I want one

of these:

Never mind that we don't have a boat and I've never done anything even remotely resembling this, like water skiing. How much freakin' fun would this thing be?

Thursday Thirteen - June 7, 2007

13 Things I Did Today

1. Wiped down the air conditioners (window units) that go in the girls bedrooms in preparation for the 90-degree heat they're forecasting for tomorrow.

2. Washed, dried, and cut up about 90 lbs. (exaggeration) of lettuce , spinach & cabbage that Steve brought home from his dad's garden the other day. It took me almost 2 hours and I don't even eat that crap.

3. Ground up a big ol' bag of coffee beans. I know it tastes better if you grind them up before each time you use the coffee maker, but, well, that's just not practical in our world.

4. Did three loads of Steve's laundry. See, Steve has his own washer and dryer in our basement and he does all of his own laundry. His clothing is usually covered in disgusted concrete dust, mud, oil, grease, etc. from work and washing all of laundry in the same machines proved (in the past) to really suck. There's nothing like a faint orange-yellow "tint" to all of your whites to make you realize a system isn't working. So anyway, out of the kindness of my heart (LOL), I did three big loads for Steve while he was at work today. I never do Steve's laundry. Ever. The man is the epitome of anal-retentive, and if clothing isn't washed, dried, and folded exactly the way he likes it, all sorts of weird shit happens. LOL!

5. Drove to three very nearby gas stations and general stores desperately searching for dishwasher liquid so I could finally wash the dishes that had been sitting in my dishwasher for 2 days. I really didn't want to have to drive to Giant or WalMart for it.

6. Found it at the last store and paid WAY too much for a MUCH smaller bottle just so I wouldn't have to drive farther.

7. Confirmed with the mother-in-law that she'd chip in for the kickass water slide for the girls' birthdays. I swear to god, I'm more excited than they'll be. My big fat ass will be sliding down a Banzai waterslide in a little over a week. WOOHOO!

8. Pondered if it would be considered rude if on the day of Hannah's party next weekend (when the great slide will be revealed), I push all other kids out of the way to be the first one down the sucker. I'm thinking yes?

9. Printed out and mailed all of the invitations for Hannah's party.

10. Talked to mother-in-law again and realized I forgot to invite some family that are visiting from Texas this month. Shit. I guess I'm printing more tomorrow.

11. Did all of Steve's business stuff on the computer. I freakin' HATE doing the crap and it sucks even more that I don't get paid for it. LOL!

12. Read the journal/sketchbook that Grace brought home that she's been writing in all year at school (as per the teacher's instructions). I laughed. I cried. I almost pissed myself from laughing and crying so much. The child has a crazy imagination and I absolutely, positively adore her for it. My very favorite is a drawing of a tree with arms and legs and a building. Above it she wrote. "The tree walks. It went to the store." LMFAO! I'm totally going to scan it (and a few others) tomorrow and show them to you.

13. Grilled some cheeseburgers for dinner. They sucked. LOL!

WOOHOO!

I finished Hannah's invitations about 10 minutes ago. Tomorrow morning, I'll print 'em out, mail 'em off, and I'm DONE with all that stuff (until I have to make the thank you cards for their parties). Here they are:

When I was making these, it struck me (yet again) how different the girls are. I've got Grace handing out invitations with slimy snakes and lizards all over 'em, and I've got Hannah, who usually wears so much pink that it looks like she and a bottle of Pepto Bismol got in a fist fight and the Pepto won. Eh. It makes for interesting days around here I suppose.

Anyway, now that her invitations are done, I can start on my friend, Geena's, signature for her message boards and my friend, Melissa's, blog header. WOOHOO! [You can't see me, but I'm doing the Cabbage Patch right now.]

I'm also pumped because Steve and I talked tonight and we're going to ask my MIL & FIL if they want to chip in with us and buy the girls this kick ass gift (or a similar one) for their birthdays:

I hope everyone agrees to it, because I must admit that I kind of want it for myself more than the kids. Can you imagine this sucker at the pig roast this year? Awesome!

Anyway, my eyes are closing while I type this and my head keeps jerking me awake, so me thinks it's time to finish my beer and hit the sack. Later!

Wow.

Grace handed out her invitations today at school. Within 1.5 hours of arriving home, I already had calls for 5 kids definitely coming to the party, which is over a month away. The moms I talked to sounded so excited! One asked if she could bring her other two kids (I said sure!) because she thinks they'll love it too.

They also started talking about the donations they're bringing for the center (as we suggested in the invitations). One's husband works at a dairy farm (or factory or something. I dunno. LOL!) and is bringing home a bunch of 5-gallon buckets. Another mom has 2 huge bags of bird seed she was going to just throw in her yard since her feeder broke, but now she's bringing it to the party to donate to the center. That's so freakin' cool!

It seems like the parents are just excited there's a party somewhere new. Believe me, every mom in Grace's class is really kind of getting sick of parties at the local roller-skating rink, the hotel pool, and the gymnastics center. Not that the kids don't have fun, but it's nice to have something different to do, ya know?

The worst though is when these parents call to RSVP and then ask what they should buy Grace. Uhhh.... I dunno. LOL! She has every toy ever invented. And they certainly don't need anything. So I just ramble off a very general list.... she loves anything having to do with snakes and sharks... she loves crafts and art-type stuff... she likes animal encyclopedias so she can memorize random facts about animals... and she HATES any typical girl toy you can imagine. I swear, the poor kid has gotten more Barbie dolls and My Little Ponies than you can imagine that she plays with for 5 minutes and then tells Hannah she can have 'em. I swear, I almost put something in the invitations that said, "When shopping for Grace, please bypass the girl aisles and head directly to the gender neutral and/or boy aisles please." LOL!

But I'm kind of hoping that the fact that she's a girl and is having a reptile party where you can touch slimy shit is going to be a clue enough for moms to realize that she's not a girly-girl at all, and probably wouldn't appreciate that princess dress-up gown that would surely be a hit with some (most?) other 6-year-old girls. LOL!

And Tink, oh my god... Grace would LOVE the gator farm! Like, I'm not even kidding. She would totally volunteer to attempt the whole mouth tying thing. Tonight, she insisted on watching Animal Planet instead of Spongebob, and when they showed extreme closeups of some red ants being eaten by some other preditor insect, she said (and I quote), "Awwww... poor little red ant." And yesterday, she seriously got PISSED OFF at me because I stepped on an ant. What the hell? The child is a damn freak if you ask me. Who likes ants for the love of god. LOL!

She's ALIVE!!!

Yeah. I'm here. Sorry I deserted you yet again. I was spending every waking moment last week making 20 layouts for a photo book for Steve for Father's Day. I had an offer for a free one from Shutterfly, but you had to order it by May 31st. Let's just say that exactly 11:59 PM, I clicked Order for that sucker. LOL! You can check it out here if you're interested:

Steve's Father's Day Book

As soon as I got that damn thing done, I had to immediately start on Grace's birthday party invitations. Her party isn't until July 8th, but this is her last week of school so I had to finish them so she could hand them out to the class. She's having a reptile party at a local environmental center. She's pretty pumped since she knows she'll get to touch some snakes. LOL! That kid kills me. Here are the invitations (with any information that would help you find and stalk me blacked out. LOL!):

Front:

Back:

We also enclosed a request that each child try to bring one item to donate to the center that day. The center has a wish list on their website and it's all little things like Dawn dish liquid, paper towels, acorns, etc. We're all really looking forward to the party. Well, except for my mother-in-law who is TERRIFIED of snakes. But maybe she'll get so scared, she'll shit in a bush again and I'll have another blog story to tell. LOL!

Next is Hannah's party. That's just a small BBQ type thing here at the house, mostly just for family. But that's in like a week and a half, so I have to get my ass in gear today, make the invites, and get them in the mail tomorrow. [sigh] Damn me having two kids with birthdays two weeks apart.

Now let's throw in T-ball games twice a week, other kids' birthday parties, gymnastics two nights a week, and general everyday stuff, and I'm freakin' busy. LOL! But this is Grace's last week of school, and I tend to blog more in the summer for some reason, so hopefully, I'll be around a bit more now. Well, as soon as I finish Hannah's damn invitations. LMAO!

OK gang. I'm off to shower, have a conference call with my latest project team, and put away 8 billion loads of laundry before Grace gets home from school at lunchtime. [sigh] Later gators!

{Peeking Out Through the Dust}

Hey gang. I'm here. Barely, but I'm here.

I've had a long, busy week. Lots of parties, lots of errands, lots of activities, lots of outside play, and lots and lots and LOTS of searching for more freelance work. I'm flat broke. And I mean broke. So until I get paid again (could be up to a month from now), I'm at the complete mercy of Steve. [sigh] It's gonna get ugly. I guarantee it.

Anyway, generally speaking, we're all just exhausted around here. Not because we're not sleeping. We're sleeping just fine. But because we're just so damn busy. And because we pretty much try to spend every waking moment running around outside on the nice days. But I'm not complaining. I love this time of year, and I love that feeling at the end of the day when you collapse into bed knowing you've gotten your fill of fresh air and sun that day.

I'll post a few layouts just because it'll make my blog post look longer. Feel free to ignore them if you aren't interested. LOL!

Go get one...

Hey gang. Go get yourself your Visual DNA. It's a blast!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Hola!

Hey gang!

Thought I'd pop in here on the ol' bloggy and post something. (I'm actually procrastinating cleaning the house, but hey, whatever gets me here, right? LOL!)

So two days ago, I turned 34 years old. That day was so freakin' busy with errands, cleaning, gymnastics classes, T-ball games, and playing with kids that it flew by with very little birthday celebration stuff going on. LOL! But last night, my family came over and we ate dinner (take out... I sure as hell wasn't cooking) and had some ice cream cake. So that was nice and the girls got to sing Happy Birthday, so it's all good. I'm not a big birthday person in general. I mean, I don't mind them at all. I could care less about turning older. But I don't really think they're a big deal either and don't really expect anyone to get all excited about it or anything. LOL!

I do however, think I may be having some sort of mid-life crises. I went shopping yesterday for some new summer digs and came home with almost all camoflauge stuff from the junior's department. What the hell? LOL! I do love it all though, so I guess it's OK then, right? LOL!

OK. I guess I need to go clean up. I think Steve's getting home kind of early and I don't want to look like a complete slacker. I'll post some layouts I've done this week. Jen Wilson released a huge Mother's Day kit called "One Haute Momma" and there were a bunch of daily challenges related to it. So those are all from the challenges. I normally wouldn't scrap pages about myself (because I have too many damn pictures of the girls to worry about), but the challenges required me to, so I went all out and acted like a complete dork (on some of them). LOL! See? ------>

Credits can be seen here.

Credits for this one are here.

Credits for this one are here.

And the award for the dorkiest layout goes to this gem. LOL! (We had to scrap a page celebrating ourselves, our style, etc. I would normally NOT take the time to do something like this. LOL!

Credits are here.

Thanks guys!

Hey. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that posted kind comments and emailed me after my overly-depressing post last week. I'm honestly, truly OK. For now, I've decided to just avoid thinking about the issue that bummed me out, because that's how I deal with things (even knowing how unhealthy that is). LOL!

Last week just sucked in terms of stupid, trivial things that kept happening like broken coffee mugs, unruly children, etc., and then my dentist gave me some news/advice that kind of threw me for a loop. What he told me is kind of embarrassing and really depressing, but I know what has to be done now, so I'm going to roll with it, deal with it, and get on with my life, ya know?

We had another busy weekend here. I'll post a more normal post tomorrow, but right now, it's almost 2:30 in the morning, and I think that perhaps, I should get some sleep. LOL! But I wanted to post my two most favorite layouts EVER. Apparently, being depressed gets my creative juices flowing. LOL!

Because I'm bored...

...sitting here waiting for the girls to get home, and because I'm wallowing in self-pity and need to take my mind off of it, here are three layouts I recently did. I love the kite one! Not my usual "style," but it was a hell of a lot of fun. LOL!

I'll be back...

Hey guys.

Sorry I haven't been around. This week has been crazy busy, and frankly, it has SUCKED. I'm chalking it up to one of the crappiest weeks ever. And I just got some really crappy, depressing news that kind of threw me for a loop, so this won't be a long post. I'll check in later and fill you in on everything, but for now, I'm going to go wallow in self-pity, 'kay? Later.

(PS: I'm not dying or anything (that I'm aware of). But I am contemplating throwing myself off of a tall bridge. LOL! Not really... no need to post suicide hotline numbers or anything...)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Seriously Need to Update You Guys On Before I Lose You All as Readers

1. The Taylor Hicks concert and the funny stuff from that night.
2. Grace's first ever dentist appointment.
3. My own effing tooth that is killing me today, but that I'm trying to ignore.
4. My sister's life and how I have such conflicted feelings about the whole thing.
5. The fact that I agreed to keep my MIL's dog here in my home for a WEEK next week. (Y'all know I'm not a big fan of dogs (or animals in general). At all. [sigh])
6. My new favorite layout I did earlier this week. It seriously rocks if I do say so myself, and (in my opinion) is rather hilarious.
7. My new obsession to add as many people as possible to my Friends list in Hello.
8. How taking pictures of my husband gutting fish is really not something I enjoy doing contrary to his beliefs.
9. My newest snack obsession (as if you care).
10. My thoughts on American Idol (again, because I know you care).
11. How I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with Grace this summer when she's home from school.
12. How I laughed out loud when I received a voice mail asking me to bake something for the spring dance Grace's school is having next Friday. (You kind of need an oven in order to make that happen, no?)
13. How I continue to become more and more of a dork as the days pass.

Digital Scrapbookers...

For those of you who have recently started digital scrapbooking, or who are thinking about starting in the future, etc., I just wanted to post two links to blogs who are currently offering gorgeous FREE kits in memory of a little boy who died two years ago. Both kits are really cool, and the story behind them is wonderful and painful at the same time.

http://christinareneedesigns.blogspot.com/index.html
http://www.thescrapspace.com/jessica/

Soul Patrol Part II (Not really.)

OK. So I was going to blog about the Taylor Hicks concert last night and tell my funny stories. But it's been a weird day. Some stuff is going on in with my sister (nothing to get all freaked out about and I'll update y'all tomorrow) and I really just want to go scrap a bit and not think too much. I'm not in a witty type mood tonight and I'm feeling sort of down, so I'll post in the morning after I get Grace off to school. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Soul Patrol!

We went to the Taylor Hicks concert tonight. It was a great night and a really cool concert and we had fantastic seats. I have some hilarious stories to tell about the night, all directly related to Taylor Hicks, including ice cream sundaes, autographs, and cell phones, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow because I am so tired right now and really need to head to bed. But I'll update in the morning! :)

But before I go, I leave you with my latest layout. I love the way this one turned out. :)

Credits can be seen here.

OK! OK! I'm here!...

Sheesh, you people are a pain in the ass! LOL!

OK. So now I'm here and don't really know what to say. LOL! Uhhh... I guess I could update you on a few things going on here.

** Grace went fishing for the first time last weekend. She was SOOOO excited to go and she and Steve had a blast! She looked so freakin' cute in her little camoflauge pants and new rubber boots. They caught a bunch of fish and Grace can't wait to go again.

** When I showed Steve that picture up there of him and Grace, I commented that I liked it because he looks really HOT in it. He said (and I quote), "I do look hot in it," and walked away. OK, dude. We really need to work on your self-esteem issues because obviously yours is pretty low. [rolling eyes]

** I kept Grace home from school on Wednesday morning to take her to her first ever dentist appointment. I pumped her up, calmed her nerves, brushed the hell out of her teeth, etc. We even got there 10 minutes early (which NEVER happens for me). We sat down and that's when the receptionist said, "Um, Grace's appointment is next Wednesday." Shit. [sigh] So then I had to take her to school (late) and explain what happened to the lady in the office. When Grace got home, I asked her if she told her teacher what happened. She said, "Well, when I went in, she asked me how my dentist appointment was. I just told her that my mom said it's next week instead. I didn't say, 'My mom's a big, fat dork.'" LOL! Gotta love that kid.

** I'm PISSED about Survivor last night. Why do all the hot guys always get voted off? Dreamz is an ASS and I can't stand the dude. And Boo, I hate to admit, is starting to look rather hot now that he's lost some weight and has more scruff. (I can't believe I just admitted that.)

** Does anyone here watch that new show "October Road"? Oh my god! I LOVE it! Of course, this means it will probably get cancelled, just like every other show I love. "Six Degrees," "The Nine," and that short-lived controversial one with the minister dude are just a few shows off the top of my head that got cancelled. Bastards.

** Tomorrow night at 8:00 PM, I will be sitting just 13 rows away from Taylor Hicks! I'm so excited! He's performing about 4 miles up the road from us so Steve and I and my parents are all going. WOOHOO! Soul patrol, baby!!!

** I spent all flippin' week doing tax crap. First it was for our federal taxes. Then it was for Steve's quarterly taxes for his employees. And now we have to start sending money directly to child support for Steve's waste of an employee who wasn't paying his ex for their son. Great. Like we need to deal with that shit too on top of all the other ridiculous paper work we have. Shithead. Stop spending all your money on beer and pot and start giving it to your poor kid. Asswad.

** I was driving in front of the biggest dickhead EVER yesterday coming down a mountain. I was already going over the speed limit by a bit and this guy still felt the need to drive up my ass the entire time. I would normally have brake-checked the guy, but even the lightest tap would've sent him into the back of my car and clean through the front windshield. See? This is why I don't like to leave my house.

Uhhh... that's all I can think of right now. Is that enough? LOL! Maybe I'll update again later. But god knows, it's not really my strong suit, so don't hold your breath waiting or anything. ;)

Hi guys!

Long time, no blogging. I know. I know. I suck. I'll type up a post tonight. We've just been busy. Fishing... cleaning... gathering up tax info (blech!)... having overnight guests... etc. I'll post an update and some new pictures later tonight. (I know you're all breathless with anticipation. LOL!) Later gang.

Hi everyone!!!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter! Ours was nice. We spent the first half of the day at my parents' house and then the second half of the day at my mother-in-law's house. Everything was fine at my parents' house. The girls harrassed my siblings (much to Aunt Kristin and Uncle Kyle's delight), they got too much stuff, and we ate good food.

My mother-in-law's was nice too for the most part. Once again, I was the ONLY parent there disciplining the 4 hyperactive children and the ONLY parent there cleaning up the tornado of stuff that the children left behind them as they whirled through the house, but whatever. I'm used to it, so I'm at a point where I can't let it bother me anymore or I'll drive myself insane. I bitch to myself in my head, make myself laugh with my sarcastic remarks (to myself), and move on.

So anyway, here are a few pictures from the day...

Hannah and (One of) Her Basket(s)

Hannah Hunting for Eggs at Grandma's House

Hannah & Her Hat
(It's supposed to be a cowboy hat, but she insists on wearing it sideways. And I asked her if she really needed to wear her "hunting coat" on Easter and she said yes, so we went with it. And she got those sunglasses in her Easter basket and (still) refuses to take that sticker off the lens. Freak, I tell ya... A complete freak...)

Grace Giving Uncle Kyle a Noogie
(He wasn't as annoyed as he looks in the picture. LOL!)

Grace Hunting for Eggs at Grandma's House

The Girls with Their Baskets

The Easter Loot... Christmas or Easter? You be the judge. [sigh]

A Few Things...

...since I last blogged...

** First of all, Hannah LOVES Sanjaya on American Idol. Now this is disturbing to me on SOOOO many levels, but mostly because well, the dude isn't good. What's funny is that she keeps calling him "Kanjaya" or "that boy I like on American Idol." I've told her repeatedly that he sucks (and yes, I truly did say, "That guy sucks," to my three-year-old. Sue me...) But she won't listen. When I asked her tonight why she likes him, she said, "Because he sings good and I like his face." Snort! Alrighty then, Sunshine. Knock yourself out.

** Grace's spring break starts tomorrow. This could either go really well or it could be a really bad week. Only time will tell, but I do know that my computer time is going to be considerably less and that kinda sucks. It also sucks that for the next few days, it's going to be cold and rainy, including on Easter day. Sorry girls... so much for those Easter skirts you were so excited about. I'm afraid we're breaking out the Easter corduroys and turtlenecks. [sigh]

** I went today to get the stuff for the girls' Easter baskets. Dear lord, Easter is almost as expensive as Christmas! (OK... so not really, but I'm a drama queen, so play along, OK?) I didn't want to buy them candy since... a) We still have candy from Halloween left over... b)Grace doesn't like chocolate and the majority of the Easter candy out there is chocolate... c) My kids would live on candy if I let them, and well, I just won't. So I decided to go the non-candy route instead. Great, right? Yes, as long as you don't mind shelling out more money than you intended. I didn't even buy them that much, and yet I watched $150 fly out of my wallet like it was nothing. Grace is getting a Littlest Pet Shop electronic game thingy and flip-flops, and Hannah is getting a new game for her Leapster and a new denim dress. Other than that, all I bought was some bubbles, some sidewalk chalk, pre-filled plastic eggs for hiding, huge footlong pencils that are actually filled with bubble stuff at the top, some Easter grass for the baskets, and these hilarious wind-up chickens that poop out gumballs while they walk. (OK... so I think it's supposed to be "laying eggs," but I know my children well enough to know that they'll assume the chicken is taking big, multi-colored craps.) A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS?!?!? What the HELL? [grumble grumble...]

** Steve's really, really sick and I feel guilty that the only thing I keep thinking is, "Please don't let me get whatever it is he has." Ya know... because I'm sweet like that.

** Judging by the commercials for Old Navy I've seen recently, I'm guessing that shorts with 1" inseams are again back "in". Shit. I was thrilled last year when Bermuda shorts were suddenly cool. Who the hell makes these decisions anyway? [sigh]

And with that, I leave you with a few more photos and layouts just because I can and because I'm looking for something to do during the commercials while I'm watching Lost. (All credits for the layouts can be seen here.

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately...

But I have a good reason actually. See, sometimes life and kids and family gets in the way. And in this case, that's OK. ;)

I'll be back soon. I promise. :)