Vintage Apron Giveaway from Rick Rack Attack

Why buy a reproduction… when you can have the real thing?!

Woohoo! It is that time! How would you like to win a fabulous vintage apron from The Apron Queen over at Rick Rack Attack? You even get to choose your prize! You don’t have to have a blog to win. The Apron Queen will be giving the winner her choice of a Vintage Apron from her shop. You have TWO chances to win. All you have to do to is to go over to her shop at Rick Rack Attack, and choose which of her many aprons is your favorite. Then leave a comment below (including a link to your favorite vintage apron) to enter the giveaway. You may also enter by posting about this giveaway (including a link to this post) on your own blog, and leaving a second comment with the link to your post. Good Luck!! Deadline to enter is Friday August 8th at 11:59pm CST. Winner will be drawn at random and announced on Monday, August 11th.

THE RULES:

• You must be 18 or older to enter (void where prohibited)
• This contest is only open to residents of the U.S.
• ONE chance: leave a comment HERE including the link to the apron of your choice
• SECOND chance: post about this post on your blog (including a link to this post) and leave a comment HERE with the link to your post
• If you are a non-blogger, please make sure you include your email address so you can be contacted.

I have comment moderation on-so be patient as I check comments-each evening. I will not be around my blog each day because I am back to school-teaching. I will approve your comments each night though. Good Luck!

Swollen Feet

Hey All! Just got home at 8:30 p.m. CST. My feet have been hurting each night, but I have never really looked at them. Today, I looked down and they are swollen. They have never done this-aaaahhhh! I am still not ready for school, but that is ok. We start officially tomorrow. WOW! The students and parents know what I have had to do and completely understand. I will be very busy this weekend. I still haven’t been to visit Hump Day Humor players and it will be Scrumptious Sunday before I know it. Maybe I will just not play this week-I dunno. I believe I am going to drop out of blogging every day. Too much pressure-LOL! Thanks to you all for continuing to visit! I haven’t forgotten about you-I have just been busy. I am going to go prop my feet up and hope the swelling goes down. Someone suggested taking water pills-but I don’t have time to go to the restroom at school. We only have a restroom break scheduled on Fridays-that is a joke-you would have to understand what we have had to go through to create our schedule-it completely sucks! Anywho-going to prop feet now! Hope all is A-ok in your world! Toodles, Mere

We Salute You-Worst Parent Ever

This is from one of my best friends. She turned this story in to her local radio station and they saluted her-lol! This is from the radio. Just click below and listen to the short, one minute radio commercial! Have fun!

We Salute You-Worst Parent Ever

Getting Older

Hump Day Humor is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Theme: Getting Older

(Just got home at 9:00 p.m. CST-aaahhhh! Tomorrow is registration for the whole school-just 2 hours-whew! I am so not ready-lol)

A Little Humor

Hello All! I just go home at 9:00 p.m. CST-aaaahhhh! Does anyone know how to post Media Player Videos? This is all I have tonight. Here is a joke for ya!

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of Tampax and proceeded to the checkout counter. The man at the counter asked the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”

“Eight”, the boy replied. The man continued, “Do you know how these are used?”The boy replied, “Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They are for him.

Three Color Pasta Salad

Scrumptious Sunday is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Theme: Picnic (National Picnic Month)

Oh My~I am so late posting my Scrumptious Sunday post. I just got home at 9:30 p.m. CST-aaahhhh! This is going to be a quickie post. I hope to visit everyone tonight-or tomorrow night-when I get home at about the same time-lol! I believe everyone was busy this weekend-we only have seven participants-hehe!

THREE COLOR PASTA SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lg. pkg. three color pasta
• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 avocados, chopped
• 1 1/2 c. Mozzarella cheese, chopped
• 2 tomatoes or red peppers, chopped
• Diet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
• 1 c. toasted, slivered almonds
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• Chopped black olives

DIRECTIONS

• Brown chicken in olive oil and chop.
  
• Boil pasta according to directions and cool.
  
• Toss the remaining ingredients with Ranch dressing and add the pasta and chicken.
  
• Serve.
  
• VARIATIONS: Add ham, shrimp, chives or no meat at all.
• Don’t forget to leave in container in a cooler of ice.

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Vacation~Monday, July 7, 2008

Monday morning we went to the Knife Works Store. This store is loaded with knifes and anything else you can possibly imagine. One year, I did all of my Christmas shopping here-lol! The pictures from this store are of the exhibits they have there. We also went to the Apple Barn and the Apple Barn Winery. We always have to pick up a 3-pack of wine from there. It is so good-and sweet-hehe! These two places are in Sevierville, TN. We came back home for a nap and then went back out to Pigeon Forge. No-we didn’t ride that ride either-none for me-lol! I took pictures of the sign where we stayed and of our cabin. I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of where we ate. I thought I took pics of everything-aaahhhh!

Feel free to comment here or you can even click on the pics to enlarge them and comment on them too. I didn’t downsize them-I hope you have high speed internet-lol!

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Vacation~Sunday, July 6, 2008

This is not good to post about my vacation way after the fact. I am trying to remember what all we did that first day. Well we left the house at noon. We arrived there about 5:00 EST. I didn’t take many pictures the first day-oopsie. I can’t seem to remember where we ate either-or why I don’t have pictures of that. Anywho-here is the view from the top deck of our cabin. Feel free to comment here or you can even click on the pics to enlarge them and comment on them too. I didn’t downsize them-I hope you have high speed internet-lol!

View From Top Deck

View From Top Deck

Top Deck

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Hello All!

I didn’t need to sign up for NaBloPoMo this month-lol! Anywho~I am warn worn out! I worked for ten hours today (on my feet) and that is a big change from doing nothing for sixish weeks! I believe the Scraping blog is shut down. When I go there-it says it cannot connect-woohoo! Maybe soon I will have some better quality posts. I will be working at school all day tomorrow. I don’t have to bring my stuff home either-woohoo. It is a secret-but I get to keep it all at school. I just can’t say how I do-lol! I need to catch up on blog reading-way behind, but I am pooped right now. I am gonna go plop my tired self on the couch. Hope all is A-Ok with you all!

Toodles Noodles, Mere

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Vintage Apron Giveaway Coming Soon

Do you like contests? Do you like to win prizes? Would you like to win a fabulous vintage apron? If so, keep reading. I will be hosting a vintage apron giveaway sponsored by The Apron Queen at Rick Rack Attack! Head on over to Rick Rack Attack and check out all of her wonderful vintage aprons! This contest will take place Monday, August 4, 2008-Friday, August 8, 2008. You will have two chances to win a wonderful vintage apron from Rick Rack Attack! Come on back to THIS site on Monday, August 4, 2008 to enter for your chance to win a vintage apron!

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Busy

Whew! I am worn out. I have been working at school trying to get my new 5th grade class ready and get my stuff out of the Kindergarten room. I have spent so much money (thousands of dollars) on my Kindergarten stuff. Now I need to bring it home-aaaaaahhhhh! I wish I could just say-give me $1,000 and you can have it all! LOL! I don’t know what I am going to do. My Dad usually helps me out a lot, but he is working now.

I believe I am going to have a WordPress blog for my pictures of 5th grade. If I do, I am asking all of you to NOT leave comments over there. If you would like to say anything about the pics-just come over here or go to my 5th grade website and comment on that blog. The reason is I don’t want my parents to find this blog. Does this make sense?

Anywho~I haven’t even visited Hump Day Humor participants-aaaaaaahhhh!

Hope you all are A-OK! Mere

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Here’s Your Sign

Hump Day Humor is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!
Theme: Signs

Just click on the pictures to enlarge them. You may leave a comment for a picture and/or leave me a comment here! 😉

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Gas Prices & Traveling

MOODY MONDAYS

Moody Mondays is hosted by Shannon H. at Moody Mondays!

This week’s Moody Mondays is Gas Prices and Traveling!

• How much is gas per gallon in your area? $3.99
• If you work, how do you get there? Personal vehicle? Public Transportation? Car Pool? I do work. I live 6.5 miles from work. I travel by personal vehicle. I don’t put many miles on a car. Now Jedd does-he is only 3 miles from work, but he travels at least 40 miles a day to go to the golf course too.
• Will you be traveling much or will the cost of gas keep you home? It didn’t stop us taking a vacation and putting over 1,000 miles on the car.
• Where would you like to go if the cost of gas was lower? I would love to travel the East Coast and visit lighthouses or travel to Texas to visit my younger brother-by plane of course-lol!

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Summer Pasta Salad

Scrumptious Sunday is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Theme: Summer Salads

ZESTY FETA, CHICKEN, & SHRIMP SUMMER PASTA SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked fusilli/corkscrew pasta – or any pasta you choose
  
• 1/2 pound frozen cooked cocktail shrimp – this is all for me-none for bf-allergic
  
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can diced black olives, drained
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
• 1 (6 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled
• salt/pepper to taste
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the chicken in a baking dish, and roast 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until juices run clear. Remove from heat, cool, and cut into bite-size pieces.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, cook 8 to 10 minutes, until firm, and drain. Cool to room temperature.
4. In a large bowl, mix the chicken, pasta, shrimp, olives, tomatoes, carrots, and cucumber. Toss with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and feta cheese, and season with salt/pepper to taste.

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World

Post Scraping

Time: 3:41CST. I have had a website that has been stealing my posts and posting them as their own. This is written by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World. The posts that they have taken are personal posts of mine. The website is love your family (http://www.famlove.cn/). I am doing a test post to see if this gets posted over there. They like these categories: children, family, friends, love, and thoughts. IMO every post there is someone’s own personal post. This site did not ask permission and doesn’t even include a link back to the original blogs. I am currently working on having my posts removed. I hope this site hasn’t stolen any of your content. I just put in my name~Mercedes~in the search box and all of my posts came up. This is being posted by Mercedes’ at Mercedes’ World and for Mercedes’ World ONLY! I hope my friends understand what I am doing here-lol! Love Ya! Mere

Edit: This site is an hour ahead of me. since I originally posted this thirty minutes ago-the site has added ten posts….no wait-this post is over there-lol-and it is even called Post Scraping-HA!

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World and only for Mercedes’ World

Prayers Needed

My cousin, M, has been battling Renal Cell Carcinoma for the past six years. It all started at an indoor soccer game. He will be 20 in August. This has been a long battle for him, his family, and all of us! He has had six major surgeries, been through chemo and radiation numerous times, and now he has four tumors again.

One tumor is sitting on his one kidney and bladder. It is 6 inches long and the doctors say they can’t operate on it because M would not make it through the surgery-he would hemorrhage to death. He is having surgery this morning and they are putting in a stint to relieve the pressure from his kidney and bladder. After this, the doctors will decide what to do next.

He applied to a cancer study in Maryland but didn’t qualify-due to him being on chemo numerous times. There is another study in Cincinnati that is more targeted to his specific needs that we hope he qualifies for. The hospital will fed-ex his scans to that hospital today.

He is a very strong young man. He has accomplished so much during his journey fighting this horrible and rare cancer in children. He graduated from High School with honors. He has also completed his first two years in college.

I have a luncheon to attend today and then I am headed to Chattanooga to be with him and the family. I believe in prayer-I believed it helped this time last year when we thought he was going to have his colon removed-he didn’t have to have it removed. Please pray with me for my cousin, M, and his family. Thank you so much!

EDIT: I did not go to Chattanooga today-M’s Mom said it would be better to come on Sunday. They are warn out and he will be coming home tomorrow-which will be another tiring day for him to get settled in and have to deal with the feeding bag. Still waiting for the exact outcome of the surgery and what the future holds.

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World and only for Mercedes’ World

Ice Cream Recipe Round Up

This is my post for the Ice Cream Round Up over at Joy’s Place~Joy of Desserts. I posted this for Scrumptious Sunday over at Mercedes Rocks (my other blog). I have also included all of the links to the other participants’ post for last week’s Scrumptious Sunday: Theme~Ice Cream! Hope you all enjoy!

New Website

Hello All! I have been converting my Kindergarten classroom website to my NEW 5th Grade classroom website. I am so excited! I have also added a blog page on the website. I hope to blog about our class over there and post pics for everyone to view. This way the parents can have pics of their child and I don’t have to make/create scrapbooks anymore…so much work! Head on over there and check it out and let me know what you think. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Miss Meredith’s 5th Grade

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World and only for Mercedes’ World

Read and Create

A great story doesn’t have to end with the last page. Your child can take the fun one step further by making a craft based on a book. He/She will deepen his/her understanding of the story while boosting creative thinking. Here are three projects to try.

Baked Beans

Hump Day Humor is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Theme: Surprises

One day I met a sweet gentleman and fell in love. When it became apparent that we would marry, I made the supreme sacrifice and gave up beans.

Some months later, on my birthday, my car broke down on the way home from work. Since I lived in the countryside I called my husband and told him that I would be late because I had to walk home.

On my way, I passed by a small diner and the odor of baked beans was more than I could stand. With miles to walk, I figured that I would walk off any ill effects by the time I reached home, so I stopped at the diner and before I knew it, I had consumed three large orders of baked beans. All the way home, I made sure that I released all the gas.

Upon my arrival, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly, “Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight.” He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table.

I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call.

The baked beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming most unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go. It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a pulpwood mill.

I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other cheek, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage…

Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable. When eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself.

My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long. He asked me if I had peeked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not.

Great News

Hello All! I am so excited~woohoo~party time…I just got the call today from our new principal…I am officially teaching 5th grade this school year. Whew! I have so much to do these next two weeks. I have to learn to be smarter than a 5th grader and I have to figure out what to do with all of my stuff from Kindergarten-aaahhhh! I have In-service tomorrow (that means I am in class all day-so hard to stay awake-I am used to 20 minute intervals from Kindergarten-lol) and I start back on the 28th of July. I will meet my new 5th graders on July 30th. I know I need to be posting about my vacation…but I have to downsize all of my photos-anyone know an easy way to do this all at once with all of them???

Posted by Mercedes at Mercedes’ World and only for Mercedes’ World

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Scrumptious Sunday is hosted by Mercedes at Mercedes Rocks!

Theme: Ice Cream (National-USA-Ice Cream Month)

I admit, I have never made homemade ice cream myself-well I have helped others make it. Today I am going to share with you a few things I have done with ice cream and sherbet in the past. I will also share with you as many of the flavors (32) I remember selling when I worked at The Carousel, an ice cream/food shop in our local mall, for eight years.

I AM BACK!

Hello to all of my wonderful friends! We have made it back home! I have so much catching up to do. I just opened up my Google Reader and there are 312 new posts from all of my blogosphere-WOW! I don’t believe I will make it to all of them. I also noticed that I have a few new visitors here! Welcome to my blog. I will be by to visit you soon! Thanks for continuing to visit me while I was away! I have tons of pics to show you-but I just want to warn you that I am not a photographer and many of the pics were taken while driving down the road! We had a ball. I will tell you all about it soon. I plan to do a post for each day we were gone-detailing our events. I hope everyone has received their postcards…or will be receiving them soon. If you requested one from Asheville-It is going to be mailed from my house-couldn’t get Jedd to stop today to drop them off from there-aaahhh! I also sent some to my dog buddies too! This is the first time I have ever sent off postcards-I hope I knew what I was doing-lol! I want to thank Gina for helping me with my blog when I was gone-I so much appreciate her! So glad to be back-I think-lol! Looking forward to catching up with everyone! I hope all was well in your world. Love You All! Mercedes!

Topsy-Turvy Words

Encourage your child to play with language. He/She will build his/her vocabulary by learning about these types of wordplays:

Anagrams: are words made by rearranging the letters of other words. For example, lemon can become melon. See if your child can make new words from cat (act), seal (sale), or pool (loop). Encourage him/her to make anagrams out of words in everyday places (his/her spelling lists, books, signs).

Palindromes: are words that are spelled the same forward and backward. Examples: mom, eye, kayak, racecar. Suggest that your child look for palindromes by thinking of short words that begin and end with the same letter. Idea: Show him/her that phrases can also be palindromes, such as never odd or even.

The Bathtub Test

During a visit to the mental asylum, I asked the Director, “how do you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.”

“Well,” said the Director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.”

“Oh, I understand,” I said. “A normal person would use the bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”