Monday, November 29, 2010

i heart faces::scenic b&w challange

This is my first entry over at i heart faces. (I heard about the weekly photo challenge from Six Cherries on Top  Love your photos, girl!) I love black & white photos, so what better week to start?

So here's my entry for this week's scenic black&white photo challenge:






















Wanna join? Enter your photo!



Wish me luck :)

Black (Like Evil) Friday

Black Friday. More like Black Hearted Friday.

We set out for two specific items: a trampoline on sale for $168, and 2 Leapster Touch Pad gamer things... We got to an area Walmart around 11:00PM, got the Leapsters and a few extra things also found their way into the cart. We had it all. All but the trampoline. The main joint gift. They were out. Shit. I say, "Well, we can just drive the 20 minutes to Osage Walmart for the trampoline. We have time. We'll check out now, and  head that way for the trampoline." Easy. Painless. We head to check out where we hear, "I can't check you out at sale price until midnight." Fuck. So we abandon our cart and haul ass to the next Walmart.

The Husband dropped me off and I high tail to the door. He parked and we would meet inside. My cell had just died, but I had his. He was phoneless, but we just knew we would find each other. (HA.) I'm convinced that all nuts of the Earth gathered at the same exact time, on this night, at this Walmart. Funny, I was there, too. Coincidence, I swear.

I get inside. People are everywhere. I practically crawl through the waves of people to the Lawn and Garden section where I hear that the trampolines are hanging out. The line is probably 100+ people long. The assertive person I am, I walk out of line straight to the front to talk to the desperate employee. She looked like she wanted to die. It wasn't even midnight yet. I found out that they had 18 trampolines left and that she was just getting ready to hand out tickets for the trampolines. She says, "Lucky you, you get ticket 1. Get a cart." YES! My "the world revolves around me" attitude paid off for once! Right. A cart. So I find a cart holding a couple bags of soil just 2 rows down...I empty it and it is now mine. MUAHAHA! I get a couple of Dads to help me load the massive box onto my cart. Not an easy steer project, but I head to the middle of the store where I just knew Husband would be waiting for me.

Instead? Instead I find nothing but a crowd. Boxes, people, aisle obstructions--everywhere. No husband. Here I am weaving through it all. I'm thinking about how I'm not going to get the rest of my list and how Husband better hope he's taking care of at least SOME items. I'm panicking to be honest. I lugged that massive box around for a good hour before I found Husband delightfully chatting it up in a side aisle with some familiar faces. Lovely. Thankfully, he got a few things, but not everything. So I shoved my cart at him, told him to get in line and took off with his cart to finish. So I nicely switched him carts and asked him to find us a spot in line while I finished up. (While we are in fantasy land, I'll add that my hair and make-up looked amazing by this point. Ha!)

I weaved in and out of hateful shoppers finishing my list. I headed back toward Husband. Waiting in line to get in line, I was in the middle of a 70+ yr old man and a younger couple. The geezer had two carts full of multiples of junk. He was in the middle of his two carts guarding his space like a pack of dogs guarding a knocked over trash can. He looked over at the couple with just a few things in their cart as they inched up--ya know, because the people in front of them moved up. Grandpa grumbles to them, "I hope you don't think you're going to cut me!" They were a little shocked. The dude asks, "What?" Grandpa repeats himself. Me being the peace maker I am, intervene of course. "I really don't think they're trying to cut you being as this isn't kindergarten." At this point he tries to peep in to explain himself. "I saw. We are all in a 3-way line for 1 cash register. Hate on Walmart for only opening 6 lanes on the busiest night of the year, not these people. There's no need to get grouchy with each other. We've all been in line, we all want to check out, we all want to go home." A few people clapped. I felt awesome. Little did they know that I was seconds from blowing up instead. Anyways, Gramps apologized, the couple laughed and all was merry.

For a minute.

We ended up in line for 3 hours. I'm not kidding-- 3 hours! Husband and I started chatting up other customers for fun. We made shopping line friends and took our frustrations out on the poor inexperienced, elderly woman that was on the register. Good times.

By the time we did check out, I was done. No target. No mall. No more. We went home, unloaded and crashed.

Until next year!

Thanksgiving Photos

For your viewing pleasure:





























These are my weirdos, and I <3 them.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Well, actually---I've been back since Friday night. I just haven't been in the writing mood, and I've had a lot of business catch up. But I'm here now! This is going to be a lengthy post with lots of pictures, which I hear is a no no...I'm all for breaking rules, so here it goes:



We had a great time together! We fished on the dock, hung out in the hot tub, napped, played wii, and  A.T.E.--as expected. My kids didn't tear anything up (unexpected), Oscar only peed in the house once, we only lost one casualty to the lake. (Mom's douchey little yorkie, Memphis. Not to worry he was fished out and dried off.) Dinner was great and no one was murdered. All and all--success.

Tuesday:

We used the first night to settle in. Ya know: unpack, change bedding, stock the refrigerator...the standard. We had Cajun Chicken Pasta for dinner the first night.














Then we spent the rest of the the night bowling on the Wii. Haven of course dominated.





















Wednesday: This night we spent a lot of time on the dock. It was so warm this night. We hung out in the hot tub, ate take out BBQ, the kids watched a Netflix movie, we fished (Mom & I drank) on the dock. Good times.











Turkey Day: Ahhh, finally! For dinner we had Turkey (duh.), Mom's burnt Mac&Cheese Casserole (sounds yuk--it's amazing! don't hate!), stuffing (not a fan), gravy, baked sour cream mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (thank you for the suggestion,  A Lovely Mother!), rolls, water-gate salad, lemon pie, chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and a cheese-ball. It was so, so, so good!






That night we went down to a Christmas light display not far from our vacay house. It. Was. Awesome! And huge! And Awesome! I'm sort of a sucker for Christmas displays. I'm the decedent of Clark Griswold.....my Dad's yard always looks like Frosty threw up all over the place. It's sorta our thing. The kids really liked driving through the display, too. Check out this display.. it's Santa & The Mrs. made out of hay bales--true mid-western style.



















We headed back to the house and got the kids ready for bed. The Husband and I then took off for Black Friday. I have no pictures of this. It wasn't the prettiest experience. I did get to tell a 70+yr old man to behave himself. I'll post separately about the experience altogether.  The Hub & I finally got home with our targeted items around 4am. We crapped out on the 5am sale-- the midnight sale was so irritating, it just wasn't worth it. We crashed out and got to sleep in. Thanks, Mom & Dad! We got up, cleaned up, packed up and headed home. My suit case still sits waiting to be unpacked. I suck.

 So, not so lengthy--I changed my mind mid-post. I'm going to break it up into a couple posts. I want you to actually read this crap, and you won't if you're bored. You're bored aren't you? Sigh.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

I was hoping to have a big sappy list of 25 things I'm thankful for--one for each day in November leading up to Turkey Day. Clever right? Well I can't connect my laptop to the wireless out here in the middle of nowhere. Bummer. We are having an amazing time here on the Lake though. It's actually been nice being "disconnected." I'll have lots to say when I get back. I wish everyone a safe and beautiful day with your friends and family! I'm going to put this phone down and stuff my face.


The Mrs.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I'm Outta Here

Lists. Checking said lists. Make adjustments to said list. Trash said list. Rewrite new list.

I. Am. Packing.

Yes, I'm one of those lists people. I'm so spacey I would never remember something as complex as socks if it's not written down. I sat up last night playing Mario making this complex two page list documenting what I should pack. Meanwhile I washed our coats, scarves (scarfs? idk..), swimsuits and what might be needed for the week's wardrobe. 'Swimsuits AND coats?' you ask...it's the Midwest--70 one day, 40 the next. Plus for the hot tub, swimsuits are a must.....no naked hot tub action this time; I know it's a bummer, but The Parents and children will be there. It could make an awkward breakfast. 

 Anyways--Packing. Usually I'd procrastinate and dread it until I'm late.... Today? Not today. Today I was up, packing and cleaning before 8am. Shocking, I know. The Husband is off taking care of business duties and Ashton and I are here packing and cleaning. I love coming home to a clean house after a few nights away...or I really don't like coming home to toys, dishes, laundry everywhere. Either way..clean house=good. I can not wait for this getaway!

One thing I'm not looking forward to: I have to give the dogs baths AGAIN---The assholes ran into the creep fest that is our woods. The woods aren't so bad...it's the neighbor that is 5 acres behind them. But anyways..both of my babies had groomer appointments Friday. They looked and smelled soooooooooooooo amazing. Especially since they were in bad shape. We're talking "did you get that dog from a pound?" bad. I should have been arrested for animal negelct. Anyways...they're trimmed, cleaned (were) and handsome now--no proof, no crime! Muahahah!  They aren't really dirty--just smell. Brats. I do have their food, leashes, crates, and toys packed...so the dogs are pretty much ready to go. Here's a couple of photos of my pretty boys:

This is Sammy. He's my baby. You can love him, but you can't have him. He's a Shih Tzu..Haven says you can't say Shih Tzu, because it's a bad word.






This is Oscar. He's a wiener dog. Original I know. He plays our less liked step-child. I try to really, really love him (I of course love him) but he ruins it by tearing up $300 worth of work supplies, peeing when I pet him, pooping by my car door, pooping right on the fucking sidewalk, throwing up on my rug....his remedial list goes on. He doesn't have it that bad... We have a love/hate relationship.





Anyways, back to packing! The next time I post, I'll be posting from relaxation. (Unless when my brother calls to tell me he wants talk "talk about something" it's something I don't want to talk about...for instance the pedophile granny he fucks older woman he is dating--like they're moving in together or he wants to bring her along. Hopefully he would have enough sense to save that one until after the holidays.--we'll save this story for another day.)


Monday, November 22, 2010

All Dolled Up...(In Progress)

Check me out...I got a new template! Like? I got it here. I'm still working on the whole header thing....suggestions? This works for now, but I want my collage image to be my header. For now, I cheat..I just added a html picture below where the header should go. (I actually don't even know what I just said) When I actually put it in the header section--it turns out HUGE. Grrr...I just can't figure it out. The search goes on!

Soon I'll be blog savvy. Anyways, it's a start...so for now, I'm feeling pretty :) .

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Thanksgiving Runaway....I Mean Getaway : )

Thanksgiving is due up in a few days. I'm REALLY excited this year! Honestly, I usually dread it. I know that's awful. Sure, I'm thankful--I'm a person who tries to be thankful everyday though. No Debbie Downer here. But...Thanksgiving usually consists of running constantly. Either in my own kitchen--which I don't really know what I'm doing, so there's smoke, pots boiling over and lots of crying--or Mom does the cooking even if we're at my house for dinner--and what's the point of going to someone's house to cook? So usually it goes like this:

  • 45 minute drive to my parents' house.
  • Spend a few hours laughing, eating, maybe arguing, crying, time-outs, maybe apologizing, hugs, miss yous, see you laters.
  • Another 20 minute drive to Husband's parents' house.
  • Spend a few hours laughing, sitting, eating, yawning (by now it's late and I'm beat), time-outs (kids are tired too...), and then we're on the road again.
  • Now it's an 1hr+ drive home filled with whining because someone (I'll probably blame Husband) forgets car pillows. Diva Haven can't get comfortable to conk out so we can listen to her snore for the duration of the trip. 
  • Both fall asleep so when we get home, they either wake up wired or cranky. Either way, I usually want to lock myself in a room for them to fend for themselves.
  • Then by the time I do get to bed, I'm so tired that I sleep like the dead--but not long enough, because you can be sure Ashton will be up bright and early ready to rock the Ironman. The dogs will whine, because they think they need to pee.
...and by this point I swear off all holidays. At least leaving my house for them.


Not this year. This year we'll be relaxing, smiling, laughing, remembering, hugging, probably a little a lot of drinking, EATING and sleeeeeeeeping. We rented a vacation home through one of my clients and we are spending 3 (count them 1, 2, 3!!) nights down on the Lake. We arrive the 23rd and come home the 26th! Plenty of time to prepare before and chill and clean up after. It's going to be....what's the word???.......FUCKING AMAZING! No it's not the beach, palm trees and tequila...but I'll sell one of my children one day and be able to experience such things :) However, there will be fishing, a hot tub, a dock, and lots of amazing photo opportunities. My Mom, Dad, and brother are coming down to stay with the four of us. I'm so excited--If I didn't say that already!


So on the down side of the getaway, we will miss dinner with The Husband's family. It's a bummer, but there's always Christmas. I will miss seeing everyone, but there's a billion of  them--dinner will go on. We went back and fourth before making the decision, but you know what--we deserve this.
We so deserve this.


..and this.

So I sort of need a favor. We are menu planning for the week--including Thanksgiving dinner. Yikes. What are some of your favorite meals--breakfast, lunch and dinner--and what is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving dinner? Recipes would be cool, too.... I know, I know... I'm an information whore. Give it to me!!! Ahhh..thanks :)




Saturday, November 20, 2010

Where Have I Been?

I've been failing in the posting department. Reason being? I've got a new addiction.

The story: I sent The Husband to Wal-Mart for gender duty devices (aka tampons) and kids' shampoo... he comes back with a Wii. I've been wanting one for awhile, so no real complaints here. Except that we're trying to save money. Christmas? House payment? Electric? Ha. His defense? Get a load of this, it gets good.. "YOU came up with the idea that either of us can make minor purchases without consulting the other if the total is under 200.00." A Wii?? $199.00. Nice moves, Husband. Nice moves. He used the rule I created to enable my shopping addiction. He's clever--one of the million reasons I love him so much.

So the Wii is pretty cool... I'm sure you all know that by now...us though--we are a little behind. Ya, we've played at friends houses, but the whole ownership thing--it's new. He bought the Mario anniversary addition so it and the sticks are red and it came with Super Mario. Right now, we are addicted to boxing and Mario. As soon as the kids are in bed we play. We've stayed up til almost 2am every night as Mario and Luigi taking on fireballs, turtles and weird little I don't know what the fucks. I suck. I die constantly. I'm a terrible partner. Sometimes it's easier to get through an obstacle just leaving me in the bubble. Haha! Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyways, I'm getting better! Weird, I used to rock the old school Nintendo Mario. You know what I'm talking about--with Duck Hunt on the B side! That. That's some sweet stuff. So anyways, the Wii has been taking my blogging time. I'll get it in check. ;)

Haven is a bowling and tennis champ. She kicks butt every time. We don't have to let her win so she doesn't break out into dramatic effect...she actually wins. We suck, but she's awesome. She runs at the tv and flings the wii stick so hard--every time I hold my breath waiting for her hand to go through the screen. "Haven baaaaack up!" has become apart of my daily vocabulary. Ashton rocks the baseball. He doesn't play long...he's usually happy playing with his action figures (Ironman holla!) and cheering us on. So all in all, the wii has been a positive addition to our family.

I was hoping to have pictures to accompany this post, but I fail. Oh well, use your *imaginations!*


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Oh Make Me Over, Fellow Bloggers & Crispy Buns

My blog needs a make-over. It's sloppy, and my header is WAY too big. I've been searching blogs lately--like obsessively--and there are some cute blogs out there! I want one. Now. Please? I want buttons, a third column, and gadgets, and I don't know what  else--in case you didn't notice I'm pretty new to the blog thing. I'm clueless. But writing makes me happy. So if anyone has any suggestions as how to fab up my blog, I'm all ears! Grateful, hungry-for-a-pretty-blog ears--that is :)

While searching said 5billion blogs, I've come across some really incredible women--and men, too, but I'll be honest--I'm bias to my gender when it comes to my following. I've found Moms who battle weight, Moms who love to cook, Moms who work constantly, Moms who are hilarious... I'm loving this blog world. I get to listen to people who I relate to, people who I could once relate to, people I would like to relate to and people that just inspire me. I get to have support in my life just by reading someone else's thoughts. I know this is nothing new.. the blog world has to be ancient by now, but it's new to me. And I happen to find it to be incredible, thank you very much. :) 
And who knows? Maybe someone will read my posts and think the same thing.

Anyways...what's been happening?


My Dad is on some hunting expedition in the middle of nowhere along with his pop up camper and generator---ya know, real camping. He's been out there "scoping" the woods for about a week now. My Mom figured he could use some company so she decided we should go down and have 'dinner' with him last night. We scarf up, glove down, button tight and head down toward camp with iffy directions. We pull of onto the dirt path and sure enough we see a campfire the size of a Volkswagen and cheesy light-up American Flag decorations. Yep, found it. All I could think was, "Good God, he's begging to be sodomized, skinned and left for bait out here..." We got out, woke the kids up (they fell asleep--still not quite adjusted to this damn time change) and headed to what appeared to be a small burning village--turns out it was just the campfire. No pictures. Major fail.

So instead I'll give you a picture of the Chief and I. I chose this pic, because it shows..his, ugh.. charisma.


Anyways, the kids were excited to see Nana and Papa and we quickly started our 5 course meal-- buns, hot dogs, chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. Then the remaining of the time was spent blocking children from jumping into the flames--seriously it seemed like they were trying to dive in to the open fire. Um, hello? Does the intense heat melting your boots and face not clue you in that it could be a bad deal if you fall in? Ugh..the moments they resemble their father. Joking, of course--it probably comes from me. So it was a decent night. Ashton thought it was cool to pee where the deer do and Haven thought it hilarious that Papa gave her a bucket to pee in.--which it was. The bucket kept slipping out from under her before she could begin to pee. We finally got the right balance and she got the deal done. We were both laughing so hard, I don't know how we came out urine free. She's probably telling her teacher all about it right now. She probably skipped the fact that we were at a campsite. Her teacher is probably contemplating reporting the possibility of no running water in our house. Good thing we squeezed a shower in before she became a zombie last night. I don't think the dirt would have helped our case. We also had a back-up coat for this morning--no smoke smell or camp-stamps anywhere.  Go Me!


Monday, November 15, 2010

Get Festive With Shutterfly (Revised)

Every year I procrastinate my seasonal duties. I'm usually still shopping that last week and sometimes even on Christmas Eve. My lights are an extravaganza--we're talking Clark Griswold.
However, the display usually isn't complete until maybe 2 weeks prior to taking them back down. My cards go out late--some probably don't arrive until AFTER Christmas. Shame. I LOVE the holidays, and I LOVE sending out holiday cards--it's one of my favorite tradtions-- but waiting til the last minute is just in my nature. Sending a holiday cards lets someone know that no matter how far, I'm thinking of them during the holidays. I also LOVE getting cards. It makes me feel all warm n fuzzy (so holla! at me!)! We collect them and put them on display through the new year. So I love the tradition? Yes. But I put it off? Yes--But not this year. I read a post this morning that has me pretty motivated. Over at GirlSunday Designs, I heard about this giveaway for bloggers. It's a holiday giveaway through Shutterfly. Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: here. They have so many beautiful designs--Christmas, Season's Greetings, single photo, multi-photo, flat, folded, gloss, matte....decisions, decisions! GO CHECK IT OUT! You can get 50 FREE (Holla!) snazzy, customized cards! I LOVE them all but this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one, too! rank among my fav! I could link them all; they're fabo! They have photo Christmas cards, Holiday photo cards, wall calendars, Hanukkah cards, canvas wall art, and so much more! If you haven't signed up yet, hurry--hurry! I can't wait to get mine! I think I'm planning on the "Santa's Belt" (5x7 folded edition) for our family Christmas card this year! I just think it's so cute! What a fantastic (and easy-peasy!) giveaway! I'm excited about this one! Thanks Shutterfly!

I'm so motivated I've started shopping! (woot! woot!) Online of course, but hey! It counts! I've started my Christmas card list, started talking budgets with The Husband (my problem--remember?).... I am on it! Let's hope this motivation hangs around for a while. Wish me luck!



Stay Lovely and GET FESTIVE! 


Saturday, November 13, 2010

Higher Learning, Being a Screw-up, Friends, Skates---What the Hell am I Talking About?

I'm doing it. I'm going back to school.  

(Whoo! Go me!) It's some of that newness I was talking about a few posts back. I'm nervous. Scared. Excited. Ready. So now I'm in the mess that is applications, enrollment, transcripts, old high school counselors, test scores--all that crap. Reading, calling, confirming. It's a job. And I've had the pleaseure of remembering that I gave up my senior year. I went from a 3.9 to a 3.0--and I didn't deserve that-- in one semester. Some of my teachers just gave me the credits; just enough so that I would pass--even though I didn't deserve to. They knew I could (should) do it. I didn't even take the SATs. My social life was WAY more important to me and I just didn't care for some reason. That and I was beginning a downward spiral--maybe more on that later. Like way later. Shame. But it is what it is, and still this enrollment process isn't as painless as I would like for it to be. It makes me wish my mom would just do it for me. I want to call her whining until she says, "Text me your info." or " I'm on my way." But I won't. I need to be a grown-up, a real one. I will do this and it's going to be amazing. Soon I'll be able to leave the business up to The Husband and I'll (fingers crossed) be a working psychologist in no time. That's right. I'm going to pay to learn mind manipulation. MUHAHAHAHAHAAA!  In a perfect world, I wouldn't have been such a wild child in school and would have started on this a loooooong time  ago. By now I would be a weird little neuroscientist experimenting on small children. (Ha. I'm of course kidding.)  Here I am though, 25-ish, picking it up and we'll see what happens. Maybe simple counseling will satisfy my need to study people. Life is about trial and error I've come to find and whether this is for me or not, a little higher learning never hurt.

I'm also excited (and freeeeeking nervous) to meet people. I'm not exactly at overflow with the galpals these days. In high school I had a lot of friends. We were all friends. I loved my class. We all partied together, got in trouble together, studied together, played basketball together, cheered for each other...I still have three amazing BFFs from high school, but thanks to life--I hardly see them. 

(Enjoy this retro prom photo from 2003)
One of my BFFs (featured in my Veteran's Day post), Rachel, is in Iraq. Thank goodness for Facebook and her access to it. Our 3rd component, Rachel (--yea, we have two Rachels..fist pump to that!--). She's in Louisiana where her Air Force hubby is stationed. Right now she's nice and plump getting ready to pop out a beautiful little niece for me! And the fourth Mamacita--Amanda. She's a busy mommy herself. She takes care of my little neice and nephew--I let her borrow them and call them hers--nice of me right? Oh, I love her babies! I love those girls. I can honestly say that the four of us will be close friends for life--no matter how often we speak. I just wish I had 'after high school friends.' Most people go off into the world and make new friends at work, in college--didn't happen for me. In present time, grown-up life--I don't really have any friendsies...all my friends that I do have are from childhood. Maybe it's because I say things like 'friendsies??' The Husband and I have friends we hang out with, but I don't really have that close girl relationship I'd like to have. Anyways, here's hoping for new, grown-up friends of my own. Oh and while we're hoping, let's hope I can hang at a college level--it's been a while since my brain has been graded. Yikes.

On another, completely unrelated note. The Husband, Haven and I (Ashton was with Nana) went to a roller rink last night for Haven's friend's birthday. It was Haven's first time on skates--ever! So funny! She fell (duh!), but got back up and tried again..shortly after falling again! Hahaha! We loved watching her fall. She really took some spills! It's was hilarious! It's awful that I think so, isn't it? Ya, I thought so. She did start to get it though. She even took a shot at the limbo line they cleared the floor for. We had a b.l.a.s.t! Here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

 Haven and myself on wheels :)
 Haven and The BFF skater-style.




















The Husband fighting the urge to push Haven down.


















 

The bi-product of pure awesomeness.



So, like me, this post was all over the place. Good for you if you made it though. You should treat yourself--pie? Bubble bath? Be creative!

Later Bloggy-Buddies,