Yo

There are not a lot of good commercials anymore. Luckily, we live in world where DVR allow us to pause and skip all the annoyingly bad commercials. Every now and then there are still a few that are noteworthy. Personally, I like the new VW commercials and I think the Gieco commercials are awesomely funny. I can't believe that I am about to say this but I would highly recommend watching ESPN for the commercials. 

That being said, yesterday, Bryce and I were to pretending to act like "gangstas". Don't ask what sparked this silliness, however, I am pretty sure that we sounded more like "wangsta's".  As we were "pounding it" and saying things like "Yo, Hommie",  we were reminded of  a  fun commercial with Yao Ming several years ago. 

An oldie but a goodie! I remember laughing every time I saw it on TV. What are some of your favorite commercials? 

The Things They Say

Maxwell, my special student, brought in a Hannah Montana CD for "Free Time Friday". Sounds harmless, Right? That is what I thought. It had been a couple weeks since the last proposal, maybe he had moved on, maybe he was realizing that it just was not meant to be. I was completely wrong. Here is the scenario:

"Guess what I have?" Maxwell said, as he quickly flashes a CD from his book bag.

"Hmmm, did you bring something for free time?"

"Yes, can you guess what it is?"

"Hmmm, is it a UVA football?"

Maxwell is a big UVA fan, so his face lit up when I mentioned his team.

"No," he responded.

"Is it a new sudoku puzzle?"

"Nooooo," Maxwell said.

"Okay, I give up, Maxwell, what did you bring?"

"It's a Hannah Montana CD," he exclaimed!

"Wow, that is way too cool! What a great idea! I can't wait to listen to it. Can I see the CD?"

He handed me the CD and I open it up. First, I read the song titles and the messages. Then, I checked out the pictures. I have never seen a Hannah Montana CD before, so I noticed that one side had pictures of Hannah Montana and the other side had pictures of Miley Cyrus. Apparently, I am out date on the wonderful world of teen pop so I started to ask questions.

" Now, I know that this is Hannah Montana. Who is this?"

With much anticipation, Maxwell explained that it was Miley Ray Cyrus.

"Oh, that's neat. Thanks for sharing it with me."

At this point, most of the class had joined into the conversation. Even Mrs. Manning, my super wonderful assistant chimed in.

"Hannah Montana is a very cute girl."

Matthew blushes. Then turns to me and says:

"Mrs. J, I think that you look like Hannah Montana."

Please, try and contain yourselves from laughing too hard.

"Well, Maxwell, I am quite a bit older than Hannah Montana but thank you very much. That is so nice," I said.

I couldn't resist smiling, wouldn't you? Anyways, Maxwell began to feed off of this comment.

He held up Hannah Montana's picture. "Your hair looks like Hannah Montana's"

I showed him that my hair is brown and I pointed to some pictures, then explained that my hair looked more like Miley's hair. I don't know why I said this but at the time it seemed to make complete sense.

"Your right, It does look more like Miley Rays's hair," He agrees.

Since this conversation, Maxwell, has started referring to me as Miley Ray. No lie, when I walk by him in the classroom, I hear things like "Hi Miley Ray", "Will you help me, Miley Ray", "What did you do last night, Miley Ray?"Miley Ray is so pretty", "She is my girlfriend", and "I love you, Miley Ray." Maybe I am just reading these signals wrong. Personally, I like that theory. There is only one flaw with it. When he says these things, Maxwell looks directly at me while smiling and giggling.

Ultimately, I think it is important to recognize that there are positives to this new association. When Maxwell tells all the principals that he loves Miley Ray Cryus and that he is planning to marry her one day, they don't directly associate that with me! I think that merits a sigh of relief, for now!

Side note:

Has anyone noticed that it is impossible to talk about Hannah Montana or Miley Ray Cryus, without saying their whole names!? Does this seem slightly annoying to anyone else?

Don't Stop Believing

In case that you have not figured out from my profile picture, I should mention that we are baseball fans. Specifically, we are Red Sox fans. Boston fans are the best fans you will ever meet. We are not your typical fare weather fans, ether. We supported the Sox through the all highs and lows. Trust me if you know anything about the Sox, there were many years of lows. It would take hours, maybe even days to even properly explain all that we have been through.

Have you ever seen the movie "Fever Pitch"? Well, that pretty much sums up our story minus some of the extremes.  Bryce's dad took his family to Fenway Park when he was a kid. Needless to say that is all it took for him to be hooked. Secretly, I think it was requirement to a become Red sox fan to marry Him. I am pretty sure that it could have been the deal breaker! 

Anyways, It has certainly been an exciting ride. Even after many years of disappointments and heart-wrenching games with the evil empire, we kept the faith, we cowboyed up and we hung with the idiots! We witnessed the greatest come back ever! In 2004 and 2007,  we celebrated with the champs!  With all of that being said the sox will always hold a special place in our hearts. As Boston fights for the ALCS in game 6 and hopefully game 7, I think Journey's songs says it best, "Don't Stop Believing".

Here are some of our favorite highlights with the sox. 

Bryce is extremely excited about the amazing 7, 8, and 9th innings of Game 5 against the Rays! Like I said, we will never give up!

The Costco Way

The Johnson family has an addiction. I do not know that I can adequately describe the extensive amount of time that we spend feeding this addiction. This addiction not only includes us but the entire Johnson family. Bryce's parents, Billy and Frances are addicted. Bryce's brother, Chad is addicted. His girlfriend, Kim, is addicted and they live in Georgia. I have heard that the first step in facing an addiction is admitting it. So here it goes..... 

We are all addicted to Costco! 

Some of our first dates were at Costco with the Johnson Family. It is just too hard for a girl to resist a hot dog and a very berry sundae. That is just the beginning,at lunch and dinner time they give your free samples of new foods! Who can beat being able to buy enough toilet paper to take care of a couple of small armies. Let's recap,free food, toilet paper and a hot dog. All this in one shopping trip, Oh boy! Plus, you can't forget that each month, they send out coupons with even more discounts. That is just the icing on the cake.  

We happen to love Costco so much that we own the " Costco Way" cookbook. Conveniently, the recipes include items that you can only get at Costco. It is good thing that we shop there a lot. This weekend we made one of favorite recipes from the cookbook, Barbecue Chicken Pizza Bagels. As you can see this is a yummy treat! It would be great for a movie night, community group/bible study or the big game night. 

Here is the recipe: 

2 ounces of chicken breast meat (you can cook it or use canned chicken)

Sliced Bagels

Barbecue sauce

Cilantro

Green onions

Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Get the cookie sheet ready, spray it with some veggie oil. Place the bagel sliced side up. Spread a good amount of BBQ sauce on the bagel. Put the chicken on top of the sauce. Sprinkle lots of shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime, chop up the green onions and cilantro. After cheese is melted and the bagel looks crisp, sprinkle green onions and cilantro to finish the recipe off.  

I would love to know what you think of this delicious recipe!

Watch Out Obama

There is a new presidential candidate in town. It might just be someone that you know. This is one campaign story that you will not want to miss. You will be in for a little surprise.

Just copy and paste the link. Then tell me what you think....

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Cspplf1boe1Cszdf&altl=Kpiotpo

It is obvious that the "Mystery" candidate is creeping up from the bottom of the polls! Who will you be voting for?

Why Have I Not Tried This

Scouring the windows for prey, rubbing his neck against the corners of all the furniture, munching on food, sipping water, chasing the dog away... 

Who knows what was actually on BJ's agenda for today? It must be exhausting. Just another manic Monday. I have always thought that pets did not like exercise. This definitely looks like Yoga to me. In reality, I will never know what this cat does all day. I just can't help wondering why it is that I have not tried this before.

You have to admit it does look comfortable!