laughter.....it's what's for dinner

OOPS! Sorry! I would actually prefer to keep my boobs.

2011-06-30T16:13:00.004-04:00

Today started out RUFF, actually the twilight zone happenings started at about 10pm last night, but whatever, point is, I shoulda known the day was only going to get worse(yet, somehow I didn't....I never do.....*sigh*).
This morning I woke up to the dog whining and rubbing herself on MY side of the bed. Uh, excuse me, I love my dog and all but I'm not the one who cares for her. The smell and sight of dog food make me throw up in my mouth(notice I said THROW UP....not just "want to throw up"....actually THROW UP). Totally serious here, can't even walk down the dog food isle in grocery store, but that's a WHOLE nutha' post for anutha' day that includes an intercom announcement of "clean up on isle 8".
So anyways, back to my dog losing her mind by thinking that I was going to feed her. I realized that she was coming to me because well, no one else was in the house. Kids were at grandparents and Craig at work in Fl(he's coming home tonight.....yay!). I figured I could at least let her out to go to the bathroom, so I did. In her haste to get outside, her wagging tail knocked over a glass vase I had sitting on the stairs(no, NOT my fault for putting it there, I'm sure someone else is to blame;) Thanks Lilly(that's my dog's name in case you are wondering why I randomly am mentioning a Lilly. I don't even know any Lillys. Well, besides the Lilly on Y&R.....whom I actually don't know). Thanks. I only wish this was the worst of my day.

But OF COURSE it 'aint! I had to be somewhere this morning by 9. I backed the car out of the garage and then remembered that I had forgotten something inside. I jumped out of car and ran back in. Um, here is where you will see A.D.D. at it's best...or worst....whatever. The second I walked in kitchen I noticed dirty dishes in the sink(have I mentioned that I also have O.C.D.?.....and probably a whole bunch of other things that end in D and are attached to disorders, but for now we will only deal with what is obvious to everyone who knows me....including the entire medical field). Of course I had to get those dishes in the dishwasher. You know, in case the house inspector came or something. After I finished, I retrieved the forgotten receipt and went to grab my keys. For 20 minutes I searched HIGH and LOW, freaking out and blaming the dog for eating my keys. Then I remembered my car was running in the driveway. Not even 8:45 in the morning yet. *double sigh* And yet again, IF ONLY this was as bad as it got....*double sigh with a double vodka on the side*

The day went pretty good from there and things were looking bright again. Until about 3pm when I was calling to schedule my "yearly" appointment with my gynecologist office. And I told the nurse I would like to schedule my yearly.........mastectomy. Silence. "Hello?" Silence. Finally "Heidi, what do you mean?" (Uh, like...hello, ALL women get yearly mastectomy's, who are you anyways? An extremely uninformed intern????) Instead: "I haven't had a mastectomy in a couple years and I need to make an appointment"
I could bore you with the rest of the conversation that read like a script right out of the "who's on first" skit with Abbott and Castello, but really, do you REALLY need to know anymore? No. No you don't. Trust me, no you don't because when I realized what I had done(and no, I have indeed NOT figured out why, I mean how, I mean WHYYYYYYYYY I would have called a PAP SMEAR a mastectomy.....), I was so utterly mortified that all I could say was "Oh, sorry, I have the wrong number"(out of curiosity what exactly WOULD be the right number to dial for a YEARLY mastectomy.....)

The end. Oh wait, it's only 5:00. Ruh Row.

Summer Colors

2011-06-10T13:44:00.013-04:00

The thing I love most about Summer is color. Specifically in landscaping and flowers. There is nothing pretty or beautiful about Winter here in the South. Hardly anything stays green, even the grass goes dormant, and everything just turns nasty. And then there's the Georgia red clay.....grrrrrrrr;(
HOWEVER, Spring and Summer in Georgia are absolutely STUNNING! So stunning that I can look past the gross red clay that I speak of....

Every Spring Craig and I both say that we are just going to plant a little because it takes so much work to keep everything alive and looking good. Every year we fail to keep that goal.
Now, for those that don't know us, Craig and I are complete opposites. We like different tv shows, we eat different foods, we talk differently, we have different humor (for some reason he doesn't usually find me funny.....or the trouble that I get myself into. I personally find it down right hysterical at times, but hey, to each their own right?), and so on. I'm sure you get my drift. We are textbook examples of the saying "opposites attract"(btw, who DOESN'T love a good 'ole Paula Abdul tune from time to time?).

ANYWAYS, having said all that, we both LOVE flowers (not sure if you knew where I was going with the whole opposites thing, heck, I wasn't sure, but I feel confident now that it was because I was trying to say that we have at least one thing that we both love to do together! HA!). I admit my obsession with gardening is more recent than Craig's, but either way we now both enjoy flowers/plants and love to grow and care for them in the Summer. Together. But I think I've now driven that point into the ground, so I will scoot on. We still disagree on the colors of them, but I'm sure I don't have to verbally say who wins that argument...

I have to say, Craig is THE MAN when it comes to getting flowers to grow and keeping them alive. He really does have a green thumb. Me? Not so much, I just copy him and then take credit for it;0.

I always like to take pictures at the beginning of Summer and then again at the end of Summer to see the growth. The following are pictures taken from my iphone, so they aren't the best quality, but I wanted to document early Summer.

Before we get to the flowers, I will share why I have a picture of a gas blower (not sure that is what it is called, but I think I've seen Craig dump gas in it, and it kinda smells like gas when it's on). Yesterday I begged Craig to "fire it up" for me because I thought it looked fun! He said no about ten times and I'm pretty sure it was that lucky 11th time that he finally agreed/gave up. Choose your battles I always say, and seriously, was this really a battle worth fighting? *Insert honest confession right here*: Ok, in HINDSIGHT Craig probably should have stuck to his guns.

WHO KNEW how heavy and powerful one of those things were(I mean, I totally didn't think Craig actually meant what he was saying during the first ten no's)??? It was worse than a 150lb dog taking YOU for a walk. I flapped around like a giant bird unable to take off. I was completely being led by the dang blower. Craig saw right away that I was in trouble and tried to get to me. But, it was too late.
I blew our brand new Calla lilies right out of the ground. Of course at the time I had no idea what had happened, all I could see was red metal, a black elephant like trunk thing that seemed to be taunting me, and grassy mulch swirling around me like a hurricane. ION:(oh, that's my initials for IN OTHER NEWS. I will use that alot. FYI. For your information.) I now know how Dorothy felt in the Wizard of Oz.

Here's a little of the destruction. Notice the beautiful yellow Calla lilies. That are no more. Last thing I'm going to say about this: Craig should have never let me near that thing. I could have lost my life. Of course this is his fault. Moving on now. Barely alive I might add.

These are our hanging baskets this year. We had them planted kinda different from previous years, so not sure what's going to happen with them, but I will post pictures as they grow.

I LOVE my elephant ears!

Here are my blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. This is the first year that we have had TONS of fruit from them, and they are AWESOME!

Knockout rose bushes in back yard. They were super tiny last year when we put them in. I am anxious to see how big they will get this Summer.

These are the knockout roses on the side of the house. They started out super tiny three years ago, and now I can't even begin to reach to the top of them.

We have three hydrangeas. This is the first year that this one has bloomed, and they are gorgeous.

I love my wild and crazy wisteria.

Go outside! Enjoy the beautiful color!

Social Media

2011-06-07T23:07:00.004-04:00

Hello, guess who? I've been thinking about givin' the whole blog thing another try. Well, maybe. I mean, it's an idea I've been tossing around. Ultimately I'm unsure of whether or not it's a GREAT idea or not, BUT, the good thing is, since when do I make great decisions daily anyways?? So, here we go. Tryin' it out. The blog that is. But I've already said that, so let's quietly move on.

I guess I should start with why I quit in the first place. Really there are many reasons, but at the top of the list is the fact that I have terrible A.D.D. As in ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Big time (just for the record, I am currently on day 6 or 7 without my adderall, so if I jump from one thing to the next or take you on a cute little bunny trail (incidentally, don't ya just love cute little bunnies?....and their trails? Oh, wait...), just push your mental ignore button....).
ADD interferes with what seems like everything in my life, and it definitely only gives me the "short term only" choice when it comes to projects/ideas/jobs/creativity... I get bored with things quite fast. Too fast. Currently working on earning the "long term version" choice, but success does not seem to be in my favor. It's HARD! I don't know how people do the same thing day in and day out for years and years and years and years, oh wait, I have A.D.D., not tourettes. Sorry (don't forget about that ignore button....).
Also, I'm watching The Voice right now, and I may start to accidentally type lyrics, so keep that i.b. quite close (have I mentioned that I like to abbreviate things? Things that only I would know what they meant? Yet, I will still do it, so pay attention, as in P.A.).

Like I said, there were many reasons for quitting the blog thing. Let's do this bullet point style to avoid the long, drug out A.D.D. induced sentences (not that I even expect anybody will even be reading this! For the 3 of you who are, here we go;)
Reasons I quit blogging:
-ADD
-Overwhelmed with feeling like I had to read EVERY person's blog that left me a comment
-Too much time
-Women are caddy, and it shows in their blogs (oh, btw, when I quit writing my own blog, I quit reading ALL blogs.....even the ones I loved;()
Finally, and probably the number 2 reason I quit:
-It seemed like it was becoming a competition. I would get "awarded" this award and that, and then felt pressure to reciprocate. This is not why I started blogging. I originally started blogging to document our life (not caring whether anyone even read it or not) and thought it would be fun to publish someday. Somewhere along the way I took a left turn and then another left turn and then....well, you get the point.

I also started blogging because I enjoy to write. I love to tell a story with a sarcastic, humor filled slant to it, but when you put that online for people who don't know you, and have never even met you to read, you open yourself up to criticism due to their own interpretations of what you write, and what they THINK you must believe or be like in real life, or what they THINK you meant. And, uh, strangers aren't afraid to tell you exactly what they think (I wonder if they DID know me, and knew that I'm not one to generally care what another thought of me, if they would still waste whatever time it took them to write their negative opinion. Probably. Just curious though).
Did I say I was going to avoid the long drug out sentences? Oops again. Heidi style. As in not Brittney style. Never mind. Moving on.

So clearly I've left out two other reasons the blog died a slow death. You SO know what I'm about to say. or write. So let's all say it together. Slowly. Just for drama. FFFFFFFAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEBBBBBBOOOOOKKKKK, and TTTTTWWWWWIIIIITTTTTEEEEERRRRR.
Good job.
And really, what is there to say about that anyways? There isn't a person reading this (and yes I know I lost one of the 3 back at Brittney, but for the both of you left....) that doesn't know the pull of one or both of these social media sources. Nuff said. And plus, I have already used up my long ADD induced sentence limit. Well, maybe. Blog entry still not over. I digress. Again.

So, this entry was intended to be a blog about social media. Facebook and Twitter. And my current opinion about them. HOWEVER, I have COMPLETELY lost focus and really have no idea what I was going to say in the first place, or even what my opinion IS, so I need to go to bed. Or wash dishes. Or laundry (you should SEEEEEE THAT pile btw....oh, and I also use abbreviations that everyone should know too. Like btw. Just thought you'd like to know that I sometimes can go with the flow. It's just not my forte).

Well, that pretty much sums it up. TOTALLY not sure what IT is, but look forward to rereading this to see if I can find it!!
Here's to hoping I gitchee gitchee ooh la la......oops, couldn't resist. Christina Aguilera. In the background. I.T.B.

Change...

2009-10-16T01:45:00.003-04:00

Just because the UPS truck was driving ME crazy too....

Gone in a FLASH!.....and thanks MOM!:-0)

2008-12-19T08:49:00.006-05:00

(This is what the UPS truck in my neighborhood now looks like after "the incident".....)

So I wake up this morning and this is the first email I get. A comment that my MOTHER had left on my previous post. Now, if anyone wants to know where I get my mischievous side....look no further.....it definitely comes from my MOM! Oh yeah she pretends to be so surprised and shocked by my behavior, but then she is constantly prodding and egging on more of it! There is DEFINITELY no doubt where the dingbattyness comes from......don't let her fool you, this could have VERY easily happened to her! The only difference is she wouldn't have written it in a post for the whole world to see!!! (I'm just crazy like that...)

hey guys........just a little story for ya on the side here....today...i SAW it with my own two eyes....yeah, that's right........the UPS man!!!.....i was watching the kids while Heidi was out and he rang the doorbell and we immediately looked out the window.........and i KID YOU NOT........he was RUNNING back to his little get-up.....i seriously mean RUNNING........now, i know at this time of the year they have a zillion deliveries......but hey.......this was different......he was running and put that get-up in gear and was GONE in a flash!.........so i mentioned this to Heidi when she got home.....and of course she was in work out clothing.....and as i saw her little tennis shoes.....and she explained to me the t-shirt she had on wasn't even as long as the shirt she had on today........i was visualizing her without pants........and , oh my word........i just started giggling and couldn't stop........it is even funnier to see her live in her work out clothes and then imagine...MINUS THE PANTS!!!........OMG!........so funny!!!....and Patricia........you are SO right.........Heidi get those books away from the fireplace...and everything else for that matter.......YOU SCARE ME GIRL!

Yeah, THANKS MOM!!!!! Scare? I don't think so. You would LOVE it if my books caught on fire and I had another "story" to tell! So stop trying to act so innnocent here....now the whole world knows where I get it from! Dare I refresh your memory of the time you were CONVINCED that someone was bbq'ing dad to eat him? I'm still traumatized by that moment..........yeah, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....that's FO SHO!!!

*So just out of curiousity.....how many of you would like to hear THAT story?? I would be more than happy to tell it........come to think of it, this MIGHT be the very moment that my life took the turn that it did......and MAYBE just maybe all of my 'incidents' can be traced back to the traumatizing day that I was told that my dad was being bbq'ed and eaten for dinner!!!!*

Christmas

2008-12-15T21:43:00.002-05:00

So Craig and I almost get a divorce every year when it comes time to put up the tree. I make him string the lights, and of course because he could really care less, he tends to just grab the string and walk around and around the tree with them making our tree look like it's being held hostage or something. I of course make him take them off and start over, ~~screaming~~ explaining to him that they need to be INSIDE the tree and wrapped in and out not just AROUND........which is where the fighting and bickering usually ~~escalates to us throwing ornaments at each other while calling the other names~~ ends up ruining the tree decorating occasion for the entire family. I tell myself EVERY year that I am not going to let it get to me, and then don't ya know I look at the tree after it takes Craig three seconds to string a twelve foot tree with lights, and I can't help myself. I lose it. I've ~~tried~~ been tempted to string HIM up and then plug him in!!

Having said ALL that, this year he actually GOT IT RIGHT!! I had been preparing myself all day to remain calm when he would inevitably "bind" our tree with lights expecting to be done, and I was completely SHOCKED and elated to see what a beautiful job he had done this year. Now why in the world did that take him eight years to figure out? Oh well, either way I love our tree, and ornament dodge ball was avoided this year!! (that in and of itself is a Zhouse miracle!!......though I felt slightly cheated when the night went off without me getting to throw even ONE ornament at him. Seemed like traditions were just getting broken left and right......)

I was taking these pictures at night and trying to get pictures of the actual ornaments, but I really couldn't get a good one so I'll just explain them. Carter and Ava L.O.V.E. ornaments. Therefore we have TONS. I am a firm believer in the tree being very fun, memorial, and nostalgic, so EVERY ornament that we have ever received or made goes on our tree every year. In order for me to get my "pretty" in, I incorporate big ornament balls in the colors of my decor, and add giant bows throughout the tree. This way I figure we get the best of both worlds. The kids have the nostalgia of all their ornaments (tacky and beautiful), and I still find a way to tie it in to my decor. We absolutely LOVE our Christmas tree, and the kids just sit and stare at it daily.

This cute little snowman was a gift from Carter. Every year his school holds a "Christmas shop" where the students can purchase discounted items for their family. Carter absolutely ADORES this tradition, and is sooooo excited to shop on his own and purchase gifts. Last week he brought his gifts home, and he just couldn't bare for us to wait until Christmas to open them up. I am so glad that we didn't wait because I love the cute snowman decoration that he picked out for me. I asked him where he thought I should put it, and he came up with this location all by himself. He was so proud and of course my heart melted watching him look for the perfect place. I think he chose a WONDERFUL location, and therefore will be placed there for years to come!!!!

Another tradition that I started last year is displaying all of our Christmas books by the fireplace. I actually put these books away for the rest of the year and only get them out at Christmas. Displaying them encourages us to read them nightly, and the kids LOVE it! To the left is our Christmas basket that I keep our Christmas cards that we receive in.

Merry Christmas!

Fun Christmas Filled Day!

2008-12-14T12:50:00.012-05:00

Yesterday we had the BEST time with our long time best friends the Dovers. We started the day by going to Drew's basketball game. It was so cute, and of course as always Drew was hilarious with his antics and looks he gave us while "on the court". (you have to know Drew to know how funny he is, and if you DO know him, you can only imagine how funny he was to watch yesterday!!)
Anyways, Robin and I decided that we were going to start a new Christmas tradition this year with the kids. Instead of the kids buying gifts for eachother, we let the kids each pick out a Christmas ornament for the other and yesterday after the game they painted and signed the ornaments and then gave them to eachother! It was soooo cute to see them working so diligently and carefully on their special gifts.

Above Drew is painting a reindeer ornament for Carter......yes the leg broke off a couple minutes after this picture, but that's what GLUE was made for!!! ha! (plus it just adds character and a memory!)

Here Ethan is painting the plane ornament for Carter. He took so much time on it. Precious!

Here is Carter's Santa for Ethan. I have to say that he was really trying hard, and he did a fabulous job!

Here is Ava's snowflake for Ethan. She painted it white, and then put glitter on it!

Okay the SECOND part of our new yearly tradition is to make gingerbread houses together. I think between four kids, frosting, and tons of candy, we MIGHT have made the biggest mess EVER!! BUT, it was tons of fun and it was my personal favorite part of the day.

Aaaawwwwww........

And TA DA! Here are the kiddos with their new ornaments. The kids had fallen asleep on the way home last night because it was late, but when we got home and tried to carry them to bed, they woke up and we couldn't get them BACK to bed until we hung the ornaments on the tree. So the new tradition was a complete success, and we had a fabulous day!!

What are some of your Christmas traditions? New ones? Old?

Promises Promises.......

2008-12-12T11:00:00.003-05:00

I promise an update this weekend, and when Christmas is over and the new year has begun, my New Years goal is to resume my blogging regimen. At first I was in a blogging funk, but by the time I came out of that it was holiday season, and all of my spare "computer time" has been shopping for "deals" online, and getting everything I need for Christmas. I HATE going to toy stores, the mall, or even Walmart at this time of the year, so I get EVERYTHING online. I am happy to say that because I am such a "deal seeker", I have saved TONS of money on gifts this year by literally shopping till I drop.....from the comfort of my living room of course!! ha!ha! (hubs isn't too thrilled with this....but that's a WHOLE other story!...ha!)
Thank you for being such sweet friends and blogging pals here. I am completely flabbergasted that y'all keep emailing me and commenting here that you miss my blog. I miss yours too, and can't wait to get back into the swing of blog world. I promise that ~~facebook~~ any unknown sources are NOT the reason for my non blogging these days. Although I do LOVE facebook, I truly have been over the top busy lately, and blogging has just had to take a back seat.

So there you go......these are my ~~excuses~~ reasons for my absence here on the 'ole blog. But NEVER FEAR I VILL RETURN!!!! muuaahhhhhh.......(my evil laugh....)

It's ALL Facebook's fault!!

2008-12-04T21:25:00.002-05:00

Okay, as I stated below I have once again "DONE IT". First of all, obviously I have been in a major blogging funk lately and last night I decided to sit down and at least START a post with a few updates. So, I did start one, and saved it to be finished today. BUT then today took a disastrous turn and I will instead blog about that.

Now, I know that most of my "incidents" involve some sort of nudity or nekkidness, and trust me, nobody is more appalled than I am about that small factor. More than that, I don't know why it keeps happening. I mean, seriously, I don't.
Having cleared that up (or at least addressing it), I will tell you what happened today.

This morning when I went to get dressed, I realized that all of my workout clothes were dirty, and needed to be washed (If I am going to be working out that day, that's what I put on in the morning instead of "regular" clothes). So I threw on a pair of jeans and took the clothes down to be washed.

Okay, fast forward to almost time to leave for the gym. I went into the laundry room to get my clothes out of the dryer. I took off my jeans and started to put on my workout pants only to realize that they were still damp. The shirt however was dry, so I put that on and threw the pants back in the dryer. Because I was in a little bit of a hurry I put my socks and tennis shoes on so that all I had to do was put on my pants when they were done. So here I am in the PRIVACY of my kitchen in my socks,tennis shoes, underwear, and my workout shirt. Yeah......You can almost SMELL the disaster coming can't ya????

I sat down to WORK ON MY POST and ended up on facebook getting all wrapped up in my stalking obsession. After about fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang. I peeked around the corner, and saw through the window the UPS truck out front. Without ANY hesitation AT ALL......, I blissfully walked to the door completely oblivious to the fact that I was missing my pants (I mean c'mon, I had SHOES on for cryin' out loud....who wears shoes without pants???....).

You're waiting with holded breath for me to realize that I was pantless before I opened the door aren't you?? Well, be prepared to be disappointed.......or appalled for that matter. I SWUNG open the door and said hello to the driver (still oblivious to no pants....). (Okay, even in HINDSIGHT I still can't recall this poor man even looking at me weird.....I really can't. I mean, I GUESS looking back he may have seemed a little rushed, but I'm not even SURE about that.) I proceeded to take the clipboard from him and scribbled my signature.....still oblivious. I thanked him, and told him to have a nice day, and he left. OH, and don't THINK I wouldn't have waived at a neighbor if I had seen one. I probably would have struck up a conversation too. Of course still being oblivious to my BARE legs that is.

I closed the door and went back to my computer. It was THEN, that my world as I knew it collapsed in an instant of shock and horror. For as I sat down on my COLD leather chair, something went TERRIBLY wrong. Why could my LEGS feel the coolness of the leather so distinctively?????? I froze, and refused to look down. I was trying to wrap my brain around what I had in that moment just realized. When I finally (well, it seemed like a long time anyways...) looked down, I just started screaming......LOUD. My dog jumped off the stairs and started barking like crazy. I scared her to death!! I mean, WHAT kind of self respecting girl opens the door without her pants on??

I have been trying to tell myself that I dreamed this, but the box that was delivered is my constant reminder that OH YEAH, I had a conversation with the UPS guy while wearing nothing on the bottom half of me. (okay, this part might sound quite shallow (if shallowness is even POSSIBLE in this situation), but I wish I would have AT LEAST had my shoes and socks off too!! I mean.......no pants, but don't worry, I had my socks and shoes on!!!????? That's even MORE embarrassing....actually that goes past embarrassing straight to PURE DORK!) The visual is so frightening I can barely think about it.

I am now contemplating moving to another country.....maybe a nudist colony.......I don't know, but what I DO know is that I NEED HELP!! What in the WORLD is wrong with me?? Oh, and here's the kicker........me and UPS man are going to be seeing a lot (no pun intended) of eachother this month. I have been doing ALL of my shopping online, and will probably be having stuff delivered daily...........OMG, just writing that I am turning several shades of red! Somebody HELP ME!!!!

OH NO!

2008-12-04T14:20:00.003-05:00

Uh oh.........I was planning on making my "comeback" tonight with a nice calm update on what has been going on in the Z household over the past two weeks. BUT then the UPS man showed up, and WELL, I now have another "episode" to tell you about........and all I can say is OH MY.......
Unfortunately I have zero time right now and probably won't get to this till later tonight, but................OH BOY.............all I can say is that I am the world's biggest IDIOT right about now.........
Stay tuned for the full story!!!.......You aren't going to want to miss this!!!! (though I might have to move to another country.......)

Christmas Presents!

2008-11-23T19:07:00.006-05:00

Obviously I have been in a blogging funk the past month or so, but I am hoping with the kids home this week for Thanksgiving break, and us taking a mini vacation later in the week to the Blue Ridge mountains for some family fun, I will be able to spend a little time in blog world while we are there!! Maybe I can pull out some dingbat stories from my "archives" as my mother calls them!! ha! Or more likely something will happen before then that will be worth blogging about!....Nothing crazy has happened in almost two weeks, and I'm pretty sure that sets a record for me, so I'm SURE the universe has something waiting around the corner for me and my dingbat self!! ha!ha!
Anyways, for now I thought I would put up pictures of my Niece's Christmas presents that I made this weekend. I am so happy with the way they turned out. Now I just hope my sister in law doesn't check my blog while she is in Mexico! (Hollie, if you see this, CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!!)

This is Hope's bulletin board. She has a very pink/shabby chic room that I think this will be gorgeous in! She also loves frogs. (or at least she did at one time........hopefully still does!) Oh, and the pom poms on the left side are not crooked, they must have just fallen that way when I took the picture! (had to CLARIFY that lest you think I am sloppy!! LOL!)

And this one is for my one of a kind niece Addie. If you met her, you would know why she is one of a kind. She's a MESS( in the south that means HILARIOUS!)!!! Her room is all different shades of purple, with touches of yellow and green.
I can't WAIT to give these to them for Christmas. Carter LOVES putting pictures/artwork/cards on his, and I think the girls will enjoy it too!

Hopefully I will be much more proactive in blog world this week, but until then, I hope y'all have a great week!!!

Fingerprint Friday

2008-11-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

I took these pictures last week as we were driving to church. The photography isn't great because we were moving, but I just HAD to get my camera out and snap as many shots as I could when I saw how beautiful it was that day. The kids LOVE when the leaves turn colors. We have had some of the best car rides this Fall as we drove around staring at the beauty that SCREAMS God and creation.

Craig and I discussed that day how amazing it is that our great God would be so detailed that he would include color change in the DNA of leaves before they would fall for winter, when he created them.....simply for the beauty and enjoyment of it! God is good. So good. Thank you Lord for the JOY the color change in the trees have brought to our family this year!!

Where do YOU see God's fingerprints today?

These emails are NOT funny!!....(okay, so they are a TINY bit funny....)

2008-11-18T10:48:00.019-05:00

So, I love getting emails from y'all, but lately my "friends" and even my MOTHER have been sending pictures with messages like "oh, I thought of you today when I saw this.....", or "this MUST have been for you.....", and "you would SOOOOO do this.....". Hmmmmm, after going through my DELETED folder of emails, I am sensing a pattern, and I'm not sure I like where this is going. My life seemed quite normal until YOU PEOPLE pointed out that I am a complete disastrous MESS!!! Okay, so I have issues, but don't we all??? hmmpphhhhh!!!
Here are a few of my NOT SO funny emails that YOU all have sent me!! Thanks alot!!!! (hee hee hee......)
Okay, so this DOES sound like something Craigo would do (has done...), and something I WOULD say to him.....in fact I think I HAVE told him to keep his "weapons of MASS destruction" away from me before.....
Yeah yeah yeah.......this one goes without saying.....we ALL know where this came from.

I have NEVER done this, and am APPALLED to think that anyone would think that I have!! What kind of a DINGBAT would do that????

Yep! Back to Craigo again.........Y'all love Craig stories don't you? And I thought he was just annoying.....

I'm not exactly sure why someone sent me this.......I have NO intentions of poisoning his coffee.........but he probably WOULD drink it if I did!!:)

Oh dear Lord in heaven, there BETTER NOT had been anyone looking.......but thanks for the added doubt that I DIDN'T NEED!!!!

I don't get this one......where's the corn? My MOTHER sent me this.......still confused.

Okay, and these last two pictures I just thought were funny, but THANKFULLY have nothing to do with me. The caption on this email was how eerily similar the ugly horrible spider was to Michelle.

Wow! That IS eerily similar!

So thanks for all of the ENCOURAGING emails that relate to my life...........I'm going to go stick my head in a bucket right now........of course knowing ME, I won't be able to get it off............

*UPDATE: After I clicked 'publish' on this post, I checked my email and this comment from the previous post was waiting for me "okay.........we have had it!!! ...it is high time for a blog about your air-headed life.....after all, how can we keep laughing without it being at YOUR expense???if nothing is happening.......just make it up........oh i really don't mean that.......pull out one of those stories from your VAST array of ARCHIVES.......come on!" .........FROM MY MOTHER!!! THANKS MOM!!! And to think I shared my life with you in the UTTMOST of confidence..........*

Kristi's Bags Boutique

2008-11-14T08:35:00.004-05:00

So my wonderful and very talented friend Kristi who I have mentioned before on this blog is "going solo", and she has a new websight to showcase and sell her amazing bags and other cool stuff!! I have ordered about seven bags from her myself to give as gifts, and I can't say enough great things about her or her work! They are GORGEOUS, and we(Ava) get compliments every time we are carrying her bags. If you are looking for that "perfect" gift for Christmas, then please visit her websight and look around. She also does custom work, and will work closely with you on material,ribbon, etc.....whatever you would like!!!

Check this one out....A STROLLER BAG!!! SO cool!

A Diaper bag/wipes holder combo! Too Too cute!

What a darling changing pad!

Awesome Giveaways goin' on......

2008-11-13T22:21:00.003-05:00

Grosgrain is hosting two fabulous giveaways right now!

Here is an example of a water colored painting that Susannah Rodgers painted, and she is going to paint your child if you win. For more information on how to enter go here.

This is a "Little Bo Peep" costume that Grosgrain is also giving away, and it comes with a sheep costume as well. Go here to enter.

Finally, my awesome friend Canela is hosting a HUGE giveaway, with winners everyday, and a grand prize winner at the end of twelve days!! Go here for details and get entered...hurry, she is already on day four!

Painting Project/Prayer Request

2008-11-13T19:03:00.005-05:00

So it has taken a week for me to post my painting project, but here it is. Last Thursday I decided to paint the kids playroom but unfortunately like an idiot, I forgot to take before pictures. So there really isn't going to be that WOW factor!! Ha! Sorry!
The "gone bad" part that I wrote about last Friday really isn't too horrible just frustrating.
On Thursday I didn't get started painting soon enough to finish it that day, and because the lighting in there is awful, when the natural light disappeared, I had to quit. I didn't know what to do with my roller to save it for the next day, so I tried to wash it, and then I thought I remembered someone telling me to wrap it in plastic. I did that, but looking back, I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to "wash" it first.
When I went to paint the next day, the roller was so wet, and I had paint literally dripping down the walls on to the floor.........NOT GOOD. After I cleaned up the mess, I called my handy dandy neighbor, and he had an extra roller for me. I finished that day without any other major catastrophes! (BUT, let's just say that A.D.D. and painting do NOT go hand in hand........I seriously considered quitting halfway through without "cutting in" the edges, and then saying that since it was a playroom, I had let the kids do it!! ha!ha!)
Alas, it is finished, and I really don't want to paint anything else for a while........

These are totally cool art display canvases that my amazing sister made for the kids last Christmas, and I was finally able to hang them! They look awesome in there, and the kids LOVE to change out their artwork!

Above the black arts and crafts table, I plan on making them one of my custom made bulletin boards for them to display more of their stuff!!

Look at that adorable horse pillow case!!! My very sweet friend Jayne sent that to Ava because she knew how much Ava loved horses!! It is seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen!!! Jayne has a wonderful shop with the cutest most precious gifts. Please visit her store here to see what other treasures you can find. Thanks Jayne for the awesome gift! WE love it!!!

So that's my painting project. On a very serious side note, I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my family right now. We received terrible news on Monday about my Grandfather, and things have been touch and go ever since. He is still in the hospital, and we are not sure what is going to happen. THEN, today in fact just a few hours ago, we heard that my Grandma from the other side of the family was rushed to the hospital with fluid on her lungs. She had a stroke about three years ago, and has been in a care facility ever since, but was seemingly doing fine. Like I said, the news is fresh and I don't know what is going on there yet, but would just really appreciate your prayers. Her name is Connie and she lives in Pennsylvania. She is my dad's mom. My grandfather lives in Iowa, he is my mom's dad, and his name is Marvin. I just thought I would tell all of my awesome bloggy friends about this and ask for your prayers. Thank you so much for being so awesome here!! love y'all!

NO! No you ditint!......Oh YES I did.

2008-11-12T07:49:00.002-05:00

Ummmmmmmmm, so I lied. I said below, BEFORE "THE SHOWER", that I was done blogging for the night, and that I would see you tomorrow. BUT then SOMETHING happened. And I NEED to blog about this......I MUST get some moral support here, and some advice on how I can ever show my face again in my neighborhood.
It all started when....(cue the smoke and dreamlike thoughts....) I went upstairs to FINALLY take a shower after my very sweaty workout this afternoon (by the time I got home, it was time to get dinner ready, get the kids bathed and to bed, so it was 9:00 before I even made it to the shower!).

Please do not ask me what in the world got into me, but for some reason instead of just taking my usual short, very to the point shower, I decided that tonight I would take my time and lolligag in the hot water. Now, I've always hated the design of my bathroom, because you can see yourself in the mirror while you shower! (who in the world would want that?) But tonight for some stupid reason, I decided to take a peak to see if all this exercising ~~crap~~ business was doing me any good. So I did. And boy did I start examining. I was flexing. I was bending. I was turning in every which way. I was lifting things that I am sure God never really intended on having to be lifted in order to view other things.

And then I saw them. My blinds. O.P.E.N. ........FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!!!!.........I screamed so loud my dog started barking. We NEVER have our bedroom blinds open! NEVER EVER....EVER!! ( I guess this would be a good place to add that you can see straight through our bedroom right into the shower from the window...and with it being dark outside, and lit up like a Christmas tree in my room.......well, you get the drift) Sheer panic set in which is the only explanation I can come up with for what happened next. I TORE out of the shower running and dripping towards the window, only to halt in complete horror as I realized what I was doing. Running naked....TOWARDS the open window. I froze. Now people, when I say froze, I mean froze. Could. Not. Move. In that moment I saw the couple that lives across the street from us walking their little white dog ( I briefly thought about waving, forgetting about my predicament.....darn A.D.D). I realized that if I now turned around and ran BACK to the bathroom, my rear end would be exposed as well. So I hesitantly decided that if I dove towards the window I could maybe slam into the blinds causing them to close. Obviously I didn't think this through to the end and instead just went for it.

Dive? Did I say I was going to dive towards the window? Yeah, body slam would be a much more accurate description of what actually happened. Apparently in my quick decision making I didn't account for all of the decorative pillows from my bed that were lying on the floor in my path. So, OF COURSE I tripped over them, and seriously slammed myself into the windows. When I regained conscientious again, I was laying on the floor in front of my windows still dripping wet. And of course still naked (this would have been a great opportunity for God to have miraculously clothed me, but he sooooo didn't). Blinds still wide open. For all of God's beautiful earth to see.

I am going to KILL Craig for opening those ding dang blinds! Why in the name of all things beautiful would he do that? He's lucky I didn't actually go THROUGH the window when I hit it!! (Now THAT would have been a sight........)

So, I'm begging for some reassurance here.....SURELY no one saw right? I mean I was just IMAGINING my neighbors with the little white dog looking up at my window right? And if I was only imagining them being there, then SURELY I didn't REALLY see them nod their heads and wave at me right? I mean surely these things didn't happen. Surely.

The time change doesn't agree with me!

2008-11-11T20:09:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I am trying to upload pictures, and blogger has stopped cooperating, so I will go with what I have and will have to post the others later!

For starters, I don't know what has happened to my seemingly casual life. Ever since the time change, I can't get my act together. My body has not adjusted to the change, and I absolutely hate it getting dark so early! I have been so tired it is unbelievable!!! Is anyone else having as much of a problem as I am?
That being said, blogging has had to be put on the back burner for a while. By the time I get the kids down and I am able to relax......I can barely think, and have found myself zoned out in front of the TV the past few nights going to bed by ten!!! (soooooo NOT the norm here!!)
Sick of my complaining and excuses? I am too, so I will stop now.

My awesome friend Melissa had asked me several weeks ago if I would take their family picture for their Christmas card, so on Saturday afternoon we went down to one of the lakes in our neighborhood, and had ourselves a mini photo shoot!! It was so much fun, and obviously the subjects were GORGEOUS, so I didn't have to do much!! This was my first family other than my own that I have photographed.
I am TOYING with photography a little bit, and plan on attending classes after the new year (right after I get my new mac daddy camera that I am getting for Christmas!!! YAY!!!!!) I am pleased with my first attempt, and it really confirmed my desire to learn more and get better!

These are just a few of the dozens we took!

So, I am still trying to upload my painting project (blogger is still on strike apparently), and I owe you an explanation for the shoes in the post below.......but it's 9:00 and I have yet to shower from the gym, and if I don't get in there soon, I am going to throw up on myself from my own stench!!!! SOOOOOOOO............I promise you will get the goods tomorrow! (don't get tooo excited.......)

HELLO!

2008-11-09T18:50:00.003-05:00

Hi! I am alive!
I have had the busiest last four days that I've had in a very long time. I have barely been home since Thursday, and I am so tired I can barely type right now! I am too tired to blog much tonight, but I thought I would say hello to bloggy world. So, HELLO!!!
I will TRY to get pictures of my painting project up tomorrow. Which speaking of, I thought I was going to have to disappoint all of you that were SURE that my "painting project gone bad" was going to include some hilarious tale (and for the life of me I can't figure out why in the world you would think that........:), because it really isn't that funny....just stupidity on my part and lots of frustration...........BUT, then THIS happened after church today, and you will get a funny tale after all......just not tonight...........

And if this is what my SHOES looked like...............

Fingerprint Friday

2008-11-07T08:45:00.003-05:00

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:

I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
Youre a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

Where do YOU see God's fingerprints today?

*Quick note......I am MIA from blog world again because I am in the middle of a painting project gone bad!!......See you later this weekend!! Have a great one!*

My new favorite Day!!!!

2008-11-04T11:51:00.004-05:00

So I voted today. NOT without drama of course, but I voted nonetheless.
I picked up my neighbor Jackie at 9:15 this morning, leaving my children at her house with her husband while we voted.
The good news? We were back in the car headed home by 9:35. The bad news? It would have been sooner than that had I actually voted FOR THE RIGHT CANDIDATE the first time!!

You see, I wanted to vote straight republican and thought that I could just push one button for that instead of having to cast my vote separately for each race. I asked Jackie (who was in the booth next to me) if that was possible. She thought I was joking, laughed, and said "just make sure you vote RIGHT". So I did. I punched everything on the right side, and when it came time to review my ballot, there staring me in the face was OBAMINATION as my pick for president. What the???? CLEARLY the place was rigged. But,before I "took this to the authorities", and accused all of ______ county of being fraudulent, I thought I would just MAKE SURE this was not an "operator error" (though I was quite convinced that FOR ONCE I was not being dramatic). Imagine my surprise when I realized that Jackie didn't actually mean "check everything on the right", but because she KNOWS me, and KNOWS that there would be a HUGE chance for error, she was simply telling me to vote the RIGHT way!!!! (OOHHHH.....That made much more sense!)
Luckily I had not pressed "CAST BALLOT" yet, so I was able to START OVER, and actually READ the choices and pick my republican homies one by one. (Just for the record though, I still think there should be ONE button for each party if you would like to vote that way......it would be MUCH EASIER and FASTER....I'm just sayin')

So after we voted...(the RIGHT way), we realized that Derwin (Jackie's husband) had NO idea that it only took us 11 minutes to vote, and for all he knew we were still standing in line. What were two ~~dingbats~~ wild and crazy girls supposed to do??? Go home and relieve him of the six children? Nah.......we were going to go get some free coffee that WE WERE TOLD Starbucks was offering if we showed them our voting stickers. Until we realized that neither of us really liked coffee. JACKIE then said that Chik filet was offering the same deal by giving out free sandwiches if you showed them your voting sticker. Great! We would drive to Chik filet, get free sandwiches, and bring lunch home for everyone.

Ummmm, MOST things that sound too good to be true......ARE. Here's my conversation with the lady behind the speaker in the drive through:

LADY: "May I take your order?" ME: "Yes, we would like seven Chik filet sandwiches and we have voting stickers for four of them" LADY: "You have what for them?" ME:"Voting stickers" .....looooooong pause........ LADY: "WHAT are you voting for?" ME:"No, I already voted, and now I have my stickers!" (c'mon, give me my FREE sandwiches, and let's get on with it!?:) Lady:"stickers? Do you mean coupons?" (ummm, NO, I KNOW the difference between a sticker and a coupon!! DUH!!) ME: "NO, I mean voting stickers. I JUST voted, and now I'm here to get my free sandwiches." LADY: "Hold on, I am going to have to get my manager" At this point, I was STILL thinking that the employee was again CLEARLY the one uninformed on the whole situation, and it would only be a matter of time before I received my FREE sandwiches. Jackie was beginning to read between the lines though (I love my smart friends), and she prompted me to just ask if they were giving anything away for voting, instead of going through the whole scenario again with the manager. The manager got on the speaker, and said : "Maam, can I help you?" ME: "Are you giving anything away for voting today?" Silence. ..........ME: "Hello? We heard that you were giving out free sandwiches for voting" Manager : "That is INCORRECT information Maam" ME: "OOPS! Sorry!" We drove off WITHOUT ordering anything.

GEEZ, it's a GOOD thing someone didn't tell me Chevrolet was giving away cars for voting!! Can you imagine THAT conversation?? "I was told that if I voted......." Yeah that would be kind of funny! (Though now that I'm thinking about it, I'm sure Obamination wouldn't be above telling such a lie........I mean he's told so many thus far............)

Unfortunately the drama was not QUITE over for the day. We realized that we now HAD to bring lunch home, and so far we were empty handed since our journey for free items ended up being less than fruitless. (I still don't know if ANY of these companies were offering free things or not.......or if someone was just screwin' with us.....) Jackie wanted Sonic, so that's where we went. When the rollerskating waitress brought out our food, I rolled down my window to get it. I handed Jackie the bags of food, and I held on to the drink tray. While she was checking the bags, I turned my head to roll up the window. When I tried to turn back around, I almost snapped my neck off!!! I had rolled my hair up in the window!!!! My entire face crashed into the window, the drinks went flying, and I went numb trying to figure out what had just happened. I also lost an unmentionable amount of hair.

To say that we have laughed until our stomachs hurt today is the biggest understatement of the year!!! Voting day is my new favorite day of the year......or at least every four years. I can't wait until 2012 to do it all over again!! With Jackie of course!

How did your voting go today???

Catching up...

2008-11-02T18:36:00.004-05:00

I'm back! I can't believe how crazy my life got at the end of this week. Carter was sick and this was just NOT a good week for that to happen. ~~I wish he would have checked with MY schedule first before throwing a huge wrench in MY plans!!~~ I felt so sorry for him I could barely stand it. He was pitiful. He had stayed home from school on Wednesday and on Thursday when he still wasn't feeling any better, Craig (yes Craig....remember I had PLANS....a.k.a other child had party at her school that I had to attend) took him to the doctor and found out he had a sinus infection. Contagious? NO! Back to school he went. That day. Back to MY plans!! Hee hee...JK!!!! (well, not about the school thing, he definitely went back, and not really about the plans thing, because I definitely resumed those, so maybe I wasn't kidding after all......)

So every year we have a tradition at Halloween to have neighbors and a few friends over for dinner and we all go trick or treating together. This tradition started with our best friends the Dover's when Carter and Ethan were babies. We used to do it at their house but then they moved to a neighborhood with only seven houses, and we figured that ~~Craig and Jeff~~ the kids would be slightly disappointed with their bags of candy at the end of the night if they could only visit seven houses! So now Craig and I host the event every year. Well, this year I guess the WORD got out, and to my ~~horror~~ delight, we counted over sixty people in my house for dinner Friday night. There were people there that I had no idea who they were!! Now I love to throw a good party, and most people in my neighborhood have figured that out by now, but I will have to say that most of the time I at least KNOW the people that are at my house! That being said, the night was a BLAST and the children brought home an UNGODLY amount of candy ~~that I have been eating for breakfast lunch and dinner since Friday~~ that will be sent to Craig's work on Thursday after the "novelty" of it all has worn off, thus returning to our strict NO SUGAR rule in our home. (I know I know....I'm sooooo mean!) Our last guests left a little after midnight, and I was left with with an UNBELIEVABLY TRASHED house that took me five hours the next day to clean! There were candy wrappers in places that even I don't go............Next year I might have to hire security!! ha!ha!

Now on to the bad very disappointing news......I got NO pictures!! NONE! Well, at least compared to my normal standard of at least 100 per pose. I literally took a couple of pictures when they first put on their costumes, and then the ~~mobs of people~~ sweet neighbors started showing up, and I had to turn into the hostess with the mostess, forgetting completely about taking pictures!! So this is basically all I have!

Star Wars was the going theme for Carter, Ethan, and Drew but they couldn't talk Ava into joining the force, so she decided on a punk pirate costume.
May the force be with you!!

Now let's move on to yesterday. November 1st. Craig's birthday. We went with the family to Craig's favorite BBQ restaurant Dreamland. I absolutely HATE the place because it's a "man's" place with a yucky atmosphere and in my opinion, yucky food (but I don't like BBQ, so I can't judge whether it is good or not). Unfortunately for Craig he can never convince me to go there with him, and so he only gets to have it at lunch when he is on that side of town. BOO me I know. BUT, on HIS birthday I made the exception! Very humble of me I think......(It really wasn't that bad.....)

So here he is in front of his cake that the kids decorated for him BEFORE he knew I was taking pictures....

....and here he is AFTER he realized I was taking his picture trying to be seductive thinking he was funny......... .......and here he is just being himself......a complete nerd. BUT, I love my little nerd TONS!! Happy Birthday Craigo!

This is where the two little cousins decided to celebrate the occasion....UNDER the table. On the gross nasty floor. Reading the newspaper to each other. CUTE. But DISGUSTING.

Just a side note here..... I found out last night that HIPPO therapy actually has nothing to do with Hippos!! (not that I ever thought otherwise....oh no, not me!.......:) It is HORSE therapy! (And people WONDER why I walk around in a constant state of confusion........why in the name of ALL things good would you call horse therapy HIPPO therapy???)

Okay, last but certainly not least, I received a comment from a MAN with his point of view on the whole "white sock dress shoe" post that I posted last week. I thought it was funny and therefore I am posting it......I wonder if there is really any truth to this????

Ladies!!! Ladies!! Ladies! May heaven help me and my fellow brothers not lynch me for what I am about to divulge... BUT. lets ponder on this for a bit, It's not that we can not be embarrassed.(I'm still in need of therapy for rough treatment at the hands of the feminine gender) Nor that we don't care :o) Really now the flower and candy industry are doing great because of our willingness and ability to humiliate and embarrass ourselves. Thank God for flower power and chocolate.(and let me take a moment to thank Melody @ slurping life & Stacy @ land of K. A.) for enlightening me on the value and benefit of chocolate. But I digress, It's really a lot like fishing!!Yes I said fishing. Really think about it.To catch the kind of fish you want, you have to use the proper bait..when Craig wants to catch you, white sports sock, dress shoes, church, (bait) wait a bit,,,,,,,,set the hook and reel you in.... (also known as pushing the right button)ROFL So you see Ladies,,,it's a matter of finding the right bait (or button) if you prefer. and waiting;;;; then setting the hook and reeling them in.....it's really rather exhilarating once you get the hang of it. Go forth Ladies and fish. (remember) Bait, Wait,Set the hook and reel them in.........Be ye fishers of men::::and may God have mercy on my soul...

Hmmmmm..........I'm thinking Craig could "CATCH" me with a trip to the Bahamas.........or a new vacuum......... but WHITE socks and DRESS shoes?? NAH!! He's Taunting.

Oh and just one more thing. I promise! Speaking of Craig, he did this again last night. Only this time there wasn't any toilet paper on the roll, and he kept spinning the thing around and around and around, until I was confident that he would have sat there all night spinning. I had to yell out his name about five times before he got OFF the toilet and returned to the bed. Still sleeping. I love my life.

Happy Halloween......late........

2008-11-01T23:22:00.003-04:00

Yes I have been MIA from the blog and bloggy world!! My week went haywire with Fall/Halloween parties, and Carter getting sick and missing school. Anyhoo, I will post more tomorrow....I just wanted to wish everyone a late happy Halloween and hopefully you had as much fun as we did!! (more on that tomorrow....!)
Have a great Sunday!

I love long lost sisters!!!

2008-10-29T15:36:00.003-04:00

I always knew that somewhere in this world I had an identical twin that has been mimicking my every move.......and TA DA! I was right! One of my sweet sweet bloggy friends found my long lost sista, and emailed me her latest diary entry! This story makes my heartworm meds and bat poop stories seem like NUTHIN!! I MUST meet this woman......

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Finish laundry, fix dinner, have a glass of wine, e-mail the grandkids. Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet before I go to bed' So I headed to the site of my demise 'the bathroom'. It was one of those 'cold wax' kits. No melting a clump of hot wax...all you do is just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or whatever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss....how hard can it be?I mean, I'm not a genius, but I can follow directions and I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK !?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. It's two strips facing each other stuck together.Instead of rubbing them together, my genius 'kicks in' so I get out the hairdryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. (Cold wax, 'Yeah right') I Lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. IT WORKS! :) O.K., so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't tooooo bad.I can do this, I say to myself with a proud smile. Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am SHE-RA, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of the smooth skin (Extraordinaire)!With my next strip I move north. I prep for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretch down to the inside of my butt cheek it was a long strip). I inhale deeply and brace myself.......RRRRRRRIIIIIIIPPPPP!!!I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!! OH MY OH MY!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half of the Strip. CRAP!Another deep breath and RIPP!Everything is spinning and spotted with bright stars. I think I may pass out...M U S T S t a y C O n S c I O U S...... M U S t- S t a y......Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe ____ _______ ______ O.K..... Back to normal! I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!There is NO hair on it!!!Where is the hair???W H E R E I S T H E W A X ????? Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip... IT'S NOT! I touch--- I am touching wax. I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body,which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair.I found the Hair... I found the WAX!!!Then I make the next BIG mistake....remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.Sealed shut!!! My butt is sealed shut!!! SEALED SHUT !@!#*! (not even air can get in there)! I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself.P L E A S E-- PLEASE don't let me get the urge to poop! ....... 'My head may pop off!'What can I do to melt the wax? WHAT MELTS WAX? My brain is scrambling.HOT WATER!!! Hot water melts wax. I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub... Get in. I immerse the wax covered parts and the wax should just melt and then I can gently wipe it off, right? Yeah that will work!
WRONG!!!I get in the tub, the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water!!! Which, by the way........ doesn't melt cold wax!!!
So - now, I am stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!!!God bless my adult kids who had convinced me a few months ago to bring my cell phone everywhere, even to the bathroom!!!!I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter....'So my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub! There is a slight pause....she doesn't know any secret tricks for hair removal under water but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located. She says are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?' She is laughing out loud by now... I can hear her!!! There is no shame in her disregard for my pain ...she is rolling over with laughter.....I wait. I give her the run down and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!! Right!!! I say .. I should be the joke of someone else's night. While we go through various possible solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor.N O T H I N G feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in cold wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub, in scalding hot water, and then -try dry shaving the sticky wax off!!! By now the brain is not working,dignity has taken a major hike and I am pretty sure I am going to need
'Post Traumatic Stress' counseling for this event. My friend is still talking with me and then I finally see my saving grace...THE BOX.. .the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax!What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY--OH OH MOMMASITTA !!@*! The scream probably woke my husband and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's soooo painful, but I really don't care.It feels like an earthquake is forcing my flesh apart.IT WORKS!!! It works!!! I get a hearty congratulations from my friend and she hangs up laughing while trying to sound soulfully sincere. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair......THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.. ALL OF IT!!!So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.Next week I'm going to try hair color.......................................................

I am NORMAL!! I am NORMAL! I.AM.NORMAL!! My excitement right now is beyond me!

SEE? I'm NOT alone!!!

2008-10-28T10:58:00.003-04:00

Ha! Ha! My best friend Lisa from Iowa just sent me this email.......She's going to KILL me for publishing it, but I am THRILLED to not be alone in this taunting game that our ~~annoying ridiculous idiotic~~ sweet loving adoring husbands think is sooooo funny!!!

............Jeff tries to annoy me the other way around. Wearing black socks with his tennis shoes. Completely nerdy!! Or even better, argyle socks with his white tennis shoes and his jogging/slicky pants. UGH!! We will be over to my mom's and he's sitting with his leg crossed, just like Craig in the picture, just waiting to see how long it takes me to "out him" and get ticked!! I hate to say it...but men are all alike!.............

Lisa, I feel your pain sista....I feel your pain. What can we do to embarrASS them?

The Funny Award

2008-10-28T10:51:00.003-04:00

My new friend Heidi gave me this award yesterday! Yippee!! I'm glad my ~~dysfunctional~~ crazy life made you laugh last week! At least when others are laughing it makes it easier for me to laugh!! ha!ha! Here's to many more laughs in the future! Thanks for the award!

AWESOME GIVEAWAY!

2008-10-27T09:44:00.004-04:00

Okay, this giveaway I am EXTREMELY excited about!! My mom is SOOOOO talented and she has FINALLY decided to open her own ETSY store which will be called "Whimsical Renditions by Sandi Lou Lou"
We have been trying to talk her into this for MONTHS now, and she has decided to give it a go!! Her stuff is SURE to fly off the shelf.....or computer screen...whatever!

To kick off her new endeavor, she is giving away this awesome canvas mixed media painting! (NO, please don't ask me what that means....ask her!! I would DEFINITELY screw it up!) Anyways, it is an 8x10 painting that can be hung, framed, or set on an easel. The value of the painting is $45. Please visit her giveaway post for details on how to enter........tell her I sent ya and you're GOLDEN!!! ha! Because I'm special like that.
Good Luck!! And way to go mom!! I LOVE it!!

Thank You!

2008-10-27T08:59:00.005-04:00

Trying to catch up here......My sweet friend Tonda gave me this award a couple weeks ago, and I have been negligent in accepting it! Better late than never though right?
Thanks so much Tonda for the award, it has been so much fun getting to know you the past few months, and I am glad we have become bloggy friends!
This award comes with a "duty", but since I have already done that here, I will not bore you with it again!! ha! Thanks again for the awesome award!
This next award I have received from Naomi and Lindsay. Thanks ladies!! You both make me smile EVERYDAY as well!
With this award I must name six things that make me smile. Narrowing it down to six will be hard, but here we go:
1) Carter talking without his top two teeth......it's hilarious!
2) Ava dancing
3) Fall weather
4) Craig being a DORK
5) Milk Duds.....sorry, I can't help but repeat myself here...
6) Reading the funny and sweet comments y'all leave here on this blog!
Okay, now I must pass this award to six other blogs that make me smile.....
I will choose Doe, Jessica, Heidi, Heidi, Susie, and Angela

Oh how oh how can I count the reasons for loving this man....

2008-10-26T21:42:00.004-04:00

So we were sitting in church today, and Craig kept fidgeting. I wasn't really paying attention to him until the fidgeting became obnoxious, and I FINALLY looked down in HORROR to his shoes and SOCKS!!! THIS is what he had worn today......WHAT is wrong with this man? Sport socks? White ones?
I looked at him with complete disgust. He had this HUGE smirk on his face and said "I was waiting for you to notice". He did it ON PURPOSE! I'm telling you, this man does stuff just to taunt me!! He knew darn well, you don't wear white socks with ANYTHING other that tennis shoes. And he ALSO knew I would have a fit about it.
There he was sitting in church moving around like a two year old hiking his pant leg up farther and farther just to mess with me! He pulls this kind of stuff ALL the time!!

One time we went on a cruise and the first day we were up on the deck he was strutting around like a fitness model. I mean chest out and head cocked. He would actually act as if he was walking the runway, and then would do dramatic turns. He wouldn't stop!! I was so mad and embarrassed that I just ignored him and acted like I didn't know WHO he was or WHY he was acting like such a fool. I ignored him for a good hour!!
THEN I SAW and realized WHY he was strutting in front of me (and the 4,000 other people on deck). The IDIOT had SHAVED his entire body!! I thought I was going to die right there!! Of course he had told his buddy Jeff what he had done (well, told yes, but HELLO....he had NO hair and he was in a swimsuit....I guess Jeff MIGHT have noticed, and maybe just maybe been slightly curious as to WHY someone would opt to do something like that. Though of course Jeff thought it was very funny, which DIDN'T help my case. At. All.:) and they were both seeing how long it would take for me to notice.
Well, the joke ended up being on him.......when three days into the vacation the hair began to grow back, and he was itching like a dog with fleas the rest of the trip!!!! ha!ha! You see...he doesn't THINK things all the way through!!! Like SHAVING HIS HEAD.....and now looking like a chia pet while he is growing it out.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH........Life with the Craigster. Ya GOTTA love it!! (well, I DO anyways!!)
And this is just a picture I took of my precious preshies today after church!! Just because.

Movies, Updates, and more Updates!

2008-10-25T21:42:00.006-04:00

Yes, we went to see this movie last night. And yes,Craig went with us. He wasn't happy about it, but he went. Did he like it? Well, to quote him word for word after the movie he said, "I would rather light a ten dollar bill on fire and watch it burn slowly". Alrighty then! I'm pretty sure there are zero other interpretations of that statement.
(I have to admit though that if he DID like it, I would be slightly disturbed and have to question his manhood!!! ha!ha!) Did I like it? Ummmmm, well, not so much, though not to the hatred extent of Craig. I mean it is what it is. It's HIGH SCHOOL Disney intended for just that. It wasn't scratch the chalkboard bad, but there was definitely enough cheese in there to last a lifetime.
The kids however LOVED it. Ava, her cousin Addie, and her friend Macauly danced the ENTIRE time. When Carter and Ava got in the car the first thing they asked was when it would be on DVD, and when we could buy it! To which Craig said, "I'd rather buy you ten new WII games, then buy ONE of those movies....." ha!ha!ha! So, will we own the movie one day? Yes. Will mommy and daddy VIEW the movie ever again? No.
After the movie, we were introduced for the first time to RITA'S! It was awesome! Yummy homemade custard combined with Italian ice. WOW! Great new find! Thanks Pete and Hollie for the intro.....I think.......It just occurred to me that this is NOT on my healthy eating plan........oh crap.
So after a Looooong night of dinner, movies, dancing, and dessert, this is the farthest Ava made it when headed to bed. Daddy had to carry her the rest of the way. I love it!

Okay, let's move on to an update on the "monster experiment" that the Z house has been participating in. (If you don't know what I am talking about, you can read about it here.)

I have been so surprised at how this experiment has been working. (BTW....we start over every week, lest you think this is ALL the monsters we have gotten in three weeks. Trust me, we fill it and even have "I owe you's" when we run out! ha!ha!)

We have truly been trying to exercise self control in our home, and this has been such a fun and worthwhile way of doing so. But, you KNOW I have a reason for updating you don't you? And it most likely involves Craigo right? Yep! It sure does! Guess what his latest monster was for?

DANCING PROVOCATIVELY!!! Uh huh, leave it to MY husband to "do a little dance" in front of all creation to see. I can just see Carter going to school and getting himself kicked out of school for copying his dad, then saying, "BUT MY DAD DOES IT!" How embarrassing. Seriously, WHO does this kind of stuff?

(Oh, just a side note here, I'm fairly confident Craig DID find out about my latest "revelation" about him........I woke up the morning after he had asked me about my blog, with his BOXERS wrapped around my head!! And. Not. Clean. Ones. He wanted to know if THAT was considered romantic!!! Idiot!! He thinks he's sooooooo funny.......well, I'll show HIM funny. You just wait...........until.........until.........well, until I think of something. TAKE THAT Mr. Funny!)

Moving on now from my previous post...achem....

2008-10-23T20:23:00.004-04:00

I haven't had a random post in a long time, so here comes some randomness!

Fall seems to have finally arrived, and I couldn't be more excited. It has been absolutely gorgeous here the past couple days with temperatures in the high sixties and low seventies. The sun has been shining and the air has been crisp!! Totally awesome! I so love Fall. I can't wait until next week with school parties, costumes, and CANDY!! (Even though I am technically on restriction from candy, when those mini boxes of milk duds pass my way, I will NOT be resisting them!! muuuaahhhhhhhhhh (my evil laugh)) Good times next week!

If you use an electrical toothbrush, go try and brush your teeth without turning it on. It doesn't work (I mean like, you REALLY can't brush your teeth) and it feels very strange. I found that out last night when my battery went dead. Note to self: get more batteries before my teeth rot.

Hubs wants to know if I've blogged about anything interesting lately. Do you think he's asking because he KNOWS about my latest revelation and wants to know if I will admit it to him? OR Is this a new attempt towards ROMANCE...you know, like making conversation about something he could care less about, but knows I would enjoy talking to him about?? hhmmmmm... I'm torn.

I have become so totally addicted to Facebook that it's actually embarrassing. Last night I chatted online with an old highschool friend for over an hour. In the midst of that chat, I ignored three other people that were trying to IM me, all people from my past. ( Yeah, I sooooo can not carry on more than one conversation at a time! I could barely stay focused on the ONE I was having!) We took a LONG trip down memory lane, and I was laughing so hard remembering the shenanigans we used to get into! (big shocker, I know!) Anyways, I love FB and the reconnections that I have made. If you are on FB, I want to be your friend!!

I got my head stuck in a tricep machine today at the gym. Don't act surprised. Because you're not. Neither was I. And neither were THEY. (THEY, meaning the employees that helped me out of the dang thing) Don't ask me why I had my head where I did, because I don't know. And where was my "workout partner" you ask? Right beside me. Laughing uncontrollably. Not even ATTEMPTING to help me. Between getting stuck, laughing so hard my side hurt at my friend Robin while one of the trainers asked her why she had zero weight on her chest presses and she still couldn't do one, having to get OFF my treadmill midway through to retrieve an important paper that had fallen UNDER the treadmill, and thus apparently revealing my orange underwear to everyone behind us as I crawled under to get it (yeah, Robin waited until AFTER I was back on the treadmill to say to me "nice orange underwear"........she's a special one she is.......), our workout session was totally USELESS today! About the only thing that got "worked out" were our abs from laughing so hard. Oh, I almost forgot about the two sixty something year old ladies who walked by us and wanted to know if they could work out with us because we obviously knew how to make working out fun. We had to break it to them gently that in no way shape or form were we doing anything that would even slightly resemble working out today, and that they should run far far away from us and never look back. Which of course just led to more laughter.

My A.D.D has just kicked in, so randomness is over. The last thing I will share is an email that I just received. It is the first "political" email that I actually agree with EVERYTHING in it!! I hope you do too!!
TOP 10 PREDICTIONS NO MATTER WHO WINS THE ELECTION
1. The Bible will still have all the
answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed teaching and healing.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost.
ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL?!!!!

I interupt my regularly G rated blog for a little PG action....

2008-10-22T10:35:00.005-04:00

Yeah, he thinks he's so cool. He totally rocks the pink cooler!! Ha!Ha!

A few nights ago Craig and I decided to have a "check point" meeting with eachother. A check point meeting is where we get together without any distractions and just talk about us. We like to have these every once in a while to just make sure that we are on the same page, and to see if either of us have any concerns or needs that should be addressed. Basically, a time where we just make sure eachothers "love tanks" are full!!! (sound cheesy? You should try it......it's amazing what VOICING your concerns rationally and calmly can do for your relationship instead of keeping them inside and building resentment and bitterness towards eachother!)

Now, before I tell you what went on in that meeting, let me give a little background first.
I am NOT a big 'REAL' jewelry lover! (whoa....gasp! major shock! The absolute horror of it!) Yeah yeah, well, I'm not. It does not impress me. At. All. And yes, I realize I am a major minority among women... but, what can I say? I would MUCH rather have a top of the line vacuum, or a new couch, or a bar speed blender etc..etc.........you get my drift here. I used to think that I wanted a couple pieces from Tiffany's because it seemed soooo romantic to get that "little blue box", but after receiving two "little blue boxes" from Craig (and don't get me wrong, it was VERY sweet that he DID go there and get me things, and I sooooo love him for that), I realized that it wasn't the thrill I had thought it would be, and one of the things he bought for me has been worn about five times. Ever. (oh, the vacuum accessories I could have had....and STILL be using.....)
I have actually TURNED DOWN a pair of diamond earrings from Craig, so that I could have new living room furniture. I mean seriously, do you KNOW where an expensive pair of earrings would be right now? In my jewelry drawer. Or lost. No thanks. I'll go to Macy's and get some CZ's that look EXACTLY like diamonds if I REALLY want some. Which I don't.

Okay, so you get my drift right? Not. A. Jewelry. Lover. That being said, I do like romantic things. Romantic gestures. Romantic notes, emails....etc... Just not jewelry.
WELLLLLL, Craig's definition of romantic is a little different than mine. ( I guess he thought jewelry was the ONLY romantic thing there was to do, and I must have burst his bubble when I told him I didn't want him buying me anymore jewelry!) For instance, he thinks it's perfectly okay to say "you wanna a piece of me or what?" when he's "in the mood". I however can't stand it when he says that, and it DEFINITELY does not put ME "in the mood".

Sooooooo, back to our check point meeting. Me: "Well, I REALLY wish you would work on your "approach" to me, and try to be a little less OBVIOUS, maybe a little more ROMANTIC"
Craig: "What's wrong with my approach?" Me: "Do we REALLY need to go there? How LONG have I been talking about this?(8 years, but who's counting?) And just how often does that approach get you anywhere anyways?" Craig: " Good point. (duh!!????) Okay, I'll try to be a little more "romantic". Me: "Thanks."

Fast forward a few nights. We're lying in bed and I'm almost asleep, when I feel something "crawling" through my hair. Seriously it felt like a little mouse ratting and tangling my hair. Not only that, but there was thumping and tugging on my head going on as well. What in the world?
Me: "WHAAAAAAAT are you doing?" Craig: "I'm being ROMANTIC" Me:"Ummmm, by doing WHAT? Pulling my hair and flicking my head?" Craig: "I'm STROKING your hair, and THAT'S romantic!" Me:" THAT'S NOT STROKING, YOU ARE NOT BEING ROMANTIC AND IF WE TURNED THE LIGHTS ON RIGHT NOW THERE WOULD PROBABLY BE A CLUMP OF MY HAIR AND SOME OF MY SCALP ON THE PILLOW!!!!!" Craig: "Oh for gosh sake, do you want a piece of me or WHAT?"
Me: "What."

Ummmmmm, does anyone know where I can enroll him in a romantic101 class?

How Rude Are You???

2008-10-20T21:19:00.003-04:00

Time for a quick check!
Last week while I was at the gym, I was watching Oprah, and the title of the show was 'How Rude Are You?'
This was the test she gave her studio audience. Apparently if your answer is yes to any or all of these, you are considered to be self centered and rude.
Here's the test.

1) Are you chronically late?
Everyone is late from time to time, but if you are chronically late it just reveals your self centeredness and lack of respect for other people and their time. (okay, so Oprah said this, but I happen to agree with her TOTALLY!)

2) Have you ever typed an e-mail while talking on the phone?

3) Have you ever interrupted a face-to-face conversation to take a non-urgent cell phone call? OKAY, THIS ONE IS SOOOOOOOO RUDE!!! But then that is coming from someone who does NOT let her phone (home OR cell) govern her life.

4) Have you gone through a supermarket 10-item express lane with more than 10 items?

5) While among friends or co-workers, have you yawned without covering your mouth?

6) Have you ever texted or talked on a cell phone in a movie theater?

7) Have you let your dog relieve himself on your neighbor's lawn? R.U.D.E!!

8) Have you ever cut in front of someone in line?

9) Have you ever stolen someones parking spot?

10) Have you ever let your child kick the back of the seat in front of him and not apologized to his victim?

11) Have you ever not RSVP'd to an event by the date requested?

12) Have you ever gossiped? YIKES!!!!!!!!!! RUDE!!!! Oh my, This one EVERYONE is guilty of. I know I am. shamefully.

13) Have you ever taken someone else's food or drink from the office refrigerator?

Okay, I just thought this test was quite interesting, and definitely thought provoking. Though, according to Oprah and the guy who wrote the book, a large percentage of Americans are so self centered that they don't consider these things rude, just a way of life. Interesting. What do you think?

I've been book tagged!

2008-10-19T19:19:00.002-04:00

My new friend Susie from Sincerely Susie Homemaker book tagged me! The rules of the game are easy. Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 56, start with the 5th sentence, and post 2-5 paragraphs.

Okay, I want to play fair, but was VERY tempted to cheat when I opened the book closest to me and read page 56. Leave it to me to have this stupid book beside me. I have to report that I am not actually READING this book..... My mother in law apparently was cleaning out her house, and came across some self help books on parenting to which she gave Craig(hhmmmmmmm.....moving on here....:0). I obviously haven't had the time to go through them and TOSS them yet......and this stupid one written in 1972 happened to be right beside my laptop when I received Susie's tag!!!......so...........here is page 56:

I have seen cases where male youngsters trained this way become sexually impotent later in life. I think they have become unconsciously accustomed to an external cue,passively offered,to start some internal mechanism of bodily control. these men always expected some external signal to set off a physiologic response. They do not expect to have to exert any effort. Since the same external apparatus is involved in sex as in bladder relief, it is understandable how conditioning urinary functions to a bell can in some way establish a need for some external cue to initiate sex activity. But in spite of my curiosity over the cause of the sexual problem in such men, and the clinical evidence I have just described, I have never prescribed a bell to cure impotence.

Okay this book is sooo disturbing in sooooo many ways. This particular chapter was on potty training. POTTY TRAINING? Because it didn't feel like that was what I was reading about AT ALL!! What kind of BELL is he talking about to cure impotence or to initiate sexual activity anyways? And what IN THE WORLD does that have to do with potty training?(oh how my mind is wandering right about now......I wonder what Craig would do if I started ringing a bell when we went to bed........."honey, the BOOK your MOM gave me said that if I ring a bell you would.............")
Yeah, this book will be in the garbage by the time you read this. Oh, and I get EXTRA CREDIT points for playing FAIR!!!! You can see why I sooooo should have cheated!

Okay, now I have to tag five people to play the game! I choose:

1) Danielle
2) Angela
3) Lindsay Ann
4) Heidi
5) Sandi

Y'all play fair now!!!

OOPS! I did it again....

2008-10-16T09:38:00.003-04:00

And so the story goes....

As if I needed anything else to add to my complete and utter confusion at the gym, guess what I bought? A heart rate monitor. Yeah....you know there's a story coming with this one don't ya? So, I strap the sucker to my chest which is somewhat strange to begin with, I mean it feels like I work for the FBI or something, and should be going under cover somewhere. (hhmmmmm, now THAT'S an interesting concept!) I put the watch on which was programmed by a trainer with my information according to the results from my physical evaluation test, and I was ready to go. Of course I never bothered to read the instructional manual because well, I never read manuals. When I got ready to start my workout, I started the watch to monitor my heart rate/calories burned/ and to keep me in the right zones. And then it began. The beeping. The continual, LOUD, obnoxious beeping. It scared me so bad, I tripped off the treadmill, and an ELDERLY couple behind me rushed to my aid (well, I'm not so sure RUSHED would be the correct term....they had to help eachother off of their machines.....but either way, they came to me.) I assured them that I was okay, but they were more concerned about the beeping noise. They wanted to know why I was BEEPING!!!! I had no idea, so I said my watch was broken, thanked them for their concern, and walked away. I was still walking around beeping, and since I was so embarrassed, I tried to find an area where there wasn't anyone working out. I started doing leg machines, but the beeping was making me lose count of my reps. Then I figured out that if I put my headphones on and turned the music up really loud, I wouldn't here the beeping. So that's what I did. I actually totally forgot about my beeping wrist. There I was gettin' my fitness on, headphones blaring, completely oblivious to the fact that I was apparently annoying the crap out of three people doing lunges beside me. Finally I get a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and there is this GIGANTIC muscle man and two sports illustrated swim suit edition type girls with him. Oh, Lord, what had I done now?? What in the world did they want with me? I pulled my headphones off. The man says: "Did you know you are beeping?" me: "Yes, I think it's broken." man: "well, can't you turn it off?" me: "ummm, well, no. I don't know how." man: "do you care if I look at it? I'm the metabolic specialist here, I know how they work" I gave him my watch and he started pushing buttons. He then laughed and said "who programmed this for you, they gave you zero heart rate range! That's why you are beeping, in order for you not to beep you would have had to keep your heart rate at 135 the entire time, and that's impossible!" Okay, this is where I should have just shut up and thanked him.....but OH NO, of course I had to open my big mouth. I was soooo nervous and embarrassed by this time, that I didn't really comprehend what he had said to me. For some reason I thought he was saying that my heart rate was too high (don't ask me why I thought that, I have gone over this again and again in my mind, and I still come up with NOTHING.....it makes no sense) So I nervously blurt out "Well, I forgot to take my HEART WORM medication today, so that might be why it's so high!".................... ................ ................. .................? .............???? ................. HEART WORM????? All three of their mouths dropped and they just stared at me. In that split second (you know like in slow motion??) I went back over what I had just said. I thought I was going to die. Right there. At the gym. Beeping. "OH MY GOSH, I mean BLOOD PRESSURE medicine!!" I tried to laugh it off, but the damage was done. All at once they started laughing. BIG time laughing. BELLY laughing. I tried to cover my unbelievable humiliation by laughing, but seriously in that moment, all I wanted to do was cry!! Man handed me back watch and very sarcastically said "Have fun!"

So FIRSTTTTT, how in the world did I get heart WORM on the brain??? And seconddddddd, why did I have to say anything AT ALLLLLLLLLL????? I am so mortified right now, he probably went right downstairs and told everyone who works there. I mean, I could hear all three of them laughing the whole way out. Oh no, and it just occurred to me that if they start swapping stories amongst eachother, they might figure out that 1+1=2, and that this is the same girl that laid naked on the locker room floor with hand soap in her eyes!!!!! OH.MY.GOSH.

Moral of the story? Read instructional manuals. This WHOLEEEEEE charade could have been avoided had I just read the ding dang instructions. I might NEVER learn......but YOU still have a chance! Go! Now! Learn from my ridiculous mistakes! And don't forget to check back here often for more tips.......I'm sure there is more to come! EEEEEEK!

One more and a giveaway!

2008-10-15T19:54:00.003-04:00

So my sweet friend Angela who is a mother of triplets, was reading my awards blog post, and she told me that I might want to check her blog as well. This is what I found!!

Aaaaawwwww Angela, thanks!! I love your blog too! Thanks for the AWESOME award!

Okay, speaking of Angela, she is hosting a great giveaway for a great cause over at her blog. Go check it out and get entered!!

Awards!

2008-10-15T09:19:00.007-04:00

Hello! I feel very out of touch with bloggy world....for some reason I can't seem to catch my breath this week!! I can't figure out why I am so "out of it". (I mean obviously more than the norm here....obviously.) But, I have a lot of catching up to do, so here we go.

I have been awarded two bloggy awards over the weekend, so I will now gratefully and excitedly accept them and pass them on. The first award I recieved from my new friend Lindsay Ann in England. It's a FUN award too!! A BFF one!!! YAY! Anything that involves BFF's has got to be great, and this is a blogging BFF award!! Thanks so much Lindsay Ann!
The rules of this award are to pass it along to five other bloggers. Four of the recipients should be dedicated followers of your blog and one should be a "newbie" if at all possible. Here are my blogging BFF award choices:

1) Beki (this one is the obvious one since we have already named ourselves BFF blogging buddies!)

2) Tonda

3) Jennifer

4) Terri

5) and NEWBIE.... Susie!

Thanks again Lindsay Ann and thanks to my nominations for being such funny/fun/sweet/encouraging and wonderful commenters and bloggy friends!! (though I should say that while the rules only allow five, I could name thirty!!!!!!!!, so thank you to ALL who are so sweet and fun here!!)

The SECOND award I received from my friend Danielle who was one of my first REAL blogging buddies. (by real I mean that I met her through bloggy world, unlike my original readers who were all my friends here in the ATL!....and to think I used to make fun of people who "met online".....HA!) Anyways, Thanks Danielle for the sweet award!!

This award requires you to name six things that make you happy! The six things I will choose are:

1) My children (duh....but hey, THEY DO!)

2) My husband (duh again....but c'mon, how can I NOT be happy with someone who makes me laugh all the time? Okay, okay, so I'm not really laughing WITH him, more of AT him, but I'm HAPPY when I'm doing it!! ha!ha!.....I mean, you DO read this blog don't you? Enuf said.)

3) Fall weather. It's by far my favorite season of the year. Unfortunately here in Georgia we get very little of it, but what we get I cherish....and you will see that here on this BLOG if we ever GET Fall this year......which is looking highly unlikely right now in our eighty degree weather!!.....aarrgghhhhh......

4) When I make it through a workout session at the gym without tripping/falling/knocking over equipment/splitting my pants/dropping weights/losing my water bottle/SPILLING my water bottle/banging my head/throwing up/"tooting"/forgetting eye makeup remover/shampoo/underwear/hitting someone in the head while attempting to do a fly with free weights/or falling down the stairs AFTER I am finished. Okay, so I have never actually made it through a session without one or ALL happening, BUT IF I DID, THAT would make me VERY happy.

5) Milk Duds. Which speaking of, I am on major restriction from right now, so once again, this is a "what WOULD make me happy" thing......

6) last but definitely not least on the list today is YOU!! I love my bloggy friends and all of the sweet and fun comments and emails I receive daily from you!!!! You make me HAPPY!!!

To keep the award moving, I will chose six of my favorites (again though I have MANY favorites the rules only allow six!) Here are my choices:

1) Gina

2) Dana

3) Bethanne

4) Connie

5) girl

6) Jayne

Thanks for the awards girls!! It was fun!

And the Winner is.........

2008-10-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! .......I was going to use technoratti to tally the votes, but of course I couldn't figure out how to get the extra entries added, so as the entries came in, I manually added them to my basket. (Yes! I added 45 entries for sweet sweet Jessica who made my day with an awesome video!!)

Unfortunately there can only be ONE winner.........and that lucky winner of a custom made bulletin board is......... Hillary Hull!!! A fellow Georgian! Congratulations Hillary!! I can't wait to begin designing your board for you!!! Email me and we can begin our "designing"!!!!! YAY!

*I have received several emails asking if I do or would make these bulletin boards to sell. The answer is not normally, but because a couple people have been soooooo persuasive, I have decided to take orders for Christmas if you would like one. I can do all different sizes and designs, and depending on size and how detailed you would like it, I can work with you on the price. If you are interested please email me at heidizawisza@windstream.net . *

Thanks again to all who participated!! It was fun!

Shake it Ava Shake it!!!

2008-10-09T21:06:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I had the music turned up really loud while I was cleaning. Ava LOVES it when I do this, and we will dance all over the house together. Today though, she didn't ask me to dance with her. Before I knew it she was in front of the TV, using the blank screen as a mirror, and dancing her little head off. I acted as if I didn't notice her, and got out my camera. Not long after I started filming her, she realized she was being watched, and surprisingly kept dancing.
This is priceless. I mean P.R.I.C.E.L.E.S.S.!!! I have tried to get her to dance on camera for me before, but she never will.......I can't believe I caught this..........and she's in rare form too!!!! (her dream right now is to become a cheerleader/dancer, and I think she was incorporating both in her dancing today!! ha!)
Go Ava Go Ava GO GO Go Ava!!!

Wet Field Trip

2008-10-08T22:39:00.004-04:00

Today I went with Ava to her very first field trip. The only problem was that it was a rain or shine OUTDOOR event, and well, don't ya know it rained the entire day!!! We were both DRENCHED by the time it was over! I feel REALLY bad complaining about the rain because we need it SOOOOOO much, but it made the day incredibly cold and miserable. On the upside though, we were able to wear "fall" clothes for the first time this year! But, back to the downside again, it's going to be almost 80 degrees tomorrow.....uugghhh, I am ready for cool weather PERMANENTLY!!! And I am SICK of summer clothing! Okay, that's enough complaining. I'll move on.
We went to a YMCA camp that "reenacts" colonial times teaching the kids what kids in that era did during the day, ate, did for fun, etc..... They were able to make these puppets, though I have NO idea what they had to do with Colonial times......I must have missed that part in the discussion. I was probably too busy trying to find my phone and shut it off after it started blaring Leona Lewis Bleeding Love right in the middle of a demonstration. OOPS! .........Though that was better than me ACCIDENTALLY breaking an "artifact" toy from that era!! In my defense one of the kids had knocked over the sign that said DO NOT TOUCH OR HANDLE, therefore I thought it was a free for all on the whole toy thing. Let's just say, the colonial "MA" wasn't too happy with me, she really takes her job seriously I tell ya! I don't expect to be getting any requests from the school to chaperone any future field trips....... Oh well that's just par for the course. For some reason I'm not that great handling responsibilities with my children's school activities.......read what I did at Carter's school here.

Is ANYONE else a magnet for disaster?? I'm begining to think that there is something wrong with me......PLEASE tell me you do these crazy things as well!!!! P.L.E.A.S.E?????? (oh, and ps. I'm pretty sure the bible says it's okay to LIE in these types of situations.....I'ts in Hosea or the Revelations or one of those hardly ever read books......)

Random Updates

2008-10-07T10:22:00.005-04:00

Carter caught this fish a few weeks ago at the lake in our neighborhood, can you believe how big this bass is? I heard he had caught a big one, but until I saw the picture, I didn't realize HOW big! Of course Craig only had a disposable camera with him, and in typical man's fashion, thought that one picture would do the deed, but oh how I wish I had been there with MY camera to photograph this!!! I mean, that fish is almost as big as him! Craig said it took both of them in the boat to pull this sucker in. Anyways, WAY TO GO Carter!!! Oh, and that was the last picture taken before this...
...his front baby tooth GONE!!!! Oh my, I love baby teeth....and kids never look the same again after loosing the top two! I'm trying to prepare myself for the very large ones that are undoubtedly on their way in. It just seems that once the baby teeth are gone and the big teeth arrive, especially the front two, it takes years for their heads to grow into their teeth!! Oh well, you could probably care less what I thought of baby teeth huh?? Okay, moving on here...
Guess who's leading the race with the most "monsters" so far?? Yep! Little Miss Sunshine Ava Grace!!! Just can't seem to get the hang of self control. Looks like she should have been pink after all!!! Oh, and just for the record, despite their lack of trying, my family has not yet succeeded in giving me a monster. Though to be completely honest, I am on my way to drop one in for myself because I am on this crazy computer right now when I should be doing laundry. But for the most part, I am trying to be a good example and exercise self control this week.
Like yesterday morning for example. I woke up and heard Craig and the kids downstairs. Ava must have woke up early and instead of coming and crawling in bed with me like she usually does, gone downstairs with Craig and Carter. No big deal, I was sure that Craig would bring her up to me when he left with Carter. Except that he didn't. He took her with him to drop Carter off at school. Usually that wouldn't have been a problem. Except that it was. Today. Because sitting at the bottom of the staircase was Ava's car seat. Not in car. We don't have extras. I was F.U.R.I.O.U.S. I then tried to call his cell, only to hear it ringing downstairs. Now I was furiousER and went downstairs ready to POUNCE the second he came in the door.
As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs that dang MONSTER jar was staring at me. Seriously staring. Not JUST staring, but DARING me to explode!
Now people, I have a competitive streak to me that had already kicked in on this whole self control thing, so after I finished cursing the monsters and telling them they could go back where they came from, I calmed down and waited patiently (okay SOMEWHAT patiently) for Craig and Ava.
In they came, and by the look on Craig's face when he saw me up and waiting, he KNEW he was busted! I VERY CALMLY and very MONOTONE like asked him if he had temporarily lost his mind this morning. "Calm down or you are getting a monster!" he says. Seriously?? WAS HE JOKING? ......I took a DEEP breath, and VERY monotone/stepford wife like again said "what was going through your head when you put our four year old into a car without a car seat? and at what point did you think that would be okay?" He said he didn't know the car seat had been taken out and by the time he figured it out it was too late. Which then led me to wonder what in the world he considers TOO LATE?? I mean was he driving down the road when Ava walked up to him in the car causing him to think...hhmmmmm, somethings not right here.? Seriously people, what about when he put her IN the car?? Did he not notice that he wasn't strapping her into anything? PA-LEASE!!
I really wanted to go "monster" on him, but instead I STARED at him (oh, you know "the stare" I'm talking about...) and walked upstairs.
When I came back down after he had gone to work I noticed the monster jar with a PINK monster in it. Then I noticed that he had written on the jar also. "Calling Names". Okay first of all I never called him anything, not even any of his usuals. A self controlled stepford wife would NEVER do that, oh no. And second, considering what he had done, the fact that I didn't bang the car seat over his head when he got home was COMPLETELY exercising MUCH self control on my part.
I did the only sensible and right thing to do. I got out the "goo be gone" and SCRUBBED OFF those NON TRUE words on the jar, and matter of factly REMOVED the pink monster. I then called him and told him what I had done. He told me that he would "get me" before the end of the day!!! (who did he think he was? The wicked witch of the south?)SEE????? He's losing all kinds of control just trying to get me to!
Ummmmm, let's just say that the next time he decided to "call me out" was even more ridiculous than this one......I was half asleep in bed last night and he wouldn't stop talking or "bugging" me. I kept ignoring him trying sooooo hard not to slap him, and then he gave up with a "That's it, you're getting a monster"...........Oh, okay, let me see you explain THAT one in our family meeting on Friday.
Obviously the monster/self control experiment is a huge hit here at the Z house, I just wonder where I'll be set up next.....my family is out to get me! In all fairness though, I AM putting one in right now because I should NOT be on the computer, I am DEFINITELY not exercising self control right now.

If you would like to see the video about the experiment we are doing, you can go here.
And if you remember a few weeks back when I mentioned BonJovi and church in the same sentence (shock! gasp!the horror!), and said that we had laughed hysterically at something that had gone on in church, you can go here to see what I was talking about.

Okay, that's it for today! I hope you are having BEAUTIFUL fall weather and enjoying every minute of it!!

Monsters and Self Control

2008-10-05T19:40:00.008-04:00

*IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE GIVEAWAY GO HERE. *

The Zawisza clan has taken on a challenge.
Today was the kick off at church of Kidstuf Live. This is a program they do once a month during the school year where Parents and their elementary aged children come together after church for a huge skit/program/demonstration/crowd participation of what the children are learning this month in their classes.
This was our first experience with Kidstuf since we are new attenders to this church. I had no idea what to expect, but definitely not what I saw. Hip hop dancers, rappers, and the funniest cast doing short skits that were hilarious, yet very direct and to the point of what they are trying to teach this month. Which happens to be SELF CONTROL.
The kids went WILD and I have to say Craig and I were laughing quite a bit ourselves.

So at the end of the program, each family received one of these Kidstuf Take-Out boxes. Pretty cool huh? The box itself was neat, but the contents inside and the simple lessons to be learned behind them are the REALLY cool part.
WARNING: THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOX COULD CHANGE YOUR FAMILY! I love the warning on this box, because if used correctly, it COULD change our lives! So what's inside??
MONSTERS!!! Lots of them! The illustration to help us understand the monsters is the idea that not exercising self control in our day to day lives can turn us into monsters!
You see, the challenge our family was given today was to exercise self control in ALL areas of our lives this week. In order to keep track of how well or not so well we are using self control, we are to drop one monster in the jar (that they also gave us) every time we or a member of our family thinks that we were not using self control. We are then to write the reason of our NON self control on the jar, and on Friday we will discuss these reasons together as a family and see what lessons we have learned from this.

Carter was VERY intrigued by this experiment, and wanted to know exactly what self control meant, and ALL the rules before he embarked on the adventure this week. We had a LONG discussion at lunch today about self control and all of the different areas in life that we need to be exercising it. He then ever so smartly started pointing out where mommy and daddy would be getting monsters this week. Ha! He's no doubt right!!

THEN Carter decided what colors would represent each family member. Red= Craig, Pink= Me, Blue= Carter, and Orange= Ava. Ava then said SHE wanted to be pink, to which Carter replied " you can't be pink Ava because there's WAAAAAAY more pink ones than orange, and mommy is DEFINITELY going to need more monsters than you!!" Uh huh. Thanks son. You're probably right, but YOU'RE the one supposed to be learning the lesson here.....right??......RIGHT?????...........................Yeah, that's what I love about this experiment, it's teaching us ALL a H.U.G.E lesson about just how "uncontrolled" we really are.

Craig and I have even "upped the ante" a bit by offering a reward to the person with the least monsters at the end of the week. needless to say, this week could get very interesting.

You DO remember whose color is red don't you??? Leave it to hubs to get the jar started with the first monster!!!! (20 minutes after getting home.....)
Yeah, well Carter wasn't far behind........and oh yes, the TEASING 'offense' is CRAIG's reason for being in the jar......... At this rate I will be heading to the store by tomorrow afternoon looking for more monsters and probably another jar to hold them all. Fridays meeting might be an all nighter.......I have a feeling the Z house might have a lot of "self control" lessons to be talked about, and YES that definitely includes me!! Though I have yet to drop a monster in the jar, I am SURE by my next report on this matter, there will be PLENTY!!!

How many monsters would you drop today?

The growth of our flowers...

2008-10-04T22:01:00.004-04:00

Mother's Day 2008.....

July 2008.....
October 2008.....
We have had so much fun with these flowers this year. Craig has been feeding them some sort of super food, and they just won't quit growing! I am going to be so sad when the weather finally turns cooler for good, and they die. We have absolutely L.O.V.E.D looking at and sitting under these beautiful plants this summer, and especially lately in the evenings since the weather has been cooler at night. Trust me, the pictures do not do them justice!

Anyways, I just thought I'd share them one more time on this blog, since they are probably taking their last few breaths on this earth....sniff.....sniff..... If by some chance they live to grow even bigger, I will report again, but I accept the reality that will most likely NOT happen. Oh well, they've lived a BIG BEAUTIFUL life!! ha!ha!

Red Riding Hood Jacket Giveaway!

2008-10-04T17:17:00.002-04:00

Grosgrain is hosting this fabulous little red jacket giveaway! Go here for details on how to enter!

Halloween Jewels Giveaway!

2008-10-04T17:02:00.006-04:00

Jayne from Bunny Chic Boutique is having yet another great giveaway just in time for Halloween. There are two chances to win these cute Halloween "jewels". Go here for details on how to enter!

*And to enter my custom made bulletin board giveaway go here. *

Single and NOT loving it!

2008-10-03T20:55:00.005-04:00

Okay....so I have been a little sporadic this week with the whole blogging thing, and now I can tell you why. I have been single moming it all week! Craig has to travel for his job, and this was his week to be in Orlando. He has been gone since last Saturday thus leaving me to do EVERYTHING!! (waa waa waa.....I know I know....) The reason I haven't mentioned it before tonight is that I am always a little skeptical about putting on the Internet the fact that I am home alone. You know in case some crazy decides to drop by for the heck of it. (just know Mr. Crazy that I have a VERY good alarm system, and a VERY ferocious dog!!!! B.E.W.A.R.E.)

So in doing EVERYTHING, that also meant taking Carter to his impromptu weigh in tonight for football. WEIGH IN??? huh?? Seven year old weigh in? You have to be kidding me! Nope I'm not. They have to weigh in every once in a while to make sure they are "eligible to play according to the guidelines". Seems WAAAAAAY over the top to me, but what do I know? I feel sorry for the kid who had one too many donuts this week and missed weight by a pound or two.

While I was sitting there waiting, the team mom started handing out the team pictures that had been taken a few weeks ago. When she got to the end of the pile and had not yet given me a package, she looked at me and said "Heidi, they must have made a mistake and not sent Carter's" OH, NO, that wasn't the case. I then replied, "Oh, don't worry, Craig didn't order any" "why?" she asked. (uummm, because he would lose his head in a bucket if I wasn't there to tell him to take it off)...I mean "because Craig had a slight memory malfunction, and apparently when he got to picture day and realized he had forgotten the checkbook, he forgot how to drive the five minutes home to retrieve it, he forgot my cell phone number to ask me to bring it to him, and he forgot to tell me about picture day when he got home so that I might have been able to still get some ordered. Any more questions?" Not really.

I do PRETTY good when Craig goes out of town. I mean I have to admit that I am spoiled. Craig gets up every morning with Carter, dresses him, feeds him and takes him to school. Ava and I get to sleep until eight, and then we get up and I get her to school.
I am NOT a morning person. Not by a long shot. Therefore I have a bad habit of saying the wrong thing every time Craig tells me he has to go out of town. Like "oh crap, that means I have to get up in the mornings this week" when what I'm REALLY trying to say is "oh, honey, I will miss you soooooo much...hurry back my little pookie pooooooooo".......
So, being that I am NOT a morning person (just had to throw that in there again for the IMPORTANCE of it ...wink wink...), I should be excused for a few minor mishaps that might have happened in those wee morning hours this week. Like Wednesday morning. We were rushing around like we did every morning this week when I pulled out of the garage and thought something had gone terribly wrong. I couldn't see anything! Everything was blurry.
Panic immediately set in. I mean here I am all by myself, sitting in our driveway, hubs is in Florida, and I'm losing my eyesight faster than a speeding train. I tried to stay calm for the kids, but my throat was closing in on me due to the sheer panic I was experiencing. ( I swear I saw white lights and heard trumpets blowing) "CARTER, I think I need you to call 911, mommy can't see anything!" Carter who is normally my panic dramatic child (yeah, he must get that from his dad:), looked at me like I was insane, and said "do you want me to go back in and get your glasses?"
It was a good thing that Craig didn't come home to an emergency room bill because of my sleepy dramatic ways..............again.

And Finally...

UH HUH, UH HUH, THIS is what Ava brought home from school yesterday. I will HIGHLY encourage her to remember these three IMPORTANT words. You never know when they might come in handy!! Like the time........... (if you have no idea what I am talking about, you can read about "the time" here.)

Have a great weekend and don't forget to enter my giveaway here!! The contest is open until October 1oth!

BRING IT ON!!

2008-10-03T08:10:00.004-04:00

*If you are looking for the giveaway, scroll down to next post*

Ha! This is soooo awesome! Jessica from Farm Fresh REALLY wants to win! Here is her video. Jessica, YOU ROCK, and you just earned yourself 44 extra entries!!! Yippee!!

Custom Made Giveaway!!

2008-10-01T20:34:00.004-04:00

In honor of the fact that I have entered so many giveaways, and have even won one, I am hosting my own giveaway just in time for Christmas!! The bulletin board pictured here, is my son Carter's, but I will custom make one for you, with YOUR choice of style!!!
This is a 22' x 46' bulletin board that my sister and I made for Carter.
The border is wrapped in grosgrain ribbon, the cork is covered in a bandanna print fabric, and I lined the edges with rope.
The center is a wooden letter that I painted in a cow print.
Just for extra fun, I found cute little cowboy wooden shapes to attach to the corners.

Here is the board hanging in Carter's room. He likes to put all of his special pictures and postcards on it.

Okay, here's the deal: I will custom make you a bulletin board with the colors/theme/style of your choice. I will work with you and make you whatever you would like. (within reason of course..ha!ha!) I can replicate this one as well if you wish! These are great for kids, but I can also design a more adult like one as well. YOUR WISH WILL BE MY COMMAND!!!!! This will make a great Christmas present and I am guaranteeing shipment by the 10th of December.

Here's how to enter:

-Leave me a comment here on this post giving me your email and blog address if you have one. This will give you one entry. (you may still enter even if you don't have a blog)

-If you blog about this giveaway on your blog linking back to this specific post, you will recieve five additional entries.

-If you make a video telling me why you would like this, post it to youtube, and send me the link, you will automatically be given FORTY FOUR extra entries, giving you the chance to have a total of FIFTY entries!!!!

I am leaving this open until the tenth of October. The contest will close at Midnight eastern time October 10th! I will announce the winner Monday morning the thirteenth of October.

Unfortunately I have to limit this giveaway to U.S. residents only. I'm so sorry to my Aussie and Canadian friends!!! (I hope you will still be my friends:)

Good Luck!!

S.C.A.R.Y

2008-09-30T10:20:00.002-04:00

Watch this! We live in a very scary time!!

Pandora's Box

2008-09-27T20:18:00.007-04:00

So since Pandora's box has been so graciously opened by my mother, my father, and NOW an old highschool friend, I am going to have to respond to the madness. But fair warning here.....THIS IS IT!! I refuse to humiliate myself any more on this blog. This will be the LAST humiliation post!! ............(YES! Of course I realize that is only a dream.....but it's MY blog, and I'm allowed to dream the completely impossible here!!)
Those of you who have other "stories" linked to my most witty ways, feel free to keep them to yourselves!! Unfortunately I can not control what gets leaked out, and well, because it's ME we're talking about here, there are quite a few "doosies" out there involving my bad self. I will attempt to defend my intelligence and dignity in the ones that have been brought up here on this blog, but notice I use the word ATTEMPT! I am going to give it a good effort, but as you will see, some of these "situations" are undefendable. I would have to plea either the fifth or insanity in a court of law, and even then I would get the death sentence. For sure. But for now I do solemnly swear that the following is all true. Regrettably.

Story number one. When I was somewhere around the age of fifteen, we were traveling from Iowa to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents who lived there. We were driving on the interstate and there was a VERY VERY tall sign along the side of the rode. At the top (and I mean this sign was REALLY tall) it read: EMERGENCY PULL OFF HERE
I thought the sign was absolutely ridiculous and proceeded to ask my dad "How in the world would you get up there to pull it off, and then what would you do with it anyways?" Obviously my mind had gone in a completely different direction. I took it a little too literally.I was thinking there was a call box or something connected to the back of the sign or an emergency button you would slap when you got to the top, but couldn't figure out why you had to climb up a pole to get to it. In the middle of major traffic.
Needless to say at first my parents were speechless, and then upon realizing I was serious, about wrecked the car due to the uncontrollable laughter. At the time I soooooo didn't think it was funny. It took them forever to gain control of themselves and explain to me what the sign really meant.

My defense: I still say the sign was misleading. And why did it have to be so tall??

Story number two. After I graduated highschool, I worked as a waitress. I was always coming home with large amounts of cash. Because of this, I made frequent trips to the bank to deposit my money. During this time is when the banks started using those "night deposit boxes". When I heard of this new service, I was excited, because it meant I could swing by the bank right after I got off work each night and deposit my tips right away. So one night after work I did just that. I deposited my money in the "night drop" and went along my merry way. A few days later I was notified that several of my checks had bounced. I knew that this could not be possible because I had plenty of money in there. I called the bank and they argued with me. I asked them if they got my night deposit to which they said no. Immediately I started freaking out telling them that I deposited a large sum of cash using their new "SERVICE". The bank president then got involved and made all of the employees search everywhere, including reopening all the trash from the week. (banks keep their trash for a week or more due to crazies like me I guess....I know this because I worked at a bank once......uummmm, sooooo not THIS bank, but still a bank.....another post, another time) Anyways, when the money still didn't show up, I told my dad what had happened. My dad had his own home building business, and all of his business and personal accounts were with this bank. He was definitely well respected there. He was furious and called the bank himself. (Though, because he KNEW MEEEEEE, he questioned me, making SURE I had deposited the money, before making the call) Basically he threatened to pull all his accounts if this did not get resolved!! The president of the bank then requested a meeting with me and my dad and of course we went. We get into her office, I'm crying, and my dad is ticked and ready to withdraw all of his money. The woman starts apologizing saying that this has never happened before, assuring us that the bank will take responsibility, but first she would like to know EXACTLY when I made the deposit, what time, etc...etc.... Very indigently I start to tell my story ending with "and I put it RIGHT THERE!" pointing outside to...................................THE AIRBORNE EXPRESS MAILBOX!!!!! Oh yeah baby, I thought my dad stood a serious chance of being arrested for murder that day. Me being the victim of course.

My defense: I couldn't.......well, if she........was soooo dark.......hate boxes.....can't read very............Oh who am I kiddin'? I got nothin'. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Absolutely no defense on this one.

Story number three. This one is pretty self explanatory. Yes this happened to me while I was in college. I was pumping gas one night in the middle of winter (in IOWA), and it was so cold out that I decided to go inside to wait and pay. After paying I was so cold, all I could think about was getting back in my car and turning the heat on. As I pulled away from the pump, I thought I heard a thump (hey, I'm a poet and I didn't know it!), but didn't think that much about it. I got about a mile down the road and realized that people were honking at me. They were pointing at my gas tank. It then dawned on me that I had probably forgotten to replace my gas cap:0?) Imagine my surprise when I pulled over and found an entire GAS HOSE hanging out of my car!!!! I am ashamed to say that I was so embarrassed and mortified, that I yanked it out leaving it there along the side of the road!! Hey! If that's the WORST I did in college...we're good! Oh wait, that's not the worst.......hhmmmmm....moving on here......

My defense: Obviously since the picture above is not of ME, I am NOT the only one to have done this! It MUST be an every day occurance! I rest my case.

Story number four. One bright sunny day in the land of OZ.....I mean one day I decided to take my car through the car wash. In Georgia. Not Oz. Wish it were Oz, because then this would not be real, but no such luck, this IS real. Anyways, I was talking on my phone while I was "punching in the code" and not really paying much attention to what I was doing. The green light came on, and I moved forward. Still talking on my phone. When the light turned red I put on my brakes. Still talking on my phone. All of a sudden I started to feel a slight mist and realized that HOLY CRAP, I had forgotten to roll up the windows. I panicked, tried to get the windows rolled up and in my haste took my foot off the brake. My car lunged forward (it was a manual transmission) and before I knew what was happening, I was slapped in the face with what felt like a hundred wet belts. My glasses flew off, my phone must have flown out the window (never saw it again...), and my car was instantaneously filled with water.
This is where the details get a little sketchy, because I really don't remember how much longer I was in that torture chamber, or even if I finished the wash. I seriously think I was knocked unconscious for a while!
Yeah, this is the same car that was totalled a few months later in a pretty much standing still accident.

My defense: There was a cute boy at the gas pump who was definitely giving me "the eye" when I was getting my gas, and I was undoubtedly talking on the phone to a girlfriend about him which would EXPLAIN my absent mindedness while entering the car wash. I mean I was twenty four and NOT married people!!!! In the south that's a mortal sin!!!! I was simply trying to make things right between me and God. Rolling my windows up had NOTHING to do with getting married, therefore was LAST on my mind!

Okay, I hope this satisfies everyone for a while. A looooooong while. Because I am officially humiliated. There have been other "rumors" okay I mean true stories, mentioned about me here on this blog, but my A.D.D is on such overload right now that there is no way I can tell another one. If you only KNEW how long it has taken me to write these!! I would love to say that I attended some dingbat anonymous program or something, and that these occurrences are WELL within my past, but alas as I have stated before, I am a tragic magnet for chaos, so I am sure there will be more in the future........and maybe every ONCE in a while, I will reveal another PAST story!!!! Until then, Happy laughing! At my expense. You're welcome.

Movie Night

2008-09-27T00:19:00.003-04:00

Last night Craig and I went to see this movie. I didn't tell him what the movie was about because if I did, I knew he wouldn't have wanted to go. I just told him that it was opening night for something that I had wanted to see for a long time. (Luckily he was running late getting home from work, and was just trying to actually MAKE the date, let alone inquire about what we were doing...)
Well, OF COURSE the second we get there we would have to run into our neighbors coming out of a movie. They asked us what movie we were going to see, and I tried to cough out Nights in the Rodanthe. I knew the second I said it that this particular neighbor would have a hay day with Craig. "WOW" he says "how'd she get you to take her to the chic movie of the year?" turns to me "whatever you did, don't tell MY wife how to do it! I'm not seeing that movie!!"
Craig looked at me with that "you're DEAD" look, and I pulled him into the theater before he could object.
If you know Craig, you know that he is a total MAN'S MAN, sports freak, beat 'em up slash 'em up type of movie guy . This movie was nothing short of PURE MISERY for him.
At one point the ladies (yes there were many Ladies groups in the theater.....maybe a handful of men...oops!) behind him were crying. He turns to me to make fun of them, and finds me crying too. At this point he says real loud "Are you serious?? This is the cheesiest thing I have ever seen!!" Then he proceeds to start laughing. I kicked him and told him to shut up.

My verdict for the movie was that it was okay. I enjoyed it, didn't come out hootin' and hollerin' (of course that may have been due to the fact that I thought there was a good chance that coming out I would find a hood of women waiting to fight Craig....)but it was worth seeing once I guess. I personally do not think that it compared to The Notebook though like they said it would. It served it's purpose. Created tears. Made men of all ages jealous that women of all ages still think Richard Gere has it goin' on ( and frankly I think that is the REAL reason Craig had such a problem with it....).

Just don't remind Craig about this movie. Ever. My "I owe you's" quadrupled after last night.......ggrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I had NOTHING to do with this!

2008-09-26T19:19:00.003-04:00

Here is a conversation that occurred yesterday morning while we were all getting ready and before Ava went to school.
Ava looks at me, rolls her eyes, and gives me a once over. Word for word verbatim hand on hip she says: "Ummmm, mommy, if you're wearing THAT, you are NOT taking me to school!"
me: "what?"
Ava: "you can't be the one to take me to school!"
me: "AVA, I don't even get OUT of the car when I take you, we use the carpool! Why do you care?"
She looked at me again in my sweat shorts and t-shirt, then turned to her daddy and said: "Daddy, get out of the shower, YOU'RE taking me to school!!"
Craig to me: "SEEEEEEEEEEEE???????? I told you you created a monster!!!"
I get blamed for everything....hhhhhmmmpphhhhhhhhh!

Tag! I'm it!!!

2008-09-25T10:04:00.004-04:00

My friend Tonda from Reflections of an Everyday Life tagged me, so I will of course play along!
The rules of the tag are as follows:
1.Post the rules on your blog.
2.Write six random things about yourself.
3.Tag six people at the end of your post.
4. If you are tagged, JUST DO IT, and pass the tag along.

So here are my six random things that you might not know about me:

1. I was in a car accident here in Atlanta about ten years ago. I was STOPPED on Barrett Parkway in the left turning lane at a red light, when all of a sudden I thought a gun went off when my air bag blew up in my face knocking my glasses off and splattering me with black "coal dust stuff". I had NO IDEA what was happening! In that split second I thought I had either been shot at, or my car was on fire, so I did the only thing I could think to do..........STOP, DROP, and ROLL. I threw open the door of my car and proceeded to ROLL on the grassy median. When I realized that none of my body parts were burning, I tried to collect my thoughts and stand up. By the time I stood up, looked at my white shirt covered in black soot and now grass stains, then finally surveying my surroundings, the "other members" of the apparent car accident that I had caused were out of their cars just staring at me!
APPARENTLY I must have seen the light turn green and GUNNED it before waiting my turn in line , causing a three car accident. OOPS! (I seriously have no recollection of that actual moment.)
Here's the real winner of the story, Obviously, if we were stopped at a light and within seconds a car accident has occurred, you know it couldn't have been at high speeds right?
So the damage would be minimal right? Well, IT WAS......for the other two cars. Bumper fender benders that's it (well, that and the girl in front of me who said she had whiplash.....oh, BAHUMBUG....whiplash??). However, MY CAR??? Totalled. Totally. NEVER to be driven again. The entire front end was smashed in.
So there I was without my glasses, LOOKING though I had been in a high speed chase that had ended with my expulsion from the car and harsh landing in a coal mine/grassy meadow, and I was the ONLY one that even halfway resembled an accident victim. EVEN THOUGH two cars and three other people had been involved. (who btw SHOULD have put their childhood training to use and stopped, dropped and rolled with me....but whatever!)
SEE??? I'm a MAGNET for ridiculous chaos. Always have been, apparently always will be...

2. I LOOOOOOOOVE to laugh!! As stated on my sidebar, it is seriously my favorite thing to do. (good thing huh? there's A lOT to laugh about in my life:) Well, God has a serious sense of humor, because the number one thing I love to do, he created in me, and let me tell you....my laugh is OBNOXIOUS!! I prefer to think of it as INFECTIOUS rather than OBNOXIOUS, but in the spirit of "keepin' it real", it's obnoxious!
I can't wait to ask God when I see him someday what was going through his head when he glued in my giggle box. He sooooo must have been having a particularly humor filled day.
I grew up with the nickname Heidi the hyena, and well, if you have actually met me, you know why. I have had old high school friends find me on facebook, and the first thing they want to know, is if I still have my laugh.
The last thing about my laugh (and this is just between you and me) is,.....want to know who my laugh annoys the heck out of?? My little bro. It drives him CRAZY!!! Naturally you can guess what I do to push his buttons a little...........just every NOW and THEN.......hee hee hee

3.I am a CLEAN FREAK.....or NEAT FREAK at the very least. My dad has so kindly passed down his OCD to me in the areas of neatness where EVERYTHING has a place.....and THAT'S where it should be. At ALL times. I have a hard time doing ANYTHING unless my house is spotless. Trust me, this is really not a good thing. It causes MUCH unneeded stress. I am working on this. FAILING, but working.

4.I'm a dingbat. (hey! this wasn't a post about NEW things about me....just random right?)
Having said that, I also have a VERY serious side to me that only close friends and family usually get let in on. I seriously enjoy and CHERISH deep relationships with people.
I feel that I maintain a healthy balance of fun and seriousness........I hope anyways.

5.I HATE to exercise....but I do it anyways. I am hoping that one day the excitement level will increase, but so far NO luck....Who invented exercise anyways? Isn't it eerily close to EXORCISM?? In that case, it definitely goes AGAINST my religion. Yeah, that's the ticket. IT GOES AGAINST MY RELIGION!!!

6. I bite my shirt just like a child would. Seriously. When I am sitting down watching TV or on the computer, I usually have the neck of my shirt in my mouth. Gross. I know. But you wanted random....

Okay, here is who I am tagging.....drum roll please.......
Hollie, Melanie, Canela, Bethanne, Beki, and Danielle

Another GREAT giveaway!!

2008-09-24T20:06:00.003-04:00

In honor of her 75th blog post, my sweet SWEET friend Jayne from Bunny Chic Boutique is giving away these adorable items!!!! How STINKIN' cute is that halloween tote?
Go to her blog for the details on how to enter!!

SLEEPING????

2008-09-24T15:43:00.003-04:00

Ok, there is a reason for this picture, but before I SHARE that reason, you must raise your right hand and repeat after me. Okay?
Ready? Right hands raised? Repeat this: "I, fellow stalker, I mean blogger, being of a sound mind...(oh scratch that part, might as well not make you swear to something that not even I can be honest about......let's just get to the jist of this...) I do solemnly swear that I will NEVER and I mean NEVER repeat this story to Heidi's husband Craig. I understand that he must never be informed of this small little post. I agree to keep this story within the walls of my own thoughts, and NEVER discuss this past the safety of this blog."
So is everybody on the same page here? If you can not keep this promise, then please leave the blog IMMEDIATELY and forget you ever saw anything!!!!

Okay, here we go.
Craig has a major problem of sleep walking, talking, yelling.....basically he's a nightmare to sleep with. (no pun intended) He has suffered from these sleep conditions since he was a child, he even fell off a hayloft when he was a boy, and continued to walk out of the barn waking up in the middle of a field while spending the night at a friends farm one time.
So of course since we have been married, I have been awakened to MANY different things in the middle of the night. Once when I was pregnant with Carter I woke up to a conversation he was having "on the phone" with someone, and I kid you not, this is what he said "yeah, man she's HUGE, I never KNEW a persons belly could look like that....pause......NO man, that DEFINITELY isn't happening" (assumption? s.e.x. .....what else DEFINITELY wouldn't be happening????) this is the point where I kicked him into an oblivion reality where he completely denied saying those things, and couldn't figure out why I was FUMING, and then was mad at ME for waking HIM up!!!

I have also awakened to him just sitting in the bed appearing to be "watching" me. Now let me tell you, that will MESS you up for REAL! I about came unglued the first time it happened screaming and scratching at him. All the while he is completely oblivious to what is going on due to the fact that he is SLEEPING!

BUT, the funniest thing that he does, and this is where your solemn oath comes in, is that probably a minimum of twice a week he gets out of the bed and walks to the bathroom sitting down on the toilet. He then continues to sit there and GRUNT a little....(btw...I'm laughing so hard right now I can barely type this...), he then spins the toilet paper roll around and around for maybe about thirty seconds or so. Now the kicker of all this is that he NEVER actually GOES to the bathroom. He just 'PRETENDS'!!!! He then stands up and returns to the bed. The reason I know this is all pretend, is that after about the fiftieth night of hearing this early in our marriage and thinking "who in the world has to do THAT in the middle of the night EVER, let alone several times a week?", I started getting up when he did and following him into the bathroom. I did this for about four nights, confirming that he was completely asleep and actually had NO idea that I was in there with him. I watched the WHOLE SCENARIO!!! It is totally OFF THE HOOK and UNBELIEVABLE to watch someone doing things they have no idea they are doing.

We have been married eight years, and this has been a "sure thing" all eight years. I am blogging about it now because it happened again last night, and while I was giggling to myself while he was "in the bathroom", I thought I JUST HAVE to blog about this!!!!

Now remember your OATH!!!!!

Cinnamon Sticks Boutique Giveaway!

2008-09-22T21:30:00.003-04:00

You can win this adorable bangle by heading over to Cinnamon Sticks Boutique and entering in the giveaway!! Good luck!

Beach Pictures!!!

2008-09-22T09:43:00.008-04:00

Sorry about ALL the pics....I just had so much fun taking them this past week. This is only a FRACTION of what I actually took!! ha! There are some more on my facebook account for my TRUE stalkers...hee hee hee...

On three different occassions we were able to see dolphins. One was right off the beach where we actually saw two FLIP out of the water and do circles in the air....it was incredible!! The other was on our pirate cruise, where the picture above was taken, and the third I didn't see but Craig and Carter could practically reach out and touch the MANY MANY dolphins that were swimming by their boat on the deep sea fishing trip they went on.
Everybody all together now.....AAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!
The beach we went to this year is BY FAR my favorite beach that we have visited in the panhandle. The views, the sand, the surf.....OH MY, absolutely STUNNING!! I think we have definitely found our "return" stomping grounds.
Carter absolutely LOVES to "catch" things, and he will spend hours doing so. This was the catch of the day.

Uh huh.....that's ME....in a swimsuit (well, under a towel AND a child...and let me tell you, that's ALL you're getting)......on the blog for the world to see......NO MORE REQUESTS for pictures of me allowed!!! Ha!Ha!

So these are my three favorite people in the whole world , don't they make a beautiful picture?

Oh, this HURTS just looking at it.....I can TOTALLY hear that chair calling my name...

Craig and Carter being Craig and Carter......giving me heart attacks as each "toss" got higher...

This is one of my FAVES!!! LOVE the water hitting them!
There go my babies running after their daddy.

Always the sassifras that she is, she wanted to wear these out on the beach.....the answer was no. But, she definitely gets an A for effort.....she sure did try!!
These pictures were taken at one of our favorite places to hang in the panhandle. Destin commons, where there is tons of shopping, restaurants, ice cream places, movie theatre, and our personal favorite...the shooting water fountains!! This year we were smart and brought their swimsuits...(in previous years we just let them run in their clothes, and then they would FREEZE the whole way home!!) They had a BLAST running around and being KIDS!!!

One thing we do EVERY night on vacation is GET ICE CREAM!! We usually go to a different place each night after dinner and get our sugar fix!! The kids look forward to this as much as anything else because we don't let them have hardly any sugar at home. Plus, it just makes for a great vacation tradition that the whole family enjoys!!
Crazy bucketheads!!

This was taken at the community pool where our house was located. The pool was absolutely unbelievable. I've never seen one like this before. It was 12,000 square feet with waterfalls, fountains, and infiinity edges. It was AWESOME!

A big highlight of the trip was our Pirate Cruise. We took the kids on a "real" pirate cruise where pirates played pirate games with them, they swabbed the decks, pulled treasure out of the sea, got their faces painted, sang pirate songs, danced, and tons of other stuff!! It was sooo fun, and the kids are already asking if we can do it again the next time we go.
Just ONE of the beautiful sunsets we were able to enjoy. God sure does paint a stunning picture don't ya think?
Enough said.
Leave it to Carter and the Dover boys to climb the dunes...even though there was a large sign that said STAY OFF THE DUNES!!!
This was the street that our house was on.

AAArrrggghhhhhh!!

I'm Baaaaaaaaack!!

2008-09-21T12:27:00.007-04:00

Hello! I am back from vacay and procrastinating reality right now. I have no idea where my children and hubby are, and I am still in my pj's. How's that for a Sunday? Oh, and obviously we missed church as well. YIKES! I guess I need to get it together before the HUGE slap of schedules and MAJOR dose reality slaps me in the face tomorrow....but for now I'm still laying on the beach....in my mind.

The Internet was AWFUL at the house we rented, I was only able to get on it for maybe five minute increments once or twice a day. I was LOST without my daily blog reads. I have a lot of catching up to do this evening AFTER the kiddos are in bed of course:) That and the suitcases that need to be unpacked sometime today.....uugghhhh.

We had a great time though, and it pained me greatly to have to leave. I am already scheming, I mean planning our next getaway to the beach. I wonder if Craig would think next week would be too soon.....

So while we were there, we would all be down on the beach dreaming, pretending, and the "if I's" would start rolling. Here is a conversation that I found particularly humorous.
Craig: "IF I had a house on the beach (keep dreamin' kid...), I would definitely have a boat"
Jeff: "You would man? I guess I probably would too, though, I'm not sure about the upkeep, I would have to hire someone for that"
Craig: "Oh definitely hire someone, I wouldn't want the upkeep either"
So this is where I decide to inject my little 'ole opinion.
Me: "well, the only way I would have a boat is if we had a slip to store it in, because it would be a pain to always have to put it in the water, and then get it out again every time you wanted to use it"
You would have thought I just shot them or something the way they looked at me after I said that!!!!
Jeff: "THAT'S EXXXXXPENSIVEEEEEE......I think those slots run about $5-$800 dollars a month"
Craig: " YEAH... that's WAAAAAAAY too expensive, we DEFINITELY wouldn't have one of those" (then proceeded to give me the evil eye like DUUUUHHHHH you are an idiot)
Ummmmm, did I miss something here?? OKAY, because having a two million dollar home on the beach, a hundred thousand dollar boat, AND a boat upper keeper are within our grasp, but the boat SLOT is just WAAAAAAY over the top??????????:)
NOW who's the idiot?

We really didn't watch TV either while we were there, so without TV AND Internet, I have NO idea what is going on in the world right now. (Not that that is a HUGE difference from normal....but hey, nobody really has to know that....)
I did see (thanks to my friend Bethanne) the interviews of Obama and McCain on "The View".
And let me preface with saying that I HATE The View. It is such a biased trashy so called talk show....the only person I like on there is Elizabeth. Anyways, it's unbelievable the difference in the interviews. Barbara was RIDICULOUS to McCain, and then called Obama sexy during his interview. OKAY BARB, cause I guess SEXY will get him voted in......but then, maybe that's all you got????
You can watch these interviews on you tube....I'm too lazy and incompetent right now to post the links. Just type in Obama and McCain interviews on The View.

I'm going to close for now with saying that I seriously look as though I have given myself a skin graft on my face...using my own face skin. Why am I so ANALLY insistent on getting the kids covered in sunscreen, and yet I act as though I am the one exception to the sun rules??
I guess the "idiot button" has bounced back to my corner after all...........but I am sure by the end of the day Hubs will be wearing it PROUDLY again..........and so another day rolls in Zland........

HELLO from the beach!

2008-09-16T10:20:00.003-04:00

Okay, the internet here pretty much stinks, so if this even gets finished and published, we are doing good here.......I just thought I would say hello, and share a VERY funny moment with you.
Yesterday while at the beach, Craig buried the boys in the sand. While they were helpless under all that sand, he threw goldfish on top of them causing all of the sea gulls to dive in for the food! He then continued to throw the crackers on the boys.......
Stupid and yet hilarious at the same time! Carter and Ethan thought it was great and were laughing the whole time....however, Drew didn't think the birds on his face were quite that funny, and he cried. AND that was only the FIRST time Craig made poor little Drew cry yesterday................I'll tell you about WHAT ELSE he did later!!

So with that, I'm off to tend to my sunburn......OUCH!!!

DA BEACH!!! Oh YEAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!

2008-09-12T22:42:00.004-04:00

Well, I finally finished packing for the beach! Yay! (Bethanne, TRY to accept this...you have to come to grips with this whether you like it or not!.......SAWREEEEEE!) hee hee hee

We are leaving in the morning right after Carter's football game. Craig is DESPERATE to get down there in time for the big OSU game.....which they are NOT favored to win, and well, if you know my husband, OSU losing has the potential of ruining our entire vacation. YIKES!

I think the house we rented has internet, so I am sure to stay in tune with blog world, but in case it doesn't.....Have a great weekend and week!!!

I'm off to feel the sand between my toes!! YIPPEE!!

xoxo,
Heidi

Seriously? Seriously.

2008-09-10T21:06:00.003-04:00

Here we go again...and let me preface this post... if somebody doesn't fess up soon to deliberately trying to sabotage me, I am seeking professional help IMMEDIATELY! Because I must OBVIOUSLY need it!

This morning I was being SOOOOO good by dropping Ava off at school and heading straight to the gym. I even had a bag packed with clothes so that I could just shower there instead of having to come back home.

So after my workout I headed to the locker room for my shower. I grabbed a towel and proceeded toward the showers. I had forgotten to bring my shampoo with, so I went back to get it. Only to find that I had not even brought any....Ugghh....Now what? The sweaty nasty clothes had already been discarded and rolled up in a ball, and there was NO way I was putting on clean clothes the way I felt. NOT washing my hair was NOT an option either, because I had worked out the night before, and used UP that option on Tuesday night. This was workout # 2 with the same hair.......yeah, totally needed to be washed.

I begrudgingly unrolled the sweaty smelly clothes and put them back on....GROSS!!!! BUT, it had to be done. I walked out of the locker room, and over to the spa that is inside the gym. I thought I was going to have to buy a brand new bottle of shampoo, but they were so nice and gave me a small sample of some. (everybody say aaaaawwwwwww......)

There! problem solved. I took my shower, and then went to wash my face........... .......... ........... .......... Ummmm,......... NO FACE SOAP! I looked in the mirror, and well, that's where things went downhill. You see, I don't wash my face before I go to bed at night...(gasp! Horror! shock!)...Sorry, I just never have. So of course after a workout AND a shower, I had black sweaty/wet mascara circling my eyes and dripping down my face. Now ladies, you KNOW that water alone does NOT remove this stuff from your face. (probably because mascara is made of BAT POOP!! UH HUH....totally serious here....google it...YOU'LL SEE!!!)

So there I am with bat poop running down my face wondering if I could just get through ONE day without some sort of catastrophe. I desperately started looking around to see if anyone else might just happen to be getting ready and I could MAYBE borrow some face soap or something. NOPE! No one. Zippo. Zero. Zilch. I looked in the mirror again (don't ask me why, I guess I was hoping that God felt sorry for me, and had zapped the bat poop off my face) only to confirm that I could NOT walk out of there looking like that!

Okay.....HERE is where insanity took over. In my defense, I WAS desperate, but in hindsight bat poop covered eyes really aren't that bad compared to what I left with.

I went over to the sink, squirted out some hand dispenser soap and slapped it right on my eyes without even "testing" it first............. Oh my GOSH!!!!!! How many different ways can you spell P.A.I.N???? And I mean SEVERE pain!!!!

I thought I was going to have to call 911 from the locker room! (can you imagine THAT conversation? "Excuse me, but I had bat poop in my eyes to which I tried to remove by liquid hand soap, and now I'm pretty sure one or both of my eyeballs have sizzled up and fallen out, but I don't know that for sure because all I see is pitch black and I'm stuck in a locker room.....if you have a sec, can you come get me?".....) I started dunking my face and head in the sink trying desperately to flush my eyes out. Every time I would swing my head back up, I would spray water everywhere, leaving a HUGE wet slippery mess.

By this time, I had a small audience....I mean, where were they when I needed to borrow their products??? OF COURSE they show up for the fireworks. (no pun intended.....since my eyes were ON FIRE!) And now I know how the man along the road in the bible with leprosy felt when no one offered him help. They all just looked at me like I was a zombie or something. (LIKE they've never seen anyone with devils eyes and poop running out of them.....GEEZ give me a break! psshhttt...) Well, all except the sweet "towel porter" who kindly asked me in her broken English if I needed some help. As I looked at her through the very small slits of my eyes, I lied and said no thank you.

After sitting and trying to regain some composure, I managed to get dressed (oh yeah, did I forget to mention that this all happened naked??.......... surely you didn't think I would be able to maintain even an ounce of dignity here did you??). I then put on my sunglasses, and walked out. Head held high. VERY high.

Happy Birthday Josh!

2008-09-10T19:53:00.002-04:00

Today is my brother in law's birthday! We had him and Hannah over last night for dinner and celebrated a little with a cake. I just wanted to give him a shout out on my blog!!
SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Random thoughts from the weekend

2008-09-07T22:51:00.006-04:00

I can't believe the weekend is over! It has truly been one jam packed weekend, and I am so sad to start another very busy week tomorrow.
Yesterday Carter had a football game first thing in the morning at the Highschool field. Being in that big stadium was awesome, but it was so stinkin' hot I thought we were going to melt before the game ended!! The poor players could barely move they were so hot! I felt terrible for them. We lost. Again. Oh well, I'm still cheering them on!!

After the game, my mom, sister, and I went to Stone Mountain for the daisy festival. Again it was sooooo hot, but it was fun to just be with my mom and sister which we hardly ever get to do. Stone Mountain is so totally cool.....I wonder why we don't go there more often? hmmmmm......

Today in church they did a "Saturday Night Live" like skit to a bon jovi song and they changed all the words.......it was HILARIOUS! They were making a plug for an upcoming kids program, and both Craig and I were laughing hysterically.
I'm sure glad it's O.K. to have FUN in church!! I've been involved in churches and schools when I was younger that pretty much only had the "CAN'T do's" of Christianity as their focus (and TRUST me ......their lists are LONG!!). I never REALLY knew how much FREEDOM there was in Christ until I was well in to my adult years, and started attending FBCW.
I loved laughing IN CHURCH today..... and then having a Pastor who loves the Lord with all his heart come and preach straight from THE WORD!!
I had started the day off kind of sad because I thought we had other plans for this afternoon and they had to be cancelled, but I ended up hearing and understanding something today that I DESPERATELY needed to hear (NO! Not the Bon Jovi song!!!), and am confident that we were right where we were supposed to be. I love how God works that way sometimes. OUR plans are not always HIS, but in the end, HIS are best!!

Okay, this is a totally boring post.....and I'm having serious issues with my A.D.D right now.....that or I'm still traumatized by seeing my neighbor naked.....I don't know, but this is all I've got tonight folks!! I know I know.....B-O-R-I-N-G!!!! ........Sorry!!
I'll share some pics of Ava that I took today, just because I thought they were cute.
I'll try to UNbore myself tomorrow! Have a great week!!

Twililght Zone or Candid Camera.....you decide.

2008-09-04T13:09:00.007-04:00

UPDATE:
So I spelled t-shiRt wrong.......thought about changing it, but since it has brought SOOOO much joy and laughter into your homes, I will leave it!! ha!ha!.......I probably subconciously spelled it that way on purpose due to the day I was having anyways:) Besides, by this time it has just become part of the post.......an original!! hee hee hee .......(and I guess spell check wouldn't have caught it since it IS a real word!!!!)

Let me indulge you in my day, and I WISH I were exaggerating here.
FIRST, I woke up this morning thinking it was Friday. Not good. Because on Fridays Ava doesn't have school. On THURSDAYS she does. Do you get where this is going? Luckily I figured it out (much to my dismay though..), and raced her to school only to be a couple minutes late.

On the way home I happen to catch a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror, and gasped in horror at the reflection. Obviously in my haste to get Ava to school, I neglected my own personal hygiene, which would include anything that had to do with a toothbrush, washcloth, or comb for heavens sake.
Then I started to get that real uneasy feeling as I slowly lowered my eyes to view my "clothing".....uh huh...pajama bottoms and t-shit, which wouldn't have been THAT bad......had I remembered to at least put a bra on........ "Dear Lord, PLEASE don't let me get pulled over right now......PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!" And what in the world did the car pool lady think??
I made it home. Without getting pulled over. But this is only a fraction of my day thus far.

I THEN decided that I would be all Betty Crocker and all, and make dinner in the crock pot for tonight. I had some frozen chicken in the freezer, so I got it out and started running hot water over it to "loosen" it up and throw in the pot.

Now, why in the world do they put those nasty white styrofoam/paper things on the bottom of chicken breasts? I absolutely can't stand those things, and they almost make me throw up every time I cook chicken (which is not that often mainly because of those darn chicken breast maxi pads). Anyways, pulling them off of frozen chicken is unspeakable and nobody should ever have to be subjected to do so.

I put some cream of chicken and salt and pepper in, and thought I would add a "little" fresh garlic. OKAY PEOPLE.......I must have added a bit too much, because I now can't even open my eyes in my own house due to the garlic fumes. I am currently typing in the way opposite end of the house from the kitchen.
I seriously have zero cooking talents. I should just stick to what I know best, like supporting my A.D.D. habit or something.

Crisis Numero Three. Because I decided to cook, clean, shower, AND check facebook, all before the witching hour of noon when I needed to get Ava, I was running a bit late. I jumped in my van( which by the way my sister in law thinks I'm too sexy for my mini van....but what she doesn't see is the LOOKS I get while driving that bad boy!!.....of course it just occurred to me that those looks might be due to my lack of discretion with my appearance as I drive around......and now that I'm thinking about these looks, they really aren't "come to me baby" looks.....more like "what asylum did you escape from, and please don't come near my children"looks................:), and grrrrrr......grrrrrrrrr.....whirrrrrrrrr.....whirrrrrrr......IT WOULDN'T START!!!! Pure panic set in, because I was already late, and there was no way to get Ava.

I ran across the street to my neighbors house, and start banging on the door. Her blinds and windows were all wide open, so I peer through the blinds on the front door. Big mistake. She's vacuuming naked. Yep! middle of the day...cleaning....no clothes on. Okay, I seriously didn't have time for this, and WHO does this anyways?..... At this point, I am looking around for hidden cameras or something......I mean FOR REAL??????? The sad answer to that is yes, but that in and of itself is a whole other post.

I awkwardly and impatiently await an answer at the door (because HELLO, she couldn't hear the door due to the vaccuum). Her 3 year old daughter finally answers wearing a WOOL turtle neck sweater. Now I KNOW I have just entered the twilight zone or something. I mean her mom is el commando....and she is in wool. And I thought OUR family had issues. Oh, and it's only ninety something degrees out.........

Anyways, I ask to borrow her van so that I can go get Ava. To which she obliges. When I get to school (and of course Ava is last in the class to get picked up.....), I was walking back out to the car and realized that I had no car seat for Ava due to the fact that little wool wearing sweater girl apparently was part of the deal of letting me borrow the car, and she came WITH the car. SHE was in the one and only carseat. UUGGGHHHHHHH......... Luckily a teacher was walking behind me as I came to this realization, and she had an extra car seat in her car that she let me borrow.

We arrived home, and there to meet me was Craig and his coworker Moses (yes, his name is Moses....moving on now...). They were there to jump the car and go get a battery for it. When they returned, Moses opened the garage door, and Lilly (our dog) barked so loud that it scared me, causing me to drop the entire crate of eggs that I was putting away in the refridgerator. Eggs spilled down the shelves of the fridge, and ALL over the floor.
C'mon people!! At this point, I was about to call it a day and lock myself in my room.

Oh, this ALL happened before one oclock this afternoon. So tell me......when does Candid Camera finally come out of the bushes and yell GOTCHA???????

The Zip is BACK!!!!

2008-09-03T12:59:00.008-04:00

So in honor of the famous zip code returning to prime time last night, Melissa hosted a fun pajama party for those of us DIE HARDS!! Now the only question is...did it meet our expectations? And THAT my friends, is yet to be determined.
I mean, maybe because we are in such a different stage of life, and can't really relate to the characters (or at least their ages) anymore, or more so to the point...we DID relate to the characters.....THE OLD FOGIE TEACHERS THAT IS......I don't know, I just wasn't feelin' it that much last night. (Ya know, it's kind of like that BIG roller coaster you remember as a child, and then going back ten years later just to realize that the height limit to ride is only twelve inches, and while you are riding the darn thing, you can practically reach down and touch the ground with your hands.) Although, my heart DID skip a beat or two when they played the famous 90210 theme song!! Oh yeah baby!!
BUT....FEAR NOT!! I have high hopes! I will watch again, and hope that more originals will sign on, and get this show off the ground. I sooooooooo want it to FLY!! Bring on Tori Spelling!
Good show or bad show........either way it was a GIRLS NIGHT, and that's all that really matters anyways!! Thanks Melissa!

Did anyone else watch? What did you think?

FINE!!!! I'll be a good sport......

2008-09-03T11:21:00.002-04:00

Okay, Okay!!!! I'll put pictures of ME on the tube..........Just don't ask anymore for at least 6 more months!!! GEEZ!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....the THINGS I do for my dear bloggy friends...........gggrrrrrrrr again............
Hope you enjoyed these WONDERFUL photos.......BOY, I know I SURE DO!!;-?-0#$@*!)

Welcome to the Hixson Crew!

2008-09-02T16:11:00.004-04:00

So we're a little obnoxious......it's all good.

Labor Day Fun!

2008-09-01T23:18:00.006-04:00

Today the entire Hixson clan took a trip to the lake and rented a big pontoon boat. Now, mind you, my children have never seen a BIG lake before.....only the relatively small lakes that we have in our neighborhood. (They have only been to the ocean) So, it goes to reason that BOTH the children asked me no less than 50 times if there would be sharks in the lake. Ava was completely UNCONVINCED that there weren't. Causing huge distress as we took off.

About five minutes into the ride, Ava relaxed and decided that she liked the lake and being on a boat.
Always the climber....

So Carter tubed for the first time, and he absolutely LOVED it. Everyone else who wanted a turn had to fight him for a chance!! Craig thought he would attempt to induce a trip to the ER by doing a back flip off of the boat.....
Cutie patooties!!
We finally talked Hope into tubing with Carter, and they had so much fun doing it together.

"Miss Squishy"
Poor Hollie got bullied into getting in the water, but she was a good sport about it and decided to "do her time" on the tube.

Which of course leads to me, because everyone said that if Hollie did it, then I had to do it also..........hhmmmm.......achem.......well,..............WHY IN THE WORLD AM I THE ONLY ONE OUT OF 14 PEOPLE TO GO HOME WITH A CHIN THAT LOOKS LIKE IT SKIDDED ACROSS A GRAVEL ROAD????

Uh huh....injured. Me. And ALL thought it was SOOOOO funny. .......REAL HILARIOUS PEOPLE! I'm sure I'll be laughing every time I look in the mirror for the next two weeks. Hardy Har har!! (incidentally, I have NO pictures of this event.....and if there ARE any floating around....they better not surface!! ha!ha!ha!) Uncle Pete teaching Carter how to drive.....
My dad was ALSO bullied into the water....now THAT was FUNNY!! He looked like a man with no legs!

This picture deserves no praise.....my RIDICULOUS bro in law Josh "dancing"......egged on by Craig no doubt.

Little sisters watching their siblings on the tube!

Today was a blast! Can't wait to do it again!!

Football is HERE!!!!

2008-08-30T22:18:00.004-04:00

Carter and Ava with Ava showin' her support wearing her Creekview Grizzlies t-shirt!!

Guess who got to go out for the coin flip before the game? UH HUH....The CARTSTER!!

Now seriously, HOW stinkin' CUTE is that??? Walking out to agree to the rules and flip the coin!! And look how he has his pants cut at the bottom because he CLAIMS they were too tight!! ha!ha!

Carter is the first blue shirt from the left.
Okay, so this is McKenna. This is Carter's LONGTIME girlfriend. He has had "special eyes" for her since they were three!! Every year we ask him again who his "girlfriend" is, and he faithfully replies McKenna. (oh sure there have been a few FLINGS from time to time....but he ALWAYS returns to this little lady......) Her mom and I take pictures of them whenever we get the chance...for the future JUST IN CASE:-0)

Anyways, we played the team she cheers for today, and after the game Melissa and I could NOT resist the photo opp! Unfortunately Carter had already taken his jersey and helmet off, and was NOT putting them back on. (I don't blame him....it was blistering hot today, and he played pretty much the whole game in all that "gear".......I wouldn't want it on any longer either!)

Today was the official first game of the season. I would love to say that we won, but we didn't. Not by a long shot. BUT, the game was still a blast and Carter ROCKED it out!! I behaved again, and am proud of my two experiences with games so far this year, and not getting myself escorted out of or off of something!! ha!ha! ...........Oh, chill! I'm J.K!!!!.....sorta....

Well, I need to go get the chainsaw out and clip hubs toenails.....he's laying on the couch right now with his feet in the air, and I just about gagged when I looked over and saw his feet. (Good thing we have a king size bed, because if those suckers would have accidentally rubbed against me in the middle of the night, I would have pushed the panic button on our alarm system AND called the national guard in due to "alien like" objects in my bed.......) What is WRONG with this man??

Oh well, Have a great LOOOOOONG weekend! I'm off to find my protective goggles...

STALKERS ANONYMOUS

2008-08-28T21:22:00.006-04:00

Somebody help me!!! I am not even going to ADMIT how long I was on FB this morning....this afternoon.....tonight......in a few minutes...........SERIOUS issues here. I can officially call myself a full blown stalker now. Does anyone know where I can get a "stalker mask" to wear? I've always wanted one of those, and now that it's OFFICIAL (there have been rumors, SUGGESTIONS, restraints, and complaints in the past..........BUT, there has never been an actual admittance from me before.........I plead the 5th to the past, but the evidence right now in the present is WAY to convincing to even try my denial tactics......), I really need a BLACK stalkers mask!! You know...the really scary kind too!

WAIT!! Hubs is calling me......."What honey?"
hubs: "Are you still looking up ex boyfriends on that facebook?"
hmmmm to lie or not to lie..... me: "of course not SILLY!!"
hubs: "excuse me, how LONG have we been married? Do I look stupid? (well,sometimes yes, but I guess that's irrelevant right now...focus .....focus...) How many did you find?"
me: "four."

i might be in trouble here............

Randomness on CRACK!

2008-08-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

I'm in a huge blogging funk right now....my A.D.D. has finally kicked in on the whole blogging thing, and I have NOTHING interesting to report or comment on. I know you are so totally disappointed! Ha!
So, you know what that means.......time to practice my typing and get my randomness on!

Last night was a kick off for a new Bible study called Church 4 Chicks led by Shelley Hendrix, and intended to reach Atlanta women. It went great, and I am sure that many women are going to be touched by this.
HOWEVER, I may be officially UNinvited for good thanks to the hooligans that I went with. They CONTINUED to get me in trouble...(i was INNOCENTLY caught in the middle of all the shenanigans going on around me......I mean, I was only trying to SAVE HOLLIE'S LIFE by whacking her foot in the middle of prayer due to a GIGANTIC spider crawling up her leg..........it was probably going to bite her and kill her had I not plummeted it first!! I did the ONLY sensible thing!!!!!!.........ummm, like a chain reaction, all 8 of us lifted our legs off the floor, and TRIED to STIFLE our laughing......causing a bit of a disruption....hence the reason we MIGHT not be so welcome back. GEEZ! That's the LAST time I try to save a life!!)
We then hung our heads, walked quietly (or not so....) out, and headed to Starbucks where we planned our 90210 comeback party for next Tuesday!!! YAY! Oh, c'mon, you KNOW you LOVE 90210!! Can't wait!!!!

Ava absolutely ADORES her new school and Teachers. She literally can't wait to get up in the morning and go to school. I am so happy that she is sooo happy. When we get in the car in the mornings, she says to me, "Mommy, I love my new school so much....I want to stay there forever and ever". Now how can you not LOVE that child mentality? It's so precious.

Facebook. Oh boy. Here we go.
So I have been on FB for a few months now, but really never do anything with it. I never even look at my page.Well, all of my friends talk about how "addicted" they are and how they get on FB, and then before they know it, two or three hours have passed. I am like WHAT??? SO, TODAY I officially "try it out"....with a little help from one of my favorite people in the whole wide world STACIE (high school friend in Iowa). WOW!!! My whole day just BLEW up because of it. Surprise surprise....everyone was right!! IT DOES CONSUME YOU!!! Of course I was feeding my stalker addiction quite heavily today.....probably not the BEST of things to do.....but OHHHHHHH SO FUN! Man, you can find out some interesting stuff.
I am going to have to limit my time on there though, or I might as well just pack it up and flush myself down the toilet, because it makes you THAT useless.

Carter and Craig just got home from football both sporting huge grins. I asked what that was all about, and I guess during the scrimmage tonight, Carter played quarterback and scored a touchdown. He's getting pumped up for Saturday's first official game!! Heck, I'M pumped up!!

I mentioned my friend Stacie a few sentences back. Well, I called her today intending on just asking a couple of questions, and ended up talking for almost two hours without even realizing it. MAN, I miss that girl! We had great conversation though that included plenty of laughter and of course taking a few trips down memory lane. ( now THOSE are always fun conversations....oh, the things we remember!!) I can't wait to see her and her whole family in December!!

The missionaries that we went and served with in the Dominican Republic last April are coming to stay with us next week. I must admit I am a bit nervous. I've never had missionaries stay with me before. I love these peeps, but it still makes me nervous. I'll probably in some way or another wind up offending them in a major way. ACTUALLY, I KNOW Craig will end up offending them...I mean, that's a GIVEN. That should take a little pressure off of me at least...ha!ha!ha!

Only a couple more weeks till our MUCH ANTICIPATED beach vacation in Seacrest. I am sooooo ready for some chill time in the sand. I am just hoping that there won't be any hurricanes that week. That would not be good. At all.

Because I have participated in so many giveaways in bloggy world, and even won one, I am going to host my own giveaway in October. It's going to be a GOOD ONE......worth almost $100. It will make a GREAT Christmas gift. MORE on that in the future!! So stay tuned!

Okay, I haven't posted my weekly weight loss like I promised, so here goes. I have only lost one more pound, but, at least it's going DOWN and not up. I fell off the wagon a TINY bit over Ava's birthday party and preparations.....I mean seriously, did you SEE the cupcakes and cookies???? Enuf said on THAT.
I am back to eating tons of brown rice, veggies, fruit, and beans with small amounts of lean meat daily.
The gym?? WELL, I AM going.....I just haven't made a "5 day" week yet, which is my goal. But again, I AM going.
So there you have it. (oh, NICE, as I finish writing this, I smell Craig making PIZZA ROLLS.....WHAT??? He SNEAKS this stuff in the house......he seriously has issues.)
Carrot stick anyone?

I have America's Got Talent on right now, and by the sounds of it, no they don't.

Speaking of TV....did I mention that 90210 is returning to prime time?? Oh, yeah, I did. Well, I'm telling you again in case you might have forgotten already.
How about this? Did you know that there is only 4 more months until AMERICAN IDOL returns? UH HUH!!!

I'm going to smack Craig's dumb little shaved head. He's sitting behind me probably eating an entire bag of pizza rolls. Totally disgusting, but the smell is heavenly. I digress. NO!, Actually I am going back to my SMACKING plan.......I wonder if I can make him choke?

Okay, that's all I got people!! I HAVE to get out of this room! Later!

The Cowgirl Par-TAY!

2008-08-25T01:40:00.008-04:00

The Invitation

The Birthday Girl

The MAIN ATTRACTION
Eagerly awaiting the horses coming out....
My friend Lisa brought TWO horses over for the the children to ride!! All the kids LOVED it of course.

Other Fun
My mom did face painting at the party, and the children LOVED it!! Here is my niece Hope getting her hand painted......which actually makes more sense to me. I mean, why the face? The kids don't even get to see what it looks like! HA!

Of course what's a cowgirl party without a horse pinata?? Now that's some mad MAYHEM down below!!

The Dessert!
My sister and I spent a total of eighteen hours making the cupcakes and cookies......but totally worth the look on Ava's face!

I found this darling topper on Etsy! You can go here to see more.

Singing Happy Birthday

The Gifts

Ava has been BEGGING for this car ever since Christmas.....when all her presents were opened at Christmas, and this was not one of them, she said, "Mommy, Santa forgot my pink car!"........needless to say, we just couldn't disappoint her again!! ha!ha!
Now HERE'S a duo for you!!......THE COUSINS......A.K.A.....TROUBLE!

She recieved almost ALL horse related gifts........which she LOVED!!
A few other PRECIOUS 'PRESHIES' that came to the party!

Even though the guest list was a BIT out of control, the party was so much fun and Ava had a total blast! I tend to go a LITTLE overboard when I plan parties, but I LOVE them soooo much!! I love everything about them. From the planning, to the details, to the actual day.....I LOVE IT!! And it's especially worth it when it's for your children.......

Happy Fourth Birthday Ava!!!!!!!

My BABY turned FOUR!!

2008-08-24T00:26:00.003-04:00

Today is Ava's fourth birthday. Four years ago today on August 24th I gave birth to the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. She is such an amazing daughter, and I thank God for her everyday.
Ava MUST mean JOY in some language, because that is what she is. She brings me more joy than I could ever have imagined!!
Happy Happy Birthday my sweet sweet baby!! I love you!

ps. the party or should I say PAR-TAY was AWESOME (a mere 73 people showed up..ha!ha!)......MUCH MORE on THAT later this weekend!

Out of the Mouths of Babes!!

2008-08-22T09:30:00.004-04:00

I don't have time to do much blogging today as I am frantically getting ready for Ava's big party tomorrow.....but I thought I would report on Carter's latest and greatest.
FIRST, he wanted me to buy him some books from the book fair yesterday, to which I replied.."Carter, I am not buying you any more books until you read the FIVE new books I bought you this summer that are still sitting on your shelf untouched!"
Carter: "BUT MOMMMMMMM!!! I can't read those ones!!"
Me: "Why in the world not?"
Carter: "Because I don't have a bookmark." ................Like,.....Duuuuuuh??

Next, he was having a conversation with my sister about working, and why she had a job, and who was her boss..(which was a funny one because my brother is her boss, and Carter thought that was pretty cool.....His wheels were probably already turning as to what he would MAKE Ava do if he was HER boss........), and so forth. Then Hannah asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.
Carter: "A Vet."
Hannah: "Oh, Carter, that's GREAT!! You would make a VERY good Vet!!"
Carter: pause..."Actually, I think I just want to work at PETSMART, because you get to PET the animals all day." (I guess Vets aren't allowed to TOUCH the animals....)
Some kids want to be firemen, some want to be teachers, some even VETS:-), but OH, NO my child has BIG goals of ...........working at PetSmart. petting animals all day. yay. i'm so excited i can barely contain myself.
Though I wonder if he will be able to get through the employees manual without a bookmark?

On that note, I'm off to try and get this party thing under some kind of control. Pictures sure to follow sometime this weekend.
Have a GRRRREAT weekend!!

Grosgrain Giveaway!

2008-08-20T23:38:00.001-04:00

You know the drill....Go to Grosgrain and enter to win this adorable dress!

I DID IT!...okay okay....SHE did it!!

2008-08-20T17:45:00.004-04:00

So we made it through the first day with just a FEW tears. Craig stayed home this morning, we had breakfast together, prayed together over Ava, and then IT happened. We drove her to school, and LEFT her there. ALL ALONE. BY HERSELF. Well, minus the five hundred other kids and the fifty teachers that were there too. (but in my mind we might as well have left her on a deserted Island with "the others"....(I've watched too many episodes of LOST I think...))
It would have made ME feel better had she cried just a little or at the very least given me one of those REALLY TIGHT bear hugs......BUT alas, that is NOT the case. And in the long run, (I GUESS......) I am glad that she didn't do that. Because after all, this is not about ME, but about Ava, and she was ecstatic about going to school. blah blah blah....
She got there and acted like the biggest little girl ever! Jumped right in with the others...(OH! OH! See? I KNEW there were "others" somewhere in this story!!!), and didn't look back.

I wiped my tears (oh, yeah, and TOUGH GUY Craig got choked up too...), and reluctantly drove off the property without my sweet baby girl. I went to the gym, the drugstore, and the grocery store, and was the FIRST one back on the grounds at exactly 11:35am. Ummm, yeah, school doesn't dismiss until noon. C'MON you didn't expect me to be PERFECT on the first day did you? I patiently awaited my 25 minutes in the car, and the first person I saw walking in, I JUMPED out of my car and went in too.

Ava had the BEST time, and has been bringing up different things about her morning all day. I know we made the right decision to send her, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing her grow there. (but don't think I don't have a lump the size of a grapefruit in my throat even now as I type......I am literally CHOKING back the tears. Hopefully this will get better.....SOON!!)

Sassy little thing!

This is one of her teachers Miss Jennifer.
Ava is showing Miss Jennifer her folder that contains the homework we had been given yesterday to do with her and bring back today. Oh, and the homework thing? She was ECSTATIC that she had homework to do!! ha! I better remember THAT moment...(because I am sure it will last for only that....a moment.)

And this is her main teacher Miss Jeanne. Ava is learning how to "sign in" each morning.
NO! I didn't stay there all morning....this all happened within the first few minutes of being there....so SIMMER DOWN will ya?
Now, does everyone reading this blog concur that I HAVE to do this all over again in the morning????

The tears have been a flowin'!!

2008-08-19T20:53:00.006-04:00

Oh my goodness! I have been without Internet/phone service for the last 36 hours!!! Our provider was experiencing "technical difficulties". Oh brother.....How did I ever survive without a computer? SERIOUSLY??
I was just SURE that I had missed the most important email that had EVER been sent to me, or maybe I had won some GREAT giveaway and only had a few hours to respond, OR what if my blog had suddenly shut down and y'all were in hysterics trying to email and call and email and call...........OH MY, the HORRIBLE possibilities of what could have been are TERRIBLE just terrible.

Ummmm........NONE of that happened.......I received a few emails from an 'Amazing' business opportunity guaranteeing me to make three thousand dollars the second I signed up, and I didn't win any giveaways, so MAYBE just MAYBE I overreacted a teeny weeny little bit. (but I still shudder at the chaos that COULD HAVE ensued......)

So, glad to rejoin you in cyber/blog world after an excruciating 36 long hours! I'm sure you are DYING to get caught up with my life, so here ya go.
I'M AN ABSOLUTE CRYING EMOTIONAL BASKET CASE!!! Today Craig and I went to one last meet and greet at Ava's new preschool. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE her teacher, but that doesn't change the fact that my BABY is going to school. She of course is over the moon excited, and has her clothes and shoes for the morning set out and right next to her in her room. I on the other hand am trying to find a legitimate excuse as to WHY she doesn't really need to start school in the morning. (if she so much as SNEEZES in the morning, she's NOT going. Excuse me a minute while I go pwder her room with pepper)

Up to this point I have spent all my days with Ava. Just me and her while Carter is at school. She has not been involved in any other programs other than ballet. And I have LOVED every last minute of our time together. I have TRULY dreaded this day ever since the day I signed her up for preschool last February.
I seriously have not been able to talk about this today to anyone without crying! (as the tears flow now while I type)
I was with my friend Robin today, TRYING to tell her about the school, and little Drew says " Mommy, why in tha wooold is Miss Heidi cryin'?" (he's a total CHARACTER!!.....and he has been the ONLY one that has suceeded in making me laugh today!)
To say that I dread the morning, is putting it mildly.
I know it's just preschool, but to me it's the end of having a baby at home with me. (when Carter went to preschool, I had Ava at home) Sooooooooooooo, I guess I'll just have to have another baby!!??-0)
Ha! on that note......I covet your prayers for Ava in the morning, and to be frank, FOR ME!! I'm sure I will have a report tomorrow evening! Have a great night, and LOVE on your sweet gifts from heaven today! I know I THANK GOD for my precious angels everyday!!

ps. I also decided for some dumb reason today that I would read the very emotional interview in People magazine this week with Steven Curtis Chapman's family about their tragic loss, and OF COURSE I bawled like a little baby. It is an AWESOME article though, and God's amazing LOVE and GRACE is portrayed beautifully with this family. You should read it if you get a chance.

Totally AWESOME Giveaway!!

2008-08-18T10:28:00.003-04:00

Ok, now THIS is a GREAT giveaway for everyone who needs babysitters from time to time.
Chefdruck Musings is hosting this fabulous giveaway of SIX MONTHS worth of FREE babysitting. You simply go to sittercity, punch in your zip code, and see how many sitters are available in your area! When I punched my zip code in, there were an astonishing 5,922 registered babysitters available!!! WOW! I didn't even know this kind of service existed. COOL! Go check it out......six months FREE....can you imagine?
Oh, and the cool thing is....you get to interview the applicants and pick who YOU want!!!
Go to her sight now for details on how to enter!!

Lands End Giveaway!

2008-08-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

Win this LANDS END backpack! Go to Momma In Flip Flops for the details!

Football Mania!

2008-08-16T22:07:00.004-04:00

This morning we got the season started with a football JAMBOREE! The Grizzlies (Carter's team) played five ten minute scrimmages against other teams. I am not a sports buff by any stretch of the imagination, but when your kid is playing a sport......well, you just can't help but get excited and "get into it"!
I did however leave "Shanequa" in her dark little corner of my head for today's game. I figure I should at least START the season without going ape at the games!! ha!ha! I'M JUST KIDDING!!!....I'm not THAT bad!!!.......?:-0)
Anyways, I am going to have to brag a little on my child here. He totally ROCKED IT OUT! Craig is paying him one dollar for every tackle he makes on the guy with the ball......and let's just say that Craig owes him FIVE bucks from today!! I was sitting behind the coaches at one point, and one of them said to the other "did you see Zawisza out there? HE'S ON FIRE! He just knocked the fire out of two plays!"
NEEDLESS to say, as his PROUD mama heard that, I'm sure my grin could have stretched the length of the field. (I was half tempted to tap them on the shoulder and say..."yeah, that's MY son you're talking about!".......but having been thrown off a sports field before.......well, decided AGAINST it! ha!ha!ha!)
So thanks for letting me BRAG on my boy here, you might get some more this season......we will see!!

Huh? Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?

My ROCKIN' baby!!!!
I Love it when they hold their helmets! I don't know why, but I do! I just find it very cute!

This might have been when the "rewards program" was instated.........
NO! Craig is not mad at him.....he's "demonstrating" a tackle technique!!

Here he is coming off the field after the buzzer went off....#91!

It was HOT and VERY humid today........Carter was DYING, so after the game he needed a "quick fix"! Aaaaahhhhhhhh!

FINGERPRINT FRIDAY

2008-08-15T11:16:00.002-04:00

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God
So look around and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in. Find where you see God's fingerprints today, post a picture, and go here to link your post with others who are participating!

Real Food and Idiocracy

2008-08-15T00:23:00.003-04:00

Tonight Craig and I had a "date night" after attending a parents meeting at Ava's new school. We entered a restaurant for the first time in ten days. (that's a long time for us....) I behaved and had only what is pictured above, but I can not say the same for Craig. Ha! He has NO will power. He had some kind of gumbo FOR STARTERS, and then proceeded to have jambalaya with two biscuits. Oh, Craig.........obviously you entered a league way above you.....step aside and let the GIRLS do their thing!!
HA! First day off of the detox, and I have sailed through flawlessly thank you very much!!! hee...hee...hee....

Josh and Hannah kept the kids for us tonight. We got home, and after a few games of Mario Kart, Josh and Craig disappeared. At first Hannah and I didn't think that much of it, because, well, they're strange like that. BUT THEN I heard some sort of buzzing sound, and I knew RIGHT AWAY what was going on. "HANNAH, THEY'RE SHAVING THEIR HEADS!!" Hannah had a sheer look of panic on her face, and we both sprinted up the stairs. UH HUH......THAT'S what we found!!!! Two complete IDIOTS shaving and REshaving (Craig) their stupid little heads. Hannah was just as ticked as I was the first time Craig did it, and true to protocol for such idiotic behavior, started calling Josh names!! (well deserving names I might add) COME ON PEOPLE....somebody tell me what in the world is this absurd obsession with stubbly bald heads?? Seriously, they look like they belong to a cult or something. GEEZ!!!!!

DEtoxinated...(i hope), and BACK at it!!!!

2008-08-13T20:56:00.004-04:00

UH HUH!! I haven't graced the doors of a gym since Carter got out of school in May. BUT, with my success on my detox and well on my way to my weight loss goals, I decided that I'd better kick it in high gear and RETURN to the land of working out.
OH BOY.......WOW........YIKES..........Why in the world I thought that I could just "pick up where I left off", is beyond me. I strutted in there like I owned the place only to be reduced to a big pile of sweat and blubber within the first ten minutes. It took EVERYTHING in me to finish my workout and by the time I was finished I was D-U-N done!!
BUT, ,my new gym is ROCKIN'!! If you have a LifeTime Fitness near you, you totally need to check it out, and if you live near me and want to work out together......Come on!! (achem.....DEANNA....achem, achem)
Speaking of my detox, I am thrilled to announce that tonight will close out the detox part of this "journey" I have embarked on. I am also happy to say that I didn't cheat one tiny bit, and did EXACTLY what I was supposed to do. In the last nine days I managed to lose four pounds, to which I am very happy about. Hopefully more pounds down in the weeks to come. I will post my weight loss weekly here on this blog. (hopefully weight loss that is!:-)
So I'm off to lick my wounds right now.....(my whole body feels like a bowl of jello....)
Have a great night!

Tammy's Birthday!

2008-08-13T10:48:00.002-04:00

Last night we celebrated my friend Tammy's birthday.........out to eat........at a mexican restaurant, my favorite food of ALL time........oh, yeah, at my FAVORITE mexican restaurant.............and my meal is pictured below.
That's it. Nothing more. Not one tiny bite. Now tell me the justice in this??........................Aaawww, Happy Birthday to ya anyways Tam! At least the MOVIE was great! (except, don't think I didn't almost shove your box of candy down your throat everytime I heard you digging in it, happily chomping away while I sat there with my ....my.....my......oh yeah, my NOTHING......ggrrrrrrrrr)