Sweet Summer.

I hate watermelon. But my kids love it. I do love to see the juice running down their chins though.



Summer seems to be in full swing around here. We've been going and going for just about 2 weeks straight. Of course we went to Hartland 2 weekends ago and just had a blast. Jake LOVED it. It was kind of weird letting him go and do his own thing. I'm used to having a tight rope on my kids...knowing exactly where they are at all times. But there were tons of older kids and adults all around fully willing to look after him. So I felt ok about letting him do what he wanted. It was also neat to see him be such a good helper and be so responsible for the younger pre-school age kids and at the same time very eager to be with the big kids. He's a pretty good kid, I must say. Pete and I also enjoyed just being together as a family and bonding with friends we don't get to see all that often.
As soon as we got back home and had just finished up all the laundry, we headed out for a field trip with our young children's church/Sunday School group to the Jelly Belly Factory. It was pretty neat for a free tour and I didn't realize just how crowded it would be. I was teensy bit disappointed that we weren't able to take pictures in the factory--I mean, that was the most interesting part! But it was fun anyway. The kids really enjoyed it. Oh and of course they give you a bag of Jelly Bellies at the end of the tour. They LOVED that part! What kid wouldn't?
So Jelly Belly was on Thursday and then Saturday, the kids and I packed up the car and drove to Groveland. Which is about 25 minutes from Yosemite National Park. My mom and Mike were camping there for the weekend so we decided since it's just about an hour and a half from here, why not drive up and stay a night with them? My mom also have friends that live in Groveland so we got to visit with them too. Saturday when we got up there, it was super duper hot. Like upper 90's. So we packed up and headed over to the swimming pool in the community that the friends live in. It was great. Beautiful view of the mountains and golf course...the water was heated to the perfect temp. Jake got right in and didn't even whine one bit. My mom actually got him to swim to the deep end of the pool with a floaty! Amazing. The kid has literally done a 180 when it comes to the pool. So anyway...we'd been at the pool for an hour or so when all of a sudden all these clouds move in. It looked like it was going to rain. I even saw a few lightning bolts over the mountains. A few minutes later, the pool lady comes over the loud speaker and tells us all the pool is now closed for 'chemical treatment'. Huh? yeah right. We'd just packed up our stuff and got in the car when KA-BOOM!!! The loudest slap of thunder/lightning bolt crashed ohhh....about 2 hundred yards from us. Yeah. Scared the crap out of all of us! But somehow funny and exciting all at the same time! There's just something about a thunder storm.
Unfortunately, that crazy weather we had over the weekend sparked up over 800 grass fires in California. You read that right. 800. It's incredibly smokey here. We literally have not seen blue sky, or any sky for that matter, in about 5 days. You can smell and taste the smoke as soon as you walk outside. So we're just praying for the fire fighters to be safe and praying for the peoples homes that are in danger. We're expecting the air to clear out by the weekend...but we're also expecting more thunderstorms in the mountains.
So anyway, this week we're just trying to catch up with laundry and groceries and all that other fun home stuff. I'm hoping to do nothing this weekend but I'm sure that won't happen! As soon as Megan wakes up from her nap, we're headed to the pool!

The Durl.

That's what she calls herself. Or maybe even more acurately....Ba-Durl. Translation: Bad Girl. That would be my fault. Isn't it nice to know how good I am at istilling self confidence at such an early age? It happened by accident. She was getting into my scrapbook stuff...and marking things up with my cool new Sharpie pens. I turned around to see her standing on my chair, pen in one hand and (it still hurts just to type this...) a piece of my brand new Making Memories Pasport collection paper! GAH! So I screamed..."NOoooooo! Baaad Giiirrrl!!" and leaped across the room to save the ever lovin paper. Priorities, people. Priorities.
So now, every time I dicipline her she says "noooo. Baaa duuurl."



She doesn't look so bad here, does she? I'd say she looks rather cherub-ish, don't you think? Despite the funky crop of the photo anyway. The original shot was a self portrait with me holding the camera. I cropped me out of it cuz dang, I just looked too freckley and frazzled and there just ain't enough photoshop in me to begin to fix it!
I just love this girl. Man I love her. She has just been the perfect addition to our family. I can't imagine life without her. She is cherub-ish and sassy, and loving, and sweet, and fresh, and she's got a little fire in her that I just can't describe. Oh, and she's got her daddy wrappped around her finger.

Other Megan-isms:

Dat= Cat or That
Diddy=Kitty
Ah-doe-bop= Otter pop-you know those juicy popsicles? The girl knows what she wants.
Dup= Cup
Stick= lipstick/chapstick or sticker. She simply says "stick"
Haaa Doeee= Heeeellloooo
Waddy= Water
Were Dada? = where's daddy?
Were Jay?= where's Jake?
Mo Meok= More milk
other words she says perfectly:
StoP
FooT
NoPE
SoaP
SiP
She says all kinds of other stuff too. But this is what I can think of off the top of my head.
It's hard to believe she's almost two. It seems in the past month or two she really seems to be growing up. She has so many words now. She can just about put her own shoes on. She buckels her own carseat...well, mostly. And she kisses her own owies. And she tells Jake she's "sar" if she hurts him. And then gives him a hug and kisses his owie.
Here's what she thought of me today, when I tried to take a picture of her in her cute yellow dress.


Already averting the camera and showing off her booty. Nice.

8 years ago today

Eight years ago today, I put on the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.

Eight years ago today, I saw my dad in a suit for the very first time. And I'd never seen him so handsom.



Eight years ago today...I'd never smiled so much in my life. Or cried so much either.



Eight years ago today, I said 'I do' to my best friend. And I meant it.

Eight years later, I love him more. More than anyone will ever know or understand.

Oh yeah...and Eight years ago...He had more hair. And I had less fat. ha ha! ( I just had to throw that in there!)

Why all the pictures?
Because I just found them. Yeah. I seriously thought I'd lost them. All of them. All 400 bagillion of our wedding pictures. I couldn't find them for months. All 400 bagillion of them that I never put in an album. I know. I'm a scrapbooker. What the heck?! Believe me. They're in an album now!

*I've been a bad blogger. I've just been really busy the last couple of weeks and I've let the blogging go. Updates and book give aways to come*

Hartland.

We're home. Here's a little video. Certainly not as classy as Nicoles. I don't know how she does it :)

I know...I'm not in one picture.

I didn't forget.

I didn't forget that I was supposed to post new books up for grabs yesterday. I didn't. It's just that I am a really really bad procrastinator and um....AVOIDER. Yesterday was a classic avoider day. I did absolutely everything I could do to NOT do what I was supposed to do. I really have mastered the technique of avoiding. Even now...I'm totally avoiding packing the car, filling the cat food bowl, and getting the stupid lizard heat lamp at PetSmart cuz the dang kids broke it yesterday. grrr. Anyway.
Yeah we're supposed to be leaving. Like for you know....4 days and all. Yet here I am avoiding the tasks I need to do. Because i LOVE running around like a chicken with my head cut off an hour AFTER we were supposed to be on the road. Because, Dude..... It's WAY more fun to be panicked than prepared....totally.
Talk about being prepared...jeez. Pete came home from work last night around 5:30, took a clue that I was literally going to bite one of my children's head off if they didn't stop freakin GETTING INTO EVERYTHING oh and PULLING EVERYTHING I JUST PACKED OUT OF THE SUITCASE...Megan. Ahem...sorry. And he decided that he better take Jake with him and go to the ranch. Which is ya know....an hour away. But he HAD to get something. So they went. And they didn't get back until 11 o'clock.
SO. This morning Pete rolls over in bed and says:
What time did you want to get on the road today?
Me: Well...there's really no rush. We can't even check in until 3 anyway.
Him: Ok cuz.....(long pause).......I gotta go the ranch.
Me: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???!!!!!
Him: yeah, well...I forgot that one thing I went up there for yesterday.

Good Lord.

So yeah. That's why I'm taking the moment to blog. We can't go anywhere without him anyway.

Have a good weekend Blogland!
I'll post the books NEXT Wednesday. Promise :)

Book Winner. And updates.

First and foremost we have a winner for last weeks book giveaway!! I won't go through all the picture hoopla this time. Mostly cuz I just don't have time. But know that all the names were put into a lovely bowl, they were stirred around by some grubby little boy hands and one winner was chosen. Congratulations Chrissy!!! The grubby little boy hands picked you!! Hooray!! Send me your address girl! I probably have it, but send it to me anyways :)
Ok on to updates...
First: The garage sale completely sucked. Completely. Worse garage sale...EVER. I am not exaggerating. I made $15 dollars. $15 DOLLARS! In two days! And that was mostly because my MIL felt bad for me and gave me a few extra. It didn't just suck for me, it sucked for all of us. The grand total was maybe $200 dollars. And that was mostly because the MIL sold a giant air compressor to some farmer dude for $70 bucks. It just really surprised me. Cuz we had GREAT stuff. No, I'm serious. The MIL is retiring from doing daycare in her home for the last 35 years. There was TONS of really great kids stuff. We had 5 or 6 Pack-n-Play cribs. Most of them looked hardly used at all. NONE of them sold. Not one. I also had a really nice baby swing--no one grabbed it. I had a BRAND NEW, NEVER BEEN OUT OF THE BOX highchair that I was asking $10 dollars for and some lady talked me down to SIX. SIX DOLLARS FOR A BRAND NEW, NEVER BEEN OUT OF THE BOX, HIGHCHAIR THAT STILL RETAILS FOR 49.99 AT TARGET. Yes, I am bitter. No, I will not get over it. Ahem...excuse me. I know...I'm not garage sale material. Is the economy really that bad that people aren't even going to garage sales anymore? I would kind of think more people would be looking for deals than paying retail. But that didn't seem to be the case for us this weekend.
Second: Pete cut his leg with a chain saw at the ranch Friday night. Yep. He's ok. Could have been A LOT worse. I mean, he could have cut is whole freakin leg off I suppose. Then we could of gotten him one of those cool wooden legs and pretended he was a Pirate and called him Peg Leg Pete. Kidding. Of course, I'm kidding. He ended up with A LOT of stitches and is probably going to have a gnarly scar. But he's ok, and that's what's important. The man who doesn't know the meaning of "relax" actually had to chill for a couple days and he hung out with us at the garage sale.
Third: We're leaving on Thursday afternoon headed for the mountains! Yee haw! We're going to our church family retreat for 4 days. I'm excited just to go somewhere, hang out with friends and just relax a bit. Here's where we're going. Check it out, it's a neat place :)
Who knew that going out of town for a few days would be such a hassle? I've been running around for the past 2 days doing laundry, making lists, running all over town making sure we have enough diapers, snacks, clothes, dog food, cat food, lizard food, and TURKEY food to last us while we're gone. It's exhausting! LOL!
Anyways, I have more little updates--funny things that Jake and Megan say/do. But frankly, I just don't have time right now. The drier is buzzing and I've got about 5 more things to cross off the to-do's today.
Check back tomorrow for another book RAK and get yer tissues ready...romance and sappiness at it's best.

Do you ever make a decision to do something and then think what the EFF was I thinking like 10 seconds into it?
Kinda where I am right now.
We're having a garage sale tomorrow. Well not here (thank the Lord) but at my mother in law's house. It was Pete's sister, Sarah's idea. She's moving back up to Sacramento in a month and wanted to get rid of some of her stuff. Pete's mom and dad have their house up for sale too so they've got the same agenda. Me? I just had a few things that I was going to donate or just junk and thought what the heck, why not join the garage sale.
I went over there today to drop off some of my things and all of a sudden it hit me. I remembered what a P.I.T.A. garage sales are.
1st-you have to go through all your crap. For me, this time wasn't a big deal. I knew what I was going to get rid of and most of it was already in "donate" pile anyway. But watching the MIL and FIL go through their stuff just stressed me out. Too much junk!
2nd-There's the whole putting stuff out, cleaning it up, and then putting it back out the next day.
3rd-haggling with people. You guys know me and confrontation. I sure as heck don't want to haggle. I'm willing to go down on price a little to get stuff sold. But I'm not going to give stuff away. If that were the case I would have driven it all strait to Good Will.
4th-Getting up early. Gah! It's just a necessity of a successful garage sale. Everyone knows the serious junkers come out early. I really don't mind getting up early. I really like it actually. But I haven't had to actually get up early and get out of the house early in like 5 months. And I don't wanna!
5th-What to do with all the stuff that doesn't sell? leave it in a pile and hope some fairy comes and whisks it all away in the night? That would be nice. Luckily I don't have too many things to sell anyway. So that's good for me. Hopefully it will all go.
6th- and this one really just pertains to me and because I'm in a mood...dealing with 3 kids all day on top of it all. Normally, not a big deal. But these boys (Jake and my nephew Blake) in particular have been driving me up the wall the past 3 days. I'm sure I sound like a horrible mother/aunt/human being right now, but I'm just not looking forward to all day with them. Again.

Boy! I'm just full of positive thinking tonight, no?! Sorry, I'm just in a punk mood. It'll be good. Besides, there's 3 little kittens over there I get to snuggle with all day! oh my. they are SO cute. Pete won't let me have one. He won't let Megan or Jake have one either. I tried all the angles, but he wasn't goin' for it. Boo! At least I get to play with them all day :)
Ok off to wash dishes. FUN!
Don't forget: check out the post below and leave me a comment if you want to be in the drawing for the books :)
happy weekend!
P.S. I'd also like to say Hi and welcome any new readers here. I've had quite a bit more traffic due to the book RAKs and randomness. Thanks for stopping by and don't be shy! Join in, leave commnents and all that! :D

2 For one deal!

For the next RAK I will be giving away not one, but two books! Yee Haw!
This weeks offering is Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere; both by Rebecca Wells.



Some of you might recognize the first book as a popular movie staring Sandra Bullock. It was a cute movie, but this is one of those times where the movie just barely skims the surface of a really, really good story. This is probably one of my most favorite books I've ever read. If you've never read it, put your name in for the drawing because if you win, you won't regret it! It's really that good.
Little Altars Everywhere is the prequel to Ya-Ya Sisterhood. This one is good too but on a much different level. Read the Ya-Yas first and then this one. Little Altars goes back in time with Vivianne-the mother in the first story and is basically deep, deep character development. It's a little raw compared to the first story, but it really helps to understand why she is the way she is.
So, if you're interested leave me a comment and you'll be in the drawing. I'll pull a winner next Tuesday. These books are being offered as a pair, but if you are more interested in one than the other let me know and I can split it up :)
Good luck!!

WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

It's just like your at the carnival...or VEGAS! Or not.
My assistants are both sleeping right now so I thought I better not keep you all in suspense. Cuz I know your just dieing to know who the winner is. So let's just get started shall we?
Here's all the entries:

And here's me spinning them around. We want to be fair, right? Oh! and I got one late entry...Detta, I added you in too!! spin spin spin...

Ok looks like I've got a winner....i had my eyes closed--promise!!

And the winner is........*cue Jeopardy music*......

CHERYL!!! Yeah Cheryl!! Congratulations!

That was fun! I'll post a new book up for grabs tomorrow!

I love animals.

I really do. I'm the girl who would have taken home every kitten in front of the grocery store if my mom would let me. I would have found a home for every stray dog. Right now we have 2 dogs, one cat, 3 fish, a large lizard and um.....18 TURKEYS.
I love animals. I really do.(did I say that already?) But I am SO OVER the flippin turkeys. The thing is...they're huge now. Like 10 times the size they were when I picked them up at the post office a few weeks ago. And hello, they're birds. Birds are...um, messy. Especially 18 of them cramped in the same cage. They stink. They eat like it's goin out of style. They poop in their water, on the water jug and in their food. They are no longer cute to me. Especially because I am the one cleaning that nasty poop water every day.
If I never see another turkey as long as I live, I'll be happy. Unless it's roasted nicely and sitting on my Thanksgiving Table.
The end.

*What a great response to the Book RAK!! The winner will be announced tomorrow!!*

Book RAK

So a few months ago Nicole RAKed me a book on her blog. I promised I would pay it forward and RAK it to some one else on my blog. The thing is...I have TONS of books. Lots and lots of fun paperbacks. Summer is the perfect time for reading, right? So I figured, why not share them with my friends? It's either that or my husband is going to go crazy. He says we're swimming in books and I need to do something with them. So here's the deal-y-O: If you all are interested I'll RAK a new book, or SET of books every week this summer. yeah, I have that many books and more.
This weeks offering is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. (raked to me by Nicole)

The story flips back from 1930's to present day. It is sad, scary, emotional and even at times funny. Very fun quick read. If you're interested, leave a comment and one of my lovely assistants will draw a name by Tuesday. If they pick you, I'll send it off, along with some other goodies!
p.s.
if you think this is a total stupid idea and you are not interested in any of my books, OH WELL. ha ha! J/K :D

Hello Wednesday.

Ah, Wednesday again. Wednesday is one of those words I really have to stop and think about when I type. That and February. You know...your fingers stop and go WED NES DAY. Don't they? Mine do.
Anyway, not much going on around here. We're back to spring out here in CA. Last week it was super duper hot, and this week it's maybe 70 degrees. I'd so much rather be hot than cold. And yes, in my opinion, 70 is sweatshirt weather.
So, since nothing exciting is going on I thought I'd do a little product plugging or maybe unplugging in one instance....Things that I've come across lately that I really like, really want or really make me angry.
Lip Gloss-I'm not a real girly-girl. I don't wear a ton of make up and I certainly don't spend a lot of money on it. You won't see me at the MAC counter at Nordstrom. Not me. Well, unless they're giving something away free! But what girl doesn't appreciate a good lip gloss? I was browsing the isles of my most Favorite Store the other day and came up on this lip gloss on an end cap. This link isn't to the exact product...I couldn't find it on their website. It's WetSlicks AmazeMINT from Cover Girl. It's both amazing and minty. :) For a $5 lip gloss, you can't really go wrong. The color looks bold in the tube, but is very stuble when you put in on. It's not sticky AT ALL. The mintyness is tingly and possibly freshens your breath a bit and lasts for a good hour. It's my new favorite thing.
Another product from Cover Girl is this mascara. Again, for about $7 you can't go wrong. It's not perfect, but I don't think a perfect mascara exists. Take a look at that brush it's crazy! Plus, how could I not like it? The tube is orange. I love orange.
Ok, on to clothes...
I may be the last person on Earth to find this website, but maybe not. Have you seen the cute stuff at Boden? They are a little clothing company from the UK. I requested a catalog from them last week. They seriously have the CUTEST stuff...in just my style. Look at this cute skirt! I love it. Very classy/casual, made for women, not girls. A teensy bit out of my price range, but I think I'm ready to start investing a little more in my wardrobe so that things will last a little longer...oh and fit right.
I bought some tank tops at Old Navy the other day and I'm not kidding, within one washing, one of them had a hole in it. I know it was only like $7. But still. It should not get a hole that quickly.
A few weeks ago I was shopping for a new bathing suit. I needed one for our trip next month. For a few days in June we will be attending our church retreat as a family and I needed a hmmm...more conservative suit that covered my booty well. I had this $25 gift card from Spiegel that I've had in my purse for over a year now. I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally use it to pay for most of the new suit. So I go to the website, find one I like, add to my cart and proceed to check out. Hmmmmm....I say.... I've entered my credit card info but there's no place to enter my gift card number. So I pick up the phone and call customer service. After several touch tone options I'm directed to a live person who tells me "don't worry, it's on the next screen" and then she hangs up. Why didn't they just offer to take my order over the phone??? Frustrated, I put down the phone and push "next" on my screen. And what do you know? It simply says "Thank you for your order!" Ahhh!!! SO, I pick up the phone again. Dial customer service. Get some other idiot on the phone who tells me my online order won't be in their system for another hour or two and to call back later. Huh?? Grrrrrr!! So, I hang up again. I go and run some errands. Come back home and call AGAIN. Go through all the touch tone HOOPLA and get this message: "Thank you for calling Spiegel. Unfortunately, we are experiencing technical difficulties. Please call back another time." Click.
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??
This goes on for A WEEK. A week went by before I could reach anyone at Spiegel by phone or email. I was finally able to send them a nasty email and cancel my order. Horrible, horrible customer service.
And then they go and send me a catalog in the mail. With all kinds of cute stuff in it. Of course.
I will not be tempted by you Evil Spiegel!
And I will not link you to them on my blog. I just can't do it.
And finally, one more product I like....for my scrapbook friends...Zach's Life papers from Little Yellow Bicycle. I ordered some from Memorable Seasons last week and it is just beautiful paper! It looks way better in person than on the computer or in a magazine. If you have boys, check it out.
Happy WED NES DAY.

Random bits

Have you noticed how often I post pictures of food? I think I have a problem. I really like food. My cousin Jami has complemented me several times on my food photography, and I think it's gone to my head. This picture is not the best example though.
These are some veggie kabobs that I made the other night on the Q. I'm really gettin good at the BBQ. I hardly ever burn anything anymore.
We're still trying to get some brochures made up for the ranch. Its just such PITA. That would be the new acronym for Pain In The A$$. First-I'm not a graphic artist. I can only work with what little knowledge and experience/technology I have. Which is like next to zero. I've come up with a good first prototype. It's O.K. but not the best. But the thing is...it's ridiculously expensive to get these suckers printed. We don't want to have a bizzilion of these first ones printed because we know that its going to take a while before we have good content to put in them. (better pictures, mostly) Does that even make sense? But basically we just want to have something for the guys to look at when they ask. Pete goes to two archery club "meets" every week and the guys are chomping at the bit for more info. So we needed to have something, ya know? Anyway so it's like 500 bucks at the local print shop for 1000 brochures. I don't need a thousand. I need maybe 1-200 right now. I don't see spending the mula for something that is ultimately not the finished product. So I took my design down to good ol Kinkos. That place is a crock-let me tell ya! I do not even want to tell you how much 50 colored copies on glossy paper was. And I won't tell you how effin cheap and ridiculous they look. AND I won't tell you how um...not happy my husband was at my investment decision. But I think you get the point, right?
So that's that.
I think Megan is just going to up and potty train herself. She's been bringing me her own diapers for months now...letting me know she's ready to be changed. Now, she's started whining a bit and pointing at herself "down there" and proceeds to pull down her diaper. Like "I want this thing off!". I ask her if she wants to go pee-pee on the potty. "shhhya!" she says. So I put her on the pot and nothing happens. I feel like it's just a matter of time though. I'm not ready. She's not even 2 for Pete's sake!
She's such a funny little girl though. She makes me laugh every day. Her favorite word is still NO and she'll answer NO to everything except when I ask: "do you want more milk?" and the aforementioned pee-pee question. Those two questions she always answers "shhhya!" She talks a lot but kind of has her own little "Megan language" that really, only I understand. She's never really been attached to anything except for her sippy cup, but lately she's all about her blanket and teddy bear. It's so flippin cute! It's not any one particular blanket or bear...just whatever one she sees in the moment. She tucks the blanket under one arm and the bear under the other. Did I mention how cute it is?
Jake is still working on his pool/swimming skills. After an entire afternoon at the pool whining and crying and asking to go home on Friday....Saturday came and he was a completely different kid. He jumped in without one bit of hesitation on Saturday. And don't let the kid fool you. The boy knows how to swim. At least a little. I watched him hold his breath, go all the way under the water and swim from one side of the baby pool to the other. He also got in the big pool without hesitation too. He did lose his footing a bit and got nervous. So he got right back out. But I was proud of him for trying just the same.
We are really enjoying the baby turkeys. They are just so funny. We've had them a week now, and I'm positive they have doubled in size. Today I noticed them starting to actually catch some air when they run across the cage and flap their wings. They're also starting to strut. It's the funniest thing! They puff out their chest, flair out their little tail feathers and drag their wings, just like full grown Toms do in the wild. It's crazy how fast instinct kicks in.
Well, that's about all that's going on here for now. The little munchkins have gathered around and are about to start nipping at my heels, so I better go cook some dinner!
Can you believe it's Wednesday already?

Dude...

it's hot.
it's 7:30 and it's 97* degrees.
i'm not complaining.
but it is kind of hot.
i ate carrots for dinner cuz it's too hot to cook.
i should probably turn the air on.

We went to the pool again today. Jake is still having a tough time. I don't blame the kid for being cold, but it's just so frustrating to see him sulk and whine. He would hardly get in the baby pool which is only a foot deep and was warm today. It's like each time we go we have to start all over again. See, he's really been getting more confident. He'll jump in the hot tub--no problem. Doggie paddle-he's got it. He knows when to hold his breath, he knows when to blow out. But he can't stand to be cold. Of all people I should understand. I hate to be cold. I should probably just lay off him. Finally after an hour of sulking in a lawn chair he says "mommy! I wanna go home...IT'S HOT!!" Well duh! it's only 90* degrees at 11:30am. And DUH!!! Get in the pool! That's what you do when it's hot. So he got in. And had fun. And didn't want to go home. Go figure.
I got him a little kick board at Target. It's perfect. He thinks he's surfing. :D Tomorrow, my Dad and Debbie are coming and they want to take the kids to the pool. I'm hoping Jake will just get right in and show them his tricks.
Megan, on the other hand, absolutely loves the water. Could care less if it's cold. She knows the routine now and brings me the beach bag when she wants to go to the pool. When we get there she practically jumps in without fear. She even learned how to use Jake's kick board. I guess I've got to get her one now too.
Any way...I've got a huge mess to clean up before tomorrow so I better be off.
Oh! Go check this out...we have baby turkeys!

Things that make me go hmmm...

*Why won't Megan stop crying? She's been fed, changed, watered...nothing seems to be making her happy today.
*Why does Jake continue to think he can do whatever he wants and go where ever he feels like?---despite several diciplinary actions?
*Why does my floor always have food on it?
*Is that a new stain on the carpet?
*And seriously....What in the world am I supposed to think when my very conservitive, 40 something white guy neighbor starts blasting "Pop Lock and Drop It" from his garage?

Hi, it's me again...

The blog slacker.
I feel like I've been running around like crazy lately.....And not accomplishing much in all that running around. I often wonder how in the world I got things done when I was working. Pete and I were talking about it the other day. I basically had a day and a half (Saturday and Sunday after church) to get my "chores" done...The Grocery store, Target, Costco and the laundry. And we both agreed that not much cleaning was happening. Picking up, wiping down yes..but the cleaning...yeah that wasn't happening. Anyway, now that I'm home...I'm finding myself at Target at least twice a week. Costco at least once a week and there seems to be a never ending supply of something that needs cleaning. Not only that, we now have "play dates" and I'm doing a lot of business stuff for Pete too. I've been trying to get some brochures made and finally, finally if you can believe it...actually scheduling hunts. People are coming, and they're going to pay money! Hallelujah!!
I've also discovered now that I'm a full time mom, our house is now actually being lived in...and it's beginning to show. In the 4 months I've been home we have successfully: put a hole in the wall, broke the toilet paper holder in the downstairs bathroom, put a streak of dirt hand prints all the way up and down the stairs, broke the patio table into a million pieces, broke a piece of tile off the kitchen counter and broke the shower door. But you know what? It sure beats the heck out of a pile of files and three walls of a gray cubicle. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I really do love my new job. :D
Oh! good news...In my last post I had talked about a good friend that might be really sick...remember? Well, he's a really good friend of Pete's and he's helped A LOT at the ranch. In fact, Pete is going to make him a partner. Anyway he had been complaining of a stomach ache and had gone to the doctor. They did an ultrasound and found a "dark spot" in his esophagus. Not good. He was pretty freaked out by it and so were we. Sunday, Pete put a prayer request up for him at church and of course the congregation prayed for him. Yesterday, (Monday) he had a doctor appointment where I think they did a CAT scan. There was nothing there. NOTHING. Whatever they thought they saw was gone. How cool is that? Power of prayer, people. :)
hmm..so what else? Well, today I think I'm going to fold some laundry. It's been seriously neglected. I think I'll put a photo order in at Costco (can't miss my weekly Costco trip!) and if the weather permits, we just might sneak off to the pool for a while.
Happy Tuesday!

Today I...

*Got up at 6:00
*Made coffee
*Read my favorite blogs
*Checked email
*Got dressed
*Got kids up and dressed
*Made toast
*Filled a sippy cup (about a thousand times)
*Took kids to Grandma's
*Went to the bank
*Got the oil changed in my car
*Picked up a prescription at the pharmacy
*Went to Kinkos
*Went to Best Buy...Bought a new printer because the one we've only had for a year and a half decided to crap out and it's just cheaper to buy one than to fix it.
*Went to Target
*Picked up Megan from Grandma's--left Jake there to play with his cousins
*Put Megan down for a nap
*Hooked up the new printer
*Made a brochure in Photoshop for Pete
*Printed it out 4 times before I got it right ;)
*Found out our truck is breaking down and is going to be about 2 thousand dollars to fix. *lovely*
*Found out a good friend could be really sick.
*Praying that he's not.
*Realized that some things don't turn out the way you think they will
*Made dinner while IMing with Melissa :)
*Made brownies. We needed brownies.
*Ate dinner
*Had a bite of warm aforementioned brownies. We needed warm brownies.

And right now....I'm just trying to stay positive. Trying to be the one that says "it's all gonna be alright" even though it's hard for me too. It's so hard to see someone you love and care about so much just completely stressed....almost too his breaking point. And he says "just how much more of this can I take?"....holding it in as best he can when I can see he's just ready to burst. And I have no control over it. And all I can say is...
It's all gonna be alright.
And I'll love you no matter what.
Somehow it just doesn't seem like enough.

Right now...

(Today's blog inspired by Nicole)
I love the smell of: cookies baking in the oven
I love the feel of: little tiny baby kisses on my cheek
I love the taste of: a cold mocha frapichino
I love the sound of: Pandora.com online radio right now playing Fleetwood Mac
I love the sight of: fresh hay bails lined up in perfect rows in the fields around here.

Today: meeting some friends for a walk. Just enjoying the day.
Oh! Tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day! Memorable Seasons is having an online crop. So if you've got nothin else to do...go check it out!

ahh..where to begin?

So, obviously I just haven't been blogging. Why? I don't know. It's kind of one of those things that once you stop...it's like really hard to get back into. That and the fact that I just really have nothing interesting to talk about. And I feel like it would be pointless and boring for me to post about the weather, the never ending incessant crazy ass wind we have here. I mean, come on...you don't want to know about the gale force winds...do you? I didn't think so.
Truth is...I've been a teensy bit stressed the past few days.Things have been building and building and just coming to a head. The last 2 years have been nothing but ups and downs..and unfortunately a lot more downs. Let me brake it down: Starting a business, having a baby (a wonderful, beautiful baby I absolutely would never ever regret...but having a baby and starting a business at the same time is stressful!), financial distress, going back to work, changing jobs, the loss of my grandma, lots of time alone, more financial distress, still trying to start a business and losing a job. It all really comes down to one thing: Financial distress. And really, me losing my job has nothing to do with it. It's there and has been there for a long time. Me working or not working really makes no difference. When i was working all my money was going right back out anyway. So you know... All these things have just been building and building inside of me. I'm the ultimate procrastinator, or avoider more like it. I'm so Scarlet O'Hara: "I'll think about that tomorrow". Isn't that what she says...in the wake of a burning Tara? Well I just can't do that anymore. I can't keep pushing things out of my mind. I really just want to curl up in a ball and make it all go away and let everything crumble around me. But that's not going to happen. I honestly wish I was 7 years old again. Is there nothing better than being 7? Anyway..I just am tired of feeling this way. I'm tired of the up and down yo-yo tug of war.
I know...this is just life. I'm not the only one with problems. Most are way bigger than mine. I have a neighbor--30 year old single mother of 2---dieing of cancer. Yeah. What the heck am I whining about?
Can you tell this is all just random stuff coming out of my brain?
SO. What am I going to to about it? #1 Take control. #2 one step at a time, dig my/our way out. #3 pray for guidance. That's all I can do.
Tomorrow: Post again. And no whining this time.
Sorry for the pitty party. But this is me. This is what's going on in my head right now.

a real pain in the neck.

Literally.
I've been dealing with a stiff neck for the past...almost 2 weeks now. I defied it and ignored it all last week. Stocking up on Motrin and Tylenol, trying to just ignore the thing. I mean seriously, a stiff neck for more than a day or two?? Come on! Then on Saturday the pain and stiffness progressed and actually brought me to tears. I just wanted my mommy! Sunday I patched it again with some high doses of Tylenol. But by Sunday night I couldn't even sleep. I couldn't sit, stand or lie down without being in excruciating pain. So Monday morning I set off to the Doc. He gave me some muscle relaxers. I do feel better. But dang, I still don't feel good. It still hurts. I'm still taking the pain meds. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be back to normal.
Ok, I will not whine about it any longer. Just wanted blogland to know what was up.
For your viewing pleasure,here is a slide show of a few pics of the ranch that I took on Sunday. Lots of wild flower naturey stuff :)

I did it.

Dudes. Seriously. Like no joke.
I MOWED THE LAWN.
I.
MOWED.
THE.
LAWN.
All by myself. I started the dang thing and everything. Too bad Megan is taking a nap or I surely would have had her strapped to me with a bungie.
What else do I need to say here?
I rock.

Kiss my long grass you snooty neighbors!!

I'm not dead.

Not that anyone but my mother would notice. ha ha!
I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a miiidnight toker.I'm not actually ANY of those things. Well, maybe a joker. But I am a blog slacker....and now I've got Steve Miller stuck in my head. I promise..I'll get an invigorating post up sometime this week.
But while you wait...feel free to check out le foto blog or le blog de foto. (you didn't know I was bilingual, did you? heck, even trilingual.)I somehow have kept that up to date. sorta.

He can go anywhere.

Step one: get on



Step two: concentrate



Step three: pedal! pedal! balance!



Step four: he's got it! keep going buddy!



Step five: he goes down. oops



*sigh*
The boy can ride a bike now. *sniff, sniff*
Within 5 minutes of having the training wheels off, he had it down. He can go anywhere now.

*please no hate mail regarding my son's lack of head protection. I am aware of the bicycle safety laws. Thank you*

Wednesday ramblings

First, I still want to talk about the lawn...I have to thank you guys for letting me know I'm not crazy for thinking the letter I received was a little rude. I think Jude's rebuttal letter in the comments of my last post was awesome. It was perfectly pointed and exactly what I'd like to say the person! And, I really think I'm going to find some tacky yard ornaments and load my front lawn up with them. Anyone know where I can find some pink flamingos? Hook me up! Also, as I discussed with Chrissy via email...next time I mow, I will strap Megan to my hip with a bungee cord and get to mowing...all the while I'll be smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. (Not really) But wouldn't that be funny? In a sick and twisted sort of redneck way?
In all seriousness though, I think that what bothers me most is that it was from a neighbor. Not the home owners association. If it was from the HOA, that is one thing. That is their job....to maintain the quality of the association. I would expect a letter from them. What my neighbor did is try and handle the situation his/herself and in turn has created a very complicated environment. Because now, instead of cussing the HOA, I'm now wondering which neighbor I should cuss. Now, each time I exit my house and speak to a neighbor, behind my cheeky smile I'm thinking, "was it you? was it you? It WAS you. Well, you can just kiss my long grass!" Which is not the sort of attitude I'd like to have. I'm about 90% sure I know who wrote the letter, but I'll still always wonder. Really, I'm over it. But I thought it necessary for us bloggers to kind of finish our cyber conversation :)
On to other news....
* Jake had his Kindergarten physical yesterday. All was well until it came time to get the booster shots. Oh my. To say that it was dramatic or even traumatic would be an understatement. The kid went absolutely nuts. He was sitting on my lap with my legs wrapped around him and my arms around him in a tight bear hug and I could not keep the kid from flailing around and screaming like a banshee. You would have thought someone was murdering him. "NOOOOOO! DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT! AHHHHHHHH!" I'm sure if he knew any choice cuss words, he would have used them and called that lady every name in the book. He was totally out of control, complete with hyperventilating and everything. The good news is, if someone really was trying to do him harm, the boy would not go down without a fight. The kid has pure determination.
* Megan has been using the word No for quite some time now. But until recently it's just been a word she used to answer any question.
Me: Are you a good girl, Megan?
Her: No.
Me: Are you a bad girl?
Her: No.
Me: Do you love mommy?
Her: No.
But in the past week or so, the word has evolved and she's finally begun to understand it's true meaning. Enter: Toddler defiance. It's a lovely thing, isn't it?
She's also quite the tattle tail-er. Every opportunity she gets, she tells on Jake, the dogs, the cat. The tattle goes a little like this:
Her: Mama! (then she points her finger)
Her: da ba dee do da! Bad! (and yes, she really says "bad")
It's quite funny.
Other words added to her vocabulary lately: More, please, bite, shoe, ow!, what's that?, out side, and Shhh! which also includes the finger up to her mouth and everything.
I also caught her pretending yesterday. I was absolutely floored. She was sitting quietly by herself playing with a few of the dishes from the tea set I got her at Christmas. She scooped some pretend food out of the bowl and said "mo? (more) Bite?" and she scooped some imaginary food into an imaginary persons mouth. She's only 19 months old. Isn't that kind of young to be pretending that way? I was just shocked. But it sure was cute :)
* We had a lovely Easter on Sunday. Spent the day at the ranch and had a big family BBQ and Easter Egg hunt. It was a blast..I took a lot of pics, but none really that great.
* We're going on a church field trip tomorrow to Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory.
* I'm sick again. I hope I can make it through the day tomorrow. I feel fine if I just sit here. But the moment I get up and do something, I get the chills and my body aches all over. It's not good.
That's about it for now. Hope the week is treating you all well. :D

Finally, somthin' to blog about...

So, remember in my last post...the first random fact I mentioned was that I didn't know how to mow the lawn. I've never ever mowed one before. That particular fact was first on my list for a reason. See, the lawn (my lawn) has been on my mind for a while. It's that time of year where everything perks up and starts growing again. Our lawn is no exception. It was growing, wildly and no one was doing anything about it. No one being me, or Pete. Me because, well I already told you...I don't know how to mow! And Pete because, well he's been pretty busy trying to start his own business and work 40 hours a week.
Anyway, I was starting to get worried that someone was going to complain. So, I asked Pete if he could mow it...I'd asked him like 2 or 3 times. I even asked him to show ME how to do it so that he wouldn't have to worry about it. In fact, I was THIS close to dragging that mower out and make a fool out of myself trying to start it. The lawn was bad. I'm talking 10 inch long blades of grass...at least.
Have I mentioned that I live in a real snooty neighborhood? I'm talking Desperate Housewives, Wisteria Lane, snooty. Every one's yards are perfectly manicured and gorgeous. So you know...10 inch long grass sticks out like a sore thumb around here. That is why I was worried.
So yesterday Pete came home and mowed the lawn. Hallelujah!
But today, we got this in the mail:

Now, I realize that this neighbor was probably trying to be considerate by not identifying his/herself. And I KNOW my yard was pretty despicable. BUT I still can't help but be a teensy bit offended by this letter. I mean, do you think I would have received this letter 20 years ago? It seems that people don't really seem neighborly anymore. It seems to me that 20, 30 years ago someone might have said "I wonder if Mrs. Wilcox is ok?....I know Mr. Wilcox has been real busy...and didn't Mrs. Wilcox lose her job recently? Maybe I should stop by and see if there's anything she needs?"
But alas, it seems times have changed and instead I get an anonymous letter in the mail.
So, here is my response that I plan on posting on a stick in my front yard:

What? Too harsh?

EDITED: What I find humorous about this whole thing is...if you notice the envelope was post marked March 20th...which was yesterday....The day the lawn finally got mowed. If they just would of waited one more day. And I bet they felt kinda bad after they saw Mr. Wilcox mowing...knowing full well they couldn't take back the letter they just sent. I'm just saying.

Monday Randomness

Wow, so a whole week has gone by again? I've been such a blog slacker. You'd think I'd find more time for it now...but somehow there always seems to be something else to do. I think that's my excuse for everything.
We're still trying to get things ready for Kindergarten...this week starts a week of doctor and dentist appointments. Jake and I go to the dentist tomorrow. I'm a little scared...cuz I haven't been to the dentist in a while. And this is one I've never been to before. I don't think I have any cavities though. I hope not. I'll be glad to have some super clean teeth! I love that feeling when they're all slick and shinny!
Megan has an appointment with a dermitologist on Friday. Since she was about 8 months old she's had these mole like things on her neck. They're really gross and keep getting bigger...they're actually skin tags. I hate that word/words...sounds so yucky! Anyways so I'm glad she'll finally be getting those taken care of. I'm also going to ask about her exema. She has it SO bad. The poor little girl feels like sand paper and she's got it so bad behind her knees that her skin looks all shinny and really red. I know it hurts her.
Gosh, I really have nothing interesting to talk about! I was tagged 2ce last week by Jude and Ronda for 7 random things...you know, I'm all about randomness!
1. I've never ever mowed a lawn. ever. Don't even know how to start the lawnmower.
2. I don't like mushrooms. Or seafood. I can pick around mushrooms....but I can NOT pick around seafood. YUCK. I think mushrooms completely ruin pizza.
3. I love pizza (whithout mushrooms). My first job was at a pizza place that my best friends dad owned. He was a real jerk. But I worked there for a year cuz my mom told me I had to. I probably ate pizza every day for a year....and I was still a size 6. I totally wish I still had that body and metabolisim!
4. My first kiss wasn't until I was 17! Well...there was one time when I was 15, but it was so bad I don't want to remember it. The time at 17 wasn't great either.
5. When I get really mad, I throw stuff. What ever is in my hand at the time. And if I don't have anything in my hand, I find something. Don't make me mad. :)
6. When I was 18, my best friend and I went to Mexico for a week by ourselves for Spring break. All I can say about that is...ahem.... whatever happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico. That was probably one of the wildest weeks EVER! LOL! Not quite "Girls gone Wild"......but almost. :)
7. After I finish a scrapbook page...I have to stare at it for a good hour or more to make sure I really like it.
That's it. Why does it always seem so hard to think of 7 things?
I'm still trying to finish up my Pig Farmer Wife story...I've started it like 3 times now. It's just not coming together well.
Here's a couple layouts I did this weekend...I haven't posted any here in a LONG time so here ya go:


Good grief, could this post be any more random??

Hello Blogland...

Sorry I've been away so long. I'm a procrastinator and I'm lazy. That's the only excuse I have.
Thanks for all the well wishes from my last post. I'm feeling much better about the situation now. Seriously, I think most of you would probably laugh at the whole thing. It was basically someone making one little mole hill into a giant mountain..of Mt. Everest proportions! Ok, what the heck...here's what happened (the very, very short version) Basically, this crazy lady called the cops on me because she found out we have guns in our house. uh huh. That's the gist of it. Hey lady? Last time I checked...this was still America, and we still have the right to bear arms. Just so you know.
And just so you guys in blogland know...our guns are all unloaded, and locked in a secure cabinet, away from children. I double checked.
Anywho....I'm so glad it's daylight savings time, and I'd like to shake the man's hand whoever came up with the idea of making it come sooner and stay longer. They say it's supposed to save energy...I think that's probably a bunch of bologna (yes, i just sang the Oscar Myer song to myself to type b-o-l-o-g-n-a), but I don't care. I know a bunch of people are all like "duuude...I lost an hour of sleep!" And yeah, you are correct. BUT dude, you gained an hour of DAY. To me, that is awesome. Daylight savings means we are just that much closer to summer! Which means swimming pools and suntans. And BBQ's and camp outs. And maybe, just maybe even playing outside AFTER dinner, and maybe an evening walk. Which I seriously need to start doing. Really.
Since obtaining my new position at the Wilcox house, I think a tiny bit of that 27lbs I lost last year....is starting to creep back...like right onto my @ss. Not good. I can NOT go back to the way things were. Must stop the madness NOW!
See, part of my problem is...I have this new obsession. Food blogs. When I was working I started using Google Reader as my RSS feeder (I don't even know what that means) so that I could read all your blogs. The work firewall wouldn't let me use Bloglines. Anyway, the cool thing about Google Reader is that it is smart. It like KNOWS I like Scrapbooking blogs, and parenting blogs and because of my subscription to thepioneerwomancooks.com, It knows I'm interested in food blogs...SO it periodically recommends all these lovely blogs for me to check out. How cool is that?! Pretty cool, I say. (does Bloglines recommend? just wondering)Except for now I'm subscribed to like 7 or 8 different food blogs, that mostly cook yummy fattening foods. And they make me want to eat. And cook. And eat some more. Maybe I should unsubscribe? Regardless, I can't let the blubber take over again. Period.
Oh, and guess what? (I'm changing subjects now) I had a nice sort of surprise visit from Chrissy yesterday! She and her family, and their friends were on their way back to Phoenix from Seattle. It just happened that they were driving right past here about dinner time. So me and the kids packed up and met them over at the Golden Corral for dinner. It was so great! I finally got to meet Sean and Simon and Felix....although, I really felt like I knew them already anyway. They are a great family and I'm so glad to have spent time with them. But the visit was WAY too short. :( If you check out my photo blog, you'll find a picture of us there. For some reason blogger is having issues and I can't upload it here. :P
That's about all that's going on around here. I've got to get stuff ready for Jake's Kindergarten registration. I still can not believe I'm going to have a kid in school. Holy crap. So I've got to get is shot record, order his birth certificate, and now they need to have a dental exam too! So, lots of stuff to do...

Drama, drama, drama.

Too much drama for this momma for sure.
As I've mentioned here before...I am not one for confrontation. I run and hide from it. I'm one that stands blubbering in the moment and thinks of all the "i shoulda said" things after the fact. When faced with confrontation, I usually clam up.
Yesterday was one for the books. Oh. My. Goodness. I will never forget it. Jake will never forget it. Oh how I wish I could give you guys all the details. I feel like I'm depriving you of the story. But being that this is a public blog, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to say too much.
I took my kids to meet some friends from church at this kids play place...kinda like Chuck E. Cheeses. We were having a great time, the kids were having an excellent time and then...BOOOM. There was a confrontation between another mother and me. And it was not good. Crazy. Wacky, even. Ooohh I want to write more. But I just don't think it would be right to put it all here for the world to read. The only reason I'm writing about it at all is because I just need to vent it out, you know? And this is like my diary in a way, and it wouldn't feel right to not mention it at all.
Yesterday, I felt pretty loopy after the whole thing. I felt sick to my stomach. When we got home I literally just sat here on the computer staring at the screen. I could hardly concentrate on anything. The mind can do crazy things to you. I actually thought "if I were at work, this would have never happened." It was a real eye opener for me. I tend to be the kind of person who likes to believe in the good in people....that most people are genuinely good. And this lady wasn't bad. Not at all.... I can sometimes get lost in my own world and forget that there are people who are REALLY against the things I believe in. That there are people who are not going to agree in the way I chose to live my life, or raise my children. Anyway, I think there were many lessons learned by all involved. And lots of reflection for me today. I'm a good mom. I know it, and most importantly, my kids know it. That's all that really matters.
I know this is all kind of vague, but thanks for reading anyways! It feels good just let it go.

a fine leap day.

I've never really thought about leap day/leap year before. I mean, I've never thought of it as anything special. Yet, yesterday did seem to have a bit of extra specialness to it somehow.
It was a day that absolutely nothing was accomplished but at the end I felt very satisfied anyway. You know that feeling? I guess it's hard to explain.
We spent about 90% of the day outside. That was awesome. Seriously gorgeous spring like weather....I was even wearing a skirt and tank top! :D My friend and her 2 kids came over in the morning and we took the kids to the "big park" in town. When we got back to my house it was lunch time/nap time and they went home. Megan went down as usual for her afternoon nap and Jake heard kids playing outside. I let him go out front with his bike, I opened the windows and let fresh air in and listened to the sound of happy laughter and speedy kid bikes up and down the sidewalk as I picked up toys and put away dishes. The air coming in the house was so refreshing. I sat on my front stoop for a while and talked to my neighbor for a good long time as our boys played. Before we knew it...the entire gang of boys on the street had emerged, along with their parents and we were literally having an afternoon free for all up and down the whole street. I actually talked more to the girl at the end...the one who is a SAHM but seems a little stand-offish. OH, and I finally asked her name. It's Stephanie :D I think really, she's just a lot like me. The thought of having to talk to me must frighten her. I think we're both just shy. But we're getting there. At least we've got the name thing over with now. :D Who knows we might just become friends. Except I have this thing where I've never liked anyone named Stephanie. But I'm trying to get over that. It all started with Stephanie Reithmier in 3rd grade. The girl did me wrong and I've never forgot it. You think maybe it's been long enough? I can let it go now? LOL!
Anyways, that's really all I did yesterday. Nothing big, but it sure felt good. See sunshine and warmth make me happy. I'm pretty easy that way! But it was just as if the world knew yesterday was extra....Because just about 5 o'clock, someone flipped a switch. A cool breeze came in and before too long clouds covered the sun and it cooled off and we all retreated back into our houses. It was just a spring tease. Today we were back to clouds and wind. :(

*such an exciting life isn't it?*

I'm working on my 3rd and I think probably last installment of my Pig Farmer story...hope to post that next week.

Happy Sunday :)

How I became a Pig Farmers Wife: Part 2

So...Before I jump into the marriage part of my life, let me go back a little to the dating part. Hunting, fishing, camping...outdoor life in general, has always been a part of our relationship. I mean, we met on a camping trip..that seemed to have set a tone for everything else. Even on some of our "dates" (if you can even call it that) consisted of me, sitting in between Pete and Eric in the front seat of a red pick-up scouting for deer. Or me, sitting on the side of the river watching Pete fish. One time, I even whitnessed an actual hunt. Pete is primarily an archery hunter. Which means he uses a bow and arrow...which, I think, is much harder than using a gun. Anyway, as I was saying, I actually whitnessed Pete taking down a deer. At the time, I had never really been exposed to any sort of hunting so everything was new to me. Pete, Eric and I had been driving around scouting for deer one summer evening. We were on private land that they had permission to hunt on. Anyways, lo and behold..there is a little buck about 50 yards away. I watch Pete draw back his bow as the little buck stood there. Everything was silent except for the cicadas humming in the oak trees. My heart was pumping! It was pretty exilerating. And then "thunk!" he releases the arrow. I will not go into great detail, but I will tell you, that at that moment...I realized what this sport was to him. I understood why he did it. It's not something that I can really explain, but I gained a lot of respect for the sport and especially for Pete that day.
Hunting continuted to be a part of our relationship well into fall with turkey season, winter with duck season, and spring with another turkey season and fishing. Many weekends were spent with me waiting for him to come back from a day trip and we would spend the evenings together. Little did I know I'd be doing this for the rest of my life! But I was in love...
Even our honeymoon was "outdoors-y". No, not on exotic beach in Tahiti. But on a trip to Yellowstone in Wyoming. Again, little did I know how much this would forshadow the rest of my life! We drove to Wyoming from California staying in nice hotels the whole way. But once we got to Jackson Hole, we actually camped at a very nice KOA campground. Yes, camping on our honeymoon! Pete would get up each morning and walk down to the Snake River and fish and we spent the rest of the day looking for wildlife and taking in the glorious scenery of Yellowstone. If you've never been there...it's absolutly amazing.
It's funny to think back on this stuff now...As we get ready to enter the next chapter in our lives...when I'm often finding myself asking "how in the world did we end up here?". When really, it's been a part of us all along.
To be continuted...

recovering

from my cold.
Here's how nap time went today.
I send both children to their rooms to rest quietly. I'm lucky enough that the both fall asleep. I go to my room for a cat nap of my own. I read for a while and as my eyes grow heavy, I close the book and snuggle down into the bed.
And then it starts.
That little infuriating tickle in the back of your throat.
ehem....ehem...
You try and clear your throat and ignore it. But it persists. So you give in and cough just a bit.
It subsides just long enough for dreams to start taking over and then....Tickle, tickle...you're jolted from sleep into frantic coughing. You hide under the covers to hopefully find that dream land again. Trying desperately to ignore that incessant tickle, tickle, tickle.
Ehem....ehem...EHEM....You're eyes start to water. Which of course makes your nose run. Tickle....tickle, tickle. Oh, you could get out of bed and get some water. But you're not about to let this dang tickle take over your blessed nap! EHEM! MMMM..EHEM! Tickle, tickle.... Tears are streaming down your face, snot is ready to pour out of your nose....Ehem! OH FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!......
Then, you cough so hard and for so long you feel like you're going to hork up your lunch. And you finally give in and get some water.
Yeah.
Nap time was like that.
Fun, huh?

more Pig Farmers Wife story to come tomorrow. :)

I'm feeling cruddy today...I got a cold. So more Pig Farmers Wife story will have to wait till I feel a little better...but for now here is a conversation I just had with Jake:

J: I'm the coolest guy in the whole wide world.
M: oh reeeaallly?
J: Yeah, Mommy, I am.
M: What makes you think that?
J: You see this nice shirt?
M: hmm hummm.
J: Well I think a lady will see me in it and want to kiss me. Because I am soooo cool.

Where do they come up with this stuff?

E! Hollywood True Story: How I became a Pig Farmers Wife.

A life I never expected.
June 1995: It was 3 days before high school graduation. My good friend was having a small get-together at her house and there were some boys from our rival school there. Cute boys. One was not really my type at all, but SO funny. I don't think he noticed me. The summer passes and I find myself calling in sick to work (which I'd never done before) to go to another little party with friends. Lo and behold...the funny guy is there. And I can't really explain it, but something clicked. And we spent the next 4 years together on and off.., mostly on. We were great friends, we did everything together. We spent birthdays and Thanksgivings and Christmas's together. I just figured he was "the one". I'm sure our families expected us to get married. I expected it. In fact, he actually bought the ring. But he never asked. And he wasn't the one.
To this day, I still can't quite tell you how it happened. But after 4 years he, the one I thought was "the one", was gone. And somewhere, there was someone else who was praying for "a good girl".
The next few weeks I was pretty miserable. You know...heart sick. The only thing I knew to do was turn to my friends....friends that I propbably hadn't paid a lot of attention to in the last 4 years. But they were there for me anyways. We would hang out at a local bar on Friday and Saturday nights. It was the summer, in a small town and there wasn't much else to do. Word got out that I was single and it was like boys were everywhere...like white on rice. But I didn't notice any of them. Not really.
My girl friends and I decided we were going to go camping "girls only". We had it all planned out...just us girls and NO BOYS. huh. Well, that didn't work out. Of course all the boys found out about our little trip and decided to crash our party. They showed up Saturday morning bright and early, knockin' on our camp site. On the way up the day before, Teri had told me that "Pete had a major crush" on me. I had NO IDEA who she was talking about. I kind of just sluffed it off and didn't really think any more about because I honestly had no idea who he was. Anyways, we'd gone down to the lake in the morning and by lunchtime we were hungry, so we all headed back to camp. Just as we were walking up, I noticed a red Toyota pick up idling right in front of our campsite.
Me: Who is that?
Teri: oh that's Eric.
Me: no, Eric does not have a truck like that.
Teri: That's Pete's truck. Eric is in the passenger seat.
Me: Pete?....As in Pete? The guy you were telling me about? That Pete?
Teri: Yeah.
My heart started thumping as we walked up to greet our new guests. Crap...did my hair look ok? I mean, it's pretty hard to stay "cute" when your camping, you know? I mean, even if he wasn't cute, I still had to be cute. He had a crush on me, I couldn't let him down! I walked up to the passenger side and said Hi to Eric. I'd known him since high school. I looked across the seat at the driver and saw nothing but solid muscle. Oh boy. Heart thumping again. And then he turned and looked in my direction. I'm not sure if I believed in love at first sight, but if this wasn't it...I don't know what is. He had the most beautiful sparkly green eyes that literally made me go weak in the knees. I'm not usually the agressive type...but I'll tell ya, I made sure he knew I liked him before the weekend was over. When he left Sunday morning, he said, "Can I call you?" After a few weeks of dating he said, "you know, I was lying in bed one night and I prayed that God would let me meet a nice girl. Three days later, I met you". And that was it. We were married a year later.
To be continued...
PS...there is a link on the right with pictures of the ranch. I'll have more to my story later, but I just can't write it all in one sitting! Don't worry, it's not an epic story, or harliquin romance....just a little background as to how I got to where I am now. :)

Yes, I'm a copy cat

Ok, so I totally copied Chrissy with her photo collage. Hey, it's a good idea. I had all these pics of Meg over the last day or so and they needed a home together. :)
I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. I guess not a whole lot is going on. We're settling into our new routine. I really like being able to run erands and just do all the stuff I used to do in 2 days, and get stuff done whenever I feel like it. Or need something, or want something. It's nice. What's also nice is that Tracy is basically a bedroom community. People mostly just sleep here...they work out of town...Well, just over the hill in the Bay Area. Which means there's not a whole lot of people out during the middle of the day. No more fighting down grocery store isles on Saturday mornings. And Costco! Costco is like....empty! For real.
Jake is having a bit of a hard time adjusting to every day being a "stay at home day". I can't really blame him...I mean he's been with other kids 5 days a week since he was 9 weeks old...with the exception of the 5 months I was on maternity leave last year. The sad thing is...just like the rest of the town...there's just not a lot of kids home during the day here in our neighborhood. Jake is constanly saying "can I go play with my friend?" and looking out the window for someone. And when I tell him no one is home..."BUT MOOOOMMMMY! I can just go knock on their door, ok?" It just breaks my heart. Oh, and the neighbor I met last weekend?....Uh huh..she IS a SAHM and let me tell ya...SHE's the one not coming out of her cave. Not the other way around! We've been outside every day this week, and we hear her kids playing in their back yard...but they never come out into the ally. See, all of our "back yards" are about the size of a postage stamp, so most of us just open our garages and let the kids go crazy in the ally. They can ride their bikes and run...all the neighbors look out for the kids. I actually really like it like that. The only bad thing is, some one really needs to be out there just to keep an eye out. (at least until they get a little older...all the kids on our street are between 1-5) ANYWAY...poor Jake hears the other little boy down the street and begs me to let him go play with him. He did get a few oportunities this week...but always in their house...never outside. Which I think is just weird..especially because despite the cold wind, it's been pretty nice outside. And when I go over and get him, Jake asks if the little boy can come play down at our house, and the answer is always "no". It's just weird. I'm not ready to think this girl is unfriendly. I think she's just got her thing going on. Her schedule, her play dates or what ever. Or maybe she has just as many social anxieties as I do. Because I'm really shy. The thought of having to talk to someone new just about gives me a panic attack. But it's just the thought. If I actually go and do it, I'm totally fine....I'll talk your head off if you let me! Anyways, so I'm trying to find things to keep the boy occupied. We've been going to the "big park" in town, the library, and on walks. Good thing he is starting school at the end of summer, because he just craves that social interaction.
Megan is taking to the changes around here just fine. I think she's too young to notice too much anyway, but she's a lot like me in that she's just a go-with-the-flow type of gal. :)
Pete of course likes the changes...you know, more home cooked meals...well maybe meals that aren't so rushed...like at 7 o'clock! And I don't think he's had to fold any laundry in 2 weeks. (he used to do about 90% of the laundry!)
So anyways, that's about it. See..nothing too interesting. So now it's the weekend and who knows what we'll do...Monday looks like we (all of us) might head up to the ranch since Pete has the day off. There's been a lot going on up there so I'll be SURE to put my memory card INTO the camera before we leave, I'll take some pics and do a little update here.
Have a good weekend!

Today was a good day.

It was SO nice outside. Like almost spring. I actually wore short sleeves! Hello! It was awesome. :D
Jake woke me up at 5:30 this morning. I'm like, what the heck are you doing? Turns out he'd peed in his bed...but didn't tell me that until...oh like 8 hours later! See, when he came in my room he just said his leg hurt. (He NEVER comes in my room in the middle of the night. Ever.) He's been saying this for like 2 days now. He keeps pointing at this teeny tiny scratch on the back of his leg telling me it hurt. Last night the miniscule scab even flaked off of it so how could it possibly be hurting still?? I decided he must need some extra attention or something, so I let him get in bed with me. Naive me didn't get that the "hurt leg" was just a cover up for the pee. When he tells me about it 8 hours later, I say "why are you just telling me this now? why didn't you tell me when you came in my room?" Jake: "cuz I thought you'd be mad". Me: "Well I'm more mad that you didn't tell me". Wet sheets at 5:30 in the morning, frustrating yes, but accidents happen...and not very often with this kid so I can't really be mad. But the thought of that pee sitting there all day...ewww!
Anyways, so that was that.
So much happened today...I'm trying to decide what or how to report it all....First I got some awesome cleaning done out of Jake. Totally Huck Finn'ed the kid. (as Jude would put it!) I brought out the vaccum and he really, really wanted to do it himself.
me: well I don't think you're quite big enough to vaccum
Jake: but mooooommmmmmyyy! I really, really want to clean something!
!!opportunity!!
Me: well, I dunno. hmmmmm. I don't know what a kid like you could do.
Jake: Mommy. (very seriously) I could do LOTS of things. I'm a good cleaner.
Me: Hmmmmmm...well..I guess you could clean these windows for me.
Jake: YES! Mommy, pleeeaaaase let me clean them!
And so..he cleaned the bottom half of my french doors, the front of the oven and dishwasher, and then, he dusted the base boards. Nice!
After that, we all went outside. It was just so nice. It's funny, when the weather gets like this, after weeks of cold and rain...people just start popping out of their houses. Like coming out of hibernation. I met a neighbor and her two kids this morning. I'm pretty sure she's a SAHM...she's got a boy just a teesy bit older than Jake and a little girl who's 2. Perfect! They just live a few houses down...but I hardly ever see them out so I've never really talked to them before. But, now this is bad...She says, "are you new in the neighborhood? I don't think I've ever seen you before". Me: (i'm like completely shocked she's saying this...You've never seen me??) "oh, no..we've lived here 2 1/2 years". So either SHE never goes out or I never go out. Anyways, she was nice, but I'm such an idiot...I have NO social skills what so ever..I didn't even ask her her name. smacks head against wall...dumb, dumb! But I did mention that we were always home and her son was more than welcome to come knock on our door to play. So that was good. I guess.
We went back in the house, had lunch and sent Megan off to nap upstairs. About an hour or so later, Jake notices that Cody from across the street and the other little boy we met this morning were out playing in the front. So I let Jake go out too. That's the great thing about this neighborhood...there are a TON of boys all within a year or two of each other in age. I wanted to go out too...but I didn't want to leave Meg in the house alone. Anyways, Brian, Cody's dad came over and asked if Jake could go with them up to the park...it's just at the end of the block. I figured since the dad came and asked, it would be fine...you know adult supervision and all. Anyways, so when Megan got up, they were still there so I took her and walked up to the park. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon. 5 boys, Megan, me, Cody's dad and another mom. It was nice to actually talk to some adults...you know, haven't done much of that in the past week or so! Brian says to me "haven't seen you in a while...I can't even remember your name". (oh jeeze! why does no one know who I am?!) I told him I only come out of my cave when it's above 60 degrees! LOL!! It's true...ya'll know how much I LOVE winter and all. ha ha!
And so..this is how the day ended.

SO cute. There's another really cute pic on the photo blog so check that one out too. I just didn't want to double post the same pic :)
Happy Sunday to you!

yummmm

I guess I still must be stressed. Cuz I just HAD to make this yesterday. What's that you say? A sheet of brownies last week wasn't enough? Well, if you must know...apparently not. It's either stress or PMS. One or the other. I have to blame my gluttony on something, right? Ok, so it's probably neither.
I'm sure you've probably had this dessert before, I think it was a very popular pot-luck dish in the 80's. It's widely known as Better than Sex Cake. Or also known as Better than Tom Sellec Cake because I guess some people are afraid to say S-E-X. I know I am. And I guess that's were my 1980's reference comes in...because really, who still thinks Tom Sellec is hot? Maybe if you're my mom you do. So anyways, I'm not going to call this Better than S-E-X, and I'm not going to call it Better than Tom Sellec. Heck, I'm not even going to call it Cake...cuz really there's no cake involved.
You want the recipe?

Yummy, yummy dessert
This is for a 1/2 recipe...I put it in an 8x8 glass dish. If you want to make a full recipe just double it and put it in a 9x13 pan. Oh and you could totally go low(er) cal on this too by using fat free/sugar free Cool Whip, pudding, low fat milk and cream cheese :)

1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup chopped pecans
1/4 Cup butter

4oz. Cream Cheese, soft
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
4oz. Cool Whip (1/2 a regular sized tub)

1 3oz. Box of instant Chocolate pudding
1 3oz. Box of instant Vanilla pudding
1 1/2 Cups of cold milk

the rest of the tub of Cool Whip.

Crust:
cream the butter, flour and pecans together and press in the bottom of your 8x8 pan. Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes. Cool. I stuck mine in the freezer while I made the other layers.

1st layer:
cream together the powdered sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spoon on top of crust.

2nd layer:
dump the 2 boxes of pudding in a bowl, add the 1 1/2 cups of milk. Stir until it thickens and spoon over cream cheese layer.

Top:
Top with the rest of the Cool Whip and add some chocolate shavings to make it look pretty. Put it in the fridge for a couple hours and then dig in!

Don't worry people, I'm not turning into June Cleaver or anything. The domesticness will wear off in another week when I get bored and/or lazy.

Life of a SAHM

You would think I haven't folded laundry in a year after the pile I folded this morning! Geesh. Laundry is never ending, isn't it? I don't mind washing it...it's the folding that gets me. Especially socks. Man, I hate folding socks. I think I'd rather clean toilets. Maybe.
Things are settling in around here. Trying to get into some sort of routine and start getting some things that have been a little neglected, taken care of. Like scrubbing the showers, cleaning out closets and the pantry. All these are on my to-do list. I really do have to look at this like a job and give myself daily tasks other wise I'd never get anything done. I'm also trying to get up in the morning around the same time I used to. Well, around 6:30 or so. This gives me some time to myself...to figure out what I'm going to do today, read my emails, blogs etc...It also allows me to be ready for my kids when they wake up. I'm really liking this part of my day.
I'm also trying to walk every day too. Today I think, was the the worst walk ever. It is just so flippin cold. I bundled us all up, put hats on etc...but the wind was just unbelievable. The kind that just blows from every direction and makes your eyes water even though you have sunglass on...and then your nose starts running...and your nose and your ears start to feel like if you touch them they'll just break off. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? I couldn't get home fast enough. I'm still going to try and do it though...Spring is coming soon, right?
So that's what's going on around here. I'm glad I'm at home, I know it was the right decision. I can't help but still feel a litte stressed...my face broke out this weekend, I have a cold sore and I ate just about an entire sheet of brownies. You think that might be a sign of stress? hmmm! I can't help but think this is all temporary. I feel like I'm on vacation, or on maternity leave. After all, it was only just over a year ago that I was freaking out about going back to work after having Megan. It's as if time has gone backwards. If that makes sense. I feel like in just a few weeks this will all be over.
Anyways that's all I got for now. Oh yeah, my 365 is all caught up so check it out if you want :)