Wet Pants

Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.' He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!' Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you? 'Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too.'

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good.

Demotivational Posters

I have always enjoyed these demotivational posters. The blogging one I had never seen before. And in honor of our team Christmas lunch this afternoon, I put the teamwork one.

Party Weekend

We had a full weekend. Friday night we hosted the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation party at our house. We had Mexican food, lots of fun and laughs.

Saturday the girls went to the Santa Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop with Ma and Papa. They both sat on Santa's lap. An amazing feat for Kelsey but my mom said she really really wanted a candy cane. Audrey asked him for a microphone, a purse, a bracelet, a ring and a dress. Kelsey did not speak to him but beforehand said she was going to ask him for an itty bitty real kitty. I told her that Santa doesn't bring anything that is alive.

Saturday night we had my work Christmas party at the Duluth Marriott. It isn't the most exciting thing..most of the people I work with don't go so it is just hundreds of people I don't know. But they do have these giant shrimp that Randy looks forward to all year long. While we went to the party, the girls had their first real babysitter (they don't count adults as babysitters). Chelsea came over and watched them and they apparently had a great time and were great listeners. The picture below was taken by Chelsea's mom. The girls kept wanting to make funny faces so finally she said everyone make a funny face and you can see they are all sweet and Randy and I made silly faces.

Sunday we had our first church meeting in our new location...the Barrow Rec Center. The girls were very excited to go to a new "church" building. We will be there 8 to 10 months while our building is expanded and renovated. Audrey asked during class (I team teach her class) why their classroom looked like a jail. I asked her how she knew what a jail looked like. Apparently the block walls are jail-like.

Three days of work and I am off until 2009!! yippee!

Tag

I was tagged to post my fourth picture in my fourth folder from the My Pictures Folder. So here it is. This is Audrey and Trinity in August 2005 playing in the bathtub. They have always been best friends and still give each other hugs like they haven't seen each other in forever.

I tag Greg, Lia and Wendy - let's see those pictures!

Anger

So it has been an interesting week for me. At work a few days ago a coworker came to my desk and we were going over some reports and it became apparent that he was going to have to make some changes to his report. He became very agitated and began pacing around clinching his fists. Then he came back to my desk and muttered some ugly words and then started talking again. Within a minute he was at it again…pacing. Then he came back and punched my cube wall and really went off with the profanity.

Of course my first reaction was fear…this guy has lost it. Then I thought man he seems a lot like a 2 year old kicking and screaming because he is going to have to do something he doesn’t want to do. But he is in his fifties.

So what makes the difference? Did this person not have a parent telling them oh so many times to not whine, to use nice words, and to not say anything if you don’t have something nice to say? Did they never learn to count to ten if they are angry and to never react in anger? Or just as you get older you forget to be polite and have some level of tact?

With our advances in technology it is so easy to react so quickly and type out a message hit the “send” button and not think about what is being said or the consequences of saying it. At work we have a name for those messages…a flaming crap ball.

So here’s hoping a flaming crap ball does not show up in my inbox and my cube walls stay intact.

Gordon T. Watts: A man can rather accurately be measured, it has been said, by the size of a thing that makes him angry. (“Slow to Anger,” Ensign, Feb. 2003, 59)

Bow Party

Renee and I are having a bow party at my house this Friday night (the 5th) at 7:00. She sent out an evite but of course we didn't have everyone's email addresses and we also don't know if we have the right one for you. But anyway, everyone is welcome to come and feel free to bring relatives or friends. We will just be having some appetizers and have the bows (mainly Christmas ones) out for everyone to see. We will also be teaching you how to make a Christmas Tree Clippie which you will get to take home with you (picture below). Let me know if you want to come and I can give you directions.

Free Stuff

We have a garbage bag full of girl's shoes (size 0 to 7). Some are pretty worn but there are some super cute church shoes. We also have wooden puzzles (the 8 to 10 piece kind) of all types (fruit, transportation, colors, shapes, animals) and the flat thick cardboard puzzles that come in a 4 pack. We probably have around 15 puzzles. Please comment or call (770-715-4686). They will probably go to Goodwill next week if no one wants them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun with Cousins

Ma and Papa took Audrey and Kelsey down to visit their cousins and Uncle Greg and Aunt Rita this weekend. From what we heard they did not want to come back. They had fun jumping on the trampoline and swinging, carrying Joshua around, playing treasure hunt, jumping in a bouncy house and playing in the woods. They are already planning their next trip. Audrey wants to have her birthday party at Aunt Rita's...man that must be a fun place!!

Rocks for Sale

Audrey has been asking to paint this collection or rocks she has accumulated for weeks and I finally said okay. So I went downstairs to check on her (I work from home in afternoons). She showed me her different rocks...the halloween rock, the rainbow, and the star rock. She said she was going to display them when we sold our bows and people could buy them. So we have a little entreprenuer. I told her that I wanted to buy the star rock and she said "you probably don't have enough money." So grandparents and family...be warned your Christmas present might be a little heavy this year!

First Fire

We had our first fire this weekend. We never built a fire at our other house and didn't have one last year at the new house. I think Kelsey thought we went to the store and bought fire and brought it home. Yesterday she asked if we could go buy some more fire. It was very nice. The girls ate cereal (for dinner) in front of the fire. Those jammies Kelsey has on are her new "Grammy Jammies" made by Randy's mom. I think we will have to wash them secretly while she is at school. If Kelsey is at home she has these jammies on. The design on Kelsey's face is from the Winder Methodist Church Christmas Fair. We did really well selling the bows and luckily we got a space inside so we were nice and warm and had a great comfy spot. We sold all out of our UGA bows.



Audrey and Kelsey playing "mommy - baby" one of the most popular games at our house.

Friday Funny

Always Check Your Child's Homework



Mommy works at Home Depot. She was selling a shovel.

Family Fun Night

We went to the Mall of Georgia and walked around the Disney store, the toy store, Claire's, the bookstore and created some new friends at Build a Bear. We ate happy meals, rode the carousel and this super cool car. We rode escalators and elevators and saw the biggest Christmas tree ever (even taller than Daddy as Audrey pointed out). Audrey wanted to play in the fountain but didn't have her swimsuit on (it was freezing)...and according to the sign no lifeguard was on duty. We can't wait until our next family fun day!

All kinds of stuff

First off, we had another visit from the tooth fairy! I am sure she is going broke! Audrey lost her 2nd tooth while having a sleepover at Ma's house. I have been so lucky and haven't had to witness any of the extractions...just the end result.



Free Armoire! We got this a while back (it actually wasn't too long ago but you know I have to say that because I change my mind on TV entertainment centers soooo often) off of craigslist. It is solid wood and very heavy. The TV fits in the top portion and their are two drawers covered by doors on the bottom. It does need some work, mainly the bottom portion where it needs new rails on the drawers and latches for the doors to catch. You will need a truck to move it (and a couple big strong men...I can only volunteer one!). It was in our living room but then we got rid of the TV in there now that the Pettyjohn Theater in the basement is set up. If you would like it please just call me (770-715-4686) or Randy (770-714-6445).


And finally an update on Christmas in Braselton. It went really well. We did much better selling our bows than at Auburnfest. There wasn't as many people there as most of the vendors expected (many people near us sold nothing). But people who came to our booth were buying several bows and we got good reviews. This Saturday we will be at the Winder Methodist Church. They are having a Christmas Craft and Gift Fair. After that we will be taking a break from the fairs.

The Boss's Go-To Guy

Congratulations Randy!! The regional manager called and personally requested that Randy accept the position of assistant manager at the Lawrenceville store. The sales tracking system that he created which everyone loves was also officially picked up by corporate and will now be part of their policy and supported there by IS. Whoo hoo....you're the best!!

I was Drugged by my Parents....

The following is a statement of answers to many of the ills of modern times. This was published in newspapers around the country.

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, "Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?"

I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad's fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood, and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in every­thing I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin: and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem. America would be a better place. God bless the parents who drugged us.

Christmas In Braselton

We will have our bows this Saturday (the 8th) at the Christmas in Braselton festival. It sounds like a nice event. The booths will be open 9:00 to 4:00. At 10:30 they will have a parade and then all the normal kid stuff. Around 4:00 I think they will light the Christmas tree and then at 7:30 they will be showing a movie (Fred Claus) on the lawn. It is supposed to be beautiful weather. If you come out, be sure to stop by and say hello! The location is the Braselton Park. It is off Hwy 53, kind of across from the Braselton Town Hall.

KJ sporting her supergirl bows.

It’s all about the Ice Cream……

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade in 2000. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.
The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia’s mother. The day arrived when they were to make their speeches Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.” She sat down. The class went wild. “Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.” She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn’t sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn’t know. The class really didn’t care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a land slide.

Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth he offers ice cream, and fifty percent of America reacts like nine-year-olds. They want ice cream. The other fifty percent know they’re going to have to feed the cow.

Happy Halloween!

"Fire" and "Supergirl" had a great Halloween. Thanks to Grammy for making Fire's costume. This year the girls and their friend David went to lots of houses in Ma and Papa's neighborhood. They could barely carry their buckets of candy. As Kelsey would say "they are very very heavy."

The Best Thing Since the Magic Eraser

I just love this stuff. It is called Kids N Pets and you can find it at Walmart for around $3. It gets rid of every type of stain on the carpet. I originally tried it to combat cat puke and it works soooo great. Now I have found out that it works on pretty much any stain or mark on the carpet. It also eliminates odors...it is just amazing stuff...and cheap. When the magic eraser first came out I would walk around the house hoping to find a mark on the wall. Now I walk around looking for all the carpet blemishes. Happy Cleaning!

Friday Funny

Shrek, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lopez were all having lunch together.
Shrek said, 'I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure?'
Brad Pitt said, 'I'm pretty sure I'm the hottest man alive but
I've never had it confirmed.'
Jennifer Lopez agreed. 'I'm told I'm the sexiest of them all, but sometimes I wonder.'
They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to approach the wicked Queen's mirror to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Brad Pitt was the hottest and Jennifer Lopez was the sexiest.
They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.
The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, it's true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world.'
Brad Pitt walked in and boasted, 'It is true, it has been confirmed that I am the hottest man alive!!'
J-Lo walked in, head bent, tears in her eyes and asked, "Who the heck is Marsha Pettyjohn?"

Haha...Happy Halloween!

Shhhh...guess who is due in 2 months???

I thought that you would like to hear this from me and not from someone else. I know what you are probably thinking. This is supposed to be a secret, but the truth will eventually come out.....
Anyway, guess who is due in about 2 months?
Santa Claus!

Ho Ho Ho!

Bumper Sticker

'I'll keep my freedom, my guns, and my money, you can keep "THE CHANGE."
Vote for McCain/Palin

Confused Priorities

What happens when you bring home a 52" television and show it to your 3 and 5 year old? Easy, they barely notice it, run right past it, and drool over the box that it came in.

We have been informed that we are never going to throw it away, and that they will be able to play with it forever! It was such a success that I just might need to get a TV for my office too so they can each have their own castle! I'll make the sacrifice for my girls! -Randy

New Hairbows

I made some new bows this weekend (it has been a while so I was going through withdrawals). You can see all the bows on the photo album on the right column (below the Etsy block) but the ones below turned out to be some of my favorites. We will be at Christmas in Braselton on November 8th.

Snowman Bows (these make me wish it was fashionable for adults to wear bows):

Infant bows (lots of people asked for these at Auburnfest, they have velcro on the inside):

And of course a UGA bow. Someone I work with requested one and I made some extras.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

We visted the Washington Farms Pumpkin Patch last week. This has become a yearly tradition for us and the Otto's. We watched the pig races, visited the petting farm, duck races, rode on the cow train, giant bikes, hay ride and picked out some pumpkins.

Kelsey and Audrey racing their ducks.


Audrey's pick from the pumpkin patch. We carved it yesterday.

Randy and Marsha on the hayride.

Best friends, Audrey and Trinity.

Kelsey and Marsha on the Hay Ride.

Set your TiVo

Get ready for next season of Dancing with the Stars!

Hairbow Update

We had a busy hairbow weekend. We had the Auburnfest this Saturday. There wasn't quite the turnout that was expected, but still lots of fun. We received great reviews on our bows and were able to sell enough to pay for all the bows we have made so far. We still have several Halloween bows left so that led us to part 2 of the bow weekend.

We now have an Etsy shop. You can see the link on the right column of the blog. We also have a photo albulm of most of our bows. It is also on the right column just click the header "Hairbows." We are going through and editing the pictures so some have descriptions and prices included on the photo, but not all of them yet and some are still duplicates. Thanks to the hubby for making a chix0r out of me!

Happy Fall Break!

Pettyjohn Superheroes

Audrey is going to be Fire for Halloween. Fire is a character from the Justice League that is not known by many....or pretty much anybody. You would think her outfit would be red or maybe orange...but it is green. Green hair, green gloves, green halter top, green pants and green boots. So this weekend we worked on Fire's hair...who knew you could spraypaint a wig? It turned out great!



Kelsey is going to be Supergirl. But since Audrey had green hair, she wanted her hair to be colorful too. So we might end up having Supergirl with pink hair.



Randy and I are still working on our costumes. Unfortunetly most superhero costumes consist of some sort of spandex...

Auburnfest Info

Auburnfest, downtown Auburn, GA
Saturday, October 18th
10:00 to 6:00
They have all the normal festival activities plus some extras (junk food, bands, a street dance, vendors, kiddie rides, a pie tasting contest, the Auburn museum will be open, and some sort of demonstration from the Fort Yargo historical society). You can go the city of Auburn web page to read all the details.

Renee and I are finished making our bows. We are in the process of sorting and organizing them and are very exicted with our results. We have sold some of them to coworkers and friends and have had very good feedback. I had good intentions of getting some pictures posted but haven't succeeded. We have the bug bows (ladybugs, dragonflies, bumble bees, and butterflies), Halloween bows, Christmas bows, Fall bows, team bows, all occasion bows and all kinds of korkers. We have over 500 items to sell! We could keep making them but we have to stop somewhere :) Hope to see you there!

Back to School!

It looks official...Randy will be going back to school in January. He will be finishing a degree in consumer economics. Everything seems to be falling into place nicely with Verizon paying for his classes and fighting over what store wants to have him/keep him, and having inside help from the college. Go Randy!

Tooth Fairy Visits

Audrey lost her first tooth yesterday. She woke me up early Sunday morning to tell me it was loose. After a morning of wiggling it with her tongue and brushing her teeth a lot, Aunt Ginny squeezed it and it popped right out. Audrey is very excited...only boys have lost teeth in her class so far...and she can still whistle.

Say it ain't so Joe

I stayed up way past my bedtime and watched the debate. My favorite part was when Governor Palin said "... Let's do what our parents told us before we probably even got that first credit card. Don't live outside of our means. We need to make sure that as individuals we're taking personal responsibility through all of this. "

It was refreshing to hear at least some mention that in part our current problems are because people made bad personal decisions. Now if only they had some plan that used positive reinforcement...I would love to hear them say "here is your thank you check for paying your mortgage."

If you need a good laugh...

check out cakewrecks.blogspot.com

The fan favorites are found over on the right side of the blog....but most all of them are funny. Can anyone guess my favorite?

Who Needs Snow?

Sleding in a swimsuit is so much more fun than a snow suit! Audrey thinks sliding down our giant hill is a blast. Kelsey wanted to join her and has apprehension all over her face but she held on very tight and actually did enjoy it.


Audrey actually has to stop by putting her feet over the side. If it ever does snow we will have to put some bails of hay at the bottom...or else they might just end up in the woods.


And now the hard part. Wonder who convinced Kelsey to pull it back to the top!

Friday Funny

The Dead Cow and Vet School

First-year students at the The Ohio State Vet school were receiving their first anatomy class, with a real dead cow. They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, 'In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the animal body.' For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth. 'Go ahead and do the same thing,' he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the anal opening of the dead cow and sucking on it. When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, 'The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger.' 'Now learn to pay attention. Life's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.'

Smores?

Hey we are thinking of going camping for a couple nights during Fall Break. Most likely one of the state parks in North Georgia. Red Top Mountain has hayrides that week so that sounded like fun but we are open to any ideas. Anyone interested in going?

Birthdays and Bows

Here are some pictures from Trinity's birthday party. She had it at the jumpy place waterslides.







Auburnfest is going to be on October 18th (10:00 to 6:00) in downtown Auburn. I will be working on a way to post pictures of the bows easily but here are two of my recent favorites.

Making the Difference

It isn't the easiest to see, but this is a picture of Randy's award from Verizon. He is at a conference this week and sent us this picture. Out of his district (all of Georgia and Alabama) only 12 awards were given out. He received his for all his hard work on this spreadsheet (just because I don't know what else to call it) that the entire district will be using. Today he gives his presentation to everyone on what it can do and how it works. Go Randy/Daddy! All your girls are proud of you and good luck today!!

Gym Dog Update

Audrey went to a gymnastics birthday party this weekend at the YMCA. She was very excited to be able to walk on the high balance beam (at Spivey's they have these short ones they practice on and at the YMCA they could do pretty much whatever they wanted). Right after I took this picture she did a double back handspring for her dismount...just couldn't catch it on the camera phone. :)

Quirks

So I got tagged to do my 6 quirks and I couldn't think of any. I consider myself pretty laid back and not obsessive about much. So I asked Randy and this is what he came up with...it cracked me up. Thanks best husband ever!

1. Can't use normal words that have secondary sexual meanings, can't order nuts on ice cream, can't say "A basketball point guard's job is to penetrate the lane" (Hey, this is hereditary but I totally agree you will never see hear me say penetrate and luckily I don't like nuts on my ice cream)
2. Can't stay awake in a movie theater
3. Can't fall asleep without rubbing feet together. (just call me a cricket)
4. Grinds teeth all night long. (or maybe I just enjoy waking up with Randy's fingers in my mouth trying to get me to stop)
5. Addicted to sappy teenie bopper romantic comedies. (Sixteen candles, 10 Things I hate about You - maybe I just like movies that start with a number)
6. Has to put legos together exactly according to instructions

Spider Bow

This just turned out too cute! Renee and I are going to set up a booth at the Auburnfest and sell bows. We are excited about our fun little project. I will probably ask for votes on most popular so we know which ones to make the most of. We figured since it will be right before Halloween we will of course have some spooky bows.

My New Addiction

Last weekend Renee and I decided that we could make hairbows. Partly because we didn't want to pay the crazy price at the stores and because we thought it would be fun. It was tons of fun! Here is a picture of our accomplishments.

So yesterday I watched football and made some more hairbows. I am now an addict. I know the girls can only wear maybe two bows at a time but I just can't stop making them. The butterflies and dragonflies are my favorites...they are just too cute. But then the korker ones are so much fun to make. I now have a new outlet to be creative, but everyone will probably be getting hairbows for birthdays and holidays!

What I Came Home Too...

Look! A dining room table. We have never had an official dining room. It has always been used for something else and we just used the breakfast nook to eat our meals. A month ago or so we cleaned everything out of the dining room and went shopping for tables. We found this one we liked but didn't end up getting it. When I got home today there it was. Randy bought it last weekend when him and the girls went to Athens and kept it a secret. I am so excited...we will have to invite someone over for dinner!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Cherise! It looks like it is time for another girl's night out!