fun night at the Oasis

Happy 30th Birthday, Ms. Bess! Hope you had as much fun as we did! :) (bwt, Bess, remember that conversation we had about how I don't have any pictures of us? Add this to the list of times we had the chance...)







Thanks, Danny and Bess (and Luke!) for a great night. Hope it was an especially wonderful night for you, Bess. You really deserved it. Love you lots and was happy to be there to celebrate with you :)

Vertigo. ? .

I woke up this morning feeling okay. Not great, but not awful. Last night I had my staff over for a little get together, we had pizza and wine, so I wasn't surprised to feel not great this morning. But the not great feeling got worse, and soon, I felt BAD. My symptoms were: dizziness, fatigue, light-headed, achy... I had a hard time even walking up stairs, I couldn't really find my footing. It was scary! I don't like to do this, but I looked up my symptoms online, and it sounds like vertigo to me. I could possibly have an inner ear infection causing all of this. If I feel bad tomorrow morning, I'll make an appt. and see a doc as soon as possible. It's just miserable, though! I have to say that Addy was wonderful all day. She just cuddled with me, or entertained herself when I wanted to lay down. Understandably, I made no effort to potty train. Oh, well. There's always tomorrow. (When Daddy's around during the day! yay!)

CHOPPED

Yep, I entered N Salon yesterday afternoon with hair, and I left with none. Relatively speaking. I left with less. But less doesn't sound as dramatic as I'd like this to sound.

I knew I was going to go short. I always go back to short after trying to grow it out (Which is what this last hair style was- an attempt to go longer). LiAnne said she had been wanting to do a pixie cut, and I stopped her there and said "go for it". I'm never afraid of hair cuts. I mean, it'll grow back. And, I ALWAYS think I look better with short hair, and I know I feel better with short hair. So we decided to go way short. And I love it.

I think. Most of the time I love it. I will admit, there are times I catch a glimpse in the mirror, and my initial reaction is "I DON'T LIKE IT!". But, more often, I think it's sassy, edgy, hip, fun, totally everything that I am. Right? RIGHT?!? Anyone?

I won't make you wait longer (although if you're on facebook you've seen it)... here I am in all my self-diagnosed vertigo glory. (saving for the next post).


ETA: The piece(es) poking up like that look that way because I've been lying in bed all day. Sigh, I feel better now.

This whole potty training thing is for the birds

I really don't know if anyone reads this aside from Addy's grandmothers, but this is for them, since I know they care.

Potty training update: Addison is trying out the whole panty wearing thing. This morning, she told me she had to go pee pee, we ran to the potty, she went and I was SO HOPEFUL. In the few hours that have passed, she has peed in her panties twice and done the other (don't make me say it) once. My hopes have been crushed. She is currently wearing a diaper, which has stayed dry since it's been put on. Prediction: once she puts panties on again, they'll last 5 minutes.

Side note: as I type this, Addison is playing with her cousins at GaGa's house. We are in GaGa's room while she's in the office and Addison just fell off the couch, face first, into Micah's lap. No tears- just hysterical giggling. It's too funny! Wish someone else were here to see it- it is really cute.

Ahem, sorry. Got sidetracked. Potty training. Right.

I don't like it.

I can brag here

When updating my facebook status or twitter, I often want to brag about my (limited) conquests in the kitchen. But I rarely do it, for fear of boring people. I feel the need to keep my updates varied to keep them semi-entertaining. Does anyone else do that, I wonder? I'm sure. Anyway (I realize I say that word a lot), since I can't brag there, I figured why not the place whose title alone gives me the right to brag: hello, sarahanneadair.blogspot.com? If I can't brag here where can I brag?

Tonight's fun for me dinner was chicken fried chicken breasts (all natural, of course), mashed potatoes, corn and biscuits. YUMM-YYYYY!!!! I'll admit, when I cook, I'd like to try recipes a bit more "foody". if you will. I'd like to at least know what the contestants on Top Chef are talking about. But, seeing how we had every single ingredient here at the house, we went for it.

Addison helped me along the way- putting the potatoes in the bowl, before I put them in the boiling water, helped poor the flour in the bowl for the chicken breading. She was mesmerized by my malletting skills (that's what you use to pound down meat, right?) That seemed to be very intense for her- watching me pound meat with a strength behind my elbow she didn't know existed! Anyway (again,), I double dredged the chicken, and just cooked one side until crispy and brown, then flipped it and left it alone for at least 15 minutes. They were PERFECT. Extra juicy, flavorful fried coating. MMMM.

Then Addison helped Daddy with the potatoes. He mashed them to the consistency he likes, and Addison and I poured just boiled half and half, butter, salt and pepper in while I whisked it in. These were perfect potatoes (a first for me). The corn was just corn. The biscuits were great- gotta thanks Grands. And of course we had gravy. The gravy completed the meal.

I am sure as we all lay in our beds, we have gained a collective 10 lbs with this meal. It was a good 'un.

Grandpa Shoes!

Today Mike, Addy and I went shopping for back to school clothes for Mike. One of the items we knew he needed was black shoes, so we went to Macy's. As we entered the men's dress shoe department, Addison shouted "Grandpa shoes!" It wasn't until every man in the department turned around to look at us, that we saw, it indeed was a Grandpa shoe section- no man was under the age of sixty. All of the men laughed, so I'm glad it went that way instead of offending anyone.

She sure does talk a lot, and I'm learning more and more that she can be REALLY LOUD in maybe not so appropriate places.

It's that time!!

*Disclaimer* This post is potty-centric. There might be potty details that would, to some, be considered TMI. However, having given this disclaimer, I would also like to point out that this story is obviously about Addison, and that on any day, Addy's cuteness outweighs any discomfort you might feel when reading about her poops.

There, I feel better now. So. Addison is READY to potty train. It is becoming more clear to us every day, that our suspicions of a strong personality were indeed correct. Addison is very much a "I will wait until I am ready"... for everything. Doesn't usually take her long. Take riding her bike for instance, she wasn't interested until she had watched and figured it out enough times, now she rides her little tri-cycle. Very well. So, again, Addison is READY to potty train. She is obsessed with wearing panties. (don't get too excited, she's not in them yet) She asks to sit on the potty all the time. So, we've had a few success stories. The first was at my mom's house. My mom knew Addison was interested in trying to go potty on the potty, so told (read: bribed) her that she'd buy her a new Barbie Doll if she pooped or peed on the potty. This made her very excited. She ran to the potty, we pretended that her current favorite Barbie Doll went potty, and her cousin sat there next to her and helped her... "when I used to go poo poo for the first time, I just closed my eyes, breathed real big and pushed it out!" It was so sweet. Anyway, somewhere in there she managed to poop! In the potty! Hooray! So, of course we headed to the store to grad a friend for her Barbie. (she wanted Alexa and Leanna from The Diamond Castle). We also decided to buy a mix of small things to be kept in a basket to give her as rewards. (I tried stickers and m and ms as rewards, but she was not interested. Didn't even want to eat the candy. Again, the girl knows what she wants). We picked up a mix of little books, little bracelets, little hair clips, play doh, a princess microphone... and she remembered it first thing this morning. When it was time for the next poop, she didn't tell me she needed to go, I just read her signs, ran her to the potty, and again she went! And *TMI* she loved seeing her poop in the potty. She was so excited, she ran straight to the basket and picked out her microphone*. We've tried to get her to pee, but it usually happens less that 30 seconds after she's given up, and it ends up on the floor... Oh well, it can't be too easy, right? She also got some play doh after another poo poo and LOVES it!

*I just want to revisit this microphone. I didn't quite know what sounds/ songs/ noises it made when I bought it. I hate this thing. It plays "Be Our Guest" From Beauty and the Beast" and all Addy sings along is "SONG" "SONG" SONG" in a pitch, tone, note, whatever, that is totally indescribable. It's not singing (she totally can sing, pretty well, actually), so I don't know what she's "singing" into her microphone. The best description I can come up with is when rowers will say in unison "STROKE" "STROKE" STROKE", this is kinda how Addison sings: "SONG" SONG" SONG". Over and over and over... on top of relentless "Be Our Guest". It DRIVES me CRAZY.

Anyway, I have all week off (yippee!) so hope to cover major ground here. Wish us luck! My big girl! Time flies!

Random Thoughts

These are from my good friend Holly's blog. In other words, I kind of stole this from Holly's blog. Anyway. In her intro, she said "it's like someone was reading my mind". I would have said the same thing... that's the great thing about having a friend who is SO like you that you know you are almost always thinking the same thing. I could go on and on about how much I love Holly right now (I'm feeling sentimental), but I'll spare you. So, yeah, here's the list that made me laugh and also feel not so alone in the world :)

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

5. That's enough, Nickelback.

6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f&*% was going on when I first saw it.

11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

12. The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can re cognize their own image.

13. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

15. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

18. Was learning cursive really necessary?

19. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

21. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

22. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

23. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

24. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

25. I love the sense of camaraderie when a n entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

26. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

27. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

28. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

29. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

30. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

31. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

32. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

33. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

34. Bad decisions make good stories

35. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

36. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

37. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

38. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

39. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

40. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

41. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

42. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

43. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

44. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

45. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

46. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

47. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

48. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

49. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

50. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

52. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

53. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

54. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

55. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

56. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

57. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

58. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

59. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

60. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

61. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

62. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

63. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Last day of summer dance

Showing off her new leotard and skirt from GaGa and her new shoes from Grammi. She was very proud of her new outfit!

The best smile shot I could get. Aargggg...

I swear she enjoys class! She just gets SO serious! Thank you Ms. Sarah and Ms. Katy for being so sweet with Addison. She loves you guys!

Finally!

I feel confident enough about this to put it out there to you, my loyal readers, and not fear embarrassment if my announcement doesn't follow through. Because that's the way I operate. I keep my mouth shut until I know that what I am saying is right. With that being said, I am so happy to report that the studio is movin' back up in the world. Most of you know, the end of last session, and this summer, have been killer. Not only because of normal summer reasons (let's face it, I haven't had a "good" business summer, well, ever). The enrollment number was extremely low, not quite enough to cover my overhead. Ouch.

People, you should see my "full" classes list for our fall session. There are SIXTEEN full classes on the schedule right now. I just had to add 4 new classes to the schedule, all of which are already close to being full. It's incredible.

I am so excited. Excited to finally breathe easy. Excited to finally see progress with my landlord (because it all does come down to money, doesn't it?). Excited to meet all of my new students! (and if I'm being honest, I'm a bit nervous as well- I hope the studio makes these new familes happy and KEEPS them happy!)

This is the last week of summer, I have next week "off", then it's off to the races! I'm in it to win it!

our new names

So, yesterday Addy insisted on calling me "Sarah". I tried to correct her numerous times, but it was only "Sarah".

Today Mike was "Uncle Mike". ha. Again, corrections were given, but not well received.

Oh well. This is normal, right? Right? I mean, I've heard of rebellious older children doing this to spite their parents. Please tell me that this is normal for a TWO YEAR OLD.

Have mercy.

Okay, people

So I know it appears that I've been duped, what with the whole "I make money for advertising!" post from last night. But I swear it checks out, I even had Mike approve it before I decided to agree to it.

ANYWAY. I am slightly embarrassed, but not really, because I really do think that I am making a little bit of money this way! I promise to update in a couple of weeks, WHEN I'VE MADE MY FORTUNE!

see that thing to the right?

You see that? The ad space on my blog? Yeah, apparently, I can receive money from these people if I allow them to use that space on my blog for their ads. Um, OKAY! Let's give it a try, anyway. Won't see real ads for a few days, while they (not sure who "they" are) check out my blog and deem it acceptable or not. Fingers crossed my SYTYCD posts don't cross any lines. :)

Cute Dance Pics

Just wanted to share some pics I just received from the photographer who took pics at the studio back in May. Addison had to tag along in my 2 year old class one morning, and Shell got some great shots. Addison's already changed so much since these were taken! (and, yes, I am aware her hair is a little crazy. I do my best, I really do).