Messy Monday, The Big Reveal

This is the overall final product. Notice my nice vacuum cleaner lines.



This is what I've found to be the best shoe storage. Easy access, easy clean-up.


These are the storage containers I picked up today at Target. I got one for my winter boots, one for my purses and one for my favorite navy blue sweatshirt. Oh, you know the one;) I chose containers with lids because of the dust that was accumulating on my purses and said shirt.


This is my hair curler collection that I'm quite sure rivals any Miss America in town.

This is my new bin for my infamous flip-flop collection. I decided to go all out and get something cute. And I just couldn't go wrong with the pink paisley.

I already had the container on the left. I use it to store my off season clothes. Sweaters in the summer. Capri pants and shorts in the winter. I purchased the other one today to put Lawnmower Man's extra coveralls in. Yes, he has extra. Yes, I have to share this closet with him and I'm not going to show you that side. It doesn't look bad. It just might hurt your eyes to see that many striped shirts at one time.

I also rearranged the order of my clothes. Winter clothing towards the back and summer in the front. There ya have it. I hope you got lots done today and be sure to tune in next week for another Messy Monday. I need to go and make some labels.

Messy Monday

Today I want to start a new little thing on the Big Nanny Blog called Messy Monday. You see on Mondays I don't usually work. I try to catch-up on all the things that I have to do here around the house. I want my blog to be a little more meaningful and helpful. Not that I haven't been helpful...I am the one that told you when Target was open. And I do let you know where to find the best dawgs in this great nation. But I want to do my part in the Mommy Blog World and inspire you to get'er done. Ya know, all that stuff that needs to be done, but you keep putting off. So go pick your project and get'er done. Why don't you post your project on your blog?

Here's my project:



This is the floor of my closet and it has looked like this since I got back from vacation. On Sunday mornings I'm always in a hurry and I tend to just throw stuff all over the place. So this is the project of the day and I'm making this part of the blog so I will actually get it done. Because I know that you'll all come back later to check up on me. Stay tuned for the after pic. (That white thing is a sock not my underwear.)

But for now, I'm off to Target to get some storage containers.


Tip of the day: Don't buy the storage containers until after you start your project so that you can buy the specific size you need. Today I need some containers for purses and flip-flops.

Restaurant Review, The Old Salty Dog

I couldn't go all the way to Florida and not be on the lookout for a world famous hotdog stand. So I started searching the www and found this. The Old Salty Dog was located in the area of one of my favorite beaches, Siesta Key in Sarasota. This is a picture of the wonderful sand on that beach. The sand is like flour. I brought some home in a ziploc for you to touch. Stop by and touch the sand anytime. It's in a drawer labeled...sand from Siesta Key. Not really.

Anyhoo, after we spent the day at the beach getting what I like to call a homemade chemical peel (my sunscreen issues are famous in these here parts),we headed on over to the Salty Dog. We decided to sit out on the patio area and enjoy our dogs in the sunshine. The Old Salty Dog is famous for their hotdogs because they dip them in batter and fry them. I know some of my non-hotdog eating friends are cringing. You know who you are.

So Lawnmower Man and I ordered the dogs, Medium Nanny got a roast beef sandwich and Lil'Nanny got a burger. We were waiting on our food when we noticed this guy. Look a bird. A crane. How fun.


Then he got a little closer. Lil'Nanny was getting worried. The waitress kept shooing him away but she also kept referring to him like he was an old friend.



Our food arrived and I was ready to dig into my dog. Lil'Nanny was still worried about the crane because he kept hovering over her like he hadn't had lunch yet. Here is my dog...



Medium Nanny was starting to worry as well. She mentioned that if we were at home someone would have already gotten their shotgun out and taken care of this problem. Shotgun talk at the table. So not necessary. It's just a bird. He's just part of the Florida scenery. Here is Medium Nanny's sandwich.



Oh and here is the well fed crane struttin' his stuff because he had just soared in and grabbed all of the roast beef off of Medium Nanny's sandwich. Lawnmower Man was disappointed because I didn't get this on film. But he was fast. Lightnin'fast.



At this point, the Nannies insisted we go inside the restaurant and eat with humans.

I give this dog a two out of five dogs. I wasn't really crazy about the fried dog. I know, I'm shocked by this too.

I went to church and then I killed some bunnies

Yes, friends, I'm a little behind on the blogging. So I wanted to catch you up on our Easter festivities.

So we got up at the crack of dawn because when you work at a church that does 3 services and 3 Sunday schools, you get up at the crack of dawn. Lawnmower Man presented me with an Easter present. I think he knew that I was going to have a long day on my feet and my piggies were going to need some R&R. Since I refuse to wear sensible shoes and all. Here is a picture of the Lil'Nanny and I in our Easter finery and our crazy tall, almost matching shoes.

Anyway, about Lil'Nanny's shoes. She is 10 years old and can now wear a ladies size and she is thrilled about it. I wasn't crazy about the size of the heel, but then I remembered the Easter my mother made me wear the white dress with matching parasol and mary janes. I really wanted to wear the fabulous Dyna Kids heels that I got from Kmart. She cut me a deal and said that I had to wear the mary janes for Sunday morning and I could wear the Dyna Kids on Sunday night. Since I don't want Lil'Nanny to be blogging about me in 15 years...I decided to let her wear the heels.
And here is Medium Nanny in her Easter finery that wasn't very Eastery. She wore pantyhose and boots because she is a sensible person and did not want to be cold. I thought the dress was very cute and we found it at Old Navy for 5.99. I found it on the rack and thought it would be perfect for her. I went to find her in the store and she was carrying the exact same dress and had already tried it on. I love it when that happens. She'a a teenager and we rarely have the same opinions on clothing. I'm not going to post the picture of Lawnmower Man because we all know that he wore a striped shirt. He wears some form of a striped shirt every Sunday.

So we had a wonderful Sunday at church. At least it was a wonderful Sunday for me. And you might ask, what makes a wonderful Sunday for you? Well, #1 it was resurrection Sunday and I love this Sunday. I was having happy thoughts knowing that my Dad was probably walking around in his wing tips, waiting on my mom to get ready and he was most likely trying to sing...Up from the grave He arose! Every Easter of my childhood I have heard him sing this song on this day and I'm sure this Easter was no exception. The man is not able to carry a tune in a bucket and that makes it all the sweeter. #2 Everyone showed up for their worship care duties! I had plenty of help for all of our visiting preschoolers. I got to the service almost on time and was able to hear Radke sing one of my favorite songs. Big shout out to the adult ss classes that helped pull this off.

After church, we came home and Lawnmower made us a ham dinner. I don't cook on Sundays. (or Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays.)(And most Saturdays.) Then I settled into the big, comfy couch for a long nap.

Around 8 o'clock that night I decided that I should work on a project. My laundry room. It all started a few days earlier when I was browsing around Lisa's website and I found this. She just doesn't bring you a devotion, she gives you handy- dandy household tips too! You see I have a love of the plastic boxes myself. I also have my own little brand of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. You see when I see pictures with organizational ideas...it inspires me to clean. I guess that's why she calls it Interior Inspirations. It all started years ago when I first got my hands on one of these. Lets just say that I've labeled a few things around the house. Some people make fun of me.
So, I started wiping, moving, sorting and then I had to kill the dust bunnies that had made a lovely home in my laundry room. My cabinets don't look like the ones above but they will and they will soon. Because I have the obsessive disorder and we don't have enough money to buy the amount of therapy that I need.

P.S. Radke, I'm back on the pot. I hope I can keep my good blogging name. You might want to remember that I have a picture of you and that when I run out of material I will be forced to use.

Silly Saturday

Brianna's New Favorite Song

To the Edge of Africa and Guthries

We started out yesterday morning with a little pool time.


And let me just say right now that if my belly was this flat, I would lie down on the ground and let people bounce quarters off of it...just for kicks.

After a while in the pool we got bored and headed on over to the...


And this is what you see in the Edge of Africa. Now remember this is just the Edge of Africa.


This is a very scary pigeon. They are flying all over the Edge of Africa.



And here is one of our little friends from Meerkat Manor.


And here is a hyena. I told joke after joke and he refused to laugh.


But this girl...she thought I was hilarious. She probably is retelling my jokes today.

This is the lovely blue eyed girl with polka dots. This variety is endangered.

We ventured to the water rides. There was a sign posted with this message: You may get wet, possibly soaked.

Here we are, "possibly soaked."


And after our big safari, we headed over to Guthrie's. Because my friend, CoolShellyT from Alabama highly recommended this place. And so do I! But basically anyplace that has the words fried and chicken on the sign means we're gonna be eating there for dinner.

(The Edge of Africa is located inside Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL.)

Hello, my name is Big Nanny and I'm a Targetaholic

I don’t know any other way to say it, but just to let you know right now, up front, that I have a problem. I also think that it’s important to let you know why I have a problem. Here goes…

It all started 18 years ago. I had lived in rural Ohio for two years. Need I say more, rural Ohio for two years, people. It took 20 minutes to get to the nearest mall. And it was a sad little mall. If I needed an outfit I had to go to Dancer’s Fashions. Has anyone out there ever been to a Dancer’s Fashions? Sad little place it is. Anyhoo, it was the summer of 1989, I was all grown up and I was moving back to my home state of Michigan. I had not even heard of a store called Target. Then one day I asked my Aunt, “What’s that Target place?” She responded with “Oh, it’s a good store, I go there sometimes.” So one day we went and life has never been the same. It was all innocent at first. It was located close to my workplace and sometimes I would go there on my lunch break to pick up a few things. Then sometimes I would meet my Aunt there on Friday after work. I would have me a cashed out paycheck and I was ready to buy me a 48 ounce bottle of Finesse Shampoo. I love to buy things in bulk. I hate to run out. My mom would sometimes run out of things and wake me up on a summer morning to tell me that I had to ride my bike to the store and buy her some Tide. It’s very hard to ride a bike and hold a bottle of Tide. So that’s why I hate to run out of things. I have a 12 toilet paper roll rule. I must have 12 rolls, in house, at all times. I have issues, I know. There isn’t enough money in the world to put me through the therapy that I really need.

It was October of 89, and I was a new bride. When you’re a new bride, you need lots of stuff. Lots of housey stuff and a 96 ounce bottle of Tide. Okay, it wasn’t Tide it was “Target Tide.” We didn’t have much money. Lawnmower Man and I have spent lots of time together there. We would go on Sunday afternoons and buy all of our essentials. He would buy his motor oil and I would try to put clothes and fun stuff in my cart and try to cover it with a 24 pack of TP. Sometimes it worked, sometimes he caught on. We soon had us a Medium Nanny and we would put her in the cart and she was good to go. She was a good shopper. She had to be. She had no other options. Lawnmower Man doesn’t go to Target as much as he used to because they don’t carry motor oil anymore.

We soon found ourselves in the city of Brentwood, Tennessee. We lived in the Moore’s Lane area. We moved into our apartment in June of 91. The mall opened August of 91. I was there the day it opened. Target-Cool Springs opened March 92. I was there the day it opened. Walmart- Cool Springs. I was there the day it opened. Do you see a pattern? I must be the first one in the door. I can remember special events in my life by counting back to myself and saying, “oh, that happened in 1992, the year the Target opened.” I told you there wasn’t enough money for therapy.

In July of 92, I moved south of the Target. 14 miles south. I loved my new house, but there was one thing missing. Okay, were talking TS, TN in 1992. Everything was missing. There was nothing. Big, fat nothing. Oh, unless you want to count the TS Market. It was not always the steak making, fried-green tomato serving grill that it is today. It was a stinky, raw meat smellin’, stale bread sellin’, $4 dollar milk buyin’ market. It was not cute or quaint. But that’s all we had. I only went there when I was desperate. I’m not much of a cook so I didn’t get desperate very often.

After a few years, I learned to accept my fate of living out here in the land of no shopping. I spent much of life in the car traveling to the land of shopping. That’s just how life was back then. Then one day… life started to change. It started slowly. First a McDonald’s, then a Kroger, then a bank, then a Walgreens, and so on and so on. But there are down sides to not being in the car…I don’t know the words to any songs because I don’t drive far enough to listen to a complete song. Teresa used to stand next to me in choir and I’m sure she can testify to the fact that my song word knowledge had plummeted over the last few years. But that was a small price to pay for my new convenient life.

So last week, the big day finally happened. The day I had been hoping and dreaming about for a long time. It was finally time. It was time to go to Target. And now I have had a full week of livin’ 3.5 miles from the land of red shirts and khaki pants. It’s oh such a very fun place.

Here a few things you might have heard people say to me over the last week…

One of my friends was in Target last week and she heard someone she did not know talking on a cell phone say this: I don’t know how Angela knew it was going to open today.

Fellow co-worker hollered over to me in Target and said: How many times ya been here this week?

Sunday School classmate hollered over to me in Target and said: hey, Angela, how many times ya been here this week?

Various people at church on Sunday: So, how many times have you been to Target?

Clearly, I have a problem. My hunch is…I’m not the only one. And 10 years from now I will be saying…Oh, Medium Nanny, she graduated in 2008, the year the Super Target opened. Someone needs to pick me up on Friday night and take me to our local chapter of Target Shoppers Anonymous. Of course, you’ll have to pick me up under the bullseye. And just for the record, I've only been 3 times.

And today there will be much rejoicing in our land...

Yes, girls. It's open. Yes, I've been. Yes, it's wonderful. It's clean, perfectly organized and cootie free! You might ask...How did you know and I will tell you...I sensed it in my spirit that today was the day. It's a gift, y'all! Happy shopping!