The Latta Family

I don't have to worry about tolerating some new girlfriend of Andrew's.  I don't have to go through that awkward stage of checking her out and deciding whether or not I approve of her.  He'll never keep a girl long enough, to get to the "Meet My Parents" Stage. See now-a-days, they conduct a lot of that early communicating stuff with texts.  Andrew is a horrific texter.  He'll create- unintentionally- all kinds of drama, and every girl will dump him. I got this text today.  He wanted to know if I could figure out what he meant. The first part of that text sequence is from over a week ago.  I literally have no idea what he was talking about with "Doug gazing him out."   I included that in this screen shot because I wanted you to see that over a week ago- I criticized his spelling.   Today he sent me the "U emoji 2 fat"  What does that mean?  I have too much junk in my trunk?  I'm too fat?  I'm big like a yellow taxi

I enjoy sewing.  Am I great at it?  Nope.  I do enjoy it though.  The satisfaction of completing a project.  Picking out the fabric for a project.  Deciding on a project . . . I just love it. My grandmothers sewed.  In fact, I have one of my grandmother's sewing machines. My mother-in-law sews and my mother sews.  She sewed the one and only prom dress I wore (I went once. In 10th grade.  It was somewhat traumatic: not in a "I was actually scarred for life" kind of way.  More like, "My God that sucked and at least I now know."  I never went again.  No amount of friend cajoling, or boys asking could change my mind.)  Anyway- my mother sewed, my grandmothers sewed.  The first sewing project I did was to make a pair of shorts.  I remember doing this with my Girl Scout Troop.  I have no idea how those leaders kept their sanity with a room full of upper elementary girls learning to sew.  I think we actually used patterns to design them.  We used machines at a local

Last night before I went to sleep, I did one last Facebook check, just in case anything really exciting had been posted.  Someone had posted a video montage of kids getting scared of animals.  I watched it and laughed like crazy.  I was crying, I was laughing so hard.  Oh my gosh!!! Kids running away from baby ducks is hilarious!!!  I laughed so hard- Doug told me to simmer down.  So . . . around 3 am I had this really bizarre dream.  I was giving a friend a ride home.  Right before she gets out of the car, she says, "Oh yeah- I'm going to return this little friend I somehow picked up from the last time I was in your car."  When she said, "little friend" I started to panic a little.  Just something about that word told me I wasn't going to like what she got out of her purse.  She turns her purse over, and dumps out this teeny tiny mouse.  I hate mice, so I'm trying to get out of the car as fast as I can, but not fast enough.  That stupid mouse is runni

One day this week a miracle occurred.  This happened: My counter is cleaned off.  There is nothing there, but the lone candle.   This spot is a dumping ground.  Everyone of us walks in, from the garage, and dumps whatever we have in our hands- right there.  No matter that it's the kitchen counter.  That doesn't stop some of us from putting our sports cup (that is worn in his pants) there, or whatever other gross item.  It goes there, in that spot.  I do it too (Well, not the cup.  I don't do that).  I come home from school and dump my lunchbox, purse, and mail there- in that circled spot.  When I finally got that spot cleaned off, I felt such a sense of productivity and accomplishment!  I mean- it looks like a real kitchen counter!!! The feeling was fleeting- because 1 day later- it looks like this: Oh well- the house is lived in- and that's what makes it home. 

From November 1- December 1 I LOVE Christmas.  I spend November 1- Thanksgiving anxiously awaiting the music, the food, the decorations.   I love looking at Pinterest and getting ideas for how I'll decorate this year. I like to decorate my house.  I like having it feel cozy and homey.  Nothing like Christmas lights to do just that. I make myself wait until Thanksgiving before listening to the music or decorating.  It's one of the few times in my life when I actually have self discipline.  I tell myself I am waiting until Thanksgiving because that's the actual start date, and that's the rule. But deep down I know that if I start too early- I'll be completely and thoroughly sick of Christmas, by December 10.  After Thanksgiving, I am thinking about Christmas presents and shopping.  Depending on our financial situation- I'm feeling good . . . or bad.  I'm either shopping and loving it- or dreading it.  I'm also thinking about the Christmas card.  Do I b

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew.  He has it so good, and he doesn't even know.  He can't appreciate just how good he has it.  We went to the grocery store today.  Andrew was pumped.  It's new, and we were there to get subs.  His experience was ruined.  RUINED.  He saw one of his teachers.  One of his teachers, he really doesn't want his mom to see.  One of his teachers, that doesn't think he's quite as cute, as she should.  He spent the entire trip dodging and ducking her.  It was HILARIOUS.  (In all serious, my favorite part was when he saw her initially, and said, "Oh no!  Mrs. ___ is here!  I'll avoid her.  It shouldn't be too hard, she'll probably go to the wine section.  I bet all of my teachers drink a lot of wine."  (Amen to that!) Thankfully, Andrew was with me.  If he had been with my dad . . .  well- it would have been worse.  My dad used to LOVE to embarrass me.  Like- EMBARRASS.  A good friend of mine lived next door to the cutest bo

Lately I am feeling like Doug is hogging Andrew.   I don't think it's intentional.  I think it's just one of those- the boys have similar interests; as  Alexa and I tend to enjoy a lot of the same things.   I decided I would have to be a little forceful, in making sure I get my time with Andrew.  We had a perfect opportunity tonight.  He had a flag football game, so I demanded I would be the one to take him.  Well, wouldn't you know it?! When we got to the game- it had gotten cancelled at the last minute due to an electrical situation with the lights.  What a bummer!  (for Andrew- not for me.  I didn't mind not sitting out in the chill) Gosshhhh . . . what to do?!  It was only 6:30.  The night was so young.   We decided to stop for a treat on the way home (I take so little convincing).  I just happened to have cash, so we could have this treat in complete secrecy.  We were going to obliterate all evidence.  Napkins safely hidden.  Faces completely wiped clean

So . . . Doug's FFA group is selling Boston Butts (if you don't know what that is- it's pork). He put this order form on social media this afternoon.  Well . . . my mother sends us this text:  Add caption I feel this is a good example of all of our goofy sense of humors.  And hey- if you are local and want a "butt" . . . we can hook you up.  :-)

Here's the story: Alexa and I arrived home this evening, after the boys had left to take Andrew to practice.  The house was dim, with only one light on.  Alexa walks in, and puts her stuff down, announces she's going to take a shower.  Meanwhile- I have left the door to the garage open, as I am going back out to get the rest of the things out of the car, and take the trash to the road.  While I do this a lot- there's always the thought in the back of my head . . . what if this is the moment that we have a home invasion, and I'm locked out of the house and my children are defenseless, inside the house.  Morbid?  Probably. Anyway, I got the stuff out of the car, took the trash down, walked in the house, and heard the shower running.  I decided I would let Alexa know I was going to use the restroom in my bathroom, and make sure she had set the timer, so that she would get out of the shower within a reasonable time period.  She hadn't- she never does.  I set the time

I saw a picture on Pinterest . . . (haven't we all?) I decided I really needed this in my life.  Something about it was perfection. So . . . as we were cutting up trees and limbs from this summer, I had Doug cut me up some logs and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to either find the perfect crate, or build the perfect crate. The perfect opportunity to build one presented itself, when Andrew's bed broke.  (Alexa initially broke it this summer, when she jumped on it, but it was repairable for a time, then it finally broke a couple of weeks ago).  He had a bunch of wooden slats to put his mattress on.  Doug being the smarty he is . . . saved them for me. I wanted to make this crate ALL BY MYSELF.  Typically when I think up ideas, I tell Doug and then he becomes the engineer/boss and I become the gopher/get tools and hold stuff.  I wanted to be the boss and gopher of my own project. It went fairly well . . . These are not "exactly" even.  I mea

I mean- duh.  He's lucky.  But this is something he doesn't even know he's lucky about. Let me back up.  The first weekend I met Doug's parents, they were working on building a barn for my sister in law's horse.  The horse wasn't there yet (she wasn't my sister in law yet).  But Doug was pretty open about his feelings on, "My kids won't ever do horses.  It's a total money pit." Well . . . fast forward 13 years. We were at a birthday party for one of Andrew's friends.  Andrew was about 7 and Alexa was about 2.  The party was at a horse farm, and the kids got to ride.  Well . . . other people's kids rode.  Andrew didn't want a doggone thing to do with that horse.  It took awhile to convince him to give it a try.   Meanwhile, his 2 year old sister would have done anything to ride, but she wasn't old enough.  I laughed and laughed.  I tried to tell Doug, horse people are born, not created, and pretty much he could say all he w

There's a new game.  You're going to read this and go, "What the heck?" Is this for real?" Unfortunately it is. This "game" was brought to my attention at dinner the other night.  Doug told me that the game has swept his third period.  The game has reached epic proportions.  And since he told Andrew about it, it will be carried on to the middle school. What could this fascinating, amazing game be? You call someone's name, establish eye contact, then you do what Andrew's doing- and blow air out of your hand, and then quick take your hand down, and then the person you blew air at, is froze. They can't move until someone comes up and touches their neck.  It's pretty intense stuff.  I mean- you could be froze (that's student speak) at a critical time, like class change.  And you're just stuck there, waiting until someone touches your neck.   Andrew got in the car today, and said, "I smoked someone in 3rd period toda

I love when Alexa trumps Andrew.  Usually she's at a complete disadvantage: physically and her wit is not quite as quick . . . yet.  Andrew's gonna have to start thinking faster, because she's getting good. She got 'im good tonight. So we're sitting in the Chick Fil A drive thru line and Andrew is playing a song, that has a tongue trill sound in it.  He says, "Did you know I don't know how to make my tongue do that?"  WHAT?!  How did I know he can't do that!!!  I literally had no idea!  Alexa, from the back, "You can't make that sound?!" And she does it. I do it.  We're making the sound together. Andrew says, "Well, y'all know how to make a guy feel good about himself." While I didn't actually see her facial expression, I am pretty sure a massively mischievous look overcame her expression as she realized what this meant.  SHE could do something he COULDN'T!!!!  The angels sang from above as they looked

This is a tough school year.  It feels like there are a lot of changes happening.  I'm struggling with them.  It's bringing about a lot of inner turmoil.  Why am I struggling with these changes? Is it because I hate change? Is it because I am becoming one of those old, crusty teachers that refuses to try new things because the old way is what I'm familiar with, and the old way is the "right" way? It's not just at school though. I feel like our community is changing so much.  There is so much development happening.  Another parcel of land is sold, yet another shopping area is being developed, more roads, more traffic, more angry feelings whenever I have to go somewhere because I'll have to sit through lights, and stop and go traffic, more waiting in lines or to be sat at a restaurant. I know, I know, change is good, more options, more tax base, more everything . . . but is change better? One of my all time favorite movies is "You've Got Mail&qu

Parenting is sooooo soooo hard.  (pretend you see me thrown, face down, on the couch, in utter defeat). You're cruising along.  Everything is great.  Your kids are brilliant.  They're well behaved.  They're polite.  They're model citizens of the world.  And then.  Then they're not. I had Alexa's parent conference yesterday.  It wasn't what I expected.  It turns out, my sweet girl talks. Incessantly.  She said, "incessantly"  She's moved her seat  . . . a lot.  She's placed her near other students that don't talk, but then they become distracted by her excessive talking. See here's the thing.  This is true.  I do not doubt what her teacher has said.  Alexa does talk incessantly.  I frequently find it's distracting to me.  However, it's so much a part of my life, I have learned to tune it out.  I have no idea how to tell her- "ZIP YOUR LIPS GIRL!" I don't want to stamp out who she is.  I don't want her

Lately I have been starting to wonder if I'm going to make it 30 years teaching (I'm on year 20).  I have been wondering how I can possibly do . . . everything.  We already do so much with so little . . . it's taking a toll on my positive attitude.  I feel a bit overwhelmed, so I decided the best way to deal with this situation was to make a blackberry apple pie.  I went to the produce stand on Monday to get apples and something else that I don't remember now.  While I was there I saw they still have blackberries! Oooh, I love blackberries in a baked good.  I didn't have time to do anything with them on Monday, and Tuesday we were super busy, but today I decided I HAD to have that pie.  That pie would fix my morale.   Who actually bakes a pie on a random Wednesday?!  This girl. Don't worry, it's store bought crust.  :-) The blackberries make it a little liquidy, but I drizzled it over the pie . . . and I scooped it into a spoon and drank it.  I fel

I started this quilt forever ago.  I finished it this weekend.  A friend- who is a serious quilter, as opposed to myself- just a "for fun" quilter, invited me to go on a quilting retreat with her and some friends, and told me to bring my mom along. We went to this lovely little place in Waynesville, NC. (if you're interested, go to Facebook, and type in Ponderosa Quilt Retreat). We showed up Friday, and started quilting practically as soon as we walked in the door and kept right at it until the minute we packed up to leave around noon on Sunday.  It was the most awesome place and after being there, I totally understand why women participated in quilting circles back in the old days.  Being surrounded by women, sewing, the mountains, beautiful weather, and open windows . . . it was perfection. Literally nothing could have made it better. This quilt started with me saving some of my favorite of Andrew's and Alexa's baby clothes.  Then I decided, I needed to do som

There are some days with Alexa that are just . . . clumsy.  Excessively clumsy.  So, so, so, so clumsy. She and I stopped by school (Doug opens and locks up the school every other Sunday for a church that rents it, so I was able to get in, once they were done) and I got myself a little more organized for the week.  (This week will NOT be like last week!).  Anyway, while we were there, she was drawing on the board, and as she found dry erase markers that didn't work she would "throw them away."  Or . . . they would get tossed in the general direction of the trash can and go every which way except IN the trashcan.  After a bit it was comical, how they NEVER got in the can. Then we stopped by the grocery store to get a rotisserie chicken for dinner.  We were maybe 50 feet from the entrance.  It took her forever to get out of the car- because she had flung off her flip flop in the car, and then couldn't get it turned in the right direction to get her foot in (although

Oooh y'all, this one might be one of my most favorites! We have this gigantic spot above our kitchen cabinets with nothing but blank space.  That blank space has bugged me.  It was so blank, so boring, so blah.  I wanted something up there, but I don't like a lot of knick knacks.  They look cluttered, and they get dusty.  I didn't want to look up there and see dust and spider webs.  The other thing was, what would I put up there?  Kitchen things? Eh, our kitchen and living room are all one room.  Living room things, then?  But then, I would have to buy things to put up there, which requires shopping, and I don't like shopping.  What a dilemma.  😏Finally, I decided I wanted to do something with old recipes, if we had any from either of our grandparents. I don't remember exactly the order of how this idea came to me, but I do know Doug's mom was pretty much the main contributer.  If it weren't for her, and her treasure of a book . . . I wouldn't have

The last time I wrote on this topic, was almost exactly a year ago.  I assumed since I had MOVED I was safe.  I treated the topic in a non-serious way.  I made fun of my over dramatic reaction; but now I'm wondering if maybe I should have taken this more seriously, because  clearly this is real, and should be treated as such.  Y'all, I have a black cat situation. Yes. Another one.  Or the same one?  I don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's crazy!!!! In case you forgot, or didn't know, last June, I started having unusual encounters with a black cat ( Episode #1 ,  Episode #2 ,  Episode #3 ).  But we moved, so the problem stopped.  Or, it should have stopped.  Except, on Thanksgiving Day we saw a black cat walking up the back line of our property.  We got a good chuckle out of it.  I felt pretty sure it wasn't the same one, but still in the back of my head, I thought, "How weird.  There are probably people who go an entire lifetime without ever having a black c

Teachers had the option of starting back this week.  I only went to school Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.  I left right at 3pm because I had to pick Alexa up from Pottery Camp.  There were no kids, and not a lot of teachers on campus.  Each day I came home EXHAUSTED.  Had to lay down and take a nap as soon as I walked in the door because I just couldn't think about anything else. My naps are only 10-15 minutes.  They're not so much for physical exhaustion, they're to reset my brain.  I am finding that the older I get the more I am impacted by external stimulation.  Around July 4 when we were putting the river rock bed in, and it was so stinking hot, or the weeks when I was cleaning up from all the tree debacle; I would work so hard.  I would be a sweaty gross mess.  My arms or back would be sore, but I wasn't mentally exhausted.  Being around people is so much more fatiguing to me. All day long I have to think of the correct response.  I had to call a parent and

I am still swimming laps.  In fact, I've been getting up this week progressively earlier, to get used to getting up, get the routine down, and have it down to a science when school really starts.  Right now, the alarm goes off, I get out of bed, put my suit on, my cover up on, grab my stuff- carefully placed near the door- and leave.  My eyes are hardly open.  As I walk down my porch steps, I sort of lurch and stumble out to my car, as my feet are still stiff.  Then I drive in silence to the pool, drinking water, and eating my snack. Once I get out of my car- I'm not much more awake.  I'm bleary eyed, off balance.  I probably look like death warmed over. Since I've been swimming most of the summer, I am starting to pick up on some of the "regulars." There's a couple of people I frequently see, when I go.  This morning- despite my early early early arrival- that woman was there. I saw her a few feet in front of me as we walked into the facility.  As s

Dang y'all!!!! I feel more personally prepared to start this school year, than I have in recent years. Although- in fairness, last year we were preparing to move in approximately 2 weeks after school started, so . . .  last year should NEVER be a year I compare to.  I've been getting mentally prepped for school lunches (hopefully better than last year), organized (uhh- all my tissue paper is categorized!), and the house is reasonably clean. I took Alexa to go get school supplies this morning.  I wanted to get that final task done before I went back to work because: 1. Otherwise, I would have to go after work, when stores are crowded.  2. I am too tired to deal with crowds after work.  3. If I go now- there will be plenty of options. Andrew said, "Have fun."  I left him home, chilling on the couch.  Besides- I wasn't buying him anything anyway.  I'm not buying his school supplies until the school year starts, and I know what he needs.  I did buy him pencils