Life With Us

I Love Pinterest

2012-02-06T13:03:00.000-06:00

Since discovering Pinterest a few months ago, it has gotten my creative juices flowing. I'm loving it. I've made several recipes that I've found and made lots of crafts for Christmas and Valentine's day. Here are a few things I've made.

All I have to say is Happy Pinning!

Little Boogers I Call Kids

2012-01-17T10:01:00.001-06:00

A good friend of mine is starting a new job today after being off work for nearly two years. She has done a great job being a stay at home mom, but she felt like it was time to go back to work. I worked with her when she was pregnant and I kept telling her that little Ava was going to be a booger. Ava was going to be child that caused her baldness. I hit the nail on the head. Ava is a pistol! She is cutest little girl, such an angelic face. Ava like my little Sarah is a hand full. Sarah gets wound up real easy and when she does, you better look out. There is no telling what she will do. Anything from dancing like a stripper and I have no idea how she learned to do that, honestly (on a side note, we are going to sign her up for hip hop classes) to sticking her naked, freshly showered bum on her sister's pillow and freaking her out. You just never know what she is going to do. She can be defiant and strong willed, but darnit, I can be more that way than she can and one day she will learn that. My friend has called me several times about Ava's behavior and how to handle her and I just give her my honest opinion and what I do when Sarah has acted like that.

Anyway, my point of this is we have these kids that drive us crazy, sending us to our closets hiding and crying, making us cry while in public because no matter how hard you spank, they are still misbehaving. I was crying in Chick Fil A on Saturday, she wouldn't be still and eat, she was all over the place, meaning squirming in her seat, pushing the table, making gigantic messes, spilling ranch dressing on her pants, I mean, it's constant. It's like everywhere we go everyone knows her name and I'm sure they are glad when we are gone. She can't make up her mind what she wants to eat or drink in restaurants, I try to narrow her choices to make it easier for her, still doesn't work. She is so hard headed and just so hell bent sometimes, but I have to remind her that I'm the mother, I'm the boss and I can be more hard headed and stubborn than she can be and I will win. As crazy (funny, I mean) and wide open as she is, she is my more sensitive child. Mike works nights and he leaves around 9:20, the kids are usually on their way to bed by that time and he gives them lots of hugs and kisses. Sarah stands at her open bedroom window and yells for Mike as he is backing out of the driveway and crying because she feels like she hasn't gotten enough hugs and kisses. She loves hugs and kisses. I don't love Maggie any less than Sarah, but I love them different. Maggie is my go to girl. She sends me text messages and says how crazy her sister is.

My friend that just went back to work, today is her first day and I think she cried all the way there because she missed her baby. Something about those little boogers just tug at your heart strings. They drive us crazy, but we love them so much at the same time, it makes it nearly impossible to feel relieved about having a little bit of a break from all of the madness.

Letters of Intent - January 13 Edition

2012-01-13T13:07:00.000-06:00

Dearest Husband and Kids,

For the love of everything sane, PLEASE quit asking me for this or that, PLEASE quit asking me where stuff is located in the house, PLEASE stop "ordering" me around! Ya'll are driving me crazy! It's always, where's this and that, hey can you do me a favor, etc etc etc. Ya'll don't do anything for me except give me a hard time about everything! I'm going on strike and I'm doing anything for anyone except myself. There I said it and have a nice day. Good Bye.

Ready For A New Beginning

2012-01-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

Thank goodness 2011 is over! It was a year filled with ups and downs. I had to have a shunt put in my noggin because of high fluid pressure. It sounds pretty serious, but it was fairly easy! No headaches, which is huge and a new hair style! Since they had to shave my head, I think I'm going to keep it really pixie short and keep the color gray! I think I really like it. I mean I miss my hair sometimes, but this is sooooo easy!

My mother had gastric bypass in April and found out she had ovarian cancer. She just finished treatment the first of December, had a CT scan on the 29th and is completely cancer free! Praise God! She had lots of ups and downs through out her treatment, the first treatment almost killed her, they changed her meds and treatment got back on schedule but she was staying sicker than she was supposed to so they looked at her gall bladder and they had to remove it, after that, it was smooth sailing with her treatments, well except the normal chemo sickness. But that has all passed and she is on the mend, her and her sweet little bald head.

Anyway, I'm going to try to start blogging again.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Menu Plan Monday 8/1/11

2011-08-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

As part of my household overhaul, I'm also planning my weekly meals. The whole idea of this is to keep things S.I.M.P.L.E. I have to keep telling myself that. Our lives are chaotic enough with work, kids, homework, sports, church, so why torture ourselves? I'm making that change in my life, because I just can't take it anymore! So here is my menu for the week!

Monday - Dinner with Friends

Tuesday - Mike has to work Court so we are having soup

Wednesday - Grilled Chicken Salad

Thursday - Smoked sausage with kraut and corn

Friday - payday and no tax weekend so probably shopping and eating out!

If you run out of ideas for meals for your family, hop on over to I'm An Organizing Junkie and see what others are having! Hope everyone has a great day!

Organizing Project Week One

2011-07-30T12:11:00.000-05:00

So I've decided that my house and family need a huge overhaul. Last school year, we were all so unorganized and we were forgetting stuff and deadlines and I felt like a total failure of a mother. So I decided that since Mike will be working nights, we are taking the kids out of daycare so they can come home afterschool, I'm going to make some major changes. We moved in our house 5 years ago and it's been the same since, UNORGANIZED, and I'm D.O.N.E.!!!! So I decided to start simple....the buffet in the dining room. Here are some before and after pictures of said buffet.

Next week, I'm working on the living room.....the bookshelf and all of the magazines I let pile up underneath the coffee table and end tables.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-27T12:59:00.000-05:00

How Much More Can I Take?

2011-07-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

I really don't know the answer to that question. I guess only God knows. I started having headaches back in January and been seeing doctors and having MRIs and CT scans and seeing more doctors. A neurologist told me that he didn't think whatever was going on in my head was a big deal and he would let me know. I haven't heard anything. The neurosurgeon I wanted to see sent me to an ENT, I wasn't sure why, but I guess he knows what he's doing. So I went to see the ENT on Tuesday and he showed me the scans showed me where all of my spinal/brain fluid was leaking around my brain and where it shouldn't be.....around one of my eyes around the optic nerves, not good. Now excuse me for not using the correct terminology, but he also told me that the pressure on my brain was elevated, causing the pressure headaches. I said so is this serious and he said YES. It could be treated with diurectics and if that doesn't keep the fluid down, then they will have to place a shunt in there so it drain into my stomach. The only way they can test the pressure is to do a spinal tap. Also, he informed me that if the pressure gets too bad, then my brain will bust through my skull, again, not correct terminology, and they will have to do surgery, remove that part of my skull so that can REMOVE that part of my brain that has broken through! Okay, wow....I'm at a loss for words. I go see the neurosurgeon in two weeks and he will have the final say on what to do about this. I'm scared, every time I have a little bit of pain in my head, which is all the time, all I can think is what if there is too much pressure and bust a vein and have an aneurysm and drop dead? I don't know even know if that is real possibility, but that's what I keep thinking. I'm ready for some answers, but I'm scare of what those answers might be.

So in the meantime of all of this, Sarah, the 5 year old, has been diagnosed with ADD. I knew she would be like this, her daddy is. That's okay, but we had a rough year of kindergarten. Her doctor said she was borderline because she only has problems in school, nowhere else. So we have started her on medication. Who knows if anyone will even read this, just don't give me crap about giving my kid medication. But since school has been out, she has been having meltdowns about everything! Being hot, cold, hungry, sleepy, tired, legs hurt, blah blah blah. She goes from 0 to 60 in about 1 second! It's driving me crazy! I want to choke her, but of course, I'm not. But it sends me over the edge and hiding in my bathroom crying. Hopefully she will calm down when we get in a routine.

AND during all of this, in April, my mother had gastric bypass surgery. She was doing fantastic and went back for the 3 week post-op appointment, they told her they found cancer. At the time they were not sure of the source, so that was scary. After weeks of testing, they came to the conclusion that it is fallopian tube cancer. Less than 1% of women who get cancer in their reproductive organs get this type of cancer. The doctor told her her prognosis was good, so that was wonderful news. So she had her ports put in earlier this week and started treatment today. I got to go see her during treatment and take her some lunch today. She is such an incredibly strong woman and I feel so selfish. I called her this morning whining about Sarah not having shoes when we got to daycare and I had to drive 10 minutes out of the way to walmart and buy her some and take them back to daycare and wah wah wah....I was like how selfish am I? Here I am whining to my mother about "not catching a break" all the while she is on her way to the first of 12 chemo treatments. I am so sad over her having this beast inside her body. She is my best friend and I can't imagine her not being in my life for one single day. I'm not thinking she's on her death bed, but it just makes me realize that she won't be around forever and I will have to go on without her and it makes me so sad. I try to be strong for her, but she is the one having to be strong for me! I cried when I saw her getting her treatment because she just shouldn't be there and she is the one telling me it's gong to be alright. I'm such a weinie and it makes me mad. I'm certain she will kick this beast and be just fine. I pray and pray every day.

TORPEDOS against TORNADOS

2011-05-04T09:09:00.000-05:00

On April 27, 2011, the state of Alabama was hit with 23 confirmed tornadoes and destroyed many many towns in Alabama. The county I live in was completely spared, but there was devastation all around us. Some small towns were basically wiped off the map. You can look here for all of the coverage, many sad stories and many stories of praise. Someone contacted Charlie Sheen and asked him to come to Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Roll Tide Roll) and well.....he did and he has set up a site for donations. I think this is pretty cool, I think.....not real sure. Of course you can also donate to the American Red Cross and many other legitimate organizations to help out the citizens of Alabama who have lost everything. Check out Charlie Sheen's donation site below.....

TORPEDOS against TORNADOS

Monday Minute 5/2/11

2011-05-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

1 - Where aside from a toilet have you taken a dump? Explain.

My pants......I was in Walmart and Sarah was just a baby, and I felt the rumble and I was like oh no, this CANNOT be happening! I cannot go to the bathroom in Walmart with two little kids with me, so I left Walmart and left my cart where it was and tried to get home as fast as I could and I don't think my butt was on the seat at all on the drive home, and I pulled in the driveway and I didn't make it......I left the kids in the car in the driveway and I had to go in and clean myself up! It was awful and when I got back to the car to pull it in the garage, Maggie said, Mommy did you fart?

2 - At this point do you really think that Magic Johnson has HIV/AIDS?

No.

3 - Would you wrestle a member of the same sex, nude, in pudding for 10 minutes for one million dollars?

Oh my.....no.....absolutely not.....

4 - Squash just doesn't sound very tasty. What say you?

not really, but it's good cooked with some butter and onions!

and finally...

5 - Is it worth the effort?

Depends on what "it" is.......cleaning house? no

Update

2011-04-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

Not much has been going on with me lately. Just working, waiting for school to get out because I'm tired of fighting with the kids every morning about getting up and getting their butts in gear and tired of not wanting to do anyting in the evenings because sitting in rush our traffic is so exhausting and then fighting with the kids to get their homework done and everything else done that they have to get done in the evenings.

Sarah is playing soccer and Maggie is playing volleyball this year at the YMCA "where everyone is a winner!" LOL!! Anyway, I've really enjoyed it because their games are on different days as oppossed to when they both played soccer and I had to run between two soccer fields because Mike was working.....that was stressful. Spring sports should be over in about a month. Then school will be out and two days after school gets out, we are headed for our Caribbean vacation! I CANNOT wait!

I finally have an appointment with a neurologist and then the first of May, I am scheduled for a hearing test and an ENT appointment. I'm really excited about the neurology appointment because I can finally get some answers about what's going on with my noggin!!

YAY!!!

I Have a Hole in My What?

2011-03-24T10:13:00.001-05:00

Did that get your attention?

Well, in case you don't know (and you may not even care and that's okay), I have had a headache most days for the last 3 months. I've probably only had a handful of days that my has not hurt as some point. I didn't have an internist so I found a great doctor to see and get myself established with her and see about getting these headaches resolved. I've been been to the doctor about my headaches, I've had them as long as I can remember. Sometimes bad enough to keep me down a day or so, but I just chalked it up to migraines so I would take something over the counter to help. Well, the doctor gave me some Imitrex for migraines and said she would set me up for an MRI. So I had that done and they called me to tell me I had what they call "right petrous apex cephalocele". I apparently have a hole in my skull, a birth defect, and I have a spinal fluid leak thus causing the headaches. And I have a headache as I'm typing this.

I mean 40 years ago, they didn't do ultrasounds and unless I had a heart problem or an obvious birth defect, they wouldn't have known it. Good luck finding this condition on Google! I couldn't find anything except studies. Apparently, it's not a very common thing to have! I know I shouldn't have Googled it, but it hasn't increased my worry about it, it has just peaked my curiosity.

So after the MRI, they send me for a CT scan, which confirmed what the MRI showed and they are sending me to a neurosurgeon. Not really liking the idea of having to see a surgeon, because, well.....they perform surgery and this is my noggin we are talking about. I have to call today to follow up because I still don't have an appointment date and time from them. So I'm left wondering what they will do to fix this hole in my skull. I'm getting a little anxious, well, a lot anxious! I haven't gotten any answers from anyone yet really, except what my ailment is from a doctor who is not qualified to tell me any more than that and that's okay. I've been having dreams about getting my hair cut really short before surgery, surgery that I'm not even sure is going to happen, except the fact that they are sending me to a surgeon. I have a husband and kids to take of and I just want to know something, anything. I've been waking up crying because in my dreams I'm crying because I'm nervous about surgery, once again, not even sure I'm having surgery. I'm not a big baby by any means. I'm like all moms I know, we get sick and we just keep right on going. So I don't think my anxiety is unwarranted.

I am going to call the doctor's office today in hopes of getting an appointment so I can get some answers. It's been over a month and I would like some answers.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-17T11:37:00.000-06:00

I had a good Valentine's day this year. Not that I've bad ones in the past. Mike always gets me the most thoughtful gifts and cards. This year he got me another charm for my Pandora charm bracelet. We got the girls some cute little t-shirts from Justice that smell like candy and chocolate. They loved them. We took them to eat their favorite meal....Mexican....but they don't really eat Mexican, they share a bowl of cheese dip and each get an order of flour tortillas to dip in the cheese dip. Who cares, they eat it and they love it. Then we treated them to Dairy Queen. YUMMY!!!! Anyway, here are a few snapshots from the night.

Sarah always has to be the goofy girl - I was like that when I was a kid too.

She trying to be a sexy 5 year old - whatever that is.

Sarah's Yummy.....

Maggie's Yummy....

FINALLY Some Snow in Central Alabama!

2011-02-10T08:21:00.000-06:00

Where I live in Alabama, we don't get alot of winter weather action. We have had a pretty busy winter this year, at least everyone around us has. We did have to leave early one day because we had a couple of hours of freezing rain and traffic was a nightmare. It took one girl in my office 6 hours to make a normally 2.5 hour drive! Glad that wasn't me!!! So since last week they have been talking about us getting some snow and I just blew it off. The county neighboring us to the north gets it, but never where I live. Here, 5-10 miles can make a huge difference. Arkansas got pounded with a foot and a half yesterday and we were getting that same storm last night.....I was hopeful, but not going to be disappointed if we didn't get any. Around 7 it started snowing big fat snowflakes and it was so pretty! It snowed off and on through the night and this is what we woke up too.

It's not a huge snow event, but it's huge for us. it was so pretty! Everything was white, the sky was gray and there was just a little color here and there. The sun is supposed to make its appearance sometime today and most of it will probably be gone. Alot of area schools were delayed a couple of hours and one idiot school system was actually closed. Really? Glad you thought that was a good decision to make! Any loo who, there you have, the big snow of my town this year. It will be in the 60s and sunny this weekend....thank you very much and good night!

Gotta love this Alabama weather!

Really? Seriously? What the.........?

2011-01-25T14:07:00.000-06:00

The walls of sickness are closing in on me!

My boss is at work with a nasty nasty cold, thankfully, he is staying in his office, but STILL! I don't want his nasty cold germs and he would be sending me home if I were sick like that.

Then to top that off.....A lady I work with who works on the first floor (I'm on the second floor) didn't feel well when she got up this morning but came on to work, that's not a problem. We have all done that. Well, she was upstair in our TV room eating her lunch and I just happen to be walking down the hall, stopped in someone's office to chat, she comes out of our bathroom up here and said she needs help, she has poo poo'd and thrown up all over the bathroom and all over the toilet! I'm the luckily one who got to fetch paper towels and garbage bags for the clean up, while another co-worked helped her get cleaned up and she mopped the floor and clean the toilet area. In the meantime, the sick co-worker needed help getting down the stairs so she could slip out the back door and go home. She had poo all over her skirt. As she was leaving, she HUGGED ME to thank me for helping her. I got back upstairs and helped the other girl finish cleaning up.

While all of this was going on, folks were coming upstairs to the kitchen for lunch and everyone was like was is that smell? I mean, the stinch was HORRIBLE and no amount of spray helped, it probably just worsened it.

I went in the kitchen to get something to drink and the fear of getting sick set in and I totally had a panic attack!!

The next thing I know, SHE IS BACK AT WORK!!!! What the hell? Really? AND she has been in my office because she left a nice thank you gift for me, meaning she went shopping after she went home and showered and changed!!! I'm freaking dying!!!!!

I want to crawl in to a bubble right now!!!! I almost hope I get sick so the sickos that come to work will know NOT TO COME TO WORK WHEN YOU ARE SICK!!!! It's not fair to expose everyone to your germs and plus I have kids at home to think about!

I want to just run the streets screaming!!!!!!

I'm not feeling so well..........

Getting To Know Me

2011-01-18T11:04:00.000-06:00

This is totally random, but who cares! I don't blog much, but I feel like I don't have anything funny to say, I don't let people bother me too terribly much, I just live a normal life, a husband, 2 kids, a dog, a cat, mortgage, and two car payments.

Just in case you are interested, here are a few facts about me.

I love raunchy comedy. For instace, I've seen the movie Bruno with Sacha Baron Cohen, who I think is hot hot hot. It had to have been the funniest movie I have EVER seen! I laughed until I couldn't breathe and Mike and I kept looking at each other like "Did we really just see that?" It was CRAY-Z!!!!
I love tattoos. I only have a little one on my ankle, but I want another one. I don't know what's keeping me from getting another one. Mike doesn't care and people say who cares what Mike says, well I care, he's my husband. I know this sounds corny, but I found a cool pencil drawing of Tinkerbell that I want on the back of my neck and I told him he could go to Disney World (our 2nd favorite vacation spot) every night if I got it!! He liked that idea, but not sure I'm willing to let him go EVERY night!!!
My favorite vacation spot is Grand Cayman. That place sucked me in the minute I landed there for the first time on December 26, 2008. My in-laws live there, right on the ocean, and there is nothing like getting up in the mornings and sitting on the patio watching the cruise ships come in while I'm sipping my coffee. Hopefully we will be going back for trip number 4 this summer! I'm so ready!
I was voted Most Unique my senior year. I really wasn't quite sure WHY I was chosen, didn't think I was much different than anyone else. The kicker was the guy that was voted with me was a "special" kid! I mean he just wasn't real smart, he was 20 when he graduated! Like I said, I really didn't understand why, maybe it was the asshole I was dating at the time. Not sure. But looking back, I have a specific memory of being at a church valentine's day party with a bunch of friends from school in probably the 6th or 7th grade and there was a Christian band playing. Of course, us girls thought they were cute and no one would talk to any of the band members. I'm sure they were in their early 20s, but not sure. I was like, crap, if no one else will do it, I will. I calmly walked up to the band members as they were taking a break with my posse behind me and said "Hi, I'm Kool and this is my Gang!" I thought it was pretty funny at the time and still do!

I am not a very interesting person, just kind of goofy, but I am who I am. Take it or leave it!

Cruisin' to Cozumel

2011-01-05T09:50:00.000-06:00

Mike and I took a 4 day cruise from Mobile, Alabama to Cozumel, Mexico from December 9 to December 13. It was a great trip, but cold as the dickens when we left, but we knew it would warm up at some point in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

Hanging out ready to get the heck out of there!

Atrium of the Carnival Elation

Back of the ship - it was pretty chilly, that's why I'm covered up with a beach towel.

Beautiful sunsent on the first night!

All you could eat sushi - we were in heaven!

Dinner on Elegant Night - We looked pretty hot!

YAY! Cozumel! It was a beautiful little island!

After two of these and two shots of Tequila and

groping by the waitress at Carlos & Charlies...

Here I am!!!!

The beginning of a VERY rough day at sea!

Notice the relative wind was 47 mph, it got has high as 70 mph!

It was like a crazy movie or something! People were puking everywhere, there were people walking around carrying their little barf bags around looking for a place to dispose of them. The people like me, who weren't in their rooms throwing up OR in the hallways throwing up, were just lounging around drinking or reading, watching TV, hanging out in the hot tubs. All in all it was a great trip. Hopefully the next time we go, we can take the girls with us. They would really enjoy all the fun activities on the ship.

Happy New Year and My 2011 Goals

2011-01-03T14:02:00.000-06:00

I don't remember the last thing I blogged about, but one of my goals this year is to blog more. There are so many goals I want to reach this year. Not resolutions, that is stupid. There are things I've been needing to do and just too darn lazy to do them. When I'm not working, I want to chill out. I don't want my entire life to be work away from home and work when I'm at home. But I'm going to make these goals fun goals and maybe a little selfish, but whatever.

I got this idea from HotPants and Karen at Karen's World. If you want to join in, click on the button!

Here is my list of goals for 2011:

Write in my journal every day
Use coupons more
Reorganize my scrapbook area
Read more
Read the Bible
Send nice picture cards for Christmas
Stop drinking Mountain Dew
Organize pictures on my computer
Get my hair cut and colored every 8 weeks
Buy a new outfit once a month
Wash my face every night
Brush my teeth every night
Spend more time with my friends
Attend all Proverbs 31 meetings at church
Use my vacation time wisely
Quit buying cheap make-up
Concentrate more on my job
Plan a vacation
Make my bed every morning
Finish Twilight books
Watch Twilight movies (I know I'm behind)
Host a party
Blog at least every other day
Lose 30 pounds
Work on my scrapbooks once a month
Go to gym and/or Zumba 3 days a week
Get one credit card paid off
Organize my office
Organize my house
Have kids' pictures made professionally
Do 5 craft projects
Put some kind of window treatment in living room
Take the kids to the park more in the Spring
Save my swagbucks for a Kindle
Take the kids to the Zoo
Work out on Wii at least 2 times a week before work
Get a tattoo
Send birthday cards to friends and family
Redecorate Maggie's room
No more sarcasm when Mike asks me a silly question
Keep kids school stuff organized so I don't miss anything
Keep purse calendar and phone calendar updated
Drink more water
Let my nails grow a little and keep them painted
Lend a hand more/be more helpful
Plan vacation
Shower first thing on Saturday mornings
Wake up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings for "me" time
Have more patience
Walk around downtown Birmingham at lunch
Eat more salads
Keep 2011 goal log

Good luck to me!!

My Beautimous Christmas Tree

2010-12-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

Just a little look at some of my Christmas decorations. I love this time of year.....

I painted the picture of the tree on my mantle.

I think it's a pretty good picture of a funky Christmas tree!

My Tree

Some of my favorite ornaments.

The tree is full of ornaments that have been given to us and the kids.

Mike is a policeman so we have to have a Santa Cop

on the tree to keep the Elves out of trouble!

From our Disney cruise in 2007.

This belongs to Maggie or Sarah, I can't remember which one. Their initials are on the bottom or her foot with the year.

I made this tree with lots of little strips of scrapbook paper and lots of straight pins. I loved the way it turned out and I've it for about 3 years now. I just gently put it in a plastic bag in the attic!

Maureen and Starr were found with popcorn on the couch and they had been apparently watching movies all night! They are a couple of little rascals!

Hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!!

Feeling Out Of Sorts!

2010-12-03T09:57:00.000-06:00

I almost had a panic attack this morning on my way to work. I'm not one to be prone to having them, but I've had a couple in the past so I know what it feels like. Mike and I are going on a cruise next week and our kids are not going with us. This isn't the first time we have gone anywhere without them, but it has been two years.

We are going on a cruise to Cozumel. I think it might be his birthday, my 40th birthday (which I did survive by the way, but now I feel like I have to act like a grown-up) and our anniversary, which has all happened in the last two months.

My parents are coming to stay with the girls since they have school, etc. and they live an hour away. I have to try to make things as organized as I can for my mother because she, for obvious reasons, is not used to having to get two very, at times, stubborn little girls ready for school. I need to make sure they have everything they need!

I still need to do some shopping for the trip, I have a Christmas party tonight, Maggie has a birthday party to go to tomorrow, tomorrow also marks the 1 year annivesary that Philip M. Davis was killed in the line of duty on a "routine" traffic stop around midnight tonight. the picture in that post is an actual picture from his graveside service. There were officers from all over the country there that cold, rainy day. It's bringing back sad memories, I mean, we, the police department, are all family. He left behind a precious wife, Paula, and two precious babies, Sarah will be turning 3 this month and John will be turning 2 in February.

I haven't even started packing for our tripo, even though we aren't leaving until Wednesday night, I also have my every day stuff to do. I know it will get done. I just need to have a glass of wine and get busy!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

2010-11-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

My girls went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops last Wednesday. They really have a nice set up at Christmas time and your picture with Santa is FREE!!!!

Mentos and Condiments

2010-11-11T09:55:00.000-06:00

My sweet little Maggie is 9 and in 4th grade. I don't really stand over Maggie's shoulder when she is on her computer. She sits in her room with her door open and watches YouTube videos on farts, music videos (she knows whose videos she can't watch) funny home videos of kids and animals, National Geographic videos on animals, she loves animals, bugs, rodents, basically all of God's creatures. She loves science too. So we were all getting ready for bed last night and I was on my way to hang up a towel and thank goodness I had that towel with me because she was so excited to tell me about the experiment with a 2 liter soda bottle, Mentos and "condiments"! She said you take the mentos and put them in a coke bottle, then put a "condiment' on top and it will make the "conditment" explode. I was laughing. my. ass. off! Of course, I had the towel in front of my face and she couldn't see me smiling/laughing. She thought it was so cool and I was laughing so hard I couldn't even tell Mike! Bless her little innocent heart! I didn't mention that particular "conditment" issue to her because she wouldn't understand and that would lead to the mechanics of sex talk, which she's not ready for, so I just told her not to watch anything without checking with me first or I would block her. She just said OK!

School Dance and Halloween

2010-11-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

Maggie had her first school dance this past friday. Apparently, the intermediate school she goes to has alot of dances. I was asked by some friends if she was going with a boy or with friends and I promptly answered she was going with her Momma!!! She's in 4th grade! She was pretty nervous and I wasn't about to just drop her off like alot of parents do. There are a ton of chaperones in the gym where the dance was and along the short walkway leading to the cafeteria where they were selling pizza, soda and candy. She found her friends and hung out with them and she had a really good time. My baby girl is growing up so fast!

Here is a picture of Sarah playing dress-up. That would be lipstick around her mouth.

A few weeks ago we went to some friends house so we could make Halloween treats. We made cookies, brownie, candy necklaces and Halloween pictures with foam stickers.

The kids all had such a great time. Can't wait for Christmas! Next up was Halloween. We went to some friends house and their neighborhood decided they were Trick or Treating on Saturday night, so headed over for chili, wings and candy!

On Sunday, we went to our church's Fall Festival. There were probably 1000 people there! it was crazy!

By the time Sunday evening rolled around, I was done! We had such a good weekend and we have such wonderful friends to spend time with!

I DO LOVE MY SWAGBUCKS!!!

2010-11-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

In the month of October, I racked up on my swag!!!

Searching the Web: 524 Swag Bucks

Swag Codes: 236 Swag Bucks

Surveys: 25 Swag Bucks

Special Offers: 26 Swag Bucks

NOSO/Survey Visit/Daily Poll/Toolbar: 116 Swag Bucks

Swag Bucks TV (watching videos): 51 Swag Bucks

Purchased 3 Amazon gift cards totalling $15.00.

Each Amazon Gift Card cost 450 Swagbucks.

You should definitely check it out! You can get lots of cool prizes and how much does it cost you? NOT A DIME! It's totally free!

Click on the picture and check it out!

My Little Alabama Fans!

2010-11-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

Monday Minute 11/1/10

2010-11-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

What did you dress up as your first Halloween? Wow, I don't remember that far back, BUT there were a few memorable ones. I dressed up as a Pink Lady (from Grease), I was about 11 and that's when my parents notice I was shaving my legs! :-) I dressed up like a black eyed pea, and a blooming idiot just to name a few.

What has been your favorite Halloween costume of all time? My fav for me was probably the black eyed pea, but one someone else, a one night stand....table built around the person, lamp shade on their head, alarm clock, rubbers and vasosline on the table too.

Do you believe in ghosts? no, sure don't

What's your favorite holiday of the year? Christmas

What's your favorite fall dessert? anything sweet!

Monday Minute 10/25/10

2010-10-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up with Cristy at Is There A Doctor In The House for today's Monday Minute!

(1) Have you ever been hospitalized? (OK, maybe that one isn't so upbeat) Plastic surgery on my ears (I had dumbo ears in a bad way) when I was 7, appendicitis sometime in elementary school, had my tonsils taken out when I was 25, gave birth to two children, had my tubes tied. I did go to the emergency room not too terribly long ago for slipping in the shower and fracturing my wrist...does that count?

(2) What’s the last bit of good news you received? My good friend Shannan is pregnant with her third child! Very exciting, they have been trying for a year or so!

(3) Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Mixon, my 12th grade history/economics teacher. She was a go getter and made learning fun. In econmics, the class divided into groups, we actually formed a "company", marketed and sold products. Our group sold "risky business" sunglasses, whipped everyone's butt and got to go downtown and have lunch in a fancy restaurant. It was so fun!

(4) Do you sing in the shower? No, I shower really early in the morning and it's all I can do to stand there and do what I'm supposed to do, can't add anything else to my shower routine, even if it's just singing.

(5) Describe the happiest day of your life. I have had the happiest day of my life, I've had lots, 4 to be specific, the day I got engaged, the day I got married, the day I had my first baby, Maggie and the day I had my second sweet girl, Sarah.

Wordless Wednesday - Kitty Cat

2010-10-13T11:12:00.000-05:00

THE DREADED AND HATED 4-0

2010-10-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

I'm just not real happy right now. I've been crying on and off all day today. What is my problem you might ask yourself?
In approximately 45 days, I will be turning 40. That's right, November 27, 2010 is doomsday for me. I'm just not happy about it at all. I emailed my mother this morning and told her I don't want a cake, I don't want to hear anyone sing Happy Birthday to me and giving me crap about me having gray hair or about how it all goes hill from here, about how I'm still a baby, BLAH. BLAH. FREAKING BLAH.

Spare me! Please!

I was excited to turn 30. I did lots of partying and God knows what else in my early to mid 20s, had a great time. Got married two weeks shy of being 29, had a baby at 30 and I was ready to be in my 30s, ready to move on with the next stage of my life and my 30s have been great. But now, I'm sliding into 40 and I'm just not ready. I feel like my life is slipping away so fast, before I know it, I'm going to have 2 teenage girls....driving.....in college then getting married and having kids of their own!

I think 1970 was a great year to be born. Great because #1, I was born, and great because there were significant things going on in history....Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Women's Rights Movement and let's not forget All My Children aired and Susan Lucci was 20 years old, and these shows also aired, The Odd Couple, The Partridge Family, Mary Tyler Moore Show, the movie M*A*S*H, the Jackson 5 was quite popular and The Beatles broke up!

On the day I was born, Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tried to assassinate Pope Paul VI during his visit in Manila....BUT.......

I'm just not ready to turn 40 and I guess I don't have a choice. Mike is taking me on a cruise the first of December for my birthday, but I'm going to pretend it's just a nice getaway for our anniversary which is in a month.

I think I want to sit around the house and watch college football all day on THAT day and sulk.

Monday Minute 10/11/10

2010-10-11T08:10:00.004-05:00

It's time again to link with Cristy at Is There A Doctor In The House for another version of Monday Minute!

(1) What color undies/ boxers do you have on right now? boring old white ones!

(2) What song have you been playing on repeat lately? I love DJ Got Us Falling In Love by Usher and dance like a complete idiot every time I hear it.

(3) What's your best personality trait? I'm a loyal friend. Once I'm your friend, I will always be your friend. No matter what happens and no matter where life takes us.

(4) Are you a leader or a follower? definitely a follower. I just go with the flow. I'm so laid back, my mother calls me a "schmoo"!

(5) What's your least favorite household chore? probably the one that has to be done most often which are the floors. I thought I would love having hardwoods, but I really don't. I have them in all rooms except bedrooms and bathrooms. Which reminds me, they need to be done tonight!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

2010-10-07T13:02:00.001-05:00

This is a test from the blackberry phone that is owned by lisa

TYVM 10/7/10

2010-10-07T08:53:00.001-05:00

It's free therapy day! I normally don't have anything to get off my chest, but today is the day. Link up with Foursons who is hosting Thank You Very Much for Kmama from The Daily Dribbles while she is away!

To Ms. Attorney Person in my office, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for hogging the milk because I filled my cereal bowl up with yummy Kashi Go Lean and then got about a quarter cup of milk!!! I still ate it, but not happy about it!

To Bellsouth, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for having an area internet outage for the second time this week! I have been needing to check my emails and print coupons and you are making my life difficult in not being able to do this!

To my friends whom I love dearly and don't work full time out of the home like I do, please stop asking us to do stuff during the week. I only have about 2 1/2 hours in which to cook dinner, make sure homework is done, read to Sarah for her reading log, see that backpacks are cleaned out and organized for the next day, make sure kids are bathed and get them in the bed while trying to keep up with laundry, trying to keep the floors clean, trying to keep the bathrooms clean, etc etc etc. I do not have time for anything else. I wish you would be a little more understanding, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I HATE MY BLOG....JUST SAYIN'

2010-10-06T15:10:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween from Disney World!

Monday Minute 10/4/10

2010-10-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

Yay!!! It's Monday and it's nice and crisp here in Bama (Roll Tide!) at 49 degrees!!! WOO HOO!!!

It's time for another edition of Monday Minute with Cristy at Is There A Doctor In The House!

(1) What's your biggest pet peeve? Constantly comparing your kid to mine. I have a friend whose daughter is 3 days younger than Maggie. Everytime I see her, it's "Oh M is doing this and M is doing that and she's the best, she such a fashionista and everybody loves M." Well let me tell you, my kid isn't a brat or a liar or a little sneak.

(2) Describe your first kiss. (Ian's suggestion, thank you Ian!) WOW!!! It was 5th grade, I was "going with" Scott and Lori was "going with" Jason. We decided to have them come over to my house after school, which was completely taboo since no parent was home, so we could have our first kiss, a real full blown french kiss, I mean that was the plan. I remember it like it was yesterday, Scott and I were sitting on the couch and Lori and Jason were sitting in the black recliner and Jason and Lori kissed first while Scott and I looked on and then it was our turn. I didn't think it was gross or anything because I was totally into boys and I did lots of kissing after that. In "Lovers Hall" at school, by the bathroom while the entire 5th grade looked on, it was great!!!!

(3) Describe the drunkest night of your life (or at least, the drunkest night you can remember). Gosh there are so many! One of the more funnier ones was the night of our office Christmas party and open bar....need I say more? I was wearing a full lengh black dress, looked pretty spiffy! My friend Lucy and I took a cab there because we knew where the night was going before it even began and that way there was no way we could drive and put our lives or any else's life in danger by drinking and driving. We were completely toasted and left the party with two of the runners from our office in a Toyota MR2, a two seater...do the math, four people + two seater car = one jacked up ride home! Well, we didn't go home just yet. We ended up at Billy's, a local pub, with the partners of the firm we worked at and they were paying the tab. Well, if that's the case, bring on the Jager shots! I dropped my cigarette and fell out of my chair when I bent down to get it, by the time we left there, the split in my skirt was up to my hip and everyone could see my control top panty hose. We finally got back home at who knows what time and one other thing I remember about that night was I was sitting on Lucy's porch and fell off into the bushes. That made for some gut wrenching giggles!

(4) What's the last movie you saw and what did you think of it? We don't go the theater because I'm too cheap, I'll wait till it comes on PPV or Netflix or something. I did see Transformers last week and it was a good movie. I don't get into movies like that but I thoroughly enjoyed it, kind of like that kiss!

(5) Do you prefer taking a bath or a shower? definitely a shower. I don't have time to lounge in the tub and the times I've tried, I get too bored and end up getting out pretty quickly!

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Ella Jean Ezell - My Grandmother and My Dreams

2010-10-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

I was very close to my Grandmother (my mom's mother). My mom had me when she was 19 and my grandmother was only 40, so she was like my second mom. I love her dearly. She fell and broke her hip at a young age, had colon cancer and beat it, but unfortunately, it came back and went straight for her liver. She suffered for too many years before finding out what was wrong, she had terrible symptoms of which I won't go into because it breaks my heart into a million pieces. It was a very rare kind of cancer and only certain hospitals could treat her. So off to Vanderbilt (Tennesse in case you didn't know) she went and had radiation straight into her liver. She went there for a while then she started going to Mercy in New Orleans. We live in Central Alabama so neither place is right around the corner. It then got to the point where nothing else could be done. She spent alot of time in bed and I spent alot of time in bed with her talking, reading the newspaper, watching Gone With The Wind (our favorite movie), something about Scarlet reminded me of my Grandmother, and I was spent my time telling her about my fiance whom she had met a few times, but there were times when my Grandmother would be too sick to have company and unfortunately, Mike never really got know my Grandmother. But as time got closer to my wedding date, the sicker she got. In getting ready for the big day, I wasn't able to spend time with her like I wanted to and the next thing I know, November 13, 1999, was here. My GrandDaddy didn't attend my wedding so he could stay home with her, but she was there in spirit.

After I got engaged and before she got really sick, she ordered me an absoutely beautiful porcelain bride on a stand that she wanted me to have at my wedding. I put that doll on the table with my guest book. It was the most precious gift I had received up to that point in my life. Mike and I went on our honeymoon and spent a week at Disney World. On Saturday, I called my mom before we left Orlando to start our 8-9 hour drive home. She was pleasant on the phone and she said make sure you call me when you get home. I knew then that my Grandmother had passed away. I don't think I said one word to my new husband all the way home. I didn't want to go home, I didn't want to face the reality that my precious Grandmother had passed away. I waited as long as I could when we got home to call my mother, but I forced myself to and she told me that my Grandmother had passed away on Friday, November 19, 1999. She was only 69. Everthing was a blur and I couldn't handle it.

At the funeral we one of her favorite hymnals, Blessed Assurance. To this day, I cannot sing that in church or even hear it without having a breakdown. At the graveside service, a fella by the name of Robert Howard, who unfortunatley passed away at an early age, also played the trumpet at their church, played It Is Well With My Soul, which was completely heart wrenching. That is another song I can't sing or hear in church. I know it sounds crazy after 11 years, but my heart still hurts.

By the way it's killing me to write this...

My Grandmother's sister, Aunt Carol, lived in Yonkers, NY and just was not well enough to make to my Grandmother's funeral. Within a very short period of time, she died. Which leads me to my dream. I dreamt that I was on the foot of my Grandmother's bed and she was sick, we were talking and she told me she was dying and not to be afraid because she was going to Heaven to see my cousin Jeremy, who died in the early 1980s right after he turned 2). And she slowly drifted away. Like most of my dreams it was very vivid. Of course, I woke up crying and my mother called me the very next morning and told me that Aunt Carol had passed away the night before. I swear my Grandmother was trying to tell me.

My dreams freak me out sometimes and I believe that is one dream that I will never forget.

Bit O'Randomness

2010-10-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

Today is a lovely day, don't you think? It's Friday and here in Alabama, there isn't a cloud in the sky and it's 67 degrees right now, but most importantly, NO HUMIDITY! This is my favorite time of year although the leaves don't turn bright yellow, orange or deep red soon enough for me. It's October 1 and I want it to be full blown Fall! Hey, I'll take what I can get after the blazing hot summer that just ended! This is our 7 day forecast!! I Love It!!!

On to other stuff, Sarah is in kindergarten and she absolutely loves it. She tries to make up homework to do. That won't last long. So we are going over letters of the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. I asked her what was the sound that "A" makes and she said "a a apple" and then I said "what sound does B make?" and she said "'buh' Beer!" I just about lost it. Call me a bad parent if you want, but stuff like that doesn't embarrass me as long as she isn't talking about me personally, so I was not worried about her going to school and saying that.

I had a dream the other night about Bill Murray (the actor). Not sure where it came from because I haven't seen him on anything recently. I have to be careful what I watch on TV because I will most certainly dream about it, like when I saw Dr. Oz talking about the outbreak of bed bugs, oh yeah, only in my dreams (now I'm singing Debbie Gibson)! I'll tell you about another dream I had in another post (lots of stuff leading up to the dream). So back to Bill, I'm getting on an elevator after getting Chinese for Mike and I for dinner, and there is Bill Murray standing there with jeans, button up shirt and sports jacket on and I was like Hey you are Bill Murray and he said yes what is your favorite movie of mine and I said hands down, Ground Hog Day. He said well, I don't think that is the funniest. I said well my husband is a big fan of yours, do you want to come to the house and meet him? He said sure, so we got in separate cars and he followed me to my house, which wasn't my house at all and we went in and I gave Mike his dinner and we hung out with Bill the rest of the night.

Tag!

2010-09-30T13:09:00.000-05:00

I got this from Sonya at Belly Charms and thought I would play along to get my blog up and running again.

1.Would you ever go sky diving? No, I thought about it once and really wanted to but as I got older, I decided that probably wouldn't be in my best interest!

2.What is your favorite clothing store? Cato, they have really cutes clothes and they are cheap! BUT even as cheap as they are, they hold up in the washer and dryer!

3.What was your worst date ever? how many can I list? His name was Jeff, seemed like a nice guy, had a good job, saw him from a distance, seemed to be nice looking, he got my number from my mother and we set up a date. I'll try to make this short...he showed up looking like Kris Kringle! Rosey cheeks and a button nose. UGH! I could never look at him through dinner. We went to the comedy club and I had the tickets in my coat pocket and I was kidding around and was like Oh I can't find the tickets. I thought he was going to flip his freaking lid! Then we had a table close to the stage and it was tight quarters, he was sitting across from me and a 500 pound fella was sitting next to him, I had more fun cutting up with the big fella than my date! The waiter dropped a couple of drinks and I thought he was going to fall out in the floor laughing at this poor guy. Afterward he wanted to out dancing and I said no for fear of my friends seeing me with him and I didn't want to be mean to the guy so I told him I had to work the next day and needed to go home. He walked me in my apartment and I started stretching acting like I was tired... GO HOME! hint hint and then he grabbed my shirt with two hands like you grab someone's shirt that you are about to beat the hell out of and layed one of the nastiest sloppiest kisses on me in recorded history. He called the next day and wanted to go out again and politely told him Hell no, don't ever call me again!

4.What is the most annoying kid show on TV? I don't know, Spongebob can be pretty annoying

5.What is your favorite movie? recently, I've seen Twilight and Inglorious Basterds and loved them both

6.Who is the all time hunkiest actor? Hugh Jackman - have you seen pictures of him without a shirt? WOW!

7.If you could be on any TV show, which one would it be? Deal or No Deal

8.What is your favorite blog? I love them all!

If you want to play, tag yourself and let me know then answer the same questions I got from Sonya.

Gracie Ann Poole

2010-09-29T15:04:00.000-05:00

I grew up in church with Gracie's mother, Jennifer. I've known her for many many years. Please keep Gracie and her family in your thoughts and prayers!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gracieannpoole

Wordless Wednesday - Something to Keep You Warm

2010-09-29T09:21:00.000-05:00

Monday Minute 9/27/10

2010-09-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

I'm Linking up with Cristy at Is There A Doctor In the House for today's Monday Minute.

(1) What’s the last restaurant you went to and what did you order? Went to Cozumel Grill, a local mexican favorite, and Mike and I split fajitas with shrimp, chicken and steak. It was delish!

(2) What's your greatest phobia? Ledges....I don't like to be on a ledge of ANYTHING unless it has some kind of stable divider between me and the dropoff that could possibly end my life if I slipped and fell.

(3) On a scale of 1 to 10, how hot are you? HA! I don't think I'm hot at all, but I'll say 2, just for the sake of answering the question.

(4) You just found out you (or your partner) are having a baby. What's your reaction? I'm not supposed to be able to have any more kids and I will be 40 in exactly 2 months, so I would freak the heck out!

(5) You just won a free vacation to anywhere in the world. Where would you go? I would want to go on a tour of Europe, it would be be a busy trip but totally worth not having any rest.

Cast Off

2010-09-24T09:40:00.000-05:00

FINALLY got my cast off, but arm still in a brace, not much on typing a lot still, but starting October 1, I'm going to start blogging again. Stayed tuned!!

Metallica - Wherever I May Roam (Video)

2010-09-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

Metallica and coffee go good together and make for a productive day at work!

Wordless Wednesday - First Cast

2010-09-01T17:27:00.000-05:00

Cut My Life Into Pieces...

2010-08-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

Not real sure what the exact meaning of that is, BUT that's how I feel right now. I still have a cast on my right arm for another month, then two weeks in a brace. Meanwhile, Mike has been suffering from major back/sciatic problems. 3-4 days on two separate ocassions, he has been bedridden from either sciatic pain or headaches which everyone was convinced was just migraines, including myself, so sorry honey. Not until he had a second epidural block did I realize the severity of his headaches. So our second trip to the ER in a week, he was told that it was a spinal headache, but they couldn't get anyone there that was trained to give blood patches so they sent him home with pain meds and strict orders to lay flat on his back until this morning when he could call his pain doctor. So his mom took himthis morning and he got a blood patch on the leak of spinal fluid that his doctor swore wasn't there, but okay, so why do the blood patch then? Anyway, he's home sleeping and I hope I have my husband back soon. He needs to get better for himself and for my sanity.
My Mom, Dad, little brother Clay and his girlfriend Alex came over yesterday, helped me get my house clean, socks folded (I know that sounds crazy, but I can't fold socks with a bum wrist) and got our grass cut. I was getting a little overwhelmed.
A precious friend is bringing us dinner tonight and another precious friend asked for a grocery list and went to the store for us and i'm picking it up on my way home from work.
I've been very overwhelmed, in pain and just not in the mood to talk. Ya know?
Any way, I hope everyone is doing okay!

First Day of School

2010-08-12T13:23:00.000-05:00

Maggie started 4th grade today and Sarah started Kindergarten! I'm so excited...#1 no more full time daycare.....#2 my babies are growing up and it's so fun, a little bitter sweet, but I love it!

Slippin' and Slidin'

2010-08-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday, I was in the shower getting ready to take Mike to get a spinal block for his back problems and I guess I just needed some attention and I slipped and fell in the shower and fractured my right wrist. We took the kids next door so our cousin/neighbor could take them to daycare and Mike took me to the ER. No one was there so they took me straight back, got x-rays and a splint. We got finished in time to get him to have his block and his cousin got a ride over there so he could drive us home. We both slept until the kids got home. I really enjoyed that! I have felt bad because Mike needed some TLC with his back problems, and I haven't been able to give him the TLC he needs. I got a purple cast on Thursday and came back to work on Monday. It's really hard to type. Thankfully no surgery is in my future. My kids have been such a big help to me! I love them so much!!!

Hope everyone is well!

TYVM

2010-07-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Kmama at The Daily Dribbles, I get to thank all the folks that irritated me this week. I usually don't have much that bothers me and nothing that constitutes me handing out thank you notes, but this week, it's been one thing after another!

Dear Panama City Beach, FL a/k/a Redneck Riviera, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for trying your make your lovely beach a family oriented place to vacation. I really do appreciate your efforts, really, BUT, something has got to be done about the "girl" standing out in front of a club that is located right across the street from some fairly nice condos, who is standing there with black high top Converse, black thigh socks, boy shorts that were about 3 sizes too small and whose butt is hanging out and wearing a bustier. Luckily my sweet baby girls didn't have to see that!
To MVES, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for making registration for kindergarten so easy!
Dearest Sarah, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for convincing Mommy your flip flops were in the van before going daycare yesterday and having not checked BEFORE we left the house, I had to go to Walmart to buy you some tennis shoes before you could go to daycare which made me not get to work until 8:30!
To Sarah's teacher, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for making sure we knew about the tie die shirts today and sending home a note a MONTH AGO and putting a sign up on your classroom door when we either #1 haven't been there or #2 had to pick Sarah up in another classroom in the afternoons, I had to make ANOTHER trip to Walmart this morning to get a white shirt that I hope fits and causing me not to get to work until 8:20!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH SCBofED for making school start on August 12, I want and need to be on a schedule!

Stop on my The Daily Dribbles and see what others are thankful for this week!

Wordless Wednesday - Sleepy Heads

2010-07-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

Sad Day for Me....

2010-07-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to blog! I told myself I was not going to be lazy this summer with the kids not in school and not having homework, etc., despite how hot it was outside. I hate hot weather. It's not necessarily the heat, it's the humidity! Ugh!!!! We have had fun this summer, spending time with great friends, going to the pool at the YMCA (we have a great pool) with friends. The kids have had a blast.

The friends we hang around are work for the same police department as Mike, we always hear the same ole stories and they are just as funny the 15th time as the 1st. We all have the same concerns with our husband's jobs especially since one of our own police officers was killed in the line of duty back in December and left behind a wife and two babies. Among the core group, there are 4 families and between us 4 families there are 11 kids ranging in age from 2 years old to 12 years old, only 4 of which are girls! It gets pretty crazy sometimes. AND we all go to church together. We are a pretty tight group. We have been getting with everyone once a week for potluck dinners. It has really been fun.
My computer crashed at work and I had to have it cleaned out so I've been a little scared to get on the internet too much. I mean after all, I am at work, ya know?
I am little sad today. Maggie left this morning for her first church camp in Mississippi. It's probably 3-4 hours away from where we live. She just turned 9 in May. Don't get me wrong, she has spent the night away from home lots, but never out of state. She will be home on Thursday evening, but still, I'm sad she won't be home and I can't talk to her or anything! I've been a mess today. We were all crying this morning, me, Maggie and Sarah. I know she will be fine, I'm just going to miss my baby so much!

Amazing What 10 Years Can Do To A Person

2010-07-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

2000

2010

2001

2010

Betcha Didn't Realize

2010-07-12T08:22:00.002-05:00

I've been MIA! Computer problems but I'm back now!

My Walmart Shopping Trip

2010-06-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

I don't normally post these kinds of deals unless I've really done good. I do love my coupons. However, I don't really care for Walmart, although they have good prices on most everything nor do I like taking my kids to Walmart. It takes twice as long to do what I need to do. I decided to go at lunch today because I wasn't buying anything that would perish in the heat of my van. I was really prepared for this trip and I went to a new Walmart that looks like a department store. It's pretty nice. Anyway, this is a breakdown of my trip.

1 Suave Professionals Shampoo (coupon for a free bottle)
1 Box Cheerios (1 $1/2) - pd 1.92
1 Box Chocolate Cheerios (1 $1/2) pd 2.74
1 Cascade dishwashing detergent
2 packs of Hidden Valley dry mix
1 Magic Eraser
1 Peach Fruit Chiller (1 $1/1) pd 1.00
4 Boxes of Tic Tacs (2 B1G1)
3 cans rotel (1 $1/3) pd. .66 each
1 Taco seasoning packet
1 Good Life Cat Food (1 $1/1)
1 Reynolds foil
1 Minute Rice (1 .50/1) pd 1.28
1 Scrub Sponge (1 .50/1) pd 2.04
1 Juicy Juice boxes (1 $1/1) pd. 1.88
1 Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese (1 $1.50/1) pd. .50
4 Nivea Cool Body Wash for Men (4 $3/1) all FREE
1 bottle Hidden Valley Ranch
1 Bottle French's mustard (1 .50/1) pd. .87
1 Shave Cream
1 Schick Hydro 3 blade (sent off my rebate for 6.47)
1 Venus Spa Breeze Razor (1 $2/1) pd 6.44 (I hate buying these, but I love them)
1 Windex all purpose cleaner (1 $1/1) pd. 2.68

Before coupons + tax - $95 and change
After coupons + tax - $65.37!!!

I was definitely doing the happy dance at the cash register today! Don't be a hater!

If I could take off work tomorrow, I would.....

2010-06-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

Take the kids to daycare. I'm paying for it, they are going!
Stop by Dunkin Donuts (the only one in Alabama) and get some coffee!
Take a nap
Watch trash TV
Play on the internet and blog about what a fun unproductive day I'm having!
Take another nap
Fold some laundry that is piling up on my couch and put it away.
Organize my desk area
Play on the internet more
More than likely, none of the above other than sleep all day!

Monday Minute 6/28/10

2010-06-28T09:22:00.000-05:00

It's time for another installment of Monday Minute with Ian and his cohost, Jana, from Boobies, Babies, and More!

Has anyone you've known personally lived to at least 100?

No, but my great-grandmother lived to be 93!

What material possession do you value the most?

My scrapbooks. I've worked really hard over the last 12 years to document our lives through pictures for my girls to have one day instead of just boxes of pictures. I would kill for them!

What do you think happens to us after we die?

As a Christian who has accepted Jesus has my personal Savior, I know that I will spend eternity in Heaven.

Most embarrassing item in your house?

Probably the pile of laundry on our couch that needs to be folded and put away!

If you could rename yourself, what would your name be?

I don't think I would. I have a famous name! You've got Mona Lisa, Lisa Marie (Presley), and Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam!!

TYVM - Sincere TYs but one, not so much!

2010-06-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

To my friends husband - TYVM for breaking her heart into a million pieces - you will get what's coming to you.

To Susan, my mother in law - TYVM for everything you do for me, Mike and the girls - you go above and beyond.

To Mom - TYVM for always being there for me and not killing your first born (me) when you had every right to.

To my fellow cop wives - We are a special group of women who stand by each other in tough times and good times, TYVM.

To the maker of Cheeze Its - TYVM for your little salty squares of cheesey delightfulness!

To our Military - TYVM for everything you do!

To Walter and the gang at Nino's - TYVM for making the yummiest italian food and you have our vote for friendliest staff!

Last, but certainly not least, to my wonderful husband - TYVM for loving me, despite the fact that I don't always put my shoes in the closet or hang up my towel after showering. :-)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T08:38:00.000-05:00

Prayers Please

2010-06-22T11:13:00.002-05:00

Please keep this family in your prayers.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidnelson2

I Just Won 11 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

2010-06-21T08:43:00.000-05:00

I Just Won 11 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

Monday Minute 6/21/10

2010-06-21T08:26:00.000-05:00

Linking up with Ian over at The Daily Dose of Reality for today's Monday Minute!

1 - Have you ever had any feelings towards one of your teachers back in the day?

No, but when I was in 2nd grade, there was a male teacher who all the girls would giggle over and I thought that was just gross. His name was Mr. Milligan.

2 - What's the most embarrassing thing that happened while at work?

I was leaving for lunch one day and I was looking all cute with my wedge heels on, and the next thing I know, I was on all fours in the middle of the street with one of my knees bleeding like I was 6 years old again and the contents of my purses all around me.

3 - When was the last time you ~~crapped yourself~~ sharted?

Oh my gosh....it was probably 3 years ago, I was at walmart with my kids and started to feel the rumble, I left my buggy there, full and left with the kids heading home because I was not about to drag my two kids in the bathroom and walmart and take care of bad business, and about the time I pulled up in the driveway, it happened....that's all I'm going to say about that.....

4 - What is one thing you have always kept a secret and why have you kept this a secret for so long?

can't say....it's a secret

5 - What's your best advice for us habitual coffee drinkers as to not have to poop right after drinking it?

Nothing, when you gotta go you gotta go! My mother has a coffee cup with a cartoon of an old man sitting on the thunder box reading the paper and the caption is "Coffee Gets You Going!"

Five Question Friday 6/18/10

2010-06-18T10:14:00.001-05:00

1. What is your favorite thing about summertime? Nothing really, long evening and pool time. That's it! I live in Central Alabama and the humidity is HORRIBLE!! I don't mind the heat, it's just the humidity. I start sweating the minute I wake up and start moving around. Our power bill is over $200 a month, it's just riduclous. I've begged my husband to move me somewhere way up north!

2. What is your ideal retirement location (if money didn't matter)? No one location will do....I would love to have a top of the line motorhome, pulling our little SUV behind it traveling all over the US and Canada. If not that, then I would like to retire in the upper mid west!

3. Do you live in the same town you grew up in? I wouldn't say the same town exactly, but the same area. I grew up in a suburb just north of Birmingham, Alabama and now I'm living just south of Birmingham. It sucks, I hate it, but this is where I am raising my kids.

4. What nervous habit did you have as a child that you kicked to the curb before becoming an adult? I used to bite my nails real bad, but not so much now, but they do stay short.

5. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you while on the job? Nothing that I can recall, except I got laid off. You can say I was fired, but it was of no fault of my own, they got rid of my position and they let me stay until I found something else, but that was humiliating!

TYVM

2010-06-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

What is today? Why it's Thursday.....know what that means? It's Free Therapy Day courtesy of Kmama!!

Dear Big'un (yeah that would be me), THANK YOU VERY MUCH for allowing yourself to be a chunky
butt...I'm tired of being sleepy all the time and just feeling blah. You won't win by the way, just sayin'!

To my 4 year old offspring, is it really necessary to fuss and whine about everything and nothing at all EVERY MORNING? You are slowly sending me over the edge....THANK YOU VERY MUCH !

I think that is all I have to fuss about for now....

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

I know it's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but I have to explain the pictures little bit. During Spring Break, me, Mike and the girls went to see Mike's mom in the Cayman Islands....she lives there....anyway, we were grocery shopping our first night there and thought I would take my camera and get some pictures of how different things are down there.

Check out the prices of these items....Double what they cost in the States! CRAY-Z!!!

As I'm taking pictures Mike's Mom all of a sudden says don't take pictures!!! They will think you are a spy from another store and will throw you out of the store!! YIKES!!!

Random Thoughts

2010-06-15T15:59:00.001-05:00

It's been ~~raining~~ storming here since lunch today. I love summer time thunderstoms...they rock!! My office is so quiet you seriously could hear a pin drop....either everyone is working hard, which obviously I am not, or they are asleep! With the stormy weather, it's probably the latter of the two! My throat is still sore from being sick two weekends ago! I hate that. Mike is home with an upper respiratory infection today. Sure hope he gets to feeling better! One more hour and I'm outta here. Blogger is real quiet today. Wonder what's going on? Anytime I see a video on the oil spill, and the oil that has started washing up on the Alabama Gulf Coast, it makes me cry.

We have the most beautiful beaches, even more pretty than the beaches on Grand Cayman and it's all being ruined! It really makes me sick.

I don't know who out there watches M*A*S*H, but Mike and I do, although I would prefer to watch something else, it can be quite funny. I'm tired of eveyrone making out with Hawkeye except me! Why can't I make out with him? Oh, wait, probably because he is the same age as my grandfather!

My brother Tony is coming in town this weekend with his daughters Ashleigh and Autumn and I'm so excited! I haven't seen him in about a year. Despite all of his stinkiness I love him. We have always been close. He is a Marine, so he thinks he's Billy Badness! Not really, but people in the military have this way about them, they are a little cocky, but that's okay, I appreciate everything they do and they can be a little cocky if they want to.

Lucy Part 2

2010-06-14T11:13:00.000-05:00

Lucy and I had quite some year in 1997, but that's all I'm going to say about that.....This picture gives a little indication of how much fun we had....ALL THE TIME!!!

We used to like to get together and watch music awards shows and one time in particular Marilyn Manson was on there and we both started crying we were so freaked out him. Dancing was the most fun we had....we danced all the time! We both were in really good shape back then.....very hot! Halloween was one of our favorite times too. I was Pippy Longstocking and she was a funky fun witch. I remember dressing as a devil the next year and I think that was the last year I dressed up for Halloween.

I remember one night in particular. We had been out with friends from work in the middle of the week and there was a place downtown that had midnight sushi and we thought, in our drunken state, that it would be a good idea to eat sushi and drink saki! Well, we didn't stay too long because we did have to be at work the next day. We were driving her brother gigantor Ford Bronco that had an aooga horn. Not a good idea for two crazy girls who were intoxicated. We rode around blowing that horn for some time. We finally made it to the sushi place and had our eat drink and fun. That night, Lucy had on some cute little blue flats and we walked out of the door of the sushi bar, turned right and Lucy hit the pavement. I still laugh my butt off thinking about that. I'm laughing right now....She wasn't hurt, but she walked out the door and turn and she was gone! From then on out, those were her fall down shoes and I bet she might still have them! We made it to work the next day on time and giggled all day I'm sure.

Friends like Lucy don't come around very often. I know that no matter what path our lives take us, I can always count on her to be there and she knows she can always count on me. Good friends like that are hard to find.

Monday Minute

2010-06-14T09:24:00.000-05:00

1 - What's the specs of the first computer you owned?

I don't have a clue...I was so excited when my uncle moved in with me for a while and he had a computer nd the internet and I could actually have an email address besides work! Then Mike and I had a computer that his mom gave us, then she bought us another hard drive and we actually just rid of it and we now have two laptops. I don't know specs, I just want to get where I'm going without any problems.
2 - Are you on Twitter/Facebook/etc? If so link it/them up.

I am on Twitter and L.O.V.E. I.T.!!! You can find me at OneAndOnlyLisa. I don't have access to Facebook at work so I can't link up on that one....sorry!

3 - Who's more to blame for the oil mess in the gulf - BP or the Gov't and why?

BP mostly, but it seems like the government isn't trying to help figure out how to get this mess cleaned up. I don't know....but one thing I do know is our beautiful white sand beaches are getting jacked up! Thanks BP!
4 - What's your favorite Dr. Suess book?

The Foot Book - I remember reading that as a kid and I've always loved it.

And finally...

5 - What did you want to be when you grew up?

An elementary school principal. I love kids and love them see them grow and learn. The only problem, I hated college so I quit....I do have a good job though as a legal assistant.

Friday Follow and My Friend Lucy Part 1

2010-06-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

I find it funny that my high school friends, who were my best friends are not the friends I'm so close to now. I mean we still keep in contact with each other, but none of them are really good friends anymore. Then along comes Lucy. We met each other in 1995. We started working at the same lawfirm that year, I started in May and she started in August, I think.....I was 24 and she was 26. She told me was a little intimited by me at first but then she saw me ~~busting a move~~ dancing and knew I was one cool chic! We have been friends since that time!

Lucy and I are different yet the same. The best times of my single life was with Lucy. We tore this town up, or it probably really tore us up for about 2 1/2 years! I remember one night in particular, I was a little tipsy, being silly, I see an old flame the tears started pouring and I decided that I needed to pee and I got out of the car and stepped in the brush and stepped into a ~~river~~ small trickle of water, but I didn't move...I finished my business and came out of the brush with soaked feet! It was funny and we laughed and laughed. Another night that comes into mind was in 1996 at an office Christmas party (you know those are the worse)- I can't remember if Brandi was there then or not, but I remember I had on a black full length dress with a slit up the side, and just imagine how high it was when the night was FINALLY over! Anyway, we tied one on at the party then proceeded to a local pub with some of the attorneys in our office who opened a tab and it was on! A round or two or three of Jagermeister for everyone! I fell out of my chair onto the floor got up and started drinking again. This was the night of all nights.....We also rode with a runner who worked in our office...there were four of us in a two seater! HA!! It was hilarious! Then when the night was almost over, we ended up back at Lucy's house, and I fell off the porch into some bushes (I have a thing for bushes and brush) and we laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore.

Lucy is such a dear friend to me and I don't think there is anything that will ever break our bond. I will write more tomorrow and add some pictures.

Snaggle Tooth

2010-06-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

Sarah lost her first tooth on June 9, 2010. When I took her to the dentist a year or so ago for the first time, Dr. Lauri told me that the roots of her front top teeth were already beginning to dissolve and just to watch them and be cautious so they didn't come out too early. So far so good, but Wednesday night, we were eating dinner with friends and the kids were all running around playing and Sarah came to me and said she had lost a tooth and showed it to me and I looked in her mouth and it wasn't bleeding and sure enough, one of her bottom front teeth had come out and I can see the other tooth starting to come out. How could I not know her tooth was loose? She brushes her own teeth and I figured she still had another year before shwlost her first tooth, after all, SHE'S NOT EVEN 5 YET!!!! I checked her other bottom tooth and it's loose too! I love little snaggle tooth kids, they are so cute!!!

30 Things I Vow to Do This Summer

2010-06-10T15:05:00.000-05:00

Huge thanks to Beth for giving me some inspiration! So here's my list of 30 things I vow to do this summer. Hopefully I can get at 1/2 of them done and work full time! We'll see!!!

Become closer to God
Go to water aerobics
Start eating better
Have more family movie nights
Stay caught up on my laundry
Spend lots of time with friends
Spend more time at the pool with the kids
Blog more
Get caught up on my scrapbooking
Go to the Farmers' Market every two weeks
Keep my office area clean
Play with my Wii Fit more often
Master the easy level of Crazy Train on Guitar Hero
Keep the girls toenails painted
Drink more water
Declutter the girls' rooms
Redorate the downstairs bathroom
Hang more pictures in my house
Devote one evening to organizing grocery list and coupons
Get more sleep
Laugh more
Add 6 more followers to my blog (help me!)
Get my self more organized before school starts
Make sure Sarah is registered for school on time
Help Maggie start scrapbooking
Pray more
Stop coveting my friends who don't work during the summer
Concentrate more on my job
Get a new cell phone
Be more helpful to my friends and family

Hopefully I can reach my goals. I will update my list as I complete my "things to do"!

TYVM

2010-06-10T08:32:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up with Kmama for my weekly thereapy session.

You should see what other folks are thankful for this week!

I don't think anyone has pissed me off this week!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

New Look

2010-06-09T15:27:00.001-05:00

Sorry if my blog looks out of whack....I'm trying to update it a little and make it "purty".

Thanks!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-09T10:08:00.000-05:00

TYVM

2010-04-29T09:14:00.002-05:00

I'll make this short and sweet....

To Evil PMS.....I hate you, you make me feel like I'm going to rip someone's head off, you make me have a very very short fuse, you make me be brutally honest and I can hurt people's feelings, you are just kiling me....you make my family ask me when I'm calling the pharmacists to get a refill on my medication...WELL, I'M CALLING THE FREAKING PHARMACISTS TODAY!!!! Thank You Very Much for making my life a living HELL!!!!

Thanks Kmama for the free therapy session!

WW - My Grandmother and her Sister

2010-04-28T08:53:00.000-05:00

TST-The Spot UPDATE

2010-04-27T19:05:00.000-05:00

So I called my brother and told him to make sure he checked out the link I sent him because it was about him and I said I'll give you once guess as to what I wrote about today.....his response was it must be about the time I S#$% my pants!! I said yep !!! He laughed and said he was just talking today about much he wanted to fart in an elevator, but he couldn't keep a straight face and he would giggle like a little school girl!!!

I sure do love my brother despite all of his stinkiness!!!

TST - The Spot

2010-04-27T11:51:00.000-05:00

My brother is 4 years younger than me and he has always has a messed up stomach. When we were little and would go on family vacation, my mother would pump him full of Pepto because he would gas us out EVERY TIME and my dad would cuss and we would have to ride with the windows down. He was always farting at the dinner table as a kid, every night.....he would get in so much trouble. He used to sit on my face and fart, he used to blow it up after school with the bathroom door open and I couldn't get to my bedroom without passing him....he used to get in trouble at high school for farting in class and smoking everyone out....I can't tell you how many times his wife has slept on the couch because of his nasty butt. I could go on and on, but I'll get on with the story.

Some things never change. When I was pregnant with Maggie 9 years ago, Mike and I went to see him at Camp LeJeune, NC where was he was stationed as a Marine. His wife and daughter were out of town at the time. We went out to dinner and he said...and I quote...."I'm going to eat a whole plate of refried beans just so I can fart and gross you out." I remember that well, because not only did he smoke us out that night, but even the next day and he purposely blew up the bathroom right before I showered just to make me sick...I was so pissed off I was crying....he is just a nasty butt.....

So back up about 4 years, he had been a Marine for a year or so, single and living it up. We shared my great grandmother's house when he was in town. He decided that on Labor Day weekend, he was going to go on a beer diet. And that he did. He went to the store at 9:00 a.m. to get beer and literally drank all weekend. Well come Labor Day, my mother had us over for BBQ and then we were all going to the Botanical Gardens to have family pictures made. After we got through eating, we were looking at pictures and talking and he thought he was going to be cute and he farted at the table AGAIN, except this time, he got a surprise!! He said Oooppsss, stood up and asked us if he had a brown spot on this pants and low and behold, he SHARTED!!!! We laughed and laughed and laughed until we could not breathe, I fell out in the floor like a crazy person, my mom and dad were crying they were laughing so hard. He had to take a shower and my mom had to spot clean his pants so we could get our family pictures made. Well, it was pictures with my dad's brothers, their wives and kids, etc. When they all heard the story about what had just happened, they were all laughing just as hard.

They still love to tell that story during the holidays!!! I love my family!

Thanks Kmama for the TST story about brothers!

Don't forget to go over and visit Once Upon a Miracle for more true stories!

WW - B.U.M.

2010-04-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

My Favorite Things - Food Edition

2010-04-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

I never know what to blog about so sometimes I depend on fellow bloggers like Kmama to get my thoughts going! You should definitely check out her blog!!!

Dessert: Cheesecake - I used to love getting a german chocolate cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory but they quit making it and I've moved on to Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake.....Mike had a variety of cheesecakes for his grooms cake and it was hit!
Mexican food. I like it simple, flour tortillas and cheese dip. I tear the tortillas in strips, roll them up and dip! It doesn't send you searching for a bathroom 20 minutes after you've eaten and it doesn't leave you with that gassy bloating feeling.
Italian food. I don't think I've had anything as good as cheese ravioli with spinach and mushroom alfredo from our favorite little italian place called Nino's. Walter Caron and Eli Gold (the voice of Alabama Football - ROOOOOOOOL TIDE ROLL!) own it together and it's our most fav place ever to eat.

Alcohol: Margaritaville Last Mango with Spite. I first had this drink when I was at Margaritaville in Grand Cayman. You can't buy it in the States so we ALWAYS bring a bottle home with us!
Wine: I'm a sissy when it comes to wine, if it's too bitter, I won't drink it. But we do have a local winery that makes some pretty good stuff. My favorite is the Muscadine wine. It's sweet, but to much.
Martini: Dirty Dirty Dirty
Pizza: Thin crust with lots of veggies. I'm not big on meat topping on pizza.....ugh.....
Appetizer: Spinach and artichoke dip.
Fast Food: It would have to be a Chick Fil A sandwich, no pickles add cheese.
Side Dish: Homemade macaroni and cheese.
Breakfast: At home, a biscuit and bacon will do me just fine but eating out....no doubt hands down Cracker Barrel's wild Maine blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and some turkey sausage.
Snack: Chips, preferrably the cheesey kind like Doritos. I like cool ranch doritos with ketchup....the ketchup adds a little more zip to the already zippy chips!

TST - Something Stinks!

2010-04-20T15:34:00.001-05:00

We put our kids to bed late during the week....we just can't get them in bed before 9 pm. Maggie goes right on to sleep and well Sarah gets up 3 or 4 times for one reason or another and usually about an hour later, she is passed out. Well, on her first trip out of the bed and into the living room where Mike and I are on separate laptops and watching ~~my favorite show in the whole world~~ M*A*S*H, she is holding her nose and tells us something in her room stinks, it's disgusting and she can't sleep. My first thought is well the cat took a crap in her room, then I thought no way. Well, she insisted one of us investigate the smell so Mike reluctantly goes to her room and she pointed, still holding her nose and says it stinks over in that corner where I farted!!!

Check out more funnies at Rachel and Mr. Daddy at Once Upon a Miracle.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

2010-04-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

My parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary yesterday (April 18). My step dad is the greatest dad ever!!! I'm so glad he married my mom 33 years ago and loved me and brother Tony like we were his own. 14 years after they got married, they had a baby of their own and he's about to be 19 years old!! WOW!!!! Anyway, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! I love ya'll very much!!!

Saving for Vacation

2010-04-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

I love reading "frugal" blogs. They are such an inspiration to me! While scanning blogs one day, I came across Kristin at Couponing for Disney and she has saving for a Disney vacation down to a science. I was curious as to how she saves and she has some wonderful ideas. I decided I was going to do the same thing! Starting today, I'm going to start saving for a family cruise.

Mike and I will be going on our second cruise this December (for my 40th birthday). The first one was a short Disney cruise and we decided then we loved cruising. Now, the girls are mad at us because we are going in December without them but we have promised them we are going a week long cruise next summer.

After pricing the Disney cruises ($4800 for a 5 night ocean view stateroom), Royal Caribbean ($5400 for a 7 night large interior stateroom) and Carnival ($3800 for a 7 night balcony stateroom), we think Carnival would be our best choice. Plus the fact that we will be on the Carnival Dream, which is a new ship!

I will update periodically about how much I've deposited into our Vacation Account. Now, I'm off to saving!!

Wordless Wednesday - Easter

2010-04-07T14:00:00.000-05:00

True Story Tuesday

2010-04-06T14:31:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try to be as discreet as possible....Easter was a beautiful day....great worship at church, lunch with Mike and the girls, nice drive to my parents and visit with family.....I was sitting on the couch with my 18 year old brother and my mother....Sarah walks up to me and says quietly, but loud enough for my 18 YEAR OLD BROTHER and my mom to hear...."so, you have grass on your skirt!" I was laughing hysterically and crying at the same time....I was completely humiliated and was very glad that all of my aunts and uncles didn't hear her!

I am linking up today at Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday!

Wordless Wednesday - This is a house!!

2010-03-31T09:04:00.000-05:00

True Story Tuesday

2010-03-30T09:39:00.000-05:00

Mike and I haven't flown anywhere together except to the Caymans to see his mom. Our first visit to see her was also the only time we have been out of the country. The first time we went down, no problems, but on the way back, we had to change planes in Miami. That, my friends, is a totally different world. So anyway, going through immigration, we got called in to secondary screening, meaning we were carted off to a room full of non-caucasian folks. I'm not going to make any assumptions about who they were, where they were from, etc. because I really don't know. I'm not going to say they weren't "American" because I don't know. What I do know is being hauled off to that room caused us to miss our flight home. Once you are in that room, you can't leave until they let you out. You have no rights, American or not, in that room. Sarah was 3 at the time and she had to potty, they reluctantly took me and her back to a locker room with a prison toilet in it, stainless still with a sink on the back. I should have let her pee all over the floor. Mike explained that he was a cop for crying out loud and showed them his badge to no avail. The won't tell you why they've pulled into that room, they won't tell you anything except that you are free to leave.

We went about three months later and flew back through Atlanta, same thing happened, they still wouldn't tell us anything except that Mike could file a complaint with Homeland Security a/k/a the government. Yeah Right!!! So Mike filed a complaint and after nearly a year, he a got a letter full of gibberish. About a week before our last trip, a girl in his office ran across an article about a guy with the same exact first, middle and last name, born the same year was a skinhead who was on the terror watch list, so now we knew why he was being pulled into secondary screening every time we came back into OUR OWN COUNTRY!!!!

The skinhead guy was arrested last April (a month after our trip) and he was at the hospital with his wife who was having labor induced so her child could be born on Hitler's birthday (nice, huh?) and he was in jail until September when he hung himself in his cell. For once the government did the right thing and updated their records and we got through immigration without a hitch this time!!! We were soooooooo relieved!!!!

Go ahead and head on over to Once Upon a Miracle to read other true stories!!

Spring Break - Part One

2010-03-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

Mike's mother and step dad live in the Cayman Islands. We are very lucky to have gotten to visit 3 times in the last two years. This trip was going to be our longest (9 1/2 days) and we were all very excited as you can imagine! We were heading to Atlanta on Friday March 12 to spend the night to catch an early flight on Saturday. Well at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Sarah woke us up crying and I knew something was wrong, because she never wakes up like that. She was throwing up everywhere. Luckily Mike was home for the day becasue we were getting new garage doors, which are quite nice by the way. I got ready for work, Maggie got ready for school and we headed out. I worked 1/2 day so when I got home, Sarah was still feeling puney, but had not gotten sick in several hours. Mike said she can't go on plane with a stomach virus and I said oh yes she can! Besides I knew she would be better by Saturday morning.

We finally got on the road to Atlanta around 5:00 pm, stopped and ate dinner at Chick Fil A on the way and Sarah gobbled it down so it she must have felt lots better! We got stuck in horrendous traffic before we even got the Georgia state line and we never knew was caused it. We FINALLY got to our hotel and FINALLY went to sleep around midnight. The alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. sharp!! UGH!!! We got up and dressed, drove the van to the place where it was going to live for the next 9 days and we loaded up in a bus/taxi and headed to the airport. It was quite chilly in Atlanta that morning, but we were anticipating much warmer weather, so we dressed for it.

We checked in online with Delta on Friday so all we had to do at the airport was check our luggage and we were good to go. At least until we got to security! Nothing happened, it's just a pain in the butt to having to keep getting out passports and have everyone's open to their picture, taking off shoes, getting undressed and having to put all of our clothes in the buckets so they can be scanned...I'm exaggerating, but sometimes that's what it feels like. We eventually made it through security, immigration, customs, cavity check and went to find breakfast at 6:30 a.m.!

We took our time eating and making our way down to our gate. By the time we got to our gate, we only had to wait about 45 minutes before they started boarding so that was fine. The kids looked out the window at the planes coming and going and played with the DSs while Mike walked around and I did a few word search puzzles and took a few pictures. Imagine that! Taking pictures on a trip!

Valentine's Day

2010-03-01T21:58:00.000-06:00

I CANNOT believe I forgot to blog about this....I secretly long to be June Cleaver. Crazy I know......but that's not going to happen anytime soon, so I got the next thing closest to being June Cleaver...

I CANNOT wait to redecorate my kitchen!

Thank you Mike!!! You are the best husband EVER!!!

Night of a Thousand Stars

2010-03-01T20:53:00.000-06:00

As you may or may not know, a police officer that works with Mike, was killed in the line of duty about 3 months ago. The outpour of support from the community has been unbelieveable. There has been fundraiser after fundraiser for his wife and two babies. The most important one is a committee of local businessmen have been raising money to pay off her mortgage and the goal was made on Friday night. Workplay, which is a venue for local and "semi-famous" artists and bands to perform. It's an awesome place. American Idol winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard have both played there! So, we had a star studded night at Workplay. Randy Owen from the group Alabama was the headliner. He really put on a good show. He got some of the policeman on the stage to sing Dixieland Delight.

This is a bond like no other!

Thank You Very Much!

2010-02-25T08:23:00.000-06:00

Oh favorite co-worker of mine, I saw the big pile of work you left in the conference room that you are hiding from our boss so he thinks you've done all this incredible work! Makes me laugh in disbelief, thank you very much!

I can't think of anything else right now, but the day is still young.....until next time....I'm out!!

Wordless Wednesday!

2010-02-24T08:54:00.000-06:00

I love Publix!!!

2010-02-23T20:01:00.001-06:00

I don't know why I wait until the last minute to go to Publix for their weekly sales. I could have gotten more of what I wanted if I had gone sooner. Ugh....Oh well, I had a good trip anyway!

I spent $32 and saved $23!!!

I've saved $108.44 this year. I don't have all of my savings down yet. I need to go through my receipts, so it will actually be more than that!

Post It Note Tuesday

2010-02-23T09:25:00.001-06:00

The Bathroom Smells Like What?

2010-02-19T14:44:00.001-06:00

Yes, the bathroom smells like fresh cut lemons. Thanks to Poo-Pourri, now people everywhere can "go" in a public restroom and not be embarrased by any odor they might leave behind! My mother in law found this in the Cayman Islands and brought it home to me. The do sell this in the States, at little speciality gift stores. I must say it comes in handy at work!

February 2010 Snow

2010-02-19T14:15:00.000-06:00

Okay, don't laugh at the amount of snow on the ground. This is a fair amount for us folks in Alabama! These were actually taken at my mother's house, we didn't have near the snow at my house. Unfortunately for MJ, she didn't get to play because we were at my house and SE was at her grandmother's house.

SE had a birthday party on Saturday after the snow, which had completely disappeared by the time I picked her up at my mothers. She was dressed and ready to go! She's so dramatic, she was trying to act all serious and there is nothing serious about this girl!

Loss of a Friend

2010-02-18T20:36:00.000-06:00

A little over two months ago, one of Big Daddy's friends co-workers was killed in the line of duty on a traffic stop. It was devasting to our community. I don't know that I've ever felt that kind of heartache before. We have all loved ones and friends pass away, but I've never seen some one's death affect so many people the way Philip's death did. Philip left behind a wife and two kids, a 2 year old daughter and 10 month old son. Those sweet sweet babies will know who their daddy was, but they will never really know him. His wife seems to be doing okay, much better than I think I would be doing. I just can't imagine Big Daddy going to work and not coming home. I pray for his wife and kids every day.

I'm back.....

2010-02-18T16:25:00.000-06:00

I just get bored with the internet, but I since I'm blocked from Facebook at work, you will be getting alot more blogs from me!

Rest in Peace Officer Philip Davis

2009-12-09T11:52:00.004-06:00

Missing in Action

2009-12-07T09:45:00.000-06:00

I haven't been here in awhile, not sure if anyone cares, but a lot has been going on the last couple of weeks. I'll blog more in the next few days when I have more time.

Happy Anniversary!!

2009-11-16T13:26:00.000-06:00

On November 13, 2009, Big Daddy and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. He had a special day and night for me on Saturday and I didn't know until right before we got there. He took me to Ross Bridge and we spent the afternoon in the Spa getting pampered. We got a couples massage and then I got a facial. Both were fantastic. Mike didn't remember much of the massage, but I did! It was my first massage and it was everything I thought it would be.

We at dinner at Brock's and I had grilled pasta and he had veal parmigiana and we split some yummy bread pudding. Then we retired to our room to watch football. That's all I'm going to say about that! (wink wink)

The next morning we got checked out, ate breakfast and then did some Chrismtas shopping since the kids weren't with us. We just about got everything done for the kids. After our exhausting trip to Target, we had sushi for lunch and then we home. I picked up the kids and Big Daddy went and worked at an extra job....back to lilfe as we knew it, kids, laundry, grocery shopping.....etc......

I'm looking to foward to the next 10 years with Big Daddy! And the next, and the next and the next.....

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-11T09:25:00.000-06:00

MJ is the girl in the middle with short hair and glasses and her little crooked bowtie!

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