A WEEKEND FOR THE BOOKS

Twas indeed, my friends! Twas a weekend to be celebrated, to be hailed, to be remembered for time and all eternity.  Twas a weekend for the books!

In a less dramatic tone, it was a weekend full of all of the things weekends are supposed to be full of.  Books, movies, baseball games, state fairs, family, ice cream and lots and lots of sleeping.  Now that, my friends, is a weekend!

It started Friday night when Greg's parents invited us to a Bees game with them.  We haven't been to any baseball games this summer yet- travesty!  So we donned our favorite baseball caps and headed on over to the ball park for hot dogs and peanuts and the likes.  There was only a slight moment of panic when we realized we didn't have any cash for parking, but was quickly resolved when I ran into Maverik to buy a candy bar and get $20 cash back, thank you very much!  Disaster deterred!

It was especially fun to be at the game with Becky and Gary.  Gary played years of competitive softball- all the way into his 40s and 50s- so he knows a thing or two about the game.  He filled us in on all the details.  I consider myself pretty well versed on the ways of all things baseball, but I learned a thing or two on Friday night, yes I did!

Maybe my favorite thing about the night was how close I felt to my dad.  Whenever I do what my dad loved to do- wake up early to make breakfast, go fishing, look at the stars, work in a garden, go for a bike ride, watch a ball game- I feel him with me.  Dad was a huge baseball fan and especially a Minnesota Twins fan so I wore his old hat for extra good juju, and felt him there with me all night long.  There was a young family behind us Friday night, and I listened as the dad explain to his daughter what an inning was and an out and a ball and a strike and what batting order means.  It made my heart hurt in the happiest way possible, remembering the ball games that my dad spent explaining all things baseball to me.  Thanks dad.   I felt him there with me so strongly that I had to wonder if my old man has taken up his permanent post live residence in a ball park.

While I was enjoying the beauty of a fall evening watching baseball, my little sister was busy getting engaged.  She called three times during the game and when I noticed the missed calls, the game was almost over.  People were cheering and fireworks were going off and it was pure pandemonium.  So I told her to text me whatever she had to sad.  She replied, "Step out and call me."  I said, "No.  I really can't.  It's so loud and crazy.  Just text."  Naturally, I felt like a real crapper of a sister when she texted me this:

Oops.

Now she ain't marrying no fine looking red head like I did, but we're still happy to have Trent in the family, mostly because he plays Risk in the most cut throat, aggressive manner possible and really- what other way is there to play Risk?  When I saw him attack eight countries in one turn, I had nothing but respect for the man. Welcome to the fam, Trent!

Mary came up Saturday morning to get ice cream with me and dish on all the juicy engagement details.  I, in turn, tried my best to prepare her for the worst three months of her life.  She didn't believe me and she said her engagement will be much easier than mine because she's not so opinionated and stubborn like I am.  I said how rude.

Saturday afternoon Greg was working away so I convinced my mom to hit up the state fair with me.  I love everything about state fairs.  The crazy people, the fried foods, the ridiculously priced ferris wheels. It's a gold mine. We took my niece mostly to justify our desire to go and then proceeded to spend the entirety of the state fair scaring the living daylights out of her.  She ain't one for big rides but we did our best to toughen her up.

Ride #1:  THE SLIDE.  Pre slide we were all systems a go. Emery was excited as can be and begging for it.

About two seconds in she clenched on to me for dear life and cried a cry that would melt the hearts of even the most evil members of humanity.

RIDE #2:  The airplanes.

Alright, so the slide didn't work so well, but we certainly thought she could handle the airplanes.  She begged over and over to go on the "pane!" so we said, "YES!  This we can handle!"

Pre airplane- all systems a go.  She was ready and smiling!

Just please notice below her face of pure panic as the plane started to take off.  The second she felt that initial lurch she looked over at me with that look that said, " You've got to be kidding me?  AGAIN, you evil aunt!?!?"

She found her way into my lap, naturally.

Post ride: "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?!?"

Ride #3:  THE CAROUSEL.  Again, pure panic.

Toward the end of it, she finally started to warm up just a little bit.  SUCCESS!  The ride to ride is the carousel!

But what did dear Emery really like most you might wonder?

Why, the deep fried Snickers, of course!

Today has been a great day of church and Sunday naps and dinner at my mom's.  This weekend was needed in the worst kind of way.  I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to tackle the week.  Weekend, you have done me good!

Perspective

Last night Greg's parents took us to a baseball game.  The day had been rain rain rainy and then somehow at 4:00 the rain vanished and the sun came out.  We were left with a bit of a chill in the air- for the first time in months!- and by golly, it felt like an autumn night.

At the game I saw one of my former students from Copper Hills.  She was in crazily rowdy sophomore class of mine.  It was a class full of best friends and cheerleaders and jocks and the truth is they were all quite rude to each other and to me.  I don't much get involved in high school drama, but sometimes you can't help but feel their high school tension, no matter how hard you try.  The students would make faces at each other while I was lecturing, they were never on task when I gave them independent work time, and they were nightmares every time I had a sub.

And yet, when I told them at the end of the year that I was leaving, they practically threw a riot.  A group of the most difficult "mean girls" accosted me after class, "You can't leave!  We won't allow it!  You have to teach us junior year!"

There's a lesson in that somewhere although I can't quite put it into words.  It was weird to see that former student last night and miss her and that class regardless of the hell they put me through.  I guess our memories have a way of becoming only positive with time.  When I look at Copper Hills now I remember my favorite classes, the lessons that went off without a hitch, that students whom I loved deeply.  I forget that it wasn't all rainbows and roses.

And most importantly, even though I certainly struggled with that class the whole year through, by the end of the year we did love each other.  We came together at the end, despite the drama and tension.  I needed that last night.  I needed to remember that I've only had four weeks with the students at my new school and it takes a lot more than that to know your students.  I needed to remember that kids can love my class and appreciate my teaching but in the same breath not do their work or be disruptive in class.  I needed to remember to be patient with my new tikes.  I'll love them just the same as my Copper Hills students- it just takes time.

FOR YOUR WEEKEND READING:
+ Your emails and sweet comments on yesterday's post literally had me in tears.  What a terrific and loving group of readers you are.
+ Going up to my cabin to enjoy some R & R next weekend.  I can't wait. (Favorite cabin trips here and here and here.)
+ Had a long talk with my best friend, Akasha, this week and felt uplifted and connected and all those things friends make you feel.  So grateful for good friends in my life.
+ My little sister is engaged!  EEK!  More details to come!
+  My older sister started a blog on everything she' like to do with her kids before they are grown.  Perfect for you moms out there.  She's a terrific writer.

A sad tale of woe. But seriously.

Feeling a bit "off" right now.

There's a lot of things in my life that don't seem to be jiving quite like they should and I try to shake them off, but, well, you know.  I'm a girl and girls like to hold onto stuff so that's what I'm doing over here.  Just holding on.

What do you do when something is bothering you?

Do you:

a) Write a blog post
b) Take a bath
c) Make cookies
d) Go to bed early
e) Call your mom

I'm doing them all!  How about that for one upped?

Sometimes I wonder if I like the person that I am.  Or the person that I am becoming.  98% of the time I really like me.  But then something makes me doubt or makes me insecure or all of a sudden I realize I have been a terrible friend/sister/wife/teacher/ human being.

For example:  On Tuesday and Wednesday I had these horrible trainings for the new English core. I had to get a sub and miss two days of teaching and sit in eight hour meetings all day.  Basically Utah decided to throw away all the standards we used to teach and revamp them.  New standards!  Instead of teaching students to write persuasive papers we shall teach them to write argumentative papers! Yes, this shall be so much better! And so forth.  Mostly it's just nuances, and I was dealing with it fine at my old school.

But now I'm at my new school!  In a new school district!  And I'll tell you something, the people at this new district are straight up batty.  I feel like I've entered the Nazi regime.  They've mapped out exactly what themes they think I should be teaching and for how long and what standards to teach when and then they want me to do tests that they've invented to make sure that I am doing what they want.  I'm living 1984 as we speak- I can literally see Big Brother watching over me.  Well, not literally, but... you know.

They told me a lot of stuff that I need to be doing at this meeting. A LOT.  Por ejemplo:  Change the order of my entire junior core so that it is chronological and matches up with the U.S. History department.  Do a four month capstone project with my Seniors. (Say what?!)  Put all assignments, syllabi and deadlines online to make it more accessible to students.  Not to mention I'm struggling to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to be teaching my AP Literature class.  I'm flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to that class, I tell you that much.  It's all I can do to figure out the AP curriculum, let alone revamp my entire junior and senior core.

Quite frankly it just exhausts me.  I like what I teach.  I don't want to rearrange everything to go in the order that my new school district wants me to.  I don't want to adhere to some distant idea that some lady had that hasn't set foot in a classroom for ten years.  Who is she to tell me what to teach and for how long and when to test my students?  She doesn't know my students.  I don't want to align my standards to her standards.  I will still teach all the Utah standards, just not in the exact order and timing that she decided was appropriate. I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs, "Stop micromanaging and just let me teach!  I promise I know how!"

And so forth and so forth with the rebelliousness....  You get the point by now, don't you?  By the end of day two of training I was so mentally worn out by it all that I just skipped out early and went home and took a nap.  Bailed two hours before I was supposed to and didn't even bat an eye.  I'm sure I will be reprimanded, but sheesh, how much can you inhale before you pass out?

That's how I justified it to myself, anyway.  The truth is, I hate that I left the training early and I hate that I can't just adjust easily to my new school district.  Who do I think I am that I can't just stay at the whole training like I'm supposed to?   Why do I have to be stubborn and prideful and why don't I just take what they tell me to do and do it?  Why do I let it overwhelm me and frustrate me to the point where I eventually shut down completely?

So that's school.  Then there's the blog and the thing is that sometimes this blog bothers me, too.  A friend told me recently that she thought my blog had "changed me."  I didn't know how to reply or what that was supposed to mean.  I'm still the same weird/sassy/prideful/burns-everything-she-makes girl that I've always been.  I like to write on this blog (most days!) and I like the people that respond.  But lately there seems to be so many negative comments.  Today I found on someone else's blog an entire post that had been written in response to one of my posts.  She didn't link to my blog and instead of calling me Bonnie she called me "Jane."  She wasn't necessarily negative in her take on my post, I just didn't understand why she and her readers would discuss at length the post without saying who had actually written it.  It was just weird.  There were 100+ comments discussing my blog and not even a pithy link back.

And then I am bothered that I am even bothered by this.  Shouldn't I be above weird blog drama?  I mean, these are people I have never met in my life and will never meet in my life talking about something I wrote online.   Some of them didn't like it.  Who freaking cares, right?  So why does it bother meeeeeeee?

Boo.  This post got too heavy.

Greg wants a baby or a dog or both.  I'm leaning on the side of dog.  The truth is I miss my mom's dog, Buddy, quite a bit.  I want my own toy poodle, dang it!  What say ye?  I would name him Gatsby, obviously.

From the mouth of my father in law.

It's time you folks around here met my father in law.  His name is Gary and he's truly one of a kind.  He takes the crazy, inappropriate stuff that you think in your head and says it out loud like it's nothing.

Greg's in the middle with his brother, Brett on the left and Gary, more commonly known as Gare-dog. on the right.

At our wedding, Gary gave a speech that will forever live in infamy.  The gist of the speech was this:  Greg is truly a blessing to him because it was very hard to conceive Greg.  Gary then went into great deal (in front of 300 guests) of all of the different techniques he and his wife used to try to get pregnant with Greg.  The memory is so fuzzy to me now but I will always remember this line, "My doctor was trying things on me I've never even done with my wife!"  I'm pretty sure that from that point on it was shocking enough that I just blocked it entirely.  Toward the end of the speech he whipped out a jock strap, proclaiming that his years of playing softball and wearing a cup is what led his reproductive process to not function exactly as it should...

You know, the type of romantic, sentimental stuff that you just love to hear at weddings.

My family is very very very very conservative.  Naturally, we were horrified.

You can tell from the fire in his eyes that he's a wily little devil, can't you?
And here we see the jock strap that will never be forgotten....

And our reactions:

Me, Greg, and Greg's mom, Becky.  Notice that I have mastered the totally neutral, "I'm cool" face.  Inside I was freaking out.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

After we had been married a few weeks we were all eating dinner: Greg and me, Becky and Gary, and Greg's brother and his wife- Brett and Kylee.  Gary stopped the conversation and declared, "Guys it's so great that we can have Bonnie here with us now.  This is our first time all together!"  It was an odd thing to say because I had spent plenty of time with Greg's family before we got married.  Dinner was the norm for the six of us.

 Brett and Greg started heckling Gary a bit, making fun of his unusual way of showing tenderness,
"Yah, because we've never had dinner with Bonnie before!"
"Guys, I'd like you meet my new wife, Bonnie." Greg added,  "I know none of you have met her yet, but she's great."
"Stop it!" yelled Gary.
"What I meant to say is... is.....  no one here is a virgin anymore!"

My felt my face turn deep red.  Us Mormons wait for sex until we're married which is awesome in so many ways, but also awful in that everyone and their dog pretty much knows the exact hour that you will be losing your virginity.

There was silence for a moment until Brett chimed in,
"Congrats Bonnie!  You are no longer a virgin and as such, we welcome you to the family."

And it goes on.  Tonight Gary and Becky came over for dinner.  We showed them around the new apartment, it's only one bedroom, so you know- it wasn't going to take too long.  "This is the living room..." I said.

"Where's the bedroom?" interrupted Gary.  "I need to see where all the love making occurs."

Again deep red.

At dinner, Greg said that he hadn't been feeling very well.
"Well, what is it?" Gary prodded.
"I don't know... something's going with my stomach."
"Like what?  Diarrhea?" Gary insisted for details.
"Yah... I guess there's some of that."
"Well, sheesh.  Nothing new to me!  I've got that every day!  Join the club, buddy!" and he took a bit gulp of his Dr. Pepper and continued eating away.

I hope you are all as lucky as I am to have a Gary in your life.  It's good for the heart and soul to have someone in your life saying craziness whenever they get the chance.

To People Who Complain about Sponsors: A Rant

There's been something that has been weighing on my mind the past few weeks and I have debated and debated whether or not I should write on it, and when the right time would be to post this, and if I should give it more time to marinate, yada, yada, yada...

And then today I just decided it was time.

I really appreciate my audience, and I cherish the relationships I have with readers.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I think about total strangers who come visit this space regularly and show love and support for what I say.  So I want to say thank you for visiting my blog and supporting my sponsors and allowing me to give my two cents to the world on a daily basis.  THANK YOU!  I appreciate you so much!

Every once in a while I receive a comment or an email that goes something like this, "Hey Bonnie!  I love your blog!  It's fun!  Only I don't like it anymore!  I used to like it before a lot more!  Now you do sponsorships and giveaways, and I don't like that stuff!  Stop doing it!  I'll like it more!  Thanks!"

I have seen this not only with me, but with other favorite bloggers of mine.  I notice comments in posts that say something similar-  "I don't like your blog as much now that you're caught up in the blogging world.  I want you to just write like you used to- please stop doing sponsorships or giveaways."

A comment like this always sends me into a brief panic mode.  "Oh my gosh!" I think, "I've lost my touch. They hate me.  I'm a terrible blogger now!"  I feel like immediately writing back and saying, "I'm so sorry!  I'll stop the sponsorships!  I'll go back to how it once was!  Forgive me pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!"

Then, I let the comment sit for a few hours or days and I inevitably start thinking this:

"That's not fair."

I understand that some people might not love sponsors or guest posts or giveaways.  That's fine.  I don't love commercials, and I hate it when my favorite morning talk show cuts to ads.  That being said, I accept it because I am grateful to the people who entertain me, and I realize that they must be compensated in some way.  They deserve to be paid for their time, their energy, and their talents.  I would never call the producers of New girl (my current favorite tv show) and say, "Hey!  I love your show! Can't wait for season 3!  But I hate the commercials.  I'd watch it a lot more if you didn't have them so can you cut that out already?"  I don't have to pay to watch New Girl, so to compensate, I must watch the commercials because the commercials pay for all the production costs and make it possible for me to watch for free.  I don't complain about that.

Or... how about I request that I can go see my favorite sports team without having to pay for the ticket?  Or I complain to the local movie theater that I would enjoy the movie a lot more if I didn't have to pay admission or watch previews?  Of course we don't want ads, and of course we want things for free, but it's not fair to the creator of the product.

When I read an email like this what I hear is that a reader would like me to produce high quality writing, entertain her with wit and charm, and develop completely original and funny content five to six times a week for no pay.  She would like me to spend in the neighborhood of 20 hours a week (on top of a full time job) writing to entertain her and not receive a penny for it.  When I do start accepting sponsors or receiving some money for my time she will inevitably tell me that I have been "carried away with making money" or that I have turned my blog into a "cash cow."  What I read is "Can you please go back to writing your butt off every night and making no money like you used to so that I don't have to read your guest posts once a week? Mmmkay thanks!"

I repeat.  That's not fair.

I do love blogging, and I get great fulfillment from it sans monetary compensation.  Just like athletes love playing, just like actors love acting and just like any entertainer loves entertaining.  That being said, it is still work.  There are times I would much rather take a bath or go to a movie or go to bed early than I would slave away for two hours on a blog post. A reader who expects me to do this every night for them for no reward of my own is quite frankly, a very selfish reader.  You do not have to pay to read my blog, so if I ask you once a week to read a guest post or click on an affiliate link to help me justify the time I put in on this blog and support this passion of mine, it is not me selling out or me being obsessed with money, it's just me trying to justify to a very small extent the exorbitant amount of time and energy this blog consumes.

All this being said, I, of course, understand there is a certain balance that a blog has to maintain, and perhaps readers are complaining to me because they feel like they have lost my blogging balance. No reader should have to be subjected to guest posts and giveaways day after day after day and I understand that. The balance is something very tricky that I am striving toward.  BUT if once a week there is a sponsored post, I hardly think we as readers can demand that the blogger stop accepting the sponsors to satisfy our own selfish desires.

If I were not getting paid for this blog or did not see the potential to make money from my blog, there is no way I would be able to justify the time I spend on it.  I couldn't justify it to myself, my husband, my students, my family or any of the people who need me in some capacity.  I could never justify missing a date with my husband or staying home from a family dinner or handing my students' papers back a day later to work on a post- all things that I have had to do to be consistent in my blogging and deliver quality posts.  I am able to post as often as I do and spend as much time on this blog because I receive pay.

There is a weird culture in the blogging world where we expect to read blogs for 100% free.  This needs to stop.  We don't want to pay, we don't want to look at guest posts, we don't want to tolerate any promotion for the blog.  It's not being sensitive to the blogger. I ask that as a blogging community, we change this attitude and be more supportive of bloggers and their sponsorships, realizing that every day we read their blog for free.  When our favorite bloggers put up a guest post, we click on it if it is interesting to us.  By doing so we are supporting our favorite bloggers.  We should click on interesting sidebar ads, too.  That's supporting the blogger.  If the blogger is doing some random sponsorship with Sears and we really love that blogger, we should click on the Sears link and check it out.  As a blogging community we should understand that this is our way of "paying" the blogger for her time and effort she puts into the blog.

I hope that this explains the reasoning behind the sponsorships and giveaways on this blog.  I hope those of you who get frustrated can see it in a bit of a different light when I have a guest post or giveaway.  I hope as a blogging community we can support bloggers in their sponsorships (within reason, of course!) and "pay" for the free blogs we get to read on a daily basis.  From the bottom of my sassy little heart I thank you for reading this blog and for your many comments.  I love this blog and the people who visit.  It is a great source of fulfillment and satisfaction to me, and I thank you thank you thank you thank you for reading.

Candy Crushin my life away

This afternoon I came home from work, flung myself on the bed and whipped out my cell phone to play a little bit of Candy Crush until my eyelids drooped.  Oh, the blessed "Get home from school" hour.  I don't have to do anything but lie on the bed and let myself go into a total state of comatose.  Enter Candy Crush.  (SIDENOTE:  I haven't been doing much reading lately, and I blame it all on this blasted app.  If I had any kind of self control I'd close the app down and get my life back, but clearly I have no self control, (It's called four diet cokes a day.) so that's why I have given hours of my life to that dumb game and that is not something I'm proud of but it's the truth, and the truth you must know!  Also, as a side note I might add that it's quite embarrassing to spend your entire 80 minute teacher prep came playing candy crush and trying to figure out how to beat a certain level.)  But Candy Crush is not the point, my friends.  I just felt like I needed to confess.  The point is this.  As I was lying there in a dreamlike state of switching candies, Greg came in the room and said, "What are you doing?  Let's go to a matinee."

"Now?"  I answered.  It was 4:30 on a Monday. Weird time for a movie.

"Yah!  Come on.  Let's be spontaneous and just go."

So we did.  We wandered on over to the nearby theater and that was how we found ourselves completely by ourselves for an afternoon showing of The Way Way Back.

I hadn't heard anything about The Way Way Back so I had really had no expectations going in.  But let me assure you this- the movie was fantastic.  The dialogue was witty and quick and the characters so real and believable you'd swear they lived next door to you.  I don't want to give much of the plot away but basically I left the movie wanting to be a better person.  Strangely enough, it made me want to be a better teacher.  To try harder to reach out to the quiet, awkward kids, to be confident enough with myself to make others feel good about themselves, and to be someone who notices the odd man out.  Sam Rockwell absolutely nailed it as "Owen", the quirky water park worker who befriends a lonely, awkward teenager.  The story is beautiful so if you haven't seen it already, put it on your immediate to do list!

Seriously, go see it and report back to me.  I have total confidence that you will love it!

Now, I'm going to go back to my candy crushing ways (please! someone help me!) while I let Karly take over from here.  I was hooked on her blog the second I read this post about a cute (but dumb) boy trying to guess what "type of Asian" she is.  (I thank the heavens every night that I no longer have to date.)  Also when I was a teenager I had an insanely unhealthy obsession with Orlando Bloom so naturally I ate this post up about her meeting the man in person.  Take it away, Karly!

Hi, I'm Karly and this is my dog Hufflepuff.  We blog over at Karly Kim.  I do most of the writing, but he helps with visuals.  I hope you enjoy getting to know a little bit about me.  I broke the information down into categories and kept it short because it's Tuesday and who wants to read a novel?  And more importantly, I didn't have the brain power to write one. 

Five things I have a passion for
1.  Mouthwash - I truly believe the world would be a better place if everyone used it.
2.  Underground rap battles
3.  High heels
4.  The person who invented eyeliner
5.   Laughter

Five things I'd like to do before I die
1.  Invent a new candy
2.  Learn how to play the piano
3.  Have a butler.  Preferably Geoffrey from Fresh Prince if he's available.
4.  Hoard pets
5.  Leave the world a happier place.

Five reads I love
1.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 
2.  A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
3.  Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella 
4.  Bossypants by Tina Fey  
5.  My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

Five favorite movies
1.  Life is Beautiful
2.  Mean Girls
3.  The Notebook
4.  Bad Boys 2
5.  Grease

Five places I'd want to travel to
1.  Des Moines, Iowa - because why not?
2.  Phuket, Thailand
3.  The Maldives
4.  Curichiba, Brazil
5.  New Jersey 

Five things you'll learn from my blog
1.  How to upset your neighbors
2.  How to get cast on The Bachelorette
3.  How to respond when someone calls you ugly
4.  How to be serious 
5.  How to take too many pictures of yourself

I Believe: Part II

Last September I wrote one of my favorite posts, "I Believe"  based off a link up idea that Erin had.  I re read it about once a month because it feels me with a certain peace and contentment for this life I'm living.  It allows me to step back and realize how beautiful my world is, despite the day to day inconveniences and trivial nuisances

So today I decided to do a sequel.  A part II, if you will...

I BELIEVE

I believe in teenagers and their incredible brilliance and wit.  I believe that they are more than capable of becoming strong leaders for our country.

I believe that people are mean because of their own issues in their life.  I believe that deep down people want to be kind, but they feel threatened or scared or insecure or hurt so they act mean to protect themselves.  Underneath it all, I believe people are kind and good.

I believe in screwing dinner and calling for pizza when you're tired.

I believe in April Fools Day.

I believe in paying people back promptly and not taking advantage of others' kindness.

I believe in wrapping up in a blanket on a rainy day and reading and reading and dozing off a little and then waking up to read some more.

I believe in traveling and seeing the world.  I believe in seeing beautiful and rich countries and spoiling yourself, but I also believe in visiting third world countries and coming back with a deeper gratitude for how incredibly lucky we are to live the way we do.

I believe in our right to choose.  I believe in a God that loves us enough to give us the gift of agency- to allow us to struggle and decide on what we want for our lives.

I believe in inviting people over for dinner and the ability of a big meal to bring even the most different of people together.

I believe in marriage and the beauty of having someone to share your life with.  I believe in laughing and going on vacations and making dinner and playing games and cleaning out the garage and watching late night movies with your spouse.

I believe in sleeping in until noon whenever possible.  Might be once a week or it might be once a year, but when you can sleep in until noon, I believe you do it!

I believe in summer thunderstorms.

I believe in always using the right form of your/you're.

I believe in doing things that scare you.

I believe in holding warm clothes fresh out of the dryer right to your face and holding and smelling until the warmth is gone.

I believe in saying yes whenever possible.

I believe in never denying yourself a dirty diet coke from Sonic.

I believe in friendship and girls' trips and maintaining relationships with girlfriends because you need them and their strength in your life more than you know.

I believe in babies and children and families, and I pray that I will always have a life filled to the brim with family.

I believe it is a sin if you let a Halloween pass you by without dressing up.

I believe in laughing so hard you snort.

I believe in bubble baths and afternoon naps.

I believe in dogs and their ability to love unconditionally.  I believe that a dog can be part of a family and that a relationship with a dog can do wonders for the soul.

I believe in being silly and goofy and throwing away all your inhibitions and finding the people in life with whom you can be totally and 100% yourself.

I believe in karma and that when you do good in the world, it somehow comes back to you.  Might not be the person you were thinking or the time you were thinking, but I believe that good always makes its way back.

I believe in getting outside and enjoying the beautiful world that God gave us.  I believe in Sunday night walks and playing tennis and going hiking and spending time with nature.

I believe in the Golden Rule.  I believe in charity and kindness and love and I believe that when you're not feeling those things you need to eat a good meal and go to sleep and everything will be better in the morning.

It always is.

We've stooped so low.

I can't much figure out what is with the world these days.

After getting scammed out of $1,100 this summer I felt like the whole world was out to get me.

Last night that feeling returned.

Greg and I went to the high school's homecoming football game.  Football's kind of a big deal at my new school- they were the state champions last year and our quarterback is semi famous.  He's only a junior, but has already signed for college and is predicted to go pro.  I've never been at a school with a decent football team (My alma mater, Carbon High, couldn't catch a football to save its lives and Copper Hills... well, let's just not go there.)  So Greg and I grabbed our favorite blanket and declared, "Let's go watch a winning football team!"

We didn't show up until second quarter (really, who can watch an entire football game?) so we threw our blanket down and got cozy.  At half time we went across the street to eat at Chic-fil-et.  By the time we got back the fourth quarter was well under way and the stands were clearing out as we were losing by 30 points.  What?  State champs losing by 30 points?!?  This is preposterous!

Greg and I went back to our spot to discover, much to our dismay, that our blanket was missing.

We turned to the family sitting in back of us, "Uh... did you see what happened to that little fleece blanket we were sitting on?"

"The green one?"

"Yah... the one we were sitting on during the first half."

"That lady that was sitting next to you picked it up and took it with her when she left."

"How long ago did she leave?"

"Oh, probably ten minutes ago, at least."

I was dumbfounded.  I had been sitting next to a total stranger, and she had taken it upon herself to take off with our blanket.  It wasn't an expensive blanket, it was just fleece tied together, but it was important to me because it was a wedding gift from my aunt.  In the corner she had sewn in "Bonnie and Greg, March 12, 2011."  Now tell me, ladies, why in the world would anyone else want a blanket with my name and my husband's name and my anniversary embroidered on it?

When we got scammed out of $1,100 this summer I was shocked because of how "big" we had lost.  Someone had really stolen that much from us.  Last night I was shocked because of how "little" we had lost.  Someone had really stolen something that little?! A FLEECE BLANKET!  Worth not even $5?!  I don't know what is worse, that our society has stooped so low to steal so much, and that our society has stooped so low to steal so little.

Will someone please explain to me why a grown lady at a football game takes off with a fleece blanket that is not her own?  I'm giving up on humanity!


FOR YOUR WEEKEND READING:  

+ If you're new around here (Welcome SOML readers!) these are some things you oughta know.
+ I've been thinking this week about how to balance a full time job and a blog.  So far I'm not doing it very well. Suggestions?
+ A year ago I wrote this post about joining Instagram.  Oh my, it's already been a year of Instagram goodness?!? (Follow me: @thelifeofbon)
+ We're three weeks into the school year, and the angels are at it again!
+ It's been awhile since I've laughed this hard at a blog post- a hilarious entry on the most ghetto version of Craigslist you will ever see.

BOOK REVIEW: LIFE OF PI

BON'S BOOK CLUB:  THE LIFE OF PI

2013 Book Club Schedule
February:  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
March:  The Fault in our Stars by John Green
April:  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
May:  Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
June:  Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres
July:  The Help by Kathryn Stockett
August: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
September: Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls September 26
October:  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
November: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
December:  We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver'

I apologize a million times for being late on this book club.  With the madness of moving and starting a new job and getting hit by a car it was all I could do to remember to eat this month, let alone read a book for book club.

But I guess in some ways that's all just an excuse because when I am really, truly engaged with a book I read no matter what.  I find the time because I am hooked on the book and nothing can stop it so when it comes down to it I didn't read Life of Pi on time because I didn't like it enough, and that's the truth.

That's not to say I didn't like Life of Pi, I just didn't like it enough.  The first 100 pages are slower than molasses.  That being said, I also found them interesting. question mark. Not interesting enough to keep me running back to the book, but interesting enough for me to not want to skip over them.  I especially loved Pi's struggle with religion and his desire to follow SO many religions.  I loved him because of how open minded he is.  The idea of a 12 year old boy being committed to several different religions because he sees good in them is just so endearing to me.

My favorite part about the book is the connection between Pi and Richard Parker.  I wonder if I would have read this book a year ago if I would have liked it as much as I do.  I like the book because I connect with the human-animal relationship and see it as something that can be very special, but I only feel this way after living with my mom's dog and consequently falling in love with my mom's dog.  Before that I wasn't much for animals, so I wonder if I would've thought the book was all just a bunch of hooplah?  I love the idea of Pi needing Richard Parker for survival- the complete dependence they have on each other is very sweet.

What did you all think of the ending?  I know a lot of people don't like it, as if it seems to discredit everything that happened to Pi.  I personally love it.  I love when authors give readers a bit of power over the story- as if they are allowing us to help them in writing it.  I love that we don't know for sure if the animals are literal or symbolic, but the point is it doesn't matter because the feelings felt from the story are real, and that's what's important.   In Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried he has a chapter where his daughter asked him if all of his war stories are true.  He explains the complexity of the situation because sometimes a story can be more "true" than the truth because it represents so accurately the way that people live, feel, and act.  Whether or not it "happened" becomes moot because it represents reality.  I love talking about this with my students when we read Things They Carried and usually we just go in circles because the idea is too complex for them to wrap their minds around, "So is it true or not?!?" is the question they always want to know after a 30 minute discussion of how it doesn't matter.  Ah, children.

Hopefully it has made some sense to you, and if not that's fine too, but the point is to me it doesn't matter if Pi's story of survival is "real" or not because the story is still real.  Whether or not there was a literal tiger on the boat with him the truth is he felt great love and tenderness for animals who in the end saved his life- whether is be literally or symbolically.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, but with the suggestion to read it during a slow time in life.  January or February seems the perfect month to digest a book like this, definitely not August when everything is so insane.  I loved the prose in the book;  I thought the writing was absolutely stunning.  It just requires time to read and appreciate.  The author rings very true in the way he describes things and maybe that's why I loved it.  I also thought the movie did an excellent job of accurately portraying the book.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite excerpts:

People move because of the wear and tear of anxiety   Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others.  Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that they might do all right but not their children.  Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere else.

Alright, now tell me all what you think of the book!  If you wrote a post leave the link in the comments and I'll make sure to hop on over and read the review.

AND... get reading for September!  September's book is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and we will be discussing it on September 26.  It doesn't matter if you've read all of the year's books for book club or none of the books, join in for September!

CURRENTLY

CURRENTLY....

Stressing me out: 

-Adjusting to my new school and the new students.  I love my B days but my A days are a train wreck in progress and I am giving myself ulcers wondering if I will ever settle in like I did at my old school.

- Finding furniture and other missing essentials for our new apartment.  We've had two apartments before but I am over the used unmatching furniture.  I want my apartment to look like a grown up's apartment, not a little kid's apartment!

Making me cry:

- Walking down the hall after lunch today I saw a kid that looked just like one of my favorite students from last year.  My heart ached just a little bit as I thought about him and wondered if I would fall in love with students here the same way I fell in love with my Copper Hills kids.  As I was looking at the kid I couldn't help but think more and more how much he looked like my former student until I realized... IT WAS MY FORMER STUDENT!  Then, I saw standing right next to him another fave student and what do you know?  The two hood rats had broken into my new school and staked out the hallways to find me.  I about dang near burst into tears right there in the hall and I gave them big inappropriate hugs because gosh, I love those students.  We only had but two minutes to chat because a class was waiting for me but they promised to come visit again this time BEFORE lunch so we could chat during lunch together.   They made my whole day. I walked away from those two boys with my heart feeling light and a renewed sense of purpose.  My students at my new school might not love me yet, and I might not love them back yet, but we will.  We will.

The two boys in the middle were my surprise visitors today.  

Addicted to:

- Dirty Diet Cokes from Sonic.  Sonic is right next to my school and drinks are half off between 2-4, my, how perfect!  I stop every day for $1.25 diet coke with lime and coconut to my heart's content.  It's a good life.

Making me laugh:

A student's answer on The Crucible study guide.

My question:
"How does your knowledge of the setting, time period, and the lives of the Puritans help you understand the way these characters are acting?  How do you see their circumstances reflected in their character?"

His answer:
"From what I understand they are all crazy."

Reading:

-Life of Pi (trying to be ready for Friday's book club!)

- Bloom (by blogger Kelle Hampton.  I don't love the book so far.)

- Why Men Marry B****es.  (At the suggestion of my cousin.  Still trying to figure out if she is sending me a hint.)

Resisting:

-Greg's pleas for a puppy.  We miss Buddy at my mom's house and Greg is begging for a pup of his own.  I won't have a dog that sheds and our apartment makes us pay an extra $50 month for a dog so I hardly think it's worth it.  Still though, I miss having a dog excited to see me when I come home and someone to go on long walks with me while I clear my head.  Is it worth it?

Missing:

- My sister in Germany.  I'm tired of her not living in this country.  Today for a blessed minute I caught her on facebook chat in between fifth and sixth period and we gabbed for a minute before I had to go.  She is 8 hours ahead of me so you can imagine that by the time I get home from work at 4 pm our window to chat is over.

- My little sister.  She is dating a boy quite seriously so... you know.  I never see her anymore.  Mary, answer my texts to play tennis already!  I miss you!  (Think the public calling out will work?)

Loving:

- Blogging.  The past few weeks I have re fallen in love with blogging and find myself bursting with things to write about.  All writing block is temporarily out the window and I am loving coming to this space every day to check in, read comments, and interact with readers.  Thank you all so much for reading- the community here is amazing!

Wanting:  

- A nap....And a nap I shall get!  

PEACE!

If you're not already in on it, come join the party on:

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Classroom personalities

We're two weeks and one day into the new school year and a certain degree of routine and comfort is starting to emerge.  Every morning I look in the mirror and say "You are a strong confident woman and these hoodlums will not get the best of you."

Kidding.

Maybe.

It continues to be a bit tough to adjust to the new school, but it is getting better every day.  Each class is starting to develop its personality.  It's the weirdest thing about teaching that is sometimes hard to describe to non teachers.  Not only do students have their own attitudes, quirks, and habits but individual classes too.  That's why when I think back to my fourth period senior class last year I almost start to cry because the class somehow developed this attitude of total love and cooperation and respect and, gosh, was it hard to say goodbye.  I wonder if I'll ever attach myself to students in the same way that I attached myself to my Copper Hills Students.  It's possible, right?

Personalities so far:

2nd period/ Seniors:  My "I don't give an eff" class.  They're not disruptive or disrespectful, they just act bored with everything.  We're going to read a new book?  Whatever.  You don't have our papers graded yet?  Whatever.  You are going to do a back flip on a live tiger right in the middle of the classroom?  Whatever.  I've had a hard time getting them excited about the book and project so far but they sit quietly and do their work, so it's hard to feel justified in complaining much.

3rd period/ Seniors:  My "cool" class.  You can kind of tell that these kids are the cool kids in the school.  They are social butterflies and it takes about five minutes to get them to get working at the beginning of class because they're all just yapping away.  I like that they like each other and they seem to like me and the class, but sheesh!  Just shut up already!  They are also cell phone addicts, which I suppose goes along with their social obsession- today I took away three cell phones.  They just can't put them away.

4th period/ Seniors:  My "what's going on?" class.  I don't know if they are really that clueless or if they just act that way for attention.  I feel like at least a dozen times a class period I have someone shouting out to the whole class, "What's going on?"  "What'd she say?" "What page are we on?" "What's the date?"  They are more disrespectful class than any of my classes last year and definitely the most disrespectful senior class I've ever had.  They just don't stop talking-  when someone else is talking, when I'm talking, when I'm giving a quiz.  I lost it a bit with them today.  I had had enough so I raised my voice enough to let them know I meant business, said a few choice words, and then laid down the law.  They shut up and worked the rest of the period.  Let's see if it carries over to next class period.

5th period/ Juniors:  My heaven sent class.  Ah, my juniors!  My one shining, beaming class of juniors.  They are they joy of my teaching schedule.  Juniors are the perfect age- they know the high school drill but they're not rushing out the door yet.  I feel like by junior year they are settled into their high school awkwardness and just accept it for what it is.  Plus I get to teach Gatsby to juniors and that's enough to keep me teaching them for years.  This particular group of juniors is just like all the other junior classes that I have- smart, funny, mellow, anxious to please.  Give me a class of juniors and I'll teach them til my throat is sore and my feet are throbbing and I'll still beg you for more.

7th period/ AP Literature  My silent smarties.  I'm scrambling a bit to figure out the AP curriculum, but I'm really enjoying my nine senior geniuses in the meantime.  There are so few of us that we sit in a circle and talk about the book and go over past AP tests and muddle through tough essay prompts.  I stress about the class and how it's going to go every day but that doesn't mean that I'm not totally falling in love with these guys.  They are all quiet and shy about their brilliance and it's sort of endearing.  I know they know the answer but they never answer until I call on them by name and then they'll just nail the right answer.  Smart cookies.

8th period/ Seniors:  My fun class.  Last period of the day classes can be a disaster because everyone's hyper and riled up and gosh why won't kids shut up at 1:30 in the afternoon?  Next time you look at a clock and it's 1:30 think of me and know that somewhere I am battling a group of rowdy teenagers.  Still, despite their rowdiness, these kids know when to shut up, when to pay attention and when to hop in on the discussion.  I can already feel us starting to create classroom magic.  Yesterday I was reenacting a scene from Lord of the Flies where Jack is about to kill a pig and I looked around the room real quick and noticed that all kids were totally engaged, watching and listening with interest.  Classroom magic, my friends.

Peace!

Why do blogs suck?

First off:  I'm sorry, mom.  You see guys, my mom doesn't like it when I use the word "suck."  She likes the word "crummy" instead.  But we all know that "Why are blogs crummy?" does not carry nearly the same punch as "Why do blogs suck?" (Unrelated but semi interesting: Other fairly harmless words I was not allowed to say growing up: shut up, crappy, piss.)

But back to the title!  I've noticed lately that some of my favorite blogs kind of suck lately.  And I am wondering why?   I used to read some blogs every day no matter what, and now it's all I can do to check in once a month with them.  I can't exactly put a finger on why I stop reading them, I just stop feeling engaged or connected or something so I stop reading.

 

9 Reasons I May Possibly Stop Reading a Blog? 

(There are lots of question marks because these are all just educated guesses as to why I stop reading... it's honestly so hard to put a finger on it.)

 

 

1.  Too much gushy with the boy?  I get that you're in love, but sometimes this gets overplayed and I get kind of bored of it and want something more interesting?  Not that being in love isn't interesting, but I hardly think your significant other should be the most interesting thing about you.  I will generally disengage if I think a blogger talks about her significant other too much.

2.  Too much sponsoring?  I think this one is pretty huge as I have watched several of my favorite blogs rise in popularity and then fall victim to the ubiquitous sponsoring demons.  I will say, though, that balancing blog and sponsorship/ blog "business" is an extremely difficult task so I'm certainly not blaming anyone.  When someone is offering you money/product to post about something it is hard to say no, because you know, bills...  Also most bloggers who are at the point to receive sponsorships have put in an absurd amount of hours to get there so maybe it feels good to finally receive a bit of compensation?  Still though, I believe that a blogger must maintain some balance.  I usually schedule two sponsored posts/giveaway/not authentic writing posts a week but am trying to take it down to one as lately I have felt my blog has been too "sponsory".   I can honestly say that I have stopped reading several blogs because it was never the blogger anymore, it was constantly someone else posting on the blog or a giveaway or review.  Now, I'm not going to come at the blogger because I know exactly how difficult the balance is and I respect the work they put into their blog.... I just might not read  anymore.

3.  Inauthentic feel?  This one is maybe more difficult to identify but I guess sometimes I just feel like a blogger isn't talk to me straight.  In real life I gravitate toward people who are straight forward and honest.  Or "real" as we may term it in the blogging world.  Likewise, I gravitate toward the same type of blogger.  I think a blog may start to become inauthentic for a lot of reasons.  Sponsorship certainly plays into it- I get tired of a blogger trying to sell me that I don't believe they themselves actually like that much.  I think more bloggers need to say no to endorsements they don't agree with or post a negative review of the product.  This summer for the first time I received two products that I refused to endorse because I would never recommend the product to a friend so I felt shady recommending it to readers.  It was pretty uncomfortable telling the sponsor (after I had received the product) that I wouldn't post about their product, but it felt better to me than trying to make up some crap to feed the people that read this blog.  People that I respect and am so completely grateful that read this blog.

It's not just the sponsorship thing though... sometimes I think a blogger may start to get inauthentic when they start gaining an audience just because they don't want to offend anyone.  Negative comments suck and people talking trash about you on the internet really does sting, so I think some people just stay on the "nice fence" to avoid offending anyone.  Unfortunately, to me at least, this is also boring.

4.  Too many baby pictures?  This kind of goes along with #1.  I think it's great when people have babies, but I don't think it should change the whole tone of the blog and I don't think what was once a fashion blog or a teaching blog or a recipe blog should become a baby blog.  It is interesting that you have a child, yes, but I don't think being a mom should now become the most interesting thing about you.  One of my favorite fashion bloggers who gained a huge following now just posts random, occasional pictures of her kid.  It's not interesting to me anymore and her outfit posts are few and far between.  I started following her for her outfits, not for her kid.

5.  No other hobbies/ work? This one is truly confusing to me as it seems to make absolutely no sense but sometimes I feel like the people who have the most time for blogging are the least interesting bloggers?  You would think that all the extra time to blog would lead to better content, but it doesn't seem to.  This is the case with me, too.  This summer I had huge plans to focus on the writing on my blog, learn something about taking pictures, pitch to a few sites that I want to write for.  Instead, my July traffic was the lowest its been in six months and I could barely bring myself to do anything with my blog- and I had all the time in the world.  On the contrary, once I started up school again and my life became every version of stressed and frantic possible- the quality of my writing picked up and so did my traffic.  It seems like the busier I am with life the busier I am with my blog and the more successful the blog is.  It's the worst kind of Catch-22 imaginable!  There have been a few blogs I have followed where the bloggers has been able to quit her job or stay at home with her kids and for whatever reason the blog just doesn't engage me anymore.

6. Too many pictures of  herself/ narcissistic?  I get that blogging by nature is a narcissistic pursuit, but I do think a blogger can be too into themselves.  I get it.  You're wearing a bracelet and heels.  I don't need twelve pictures of that and then fifteen pictures tomorrow of your different jeans.  Maybe this bothers me?  With some bloggers I don't seem to mind as much as with others, so there is nothing definitive here.  Help?

7.  "All I do is drink"?  I know I'm going to get some guff for this one, but if I'm blogging in the name of honesty here I will say that constantly drinking/talking about drinking/ posting pictures of drinks turns me off to a blog after awhile.  I don't care at all if bloggers drink, but I guess I could compare the way some bloggers talk about drinking to the way some bloggers talk about their kid.  We get it.  You like it.  Now talk about something else.  I certainly don't need to see a picture of your drink every single post just like I don't need to see a picture of your baby every single post.  If I feel like a post is too "drink heavy" I inevitably start to read less. There are more exciting things for me to read about than what a blogger drank Wednesday-Sunday night. 

And now I wonder if there is something seriously wrong with me for comparing having a child to drinking.  Surely they are nothing alike. Or are they?  I've never done either.

8.  Too rich for my blood?  I suppose this one has to do with money, but it also just has to do with the overall attitude of the blog.  Sometimes I get the feeling that a blogger is too "rich" for me.  Everything they wear is expensive and I would never be able to buy without first puking my guts out from pure guilt/ gluttony.  Even if a blogger isn't rich they sometimes start to "feel rich"- they don't return comments or emails or tweets or they look too cute all the time?  It's weird but I like to see my favorite bloggers looking less than stellar sometimes.  Maybe?  None of this makes sense.

9.  Too many sheep?  A lot of blogs are the same as other blogs.  I generally stop reading a blog if I don't feel like it is bringing anything new to the great blogging table.  A blog doesn't have to be edgy or controversial for me to read it, it just has to provoke me or stimulate my mind in a way that other blogs don't.  I guess in our age of "anyone can get rich off of a blog!" there are a lot of sheep blogs.  You know, bloggers who like to shop at Target and do DIY on the weekend and "I've got a great new recipe to share with you that I just found on someone else's blog!"  I guess if I don't see anything real original or fresh in a few month period I stop reading.

Alrighty.  I'm done.  I think?  What about y'all?  What has made you stop reading some of your faves?

Labor Day Bizness

It's Labor Day!  Which means that no one goes to work in this country.  Now ain't that the darndest thing?  Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to have the day off.  I'm going to sleep in, try to make some kind of order out of the new apartment and maybe hit up a movie.  And then it's only a four day work week.  Life is good.

 

A couple of Labor Day items of business...

 

1.  Winner of the August group giveaway is Karen Thuen Hansen.  Congrats Karen!  Be on the look out for emails from me and August's sponsors.

 

2.  Book club discussion for Life of Pi was supposed to be last Wednesday.  But then I didn't finish it due to moving/ starting new job/ other stressful life happenings.  I'm sorry for being a slacker.  New book club date for Life of Pi will be Friday, September 6th.  The book discussion will usually be the last Thursday of the month but Halloween, Thanksgiving and December 26 all fall on the last Thursday for the month, so we'll just shoot for a day close by.

 

February:  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
March:  The Fault in our Stars by John Green
April:  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
May:  Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
June:  Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres
July:  The Help by Kathryn Stockett
August: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
September: Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Discussion September 26)
October:  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
November: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
December:  We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

 

If you have finished Life of Pi for August go ahead and get started on Glass Castle. It's one of my absolute favorites!

 

 

 

 3.  Have y'all heard of Brickyard Buffalo?  Basically it's the best thing that ever happened to shopping.  It's an online pop-up shop that features awesome vendors and their products at a discounted price. Each sale lasts just a few days and quantities are always limited so basically if you see something you love you just buy and don't think twice.  Luckily prices are low enough that it shouldn't break the bank.  This week for seven days only they are offering free shipping which NEVER happens, so go buck wild chicas!  I have been living in this pair of leggings since I got them- I can wear them up for going out or wear them down for pjs... anything goes!



 

And of course they have other amazing things in their shop...

Make sure to take advantage of the free shipping this week!

www.brickyardbuffalo.com
facebook:  www.facebook.com/brickyardbuffalo
instagram: @brickyardbuffalo