HOLY COW, We had a Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Belated Christmas!! We had a great one. More to come on that subject. It seems as though I left my camera at the casa de parentals. I will post pics when I get it back!!

In the meantime, I thought I'd continue my blogging about cleaning and domestic products. (I know you're pumped)! Here's my latest discovery: HOLY COW cleaning products.

Has anyone used this?!?

I have!

To date, I've only tried the HOT PINKHoly Cow All-Purpose Cleaner, and I think I'm a convert. It Rocks. The kicker is that Holy Cow products are ALL ORGANIC! No chemicals whatesover. I'm completely convinced that all these weird diseases are from chemicals. This of course being my non-scientific, non-researched, un-educated viewpoint. An added bonus is that Holy Cow cleaner is NOT any more expensive than Fantastic, etc. Not to mention that it actually works well and doesn't make you cough when you spray it on your counters....

Website: www.holycowproducts.com

You can get this at Wal-Mart or Alberstons.

I know that was a rivoting blog for most, but I sure do like my new products! Has anyone tried the tortillas I posted about yet??? THEY ROCK!

:)

To all my Democrat friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the
religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your
choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or
traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious
or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful,
personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the
onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without
due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose
contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply
that America is necessarily greater than any other country in, or the
only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made
without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability,
religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To all my Republican friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


I must say that I truly enjoy living in a Republican area this time of year because we get to have CHRISTMAS at school!!!!!!!!! Whooo HOOO!!! We get to have Christmas trees, Christmas Teas, Christmas Walk, Christmas parties, and Christmas art projects! LOVE IT! In C-town it was a "Holiday Party" and a "Winter Break." Bah Humbug.

Merry Christmas to all!
Love,
Your favorite Independent :)

P.S. Thanks, Mylynka for the email!

It's Official!

I passed student teaching ... whew :)

R.I.P. Boots

R.I.P. Boots
March 2006 - November 2007

Lefty and Righty Boots (fraternal twins) were laid to rest this afternoon after a long and hard life. These work boots were the first pair Matt Fleharty ever owned and they served him well. It wasn't until, in their old age, they let water from a puddle seep onto Matt's socks. After this tragic event, Matt realized it was time to say goodbye. Matt's wife, Cindy, had been telling him for months that the boots were on their last leg (heeeeeheeeee, pardon the pun), but he refused to let go of his beloved boots. Was it because he loved the boots so much, or because he loathed shopping equally as much? One will never know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nothing says "Happy Thanksgiving" more than a cactus in the snow! We were surprised with quite a bit of snow this year in Big Spring, where we spent Thanksgiving at Dean's house. His surgery went well and he seems to be doing fine. As you can see, Molly's still carrying her "Santa Baby" everywhere she goes!

More Look-A-Likes

Dean's Celebrity Look-A-Like

Melissa's Celebrity Look-a-Likes

Matt's Celebrity Look-a-like!

My celebrity look-a-like

It's OVER!

Here are my fabulous mentors: Amie (from 2nd grade), Chaundra (from 5th grade) & Ms. Gage (from the college). Tonight we turned in our portfolios and finished the semester.

Let the Countdown Begin

36 Hours until I am no longer a Student Teacher!!! (But who's counting?)

Once my mammoth portfolio is finished and turned in tomorrow night, I will be freeeeeeeeeeee!

In honor of this accomplishment, the school is giving me 3 days off this week. I love my job.


In other news, Molly has a new baby. As soon as I brought home this Santa toy for her, she ditched her beloved reindeer toy from last year. She has been toting this new guy around everywhere she goes. Maybe she figures if she takes care of Santa, he'll take care of her when stockings come around....

These are a few of my favorite things....!

My 2 new favorite things.

Reunited!

Here's a teaser pic from the reunion...more to follow! This is a pic of the old band crowd, plus a few :) Christy, Jennifer, Tyler, Maston, Christie, CW, John, Moi, Erica & Shannon.

I GOT A JOB!

After 3 weeks of student teaching, I got a real JOB! I'm still a little bit in shock, but I am super excited!!! The district was still in need of one more teacher and so they moved me over into my own classroom!! I will have another week of observation and then I'll be on my own with my kids. This probably means less blogging... bittersweet :)


In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXIPOO POTHLINGTON!!!!!

For those who have been wondering...

I haven' t been online much lately because I am student teaching!! We started about 2 1/2 weeks ago and I am worn out :) It's going GREAT so far! I love the teacher I"m with and the kids are awesome. So...less bloggin time for moi! :)

FALSE ALARM!

Poor hubby, he got the email saying that he was offered season tix, but by the time he logged in to purchase them they were SOLD OUT!

Guess I'm not a football widow this season afterall!

Season Tix

Well, Matt & Dean had their hearts set on Aggie season tickets, but it looks like they'll have to settle for longhorn tix instead. What a shame!

Looks like I'm going to be a football widow again this season afterall!

NAPA

We had an absolutely relaxing and wonderful time in Napa! Here are some pics from around the town, at a small winery, and at a large winery.

When I booked the rental car, I saw an option called "Wild Card" that guaranteed a manager's choice upgrade for $1 more per week. I thought, what the heck - let's do it! Livin on the edge. When we went to pick up our rental car, we were informed that the manager's choice for us was.....a CHRYSLER MINI-VAN! Talk about a W-I-L-D card! Way to go us -- in our 20's, no kids, and driving a mini-van on our vacation! Rock on, Red Stallion, Rock on.

Wine Train

We boarded the wine train and headed off for a tour of Napa Valley. Let me tell you - that's the way to go! Good food, A/C and a great view. I seriously felt like I was on the train version of the Titanic. All velvety and old timey. It is also fun to be on the other side of the tracks every now and then (meaning the cars had to stop for us instead of the other way around)! My favorite pic from our entire trip is the one of Matt leaning out the side of the train smiling :)

Castle

One of the vineyards we visited had constructed a castle to host their tasting room! Of course, the castle is also used for weddings and other events, but it was a great atmosphere for wine tasting! In the "knights" room, the ceiling forms perfect domes and creates amazing amplification audible only to whoever is standing in the center of the dome. Very cool. The signs above us say something like The Baron and The Baroness in Italian.

B&B

We stayed in a gorgeous B&B, McClelland Priest, in Napa. It was named after it's only two owners before the current owner: the McClellands and the Priests. The new owner, Celeste, paid great attention to detail and had the place looking spectacular. It was like time travel staying there - from the gilded molding to the lack of television (much to Matt's dissapointment)! It was actually really nice to relax and read instead of watching TV or being on the internet, although Blogger, you did not hear my say that! :)

Napa Valley Balloon Ride

One of our favorite experiences in Napa was our balloon ride! We showed up at 5:30am and headed out on a bus to watch the balloons inflate. Once our balloon was ready, we hopped in a basket with 14 other people and our pilot, Harrison Ford (seriously, I think it was him)! We then sailed above the valley staying afloat using state-of-the-art technology such as the pilot spitting over the edge of the basket to determine which way the wind was blowing! Actually, he was really skilled and knew which layers of the "atmosphere" were blowing which direction and was able to steer us right to where he wanted to land. When it came time for landing we snagged a vineyard pole which made for quite the adventure. Apparently, if a balloon pilot damages a vine, he has to pay the vineyard owner $1500 per vine! That could add up quick! We landed and our basket almost tumped over!! Matt was given the honors of deflating our balloon, so that's what he's doing in the pic of him holding a rope. After the ride we hopped back on the bus and they took us to a champagne breakfast. Amazing experience -- we highly recommend it!

Alcatraz

We took the ferry from San Francisco over to Alcatraz Island to take a tour. The tour was really neat because they give you an MP3 player and set you free to listen to your own headset and do the tour at your own pace. Alcatraz is a national park - who woulda thunk? Anyway, it was FREEZING, which was a complete shockerooni since it was AUGUST in CALIFORNIA! We weren't quite prepared for the weather, but we really enjoyed the tour. Matt asked a park ranger whether or not one of the crumbling buildings had been a chapel and that sparked a whole private tour for the two of us! Way to go hubby! We got to see the real chapel and the gun galley, which are not open to the public.

San Francisco

After Napa we headed over to San Francisco where we saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Full House Houses (Mercy!), Ghiradelli Square (Free Samples, but that's about the coolest part), and all the steep roads! We also ate on the pier at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co, which was super-cheese and right up our alley. We were also told to eat at Ruth's Chris steak house in SF because it was the original one. So we did. Only to find out it is NOT the original one :) Oh well, the steak was the best we've ever had.

Summer Mummers

The second weekend I ever met Matt, he took me to Summer Mummers '02 in Midland, TX. Here we are, 5 years later at Summer Mummers '07! Summer Mummers is a crazy production put on by the Midland Community Theater. Yes, that is POPCORN all over the floor! You are allowed (encouraged may be a better word) to throw popcorn at the villain or in celebration during the play. After the melodrama is over, Olio is the second act. Basically everyone sings and throws more popcorn! Fun times! This is a tradition Dean started long before my time and we're all glad to carry this one on!

Glynn & Cristin's Wedding

For the last leg of our vacation we headed out to MN for Glynn and Cristin's wedding. It was perfect weather and a beautiful wedding. The reception was a ton of fun. Props to whoever picked the tunes! Matt, Glynn, and Annie (cousins) were all born around the same time. There are pictures of them in bellies all the way to now! We wish we could have made Matt's other cousin, Cheri's, wedding but we had to head back to NM!

Mom's Visit

Mom hopped on a plane after 30 years of being a land-lubber and came out to Hobbs! We had a lot of fun, ate a ton, made some curtains, did some crafts, re-stuffed my couch, and shopped. Here are some pics from her trip. Maybe we'll convice dad to get on a plane one day...!

Pics from our vacation will come later (they are on Matt's laptop so I don't have them with me).

Mom's Birthday Pie

Blowing out the Candles

Mom 'n Molly

Playing RUMMY

Our New Curtains -- Thanks, Mom! I bought the material online back in June, but didn't make the curtains till mom came with her expertise.

Molly and her Grand-Puppy Mama

Hook 'em Horns!!

We've always been Longhorn fans at heart; it's just that Matt wouldn't allow us to wear any of his gear. But my mom saw an opportunity to FINALLY show her true colors! I really wish I would've gone to Texas!
Hook 'em!

We're goin' to...Napa Valley......Napa Valley here we come!

Ok Blog Nazi's! The update is: we're headed out for vacation!!! We're going to Napa Valley/San Francisco and then over to Minneapolis. Random you say? Not so much - Matt's cousin is getting married in MN so we'll be there the last part of our vaca....

THEN, my mom is getting on a plane for the first time in 30 years to come visit us! YAY!!!

Over and out until at least Aug 8th!

A new addiction....

Flickr.com is my latest internet addiction. Thanks, MOM!