Elementary School Prom???

At the school I work at now, our big fund raiser is called the CRCT Prom. The CRCT is our huge standardized test that requires you to give all but your first born child to ensure that your students will pass, and then if they don't you still might have to sacrifice your child to the state or whatever idiot it was that decided that this was the best way to measure learning (yes, I am SICK of the pressure!!!) and is coming up in April. I have no idea why the prom is named after this, but it is. Anyway, the way it raises money is that each class has a prince and princess to represent them, and then the students and parents raise money in whatever way they want, and whichever class raises the most money is the winner of prom king and queen. The parents at this school are completely uninterested in buying junk like cheap-o wrapping paper and over-priced candles, but, by golly, they'll go to all sorts of lengths to get their baby to win king or queen. We raised enough to buy a good bit of playground equipment, which is pretty expensive if you've never looked into it. Andy had to go out of town that night, so I took my kids with me and they had an absolute blast. It was a pretty fun night for everyone. Here are the few pictures I managed to snag with my phone, although they're not that great because it was hard to keep anyone still and I don't have a flash on my phone.

In this picture, the big girl in the middle (who is actually a year younger than Drew!) is the sister of boy in my class, and then there are 2 little girls in my class along with Drew and Alli. Alli made best-buds with a little girl in my class who is about the same size as she is. They were cute together.

And then here I am with the same 2 little girls in my class and Alli there in the back!

Our Frugal Answer to Technology!

So, we lived for a month or so with no internet, T.V. or land-line telephone. After realizing the withdrawals wouldn't subside, we added DSL internet, just knowing that we could plug the computer into the T.V., and it would be almost as good. But, it just wasn't. I mean, for the sake of frugality, it was ok, and Andy was fine with it, but I was missing it. In fact, I was doing pretty poorly. I realized just how much I use T.V. to unwind and get my mind off of things. I mean, I'm not a bottler or anything, but I'm definitely a dweller - even after I talk about it, I have to talk about it 47 more times to as many people as I can find that will listen, and without distractions, I'll just dwell. So, being the good man that he is, Andy discovered that we can get all our local channels, including a channel similar to TBS and Style Network (entertainment stuff and decorating in one channel - how fabulous!) for a mere $10.00 a month through Dish Network (we already had the dish and receiver). No, there's no DVR or HDTV, but it's all I need. And, on top of that, to cut down on our cell phone minutes, we invested in a Magic Jack, which is a pretty great invention. For $40.00 we bought the jack, which plugs into the computer if you haven't heard of it and gives you a phone line through your internet connection. The first year of service is free (unless you consider the $40.00 for the item itself), and then after that it's only $20.00 a year for phone service, which includes voice mail, caller id, free long distance, and registers you for 911. So, we're back in the world of the technologically connected, and things feel normal again. (...don't judge my addictions - I haven't even brought up the Reese's Cup/Redi-Whip concoction I'm hooked on right now - if only you knew the whole truth...)