what are grandmothers driving these days?

Well in the case of one grandmother I know, aka Aunt Rose, it would be a really cool red Corvette!! She took me for a ride when I was up in PA, it was great fun! You shoulda seen us --- two cool chics in one hot car~!

BIRTHDAY GIRLS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHEY AND CONNIEMOM!

Cheyenne, who was in 2nd grade when we all got together turns 18 on Sunday!

Shiza Minelli.

ConnieMom told me last night that she turns 39 on Sunday.


Party next weekend. Post as comments what days you can make it, and where we should celebrate.

New Poll Today!

And as always, here are the results from the last one.

Where should ConnieMom and DaddyMike move when "the kids are grown"?
Condo in the city 0% 0

New Zealand 40% 2

Beach house in Maine 20% 1

Anywhere but Georgia 0% 0

Stay put; I'll be needing a place to live after my divorce... 40% 2

total votes: 5

Let's vent about those Roomies!

With everyone back in school, I thought it might be fun to share a bit of your college experience by posting your best (or worst) TRUE roommate aggravation story to the blog! Post pictures too, if you have them... but, um, remember --- this is a family blog!

The best part --- anyone who posts a story will be automatically entered into a random drawing for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. No kidding. I get gift certificates as perks from my Amazon Visa card, and I have one right now in my possession that's up for grabs. I'll give you till the end of September before the drawing.

I will probably put up a poll for voting on the best story, just for fun, but the gift certificate drawing will be random, and not based on the poll winner. After all, our voting is known to be suspect!

Also, grownups are invited to post their stories too. Veronica & George, you can just make something up if you want in the drawing.

So give it a shot! After all, misery loves company, and I KNOW there is SOMETHING on Amazon you've been wanting...

Emissions Testing!!!

Thanks to everyone who got a car emissions tested for me! I registered the vehicles on-line. I expect to have the new tags within a week or so. Be sure to pick yours up before the end of the month.

Speaking of emissions testing, here's a tip for Uncle Sid & Aunt Boonya --- the Toyota Prius fails the Georgia emissions test!! See article here. Boy, is that ever DUMB! Leave it to Georgia!

Creative MP3 Charger?

Hey family--
for those of you at the house, I think I may have left my Creative charger there, somewhere in my room (most likely plugged in) becuase I can't find it here. Will someone be so kind as to check for me?
Thanks,
Kacie

Only 3 more days for me

I'm moving out on Friday.
Back to the big city.
I am going to miss everyone.
I know I've not been around much this summer between work and Ethan, but I really will miss you all.

I just thought I would say that.

notes from mum

Just a couple of things...


Reminder: Don't forget, I'm going to PA tomorrow and will be coming home on Sunday. Emma will be watching George tomorrow night, Mike will be back on Friday.





Lost & Found: Someone left their 3-pack of DS games between the cushions of the couch. I bet I can guess who it was! I put them in the drawer in "my" end table in the living room.




Reward: I'm opening up the challenge --- $50 to the person who can teach Chopper to fetch! If you work in a team, you can split the reward.


and finally.....

Oops: Happy Belated Birthday to Aunt Boonya~~!! Her birthday was on the 6th; sorry to say I quite forgot. Well, I guess it's not the first birthday I ever forgot. :-(



Maybe we will get a chance to celebrate her birthday later in the month with the other birthdays coming up! Cheyenne has the ONE birthday I never forget...

Insight into "food miles"

Trying to "eat local", and feeling badly when you can't? An interesting NY Times article on calculating the environmental impact of where our foods are grown and how they travel to us. As usual, nothing is as easy as it seems.

If you think about it, some of the same things that make shipped foods cheaper might also make them "greener". Growing a food where it environmentally "belongs" will make it cheaper to produce and potentially greener, as you don't need to fertilize and water as much in it's natural location, I guess.

Still the author isn't telling us to abandon the idea; just to be sure we calculate the entire impact of production, not just the "food miles."

Back to School!

School starts again soon; here is a list of start dates for all the relevant schools, in case you have a hard time keeping track!

8/13 - Cobb County School District
8/15 - Georgia College & State University
8/16 - University of Georgia
8/20 - Georgia Institute of Technology
8/20 - Southern Polytechnic State University

Credit cards --- what you should know

Doesn't debt look fun?

Most of you kids have gotten them --- credit card offers that sound amazing, geared towards college students. Eventually all of you will probably end up using credit cards as an adult, but before you ever do that, you need to make sure you know what you are getting into.

Here are some excerpts from a New York Times editorial that help explain our concerns about this. (Read the full article here.)

According to testimony, one witness exceeded his charge card’s $3,000 limit by $200 — triggering what eventually amounted to $7,500 in penalties and interest. After paying an average of $1,000 a year for six years, the man still owed $4,400.

That experience has become all too common as the credit card industry has stealthily adopted methods designed to maximize burdensome penalties and fees, while ratcheting up interest rates as high as 30 percent. Companies bombard unwary consumers with teaser packages that promise very low interest rates to start, while reserving for themselves the right to raise rates whenever they choose. The details are buried in deliberately arcane contracts that run 30 pages long and that even lawyers have trouble understanding.

And how about this:

Under a provision known as “universal default,” a cardholder who pays a credit card company faithfully can still be hit with a high penalty interest rate for missing payments with another creditor. In another despicable tactic known as “double cycle billing,” a cardholder who pays $450 of a $500 balance is charged interest on the entire amount as opposed to the unpaid balance.

So when you do eventually need to apply for credit, be sure you are working with a reputable company, such as your local bank. And even then, be very, very careful, and pay attention to the details of your agreement.

Vacation Pics...

Fourth of July ---
these didn't come out that great but you get the idea...

Watching the crowd gather....
Just before dark...

Showtime!



New York ---

We drove by Mammy's house in New York to see what the new folks have done with it. I could barely recognize it! Looks like they are still working on it.



Then we went sailing with Greg and Dixie. We weren't scared at all!!


Dixie teaching DaddyMike about "jibs"...



Captain Greg relaxes as the First Mate was handling the heavy work.



Punta Cana ---
Leg three of the vacation, tropical paradise! First, our room. It's kinda blurry:



View from our balcony:



And the beach was perfect. I didnt' take the picture but it did look exactly like this; we even recognized the tree. I think i posted this picture before but, oh well.



It was fun; but we were glad to get home!

Updates, updates, updates!!!

Well now that vacation is over for me, and the school schedules are soon to start up, I'm back at it with the family blog. I updated the Poll, of course, along with all of the school calendars (with one new addition, thanks to Cheyenne!) Also Mike's travel schedule.

There are a few other travel plans in the forecast for the family, too. Kacie, Cheyenne, and Veronica will be heading to Florida with their mother on Wednesday, returning on Sunday. And I'll be flying to Pennsylvania to visit Grandma and Grandpa on Thursday Aug 9, returning the following Sunday.

Choppy will be staying home of course. ;-)

Look for more posts soon!

We have a winner!!!!

After long last, we have a winner in the biggest piece contest! Of course, with a total of 21 votes, something seems a little fishy... a little "recreational voting" is suspected~

At any rate, at least I know who to give the largest piece to next time!

The Biggest Piece Which kid always had to have the biggest piece?
Kacie	23.8%	5
Emma	19%	4
Twila	14.3%	3
Cheyenne	14.3%	3
George	14.3%	3
Veronica	14.3%	3
total votes: 21

Spoiler Alert!

Final Harry Potter Book Blasted For Containing Spoilers

NEW YORK—Harry Potter fans throughout the world were shocked, disappointed, and outraged to learn last week that J.K. Rowling's 750-page...

novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, blatantly answers every looming question in the 10-year-long saga, even going so far as to divulge what happens to key characters 20 years into the future.

"The whole experience is completely ruined for me," said 25-year-old fan Ethan Clay, adding that the book builds up suspense, and then, without warning, gives away vital, plot-altering information. "The least [Rowling] could have done was put a spoiler alert or something on the front cover."

Happy 19th Birthday, Emma!
sorry i cant be there!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hope you all have fun today!!

I know it has only been like 4 days sinse i left...but im so home sick its not even funny!!!!

My First Day as a College Student

To Daddy:
um...ok
My name is Cheyenne Versaci-welcome to Walt Disney World! I am here to help make all your vacation dreams come true!
there ya go. haha

To Connie:
yes and it is true that it is nice to meet my professors before hand. i would have been a lot more nervous if i had never seen or talked to them before. so i kno its better that way. oh and my computer is a toshiba. its a pretty nice pc!

To everyone:
today was my first day of class and it went pretty well. its hard to sit there for 2 hours and 15 minutes but thats what i have to do! each day this summer semester is equal to one week in a regular semester. so in 1 week, i will have technically compeleted over a month of work. its sounds so crazy when i put it like that. but other than having long classes, they went pretty well. my professors seem really cool. and the classes are very interesting...so far. haha. today i had america's diverse cultural heritage at 9:30-11:45. we talked about what the cultural identity of the US is and then we watched a video. then in interpersonal relations (1:00-3:15), we sat in a circle (here i felt like i was still in high school) and we talked about what we had read the previous night. it was fun just sitting there listening to what people had to say about it. basically thats all were going to do. we have a couple papers we'll have to do, including take home tests. but thats like it. my other class, the GCSU student success course we dont start until tomorrow. we only have that class tuesdays and thursdays but it starts at 8. blah. well i guess thats all i have to say.
Cheyenne

I guess i should post...

yeah so im here sitting in my room being overwhelmed! today we got out of bed at 7 and went to breakfast. then we had orintaion for a few hours. then we went to lunch and then went back to orintation. it was so much info thati am a little freaked out. we met our professors and im a little intimidated. one of them already gave us homework, and class doesnt start until tomorrow! im almost done though. i took a break to go work out with my roomies! maggie is here on a softball scholarship so she has softball conditioning and i told her to make me come! i really am hoping to stick with it. if i gain the freshmen 15, it better be in muscle! all my roomies seem really cool. im stuck with them til may so i hope we all get along for the most part. well i have to get back to my studies. i also have to be up by 8 tomorrow morning so i definatly have to go. ill try and keep you all posted. by the way...i guess your wondering how i am on the interent! i got a computer yesterday! yay!
i miss you guys!
Cheyenne