers who were exactly like the dude featured above and some people (not going to mention any names since they have since tried to save face) didn't touch their rosters for the entire 2nd half of the season. But this 3rd season- now called "Not Your Grandma's League", things are getting pretty serious. We've gone from 8 to 10 teams, and have recruited some new, excited and knowledgeable members who will provide surefire competition all season.

I know some of my readers are bored to tears over this post, and believe me, I feel ya. I spend hours studying, predicting, watching, and strategizing how to make my team the most successful, but why should you care? Me gushing over how many yards my running back rushed for and the fact that my QB is up against Lions defense this week means nothing to you. Kinda like your kid's potty training updates or the fact they like or don't like applesauce...

Too harsh? Must be the competition kicking in. Tomorrow night for my draft I'm hitting the bar on $2.50 Pint night and raising a glass to football, fun, and not giving a fuzz what the boys think.

Pretzel M&M's have crack in them, no?

Everyone has their weaknesses when it comes to snack food.

Mine has always been the sweet and salty combination snacks. Honey nut Chex Mix and chocolate covered pretzels were particularly hard to say no to. For that reason, I try to NEVER keep them in the house. Why? Out of sight, out of mind. If they are sitting there however, it's scary how many I can put away in one sitting. I realize that if I cut out this behavior (and booze) I would weigh 20 less pounds, but hey the main reason i work out is so I CAN eat!

This system was working swimmingly for me until I saw this...

Good God they have managed to create the most delicious bite sized snack imaginable. And I can't ignore it because this product is popping up everywhere. As a centerpiece at a friend's party and even Coach Rex Ryan on HardKnocks was talking about his addiction to them. My outta sight rule obviously wasn't prepared for this.

What's worse? I find out it's really not "that bad" for you. Mars boasts that inside that bag is only 150 calories and 5 grams of fat!

At that point my obsession with these went from a little overboard to unhealthy. I had Matt take me to 3 different grocery stores/gas stations to find these at 10pm one night. Yesterday I go to Walgreens and find myself downright giddy that they are on sale BOGO. I may need to be committed...

I give the new pretzel M&M's an: A+ (there's a first for everything my friends)

Garfield ain't got nothing on this hairball

As a kid, did you ever play that game, "What's grosser than gross" where you tried to outdo one another on disgustingly vile situations and scenarios? If only I'd had this to show all my neighborhood buddies from back then:

No, it's not a decaying animal or a torture chamber; it's the amount of hair our Shark picked up in ONE room of our house! Granted, it was the room I typically "do" my hair, but still! We have resorted to using this as our main vacuum ever since I accidentally ran over the electrical cord with the vacuum itself on my new expensive Christmas present from last year(whoopsie). This little guy does a great job of picking up dirt (and obviously hair as well) but I have to stop every 3-4 minutes to empty to dust tray and literally yank the hundreds of hairs that are wrapped around the rotating brushes. Oh, and to throw up a bit because EWWW, what is wrong with me?!
I bring this up because I had a near mental breakdown last week over my hair loss. I am not balding, but am sure at this rate I will be at some point. I already have the thinnest, stick straight hair in America and am fairly certain I lose about 3X's as much hair as the average person (I researched this folks).

So of course in order to correct this issue, I look at symptoms.

1. Too much stress- I'm a teacher...so yes
2. Being on birth control for too long- is 8 years a long time? Fine, yes
3. Hormone imbalance- well i did have half of my thyroid gland removed, so yes
4. Blowdrying or overstyling- heck no, Matt is lucky if I do my hair for our date nights
5. Brushing hair while wet- guilty as charged

Of course I am freaking out when I realize almost all the signs relate to me. I have already resorted to washing my hair every other day, although it pains me to not wash it immediately after each trip to the gym. It sounds like nothing really happens when people go to dermatologists and endocrinologists, and other docs will just put you on anti-depression meds. Am I that much of a lost cause that rather than save my hair, they just try to keep you from getting depressed over your fleeing folicles?

In the mean time I will be brushing less, vacumming more, and trying to find ways to remove stress from areas of my life. Too bad the number one source pays our bills...

Five Below

Meet the newest chain to hit the Raleigh area:Five Below. At first I thought it was a snowboard store (which I thought to be odd for our area) or maybe an icecream shoppe. After doing some research however, I was stoked to discover that it's a bargain store! It's kind of like the Dollar Store, if the Dollar Store was infused with pop culture and Old Navy. If you know me well, you know that even $5 is no bargain for me on many things so I wouldn't really call a lot of items a "steal". I kept unloading my shopping cart throughout the trip because my "treasure box" prizes and trivia games were adding up to big bucks quickly. By the time I hit the register, I spent $20 and bought multiple things I absolutely didn't need, just wanted. My 2 favorite buys are the magnets below ($3 each) and it was hard not to buy many more 30 Rock and SNL sayings for our fridge.

This certainly would have been one of my top stores if I were in high school or still living the dorm life. However, the only really good items I found were school or collector-related, so don't go there thinking you can stock up on house supplies. I know I'll be back however to see what new items the season brings in, and definitely for some Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers.

I give Five Below a: B+

Proof that there is a God

There are many reasons I believe in the big man upstairs (yes, I realize it's 2010 but I still think he's a man). I often am affirmed of this belief through nature. Beautiful sunsets (like this one from Sunset Beach, NC), perfectly placed clouds, shooting stars, and more commonly: flowers. I mean, they are stunning, right!? In my perfect world, I'd have flowers in every room of the house...but someone else would tend to them.

You see, there's a few things I'm good at: teaching, bargain shopping, and killing plants (and fish, but that's another story). Whether they are fresh store-bought, delivered, or planted and grown in my own backyard; sooner than later my once beautiful plant dies.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Matt and I try to tag team the yard duty so our place doesn't turn into a s**thole and one day we can sell it. I walked out in the yard the other day and looked down in disbelief at our dead grass and brown spots throughout the yard. But then I looked up to see our tree and my spirits were lifted! That's right folks, Carrie planted a tree TWO years ago and it's still alive! Sure, we assumed it had been dead for the past 8 months, but that's beside the point. This thang is a trooper!

My relationship with the tree didn't start off so hot. I arrived home from work one day to see it sitting on our front porch. I read that it was a wedding gift and since we were leaving for our honeymoon the next day it had to be planted immediately. Fan-friggintastic! Instead of packing I'm going to be planting a tree, which I have never done before in my life. I thought it would take about 15 minutes. Well, I live in North Carolina and all we have under grass is clay; lots of it. It took 1 1/2 hours to dig, plant, and cover and by the end I was sweaty, exhausted and covered in clay.

A month later I was pretty sure the tree was a lost cause.

Matt- "Maybe you didn't dig a big enough..."

me- "SHUSH, it's friggin dead, whatever"

Thank you tree for restoring my faith:)

"You gotta come see the baaaaaby"

You Seinfeld fans know exactly what I'm referring to. We have all had close friends or family members who have had kids and once they do, the clock is ticking to "come see the baby".

My uncle Andy and his wife Kim had Elizabeth or "Ellie" last year. She was born 6 weeks premature and spent a great deal of time in the NICU. I spent some time with her there, and again after she came home, but travel time and balancing work schedules and sicknesses prevented me from seeing her as often as I'd like. Saturday was her 1st birthday party and I have to admit I had a pretty good time. My family traveled to make it, and Ellie is an amazing little girl. She is a ham for the camera, loves to engage her audience, and is already smart as a whip. It's amazing how "normal" she is for a one year old, considering the hardships she had to overcome very early in her life. The top 3 pictures below are evidence of some of that ridiculous cuteness.
The highlight of the party was watching Ellie eat her own birthday cake. The pictures above (although poor quality cause I snagged them from kodak online) capture her thinking process, which I think was rather advanced. I mean, she did start with a fork but "it was her party and she could do what she wants to" so face-in-cake she went.


This occasion made me realize once again that I am not quite ready to raise a roost of my own, but it also shed some insight on just how wonderful and rewarding that time of my life will be. Becoming a dad has transformed my uncle, and seeing my grandparents finally get to play the role of "grandparent" is truly heartwarming. They came, they spoiled, and then they left; a luxury they never had with me!

You could feel the love in the room, all because a 12 month old smiled or laughed. It's the little things...

Pick your poison...I'll pick mine from NC

You know what I like? Beer. Good beer. And I like it often.

Now that that's out there...

I don't remember my first beer, although I assume it was in college at a frat house. It was most likely Southpaw, Keystone Light, or maybe Bud Light if the party throwers were really trying to show off.

What I have learned through my ongoing research over the past few years is that these beverages are hardly beer. They are grossly mass produced, additive-ridden, beer flavored wannabes who are the laughing stock of the bar. So basically, unless I'm on the beach all day or it's free...you won't see me drinking it.

So what DO I like to drink from my high horse? I'm glad you asked! I have visited many local breweries here in North Carolina and have found that the tastiest and most unique styles of beer were created just a few miles down the road. Below are some of my top choices. Enjoy!

1) Shotgun Betty of the Lonerider Brewing Company: I'm usually not a Hefeweizen gal, but this beer changes the rules. It's a wheat beer with a banana clove finish (yes, i said BANANA) and it's soooo delicious. We visited the brewery in person earlier this year, but you can also purchase Betty from Harris Teeter in the Raleigh area. Do yourself a favor a try this today!

2) Spring Bock and Octoberfest of the Carolina Brewing Company: Not to be confused with many other breweries that use "Carolina" in it's name, CBC is actually located less than 5 minutes from my house here in Holly Springs. Their Carolina Pale Ale is sold rampantly all over the triangle(and it happens to be Matt's overall favorite beer), but it's their seasonal beers that I find the most delicious. The Spring and Fall brews are my favorite and you can attend FREE tastings of all their beers every Saturday afternoon.

3) Gaelic Ale of the Highland Brewing Company: This deep amber beer

is quite bitter for my usual taste, but something about it keeps me coming back. I've never been to this brewery, but definitely plan on making the 3ish hour drive to Asheville some day as I hear it's an amazing place to visit, listen to music, and enjoy a brew or two. This is also widely sold In North Carolina groceries and bars.

2 years as Mrs. V

2 years ago today I said yes to this guy. So glad I did:)

Dogs and Storms do not mix

Here sits the cutest dog to ever walk this earth, right? He's sweet, well behaved, and looks lovingly into his mommy's eyes when she sticks a cell phone in his face to snap a photo. He's perfect.

Well, until this summer that is...

Papi is not a fan of summer storms. The noise, the intensity, even the silent but vibrant heat lightning sent him into straight panic mode!

When I say panic, I'm talking:

• uncontrollable shaking and whining
• eyes darting around the room at the flashes and source of noise
• taking a deuce in the carpeted rooms downstairs b/c he's afraid to go outside
• the worst one: burrowing into me under the covers like he's trying to get under my body to make it all go away. Mind you, this is taking place between 11pm-4 am (often when I have to work the next day)

I've read Marley and Me and all so I know he isn't alone in this fear, and according to this picture doctors are trying new methods to chill these crazy pups out. I'm just looking forward to the sleepy fall and winter drizzles where Papi is passed out on the couch like old times.

Come on in!

Welcome to Mrs. V's classroom!
In honor of Babbling Abby's Teacher Week, come take a tour of the place I spend entirely too much time, effort and money. I wasn't going to upload a bajillion photos on here because to be honest Blogger, you are a pain in the ass when it comes to photos. So, my good friend Picasa and I made a couple collages to give you a glimpse of my day to day life.

Since I teach year round, my room doesn't look museum-esqe like the many teachers heading back for workdays this week. These were taken 5 weeks in at the end of a long school day where students fully utilized (and didn't necessarily put back) the resources in our room.
(From top left): 1)Front of the room view 2)sink and track out cart/multiplication cheat sheet 3)student desk groups 4)supplies/centers/research area 5) reading resources and kidney table used for small groups 5) TV/calendar/vocab/job chart 6)Inside of our classroom door with ky math words and Standards Based Grading guide 7)Group supply basket for each table

You can make the photos bigger by clicking on them (I literally discovered that today, duh). I hope you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for stopping by:)

How did I miss this?

I came across a little gem today through fellow tweeter @JennandTonica at What the Blog?

It's called "Crap at My Parents House" and I think the name says it all. Enjoy.

Teaching Must Haves

For my non-teacher readers, pardon my post but it is my passion and all so I've gotta get my educator-kicks every now and then...

Through one of the other blogs I read Ginger Snaps, I came across Babbling Abby's Teacher must-haves. Like any craft, you perfect it over time and discover all the things you couldn't work without. Well Abby, here's my list:

1) Diet Mountain Dew: I'm not a big coffee drinker, especially in the summer. The last thing I want on a code orange heat-index day is hot liquid to warm me up even more. I have gotten into the unfortunate habit of having a soda each morning to provide me my morning boost. I know it's bad for my teeth, may give me cancer, etc but if it makes me nicer to my students I think it's worth it.

2) Wite-out Pens: Gone are the days of messy liquid white out that spills, stains and takes too long to dry. This easy to use pens go right on top of your error and don't need any drying time. I use them every single day and will never go back to the old crap.

3) Sticky or"stikki"Clips: Considering we only have one wall which can be stapled into, these clips are a must. I use them for posters, student work, pocket cards, hall passes; pretty much anything I don't want on the ground. The only bad thing is that they leave some serious gummy residue, but hey- I'm not worried about the resale value of this place so let's stick some shit!

4) Sheet protectors: I heart them so much! I put almost anything the kids are going to touch in these because otherwise snack, snot, and other gross things end up on the pages. It's also great for putting a unit of activities together without them being loose or falling out of the paperclips. In my perfect world, everything would be bindered and in page protectors.

These are my major classroom must-haves. Do you share any of these needs or am I as big a freak as I sometimes feel? :)

Co-ed showers...not the kind from college

I'm definitely not ready to have a baby yet, but it seems that lately that's what everyone around me is doing. Like one of my BFF's Sarah of Say What You Mean to Sa .This is great, don't get me wrong. I'll happily spoil your kid until I'm ready to go out for drinks...

What I have noticed lately however is that the whole wedding and baby showers for women only is a thing of the past. Now it's almost always "couples events" where people drag their poor boyfriends and husbands to someone's house where we all "ooh" and "ahh" at how damn cute every little onesie or burp blanket is.

Although I'm not typically into all the "baby frill", I'll totally go gaga over outfits with trains, baseballs, or really any type of shoe that could fit someone under the age of 2.

So who loses in this equation? In my opinion, both the men and the women are miserable. The male discontent is easier to pick up on by the looks on their faces, but the women are battling internally with trying to make sure he's met some people, and had plenty of "punch" to not freak out over her interest in baby things ("oh god, now she's gonna want one" like it's contagious or something).

My solution? because of course I have thought long and hard about my own baby shower years premature is this:

1) Ok, go for the couples shower. My amount of estrogen present at my female bridal shower was beyond intimidating. I had to be uber proper, sophisticated, blah, blah, blah. We sipped lemonade, ate cake, fruit, and delicious truffles and chatted, of course. It really was a great day, but I felt like I was "on" and couldn't relax the whole time. Our couples luau however was a whole different feel. Music, food, BOOZE, games, and we DIDN't open presents. This pissed off a few people there, but the other 90% were eternally grateful that we didn't sit them through that.

1A) ONLY IF: I insist this be during a major sports day, like College Football Saturday or NFL Sundays. We could all mingle together for food and arrival, but the minute someone mentions baby games or presents, the men hit the TV room and sip off the keg for the next few hours. This allows them to do their thing, and doesn't infringe on the ability of the women to do theirs without shame or concern over his "comfort level".

Our baby shower invite would probably look something like this; plus I'd throw the word "baby" on it a few times...

Gotta pen?

Do you ever feel like everytime you need a pen in a snap, the one you grab is a dud? So you put it back in the cup (instead of straight in the garbage since that would be logical) and sometimes repeat this process 3 times before finding a decent writing utensil.

No? Well, I'm happy for you but this was becoming a daily event for me and I decided to actually do something about it yesterday while cleaning...So, here we have all the pens I could find in our house. Desks, drawers, purses, etc produced this ridiculous amount of pens,pencils (all unsharpened of course), highlighters, and other random crap. Good gravy.

So long P90X

Well, I'm calling it a day (or 72 days) with P90x. Yes, I know it's a 90 day program and I have completed 3/4 of the program, but I am "over" it for many reasons.


1) I am SICK of that idiot Tony Horton's nonsense blabber (as mentioned in a previous post). I knew it had gotten out of control when I started hearing him in my head throughout the day. You know, like when you get a song stuck in your head, but it would him and therefore an instant headache.

Can you see why??

Ab Ripper X from Gonzague Philippe on Vimeo.

2) I missed running. It's a little shocking to hear myself declare that considering my ongoing battle with long distance running (thank you torn meniscus) but some days you just wanna ruuuuun! I felt like a caged up sweat machine during these cardio workouts because how much cardio are you really doing in front of a TV inside a little room?

3) Matt has turned my "workout room" into his office. I couldn't tell you that weeks ago as he was still preparing to announce his decision and all, but it's hard to do Plyometrics and Kenpo X when I keep bumping into his office chair. See where my treadmill once stood:

In some aspects, I feel like a failure. I only had 18 more days to go to be a P90X "graduate". On the other hand, I am beyond excited to join a gym again, particularly the friggin palace of gyms that is Lifetime Fitness in Cary. They have everything you could possibly want in a gym...group classes, personal training, full court gyms, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a full cafe, a hair salon (WTF?), unbelievable locker rooms, multiple tv lounges, over 100 treadmills...it's truly outta control. I went to my first group class there today: Cardio Kickboxing. I can honestly say I've never sweated so much at one time at my life. In other words- it was AWESOME.

Easily the highlight of my week

There were 4 coupon books in the paper today people, FOUR! It's like Christmas in...well, I guess it's August now, huh?C'mon Harris Teeter, when's your next Triple Coupon Week?? I'll have to check in with @sue_stock via twitter or her blog to find out. (If you don't know who she is, familiarize yourself immediately and thank the Lord she was born)

Oh, and look what I randomly found inside the coupons this week ----->

Did anyone else have one of these growing up??

The bear with the undersized hat who taught you how to snap, button, zip, tie your shoes, etc. Are they still manufacturing these guys or are they left from a 1987 shipment?