here i am now
1 year ago
This is a slideshow of the books we had made for the grandparents for Christmas. I know it's small here, but apparently that's the size of a blogger video.
The inside cover reads:
We set out on a new adventure every month this year.
We saw manatee, jellyfish and turtle eggs. Climbed 203 steps to the top of a lighthouse. Ate oysters, conch chowder, and key lime pie. And we took pictures along the way in order to share and remember every day.
The intro reads:
Beach Tour 2009
This year we set out to prove that any day in Florida is a good day for the beach. So we packed up the boards, buckets and bathing suits and visited a different beach each month.
We picked some famous touristy beaches and several small town beaches. The only requirement was that they be close enough to home to make the trip in a day. Although we did make vacations of a few of our destinations.
January-Cape Canaveral
February-Shepard Park
March-Satellite Beach
April-Cocoa Beach
May-Vero Beach
June-Clearwater Beach
July-Anna Maria Island
August-New Smyrna Beach
September-Melbourne Beach
October-Ponce Inlet
November-Daytona
December-Ft. DeSoto Beach
I figure the new year is as good a time as any to get back to blogging.
So everyone enjoy your vacations, well at least don't hurt the children and I'll catch ya' on the flip side.
Not doing so well keeping up here, but I'm not shutting down, just inconsistent.
Anyway I just saw this video clip and had to share the laughs with ya.
You are welcome.
Believe it or not more than one (okay 2) people have noticed my lack of presence here at Casa de Pete. For the love of Pete people, these past two months have been both the most boring and yet somehow busiest EVAH. Oh and by the by, a friend of mine on Facebook (where incidentally I can post about my daily sagas a few sentences at a time) has informed me that EVAH is an insult to the English language. After not using it for several weeks and meanwhile trying to help my first grader sound out words, I'd say the English language is an insult to itself.
Anyway, bright and shiny where was I? Long story not as long, hubby got laid off, spent a lot of quality time together (all of us), got job offer with huge corporation, waited 2 weeks for them to get paperwork finished, finally started work YESTERDAY. (The fact that I am finally blogging again? Co-ink-a-dink? You make the call.) He is now just a cog in the machine. The only problem is the job pay is considerably less than his previous position. So guess who's on the job hunt? Luckily I can be picky because we can pay the bills on the new salary, however my getting a better job would really make things much more comfortable and frankly I am sick of scrimping with prison grade toilet paper. So I am leisurely looking for the perfect job that pays a lot, is part time, and requires no nights or weekends. Hey, quit laughing, I actually went on an interview for a position that completely fits my requirements, and apparently I am qualified to do. No, seriously! They are supposed to make a decision the beginning of October, whenever that is. Okay, so other than that I have applied (today as a matter of fact) for only one other job that might fit all my demands. And in the continued effort to keep this less lengthy, lets just go with: I vacillate daily, okay hourly, between being scared to death to go back to the workforce after 10 years and being excited about it.
In other news:The girls started school. They both have enthusiastic teachers. Both had perfect mid-term reports. I think I should give their teachers progress reports for their behavior at home, then maybe they would listen to me. Ha!Brooke finally learned to ride her bike without training wheels and wants to ride it to school with her big sister. Hallelujah praise Pete! NO MORE CAR LINE FOR ME! Yeah, I know this will last approximately 3 days to 3 weeks, then the newness will wear off and she will realize she is SWEATY when she gets to school and ask for her chauffeur back. But I'm enjoying it while it lasts!The puppy? He is a pony, on his way to being a horse. He is adorable when asleep, much like my children! Potty training, check. Chewing on only his toys, check. No begging at the table, check. Absolutely silent whenever in his kennel, check. Holds his bodily functions for over 10 hours at night and 6 during the day, check. Knows his name, not unless he wants too. Walking on a leash, not so much. Pulling off his collar and running off, mastered. Jumping on guests, we're working on. Dropping ball or toy for someone to throw for him, we've created a monster! Last but not least, we should've named him Goose, then you couldn't say we didn't warn you.Oh and a little thing I should probably mention, just so you all can laugh and make fun of me behind my back, or to my face, because I KNOW! I am now an official member of the PTA board. My neighbor and friend somehow coerced me into being the secretary this year. And you know what? So far, I'm having fun. I KNOW! We have a great group of moms and they are sincerely trying to get as many people involved as possible. That being said, I am reserving the right to piss on my own parade when at any point during the year I am no longing having fun.This morning? The most beautiful 60ish weather outside. I opened my back door to enjoy our random 3 hours of fall like weather and I'll be damned the lawn maintenance workers for our community are right behind my fence. I can't bear to shut the door on the crisp fresh air, so I'm taking a tylenol.
And with that I have roughly a day's worth of tifauxed shows to watch that my husband does not appreciate, so I'm going to go bond with my tv for a bit. Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can muster up the energy to post some new photos. Oh joy, now I've lost my last 2 readers haven't I?
Florida Weather
This song comes to mind every afternoon...
This might get to be a regular post the way things have been going around here. I swear the following events happened within 7 days of each other.
Silver lining? Very clean floor.
My favorite game of "What's that Smell?" leads to finding leak under sink.
Silver lining? Cabinet gets much needed purge and cleaning.
Bonus? Sink fix also fixes garbage disposal.
Bonus round of "Could this week get much worse?" Bottle of rum falls and breaks in pantry.
Silver lining? Bottom of pantry gets cleaned.
Bonus? Alcohol is an excellent cleaning agent. Who knew?
Anyone else been searching for a silver lining these days?
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own. ~Harry S. Truman
Otherwise I'll go crazy with hubby home the second summer in a row. Apparently, July is just not our month. Would you believe after the fiasco of last summer's unemployment that we are practically right back in the same position a year later? Yeah me either. I was positive I was getting Punk'd when hubby called to tell me he'd be laid off last week. But no, this case of deja-vu is indeed real.
So back to that silver lining. In the last week hubby has saved us hundreds of dollars on repair bills. Never mind that the outdoor flood light he fixed has not worked properly for 5 of the 6 years we have lived here. And the ceiling fan on the back porch has had no blades on it since they were removed during the hurricanes of 2004. The pieces of the sectional couch in our family room that slid and separated every time someone sat on them and drove me mad for the past 3 years are now securely attached. In his defense he also fixed the leak under our sink which we just discovered this week. Co-ink-a-dink-ly the repair also fixed the overly loud and under powered garbage disposal I've complained about every day for Pete knows how long. Besides repairs he also is home to cook which is nice because I hate to cook and it shows. And since he is cooking he is doing more of the grocery shopping which is my most hated errand. Of course the shiniest silver of all is that he is here playing with the girls more and daddy daughter time is always a good thing.
Anyone else find silver lining in the recession?
Back by Popular Demand. Okay not really but back regardless.
So my confession this week? I used my photo retouch tool in iPhoto to remove dirt on my floor and toys from under my couch. And after I realized what a mess was down on that level I decided it was easier to just continue to remove them from subsequent photos than to actually clean under there. The worst part is I had no idea how bad it was until I saw the pictures. And sadly before we brought Sirius the puppy home we cleaned the floors in the rooms he would be confined to. Where cleaned means picked up things he could choke on or that were potentially toxic. I vacuumed the whole 3 rooms. And by vacuumed I mean I ran it over the big open areas. So what I'm saying here is that dirty floor I saw when I zoomed in on a photo taken of it, I actually thought was fairly clean merely hours before. Yeah, so my "Homemaker of the Year" award is obviously not in the mail like the association claimed. But hey, I'm back to blogging, so there's that.
This morning one of my good friends sent me a message alerting me to the fact that I haven't posted here in almost a month. Ya'll I am not unaware that I have neglected Pete and I keep meaning to come over here to catch up. But life keeps happening.
So back to my last post which was the day our A/C died. We survived the heat by going to the pool and the next day the very nice A/C man came and fixed the flux capacitor thing-a-ma-bob. In the middle of the heat wave of June '09 we sent our oldest off on her first trip alone. My sister flew my 10 year old out to stay with her 5 days in another state! I'd like to point out this same sister used to pay her "nanny" to fly with my niece to and from my parent's house when they lived in the same state and my niece was well past 10 years old. Anyway... Breanna really wanted to go and we couldn't think of a reason to say no so we put her on an airplane as an unaccompanied minor. Of course she had the time of her life and feels very grown up having flown alone. And I survived the cutting of the cord, so all in all it was good for everyone.
Days after my kiddo arrived home safely we headed out to the beach for our annual summer vacation. Now would be a good time to go get a drink and settle in because here come the vacation slide shows! Feel free to just pretend like you looked and comment on how beautiful the mountains and lakes were.
There is much more to tell as the last two weeks have been jam packed with life. But those things need their own posts so I'll leave you with this...
Meet Sirius Black...
Isn't he the cutest puppy you've ever seen?!
On the grocery list is popsicles, ice cream, fruit, salad and lunch meat. Pretty much anything in a cooler that does not have to be cooked.
So guess what happened last night.
And guess how long it will be before anyone can even come to look at our problem.
So guess what happened last night.
And guess how long it will be before anyone can even come to look at our problem.
Go ahead guess, it will be fun.
This week is brought to you by
the letter C & the word Wood.
That's all I got time for today Homebloys. Go follow our leader...
The words are brought to you by the lovely Tink.
This week we were to represent A and Our Favorite Song.
Garth is not one of those artists who doesn't allow you to embed his videos on youtube. He actually has NO videos on youtube. So the best I could do is this concert footage. Apparently he doesn't have the power to keep these from being shared.
Try to see past the bad 70s hair and skinny jeans. This movie was my favorite when I was a tween. Which was well before anyone coined the term tween. I had the album and the book and I used to dream Rex Smith was singing this song to me.
Awhile back I decided to buy myself the movie and the book. For a fleeting moment I even thought I'd share them with my oldest daughter as she is about the age I was when I was wallpapering my walls with his Tiger beat posters. Um, yeah, not so much. That 13 year old lies to everyone and dates a 17 year old. We'll be keeping this one on the mommy shelf a bit longer.
I was looking back over previous posts and realized there is so much I have not shared with ya'll. Earth shattering things, like straight As, 5 out of 5 on standardized state tests, kindergarten performances, Mother's day humor, death of a small rodent (don't worry we have 3 more just like him) and more. But I'll get to those another day. I'm going back to where I feel like I left off. The whole story of hubby and last year's birthday parties. I started all the birthday posts then never got back to the original story. Sort of left ya'll hanging...all set up and no punch line. Now of course it's like seeing the much hyped Oscar winning picture many months later. This story will never live up to the set up, consider yourselves warned. But, I feel like I need to finish what I started so I can get things in order over here. Just step over the toys and grab a seat on the couch, just nod and hmmm a lot like you are paying attention.
So here's the thing, we keep the girls from getting to far ahead of themselves by only letting them plan for the next big thing. Right now it's summer, so you may start thinking about school starting. Not until after school starts may you even THINK about your Halloween costume. And don't even make a peep about what you might want for Christmas before you have trick or treated, because Santa can't hear you. So it follows that after they have unwrapped their Christmas presents they start making plans for their birthday parties. After Christmas 2007 we started planning a Spring Break 2008 trip to Texas to visit friends and family. Namely my youngest's BFF from diapers. And lucky for mommy Brooke's birthday always falls right before or after Spring Break. Seeing as we were spending a huge amount of money on our trip I thought we'd just have Brooke's party in Texas with her BFF. They could have a sleep over and go swimming in my sister's pool. Viola! Birthday party done. Of course my family said we couldn't have a "party" for Brooke without having one for Breanna too. Well her birthday is just a month later, so why the hell not? Brooke's BFF has a big sister who happens to be one of Bre's very good friends too. And it's not like we would have the funds to host a big blowout at home in a month anyway. So for Breanna's 9th and Brooke's 5th Birthday we had a sleepover and pool party with two of their very best friends in TEXAS! And my kids were thrilled!
Do these children look neglected to you?
Brooke in her new Ariel swim suit at Aunt Vicky's pool.
Blowing out the candle on the Ariel cupcakes grandma made. Note all the Little Mermaid decorations for her portion of the celebration.
All the girls trying to convince us they should go in the hot tub again despite the sprinkling rain.
Brooke and her BFF in their matching Ariel jammies.
Bre with her ipod and her favorite cherry cheesecake grandma bought. Note the camo plates for "her party".
Okay, so now you know how we celebrated their birthday's in 2008. Sounds and looks fun, right? Well as we were going through the list of birthday parties past trying to come up with new ideas hubby continued to question, "What kind of party did you have last year?" "Oh yeah we didn't do parties last year". I kid you not this happened every time we talked of their parties this year. I finally had to tell him to shut the hell up already! If you ask the girls about their birthday parties from that year they'd tell you we went to Texas and had a party at Aunt Vicky's house with M and M. Why did he keep having to act like we had completely forgotten their birthdays? Just because he didn't make any decorations or bake their cakes the party apparently didn't count. What?! Is he three? Yes, sometimes he obviously is. I guess because it was my family that did all the planning and he really had nothing to do with all the girly sleep over stuff he was pouty. See the girls in question happen to be the daughters of my good friend, so she came and drank wine with me and spent the night too. Damn, while writing this I think I'm getting to the real source of his pettiness. Thanks blog, you are way cheaper than a therapist.
Yeah, well that was the story. It all boils down to my hubby pissing me off with his refusal to acknowledge that my family and friends did indeed throw my girls a very fun and unique birthday party in 2008 without his help. Dear gracious, maybe we do need therapy.
Okay, now that I got all that out of my system maybe I can get back to blogging as usual.
"If you don't put a finish on it," he says, "it just hangs in your head and clutters up your closets."I feel the same way about cluttered closets. Except I never thought about the ones in my head. I suppose they must be a mess.
Oh and way back I quoted "This face? Right here. My over the moon face." which no one guessed. I was sure Jenn would get it as we both love the show. It was from Veronica Mars.
Two closets cleaned.
Well thank Pete and Tink for hosting the WWC or I might not even remember I have a blog, let alone post here. I keep plodding along knowing someday I will sit down and actually write down all the earth shattering posts that are cluttering up my brain. Okay well maybe I'll at least get back into the habit of telling you funny drunk stories of my college days and the humorous antics of my family. For today I give you photos. Yes, again!
This weeks words are Lean and 3.
Sorry, but I've got a case of puppy love that cannot be cured. No Weekly Word Challenge because I was too busy taking photos of the object of my affection.
~~~~~
Rules For Puppies
- The garbage collector is NOT stealing our stuff.
- I do not need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm lying under the coffee table.
- I must shake the rainwater out of my fur BEFORE entering the house.
- I will not eat the cats' food, before or after they eat it.
- I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of clean carpet in the house when I am about to throw up.
- I will not roll on dead birds, fish, rodents, etc.
- "Kitty box crunchies" are not food.
- And should I forget, I will not lick my human's face after eating "Kitty box crunchies".
- The diaper pail is not a cookie jar.
- I will not wake Mommy up by sticking my cold, wet nose against her bottom end.
- I will not chew my human's toothbrush and not tell them.
- I will not chew crayons or pens, especially not the red ones, or my people will think I am hemorrhaging.
- When in the car, I will not insist on having the window rolled down when it's raining outside.
- We do not have a doorbell. I will not bark each time I hear one on TV.
- I will not steal my Mom's underwear and dance all over the back yard with it.
- The sofa is not a face towel. Neither are Mom & Dad's laps.
- My head does not belong in the refrigerator.
- I will not bite the officer's hand when he reaches in for Mom's driver's license and car registration.
Yeah, yeah. Tomorrow I am officially having my last birthday. I will be 39 forevah! And you know what I get to do on my birthday? Get my driver's license renewed. In person . At the DMV. I KNOW! My hubby has the world's oldest license (rat bastard), like before the photos were digital (possibly before there were photos, I'm pretty sure it just has an artist's rendering), and his doesn't expire until 2013. I renewed mine online 6 years ago and I have to go stand in line on my birthday. Yes, I could've done it earlier this month, but then what would I have to bitch about? And you know what I have to do before I get my new license? Work.
Pity party of one, my table is obviously ready.
The American Kennel Club has decided to recognize these new breeds of dogs that are the result of cross breeding:
Collie + Lhaso Apso: Collapso, a dog that folds up for easy transport.
Spitz + Chow Chow: Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up alot.
Bloodhound + Borzoi: Bloody Bore, a dog that's not much fun.
Pointer + Setter: Poinsetter, a traditional Christmas pet.
Kerry Blue Terrier + Skye Terrier: Blue Skye, a dog for visionaries.
Pekingese + Lhaso Apso: Peekasso, an abstract dog.
Labrador Retriever + Curly Coated Retriever: Lab Coat Retriever, the choice of research scientists.
Newfoundland + Basset Hound: Newfound Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisers.
Terrier + Bulldog: Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes.
Bloodhound + Labrador: Blabrador, a dog that barks incessantly.
Malamute + Pointer: Moot Point, owned by...oh, well, it doesn't matter anyway.
Collie + Malamute: Commute, a dog that travels to work.
Deerhound + Terrier: Derriere, a dog that's true to the end.
Poodle + Min Pin: PooPin, a dog for constipated people.
Originally found here.
As if I didn't love him enough on Top Chef, now he's doing a Diet Coke commercial?! Does anyone else find him attractive? Just me? Okay, we'll here's the ad in case you haven't seen it yet.
I love to name things, kids, pets, other peoples' kids and pets. So yes, I am currently busy naming a dog that hasn't even been born yet. We all have our hobbies.
My parents have a little prissy Yorkshire Terrier I named Lola for them because "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets." And of course our old man Bear was really KBHR which were the call letters for the radio station on Northern Exposure. What it was 1994?! Come on, it was clever.
Back in college I owned the world's stupidest dog, but he had a great name. In fact if it weren't for hubby's utter annoyance with that dog (whom I gave away to a family with a big yard because we just could not train him to use an inside voice) KBHR might have very well been Captain 2.0, new and improved. Really it's such a great name and it's been so many years I even brought it up as a possibility for a new puppy's name. See Captain could be Captain Morgan as in the rum or Captain Tony as in Tony Tarricino, the bar and the man famous with Buffett fans. And it is easy to yell, which is a must with a dog's name.
Anyway, it shouldn't surprise you to hear I have had 2 dog names picked out for quite some time. I wasn't even going to entertain other ideas for this non-existent dog. But did I mention my fascination with names yet?
Anyway, it shouldn't surprise you to hear I have had 2 dog names picked out for quite some time. I wasn't even going to entertain other ideas for this non-existent dog. But did I mention my fascination with names yet?
Yeah, so, when Bre was about 3 years old we almost got a puppy. A friend's parents had labs that had a litter and oh how I wanted one. Hubby put his foot down in our 1000sq ft house and said no room for a second dog! About 2 months later we found out little Brooke was on her way and that put the kabosh on any further puppy cravings, as I was too busy naming an actual human. But in that brief window of possible puppy ownership I picked out what I still think is the perfect name for a lab puppy... Moose, especially if it's a chocolate lab puppy. Moose was Bre's imaginary friend at that point in time, sadly he left about the time she got a real live doll, um baby sister. Just think of the possibilities, Mr. Moose, could be M&M for short. And hello, chocolate Moose? Yeah, I kill myself with the clever!
Of course the other name that has been tossed around for quite some time is Pete. As in, for the love of Pete did he just pee on the floor again? And the beginnings of this blog "Who's Pete, and should I be worried?"
But now hubby has started getting in on the name game, which is a very good sign that he might actually like the new dog. His first suggestion was Sirius, for a black lab of course. Damn kid and her Harry Potter obsession. But again, killing you with the clever aren't we? Plus- Seriously he peed on the floor again? Okay, apparently we are obsessed by the thought of training a new puppy. The only problem here is that we really weren't going to get another black lab, as we are not trying to replace KBHR. But dude have you seen a black lab puppy? They are darn adorable, and seriously the name Sirius is really growing on me. Okay, I'll stop now.
Then hubby threw out Bullwinkle who is a moose. Which I also like for a chocolate lab name. And at one time we were considering getting a Labradoodle (lab and poodle mix) which we would've totally named Snickerdoodle, like the cookie. (Yes, yet one more non-existent pet I already named) A light yellow lab would be about the color of a snickerdoodle. And it sounds really cute in baby talk. Maybe not so much in the easy to yell department though.
So to recap...
Any color Lab Puppy Names:
Pete
Captain
Chocolate Lab Names:
Mr. Moose aka Moose aka M&M
Bullwinkle
Yellow Lab Names:
Snickerdoodle
Black Lab Names:
Sirius
At least we are covered no matter which puppy we pick out, we have names to choose from. So, now it's your turn, give me even more names to ponder over before I pick up my chocolate lab named Moose! The only requirement is that it has to be for a boy dog.
Featuring
K and Metal
brought to you by Tink
Some of you may recall about 9 months ago we had to say goodbye to our beloved 14 year old black Lab. And now? We, and when I say we, I mean me and the girls, are ready to welcome a little ball of fur into our family. What about hubby you ask? Let's just say he hasn't exactly embraced the idea. It was his idea that we wait for a year before getting a new dog. And while I totally agree that we needed time to grieve. Well, let's just say we disagree on the timeline here. I think getting a puppy during the summer while the girls are out of school would be more fun and they could help with training. Hey someone has to wipe up all that pee on the floor and they are so much closer to it than I am. Anyway, I have finally given in and agreed that since we spend a week in July at the beach, getting a puppy after we get back makes the most sense. Otherwise we'd be leaving a half trained puppy in a kennel and starting from square one again when we get back. But mid-July is not August, and August is one year, which means we are still in negotiations. However, I found a breeder close who says they are expecting a litter soon, which would mean the puppies would be ready for new homes at the end of July. Getting the right puppy is more important than the actual date to me or hubby (at least I think it is). So while we are still discussing the timing, we are for certainly getting a puppy soon! And it's a good thing, because we've had more than one conversation like this lately.
Me: If mommy brought home a puppy now your daddy might move out and leave us with our new puppy. You wouldn't want to have to choose between mommy and daddy together or a puppy would you?
Smartass child: Would it be wrong if I said I'd choose the puppy?
This week's words are ARCH and PURPLE. We went to the beach for Mother's Day and I have been in card hell for the past two days, so you get what I got this week. And my promise to try harder next week.
Our footprints in the sand. Can you tell which of us have flat feet and which have normal ARCHES?
Do you see the fishing pole beginning to ARCH? She did caught a small fish.
Sorry I got nothing for PURPLE. So I give you bonus photos instead.
Slacker, who?
A skink getting a tan.
The beach early Mother's Day morning.
For more info or to see who actually tried this week go visit Tink's Place.
The words for this week are:
and
Heart
So this week I learned that Bokeh at it's most basic is an in focus foreground and a blurry background. At it's finest it is a blur of points of light in the background. And to be done properly one really needs a special lens, which lil' ol' me surely does not own. However, I went back through my archives and found a few photos I think qualify as very amateur attempts at creating Bokeh. And at the time I didn't even realize that's what I was doing. Well, I knew I wanted a depth of field, but I had no idea what it was called. Who says you can't teach an old dog? Damn and now I'm the dog again. I gotta stop doing that!
Bokeh(ish)
(click photos to make bigger)
The other word? SO EASY!
My Heart belongs to these goofs.
Wanna know more and see much better examples of Bokeh? Go checkout Tink's Place, our hostess with the mostess.
So this weekend is Breanna's BIG One Zero birthday party. So I figured I pull out a few more pictures of past birthday parties. These two are probably 2 of my all time favorites. Brooke's more of a small party type of kid. NO it has nothing to do with being the second child and having no real friends of her own. Shut up, it does not! Anyway, less kids means I can spend more on decorations, snacks and goodies.
Next week I'll try to finish up Bre's birthday's and tell you how the big Kickball Party went this weekend. We are up to 20 confirmed guests right now not including us. Should be fun! Have a great weekend!
Edited to add... my kiddo won the "Toothy Kid Photo Contest" go check her out!
Got a bee in my bonnet tonight. I just received one of those automated calls from the school district. Seeing as I am an informed parent I almost always know what the call will be regarding when I see the caller id. But tonight I had no idea.
Would you believe it was the school district giving tips on how to avoid getting swine flu? SERIOUSLY? Let me guess, the same way you avoid getting any form of influenza? Or other virus for that matter.
But here's the kicker, you'll love this... My oldest daughter informed me at dinner, before the phone ever rang, that none of the girls bathrooms on the 2nd floor of her school have soap... ever. Have you been in an elementary school lately? Taken a passing glance at the handrails on the stairs? I tell my kids not to touch them, I'd rather they fall than pick up whatever germs are lurking on that thing!
I've got an idea, maybe they should have the automated voice guy go fill the soap dispensers I think that would go much further in the prevention of the spread of swine flu than that damned phone call.
Rant over... I feel much better now. Thanks for "listening".
For those of you who are not my friends on Facebook, and by the way, why the hell aren't you? Whatever the reason you are not privy to my every waking thought, hmm that could explain why. Anyway, never fear, I am back to catch you up on my life. I KNOW! I am posting more than just thought provoking quote or a story I copied from someone else. I'll wait while you rush to the bathroom to avoid peeing your pants in excitement. Wait... it's just a bullet post, no need to get that paper bag to breathe into.
Proof you can still teach an old dog, here's some crap I have learned recently.
Answering the phone before 8am is a crap shoot. It could be my boss asking if I could come help that day with a store revision. Where revision means playing Bob the Builder. So I was building, organizing and restocking cards from drop off to pick up of my kids, on one of my scheduled days off. On the flip side maybe the a/c guy coming to do our yearly checkup was available to come EARLY! When does that EVER happen?!
School skate night is entertaining. For all the wrong reasons! Yeah, yeah, watching my kids skate and hang out with their school friends is fun. But watching the older siblings, mainly middle schoolers flirt and dance is way more entertaining. Playing count the inappropriate tattoos and missing teeth is possibly the best game of all.
Also? Note to skating rink: please stop selling crap that lights up for kids to put in their mouths. Those damned blinking retainers and pacifiers are disgusting. And they scream white trash. Thus all the kids, mine included, want them! Please for the love of Pete at least close the "Pro Shop" on school skate night. And here I have no idea what Pro Shop actually means.
The number of extra days I work is directly proportional to the added amount of mess in my house. Upside is it is also proportionally related to the extra amount of money in my bank account. Between Mother's Day and that 8am phone call I have been at work more mornings than home, thus the house is quickly becoming a disaster area. When there are loads, plural, of DISHES to be done there is trouble. And don't ask me why I am the only one capable of loading and running the dishwasher in this house, I have yet to learn that!
I could never work full time and have little kids, I have an amazing respect for those who juggle it all. I have come to the conclusion that I am missing the multitasking life gene. Actually this is one of those things I have always known. There's even a name for my condition. Damn, what was it again? Oh yeah, PROCRASTINATION!
You can get a lot of crap done just during commercials. Tifaux is possibly not the best invention EVAH after all! Don't get me wrong I sure as hell wouldn't give it up, but sometimes regular viewing actually helps me get more accomplished by splitting a big job up into little bits.
I need to quit finding new blogs to read. By the time I catch up with new posts in my reader I don't have time to write my own posts. Damn there's that procrastination problem again! But really go check out that blog, well written with great pictures. Remember the photographer friend I was asking you to vote in a contest for? It's his site.
Alright, time to watch some Gilmore Girls and clean the girl's bathroom during commercials.
Bwak, bwak. An Easter story I had to share with ya'll.
A friend was in front of me coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands. He grabbed my friend by the hand and pulled him aside. The Pastor said, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!"
My friend said, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor."
Pastor questioned, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?"
He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service!"The words for this week are awesomely appropriate, thank you Tink.
Translation... it was easy for us procrastinators to throw together a post at the last minute.
Translation... it was easy for us procrastinators to throw together a post at the last minute.
Without further ado I give you
Opening and Spring.
Opening and Spring.
You know it's spring when the garden department at Home Depot is packed on a Saturday morning.We finally (after 6 years here) started an herb garden.
Or as hubby keeps calling it, our recession garden.
Little Miss Brookey picked pink flowers for the flower bed.Imagine that.
They sure are pretty as they are opening up after yesterday's showers.
The crisp, very un-spring like breeze this morning had our homemade wind chimes singing as I was taking pictures of our gardens.Last minute entry, who?
Of course the real signs of spring showed up inside my house yesterday.Brookey was opening all of the eggs hoping for long forgotten candy.
NO, she didn't find any.
I don't know what kind of half-assed house cleaner you think I am.
And with spring of course there must be bunnies.
And nothing says spring like bunnies... in a head of lettuce?My mom sent theses to the girls. Yes we have two different ones.
Okay, they are kinda cute, and Brookey loves them.
She did all the "decorating" for Easter for me.
My first thought for opening?
I am scared of opening the door to my 10 year old's room for fear of what I might find.
Okay, they are kinda cute, and Brookey loves them.
She did all the "decorating" for Easter for me.
My first thought for opening?I am scared of opening the door to my 10 year old's room for fear of what I might find.
For more...
"So this is spring break."
"Yep."
"Funny. It's not how it looked in the brochures."
- Pacey and Joey - Dawson's Creek
Oh yeah, birthday parties. Okay, even I am getting a bit sick of the birthday posts. But you idea poachers rest assured there are many more great ideas to pilfer. I'm going to make a few slide shows and finish those posts up next week. K?
So the girls' Spring Break officially started this morning. And damned if they weren't both up and running at 7:00am when I drug my ass out of bed in search of the delicious quiche I could smell from my bedroom. Hubby was making food to take to a work pot-luck (they have them like once a month) and he made an extra quiche for me, which I may or may not have already eaten 3/4ths of. Doesn't matter the entire thing will be gone by the time he gets home. Have I mentioned my love of quiche? No? Well I do, I love quiche. Come to think of it I love eggs in most forms. Except deviled eggs, because I hate pickles more than I love eggs. Oh my god, are ya'll even going to keep reading after that revelation? I think I just sunk to an all time low here at Casa de Pete.
Anyway, an hour and a half in and 3/4ths of a quiche later, we have one injury requiring a Littlest Pet Shop Bandaid, Webkinz abandoned on the computer, tv left on with crappy cartoons and a missing remote so I can't turn it off (the power button on the tv fell off from overuse and the remote is the only alternative) and now the kids are out back. Well, at least they are playing together and no on is crying yet. Whew, it's going to be a long week.
Our plans for the week include the cold community pool, me working two mornings, two day trips to the beach and um yeah, that's pretty much it. Stay-cation my ass, sounds like almost every other week of the year to me. Remember last year? No? Well, I hardly do either. But I vaguely recall a road trip and lots and lots of food. Damn, wish I hadn't unearthed those posts, now I'm really depressed. That's what comes after the recession right? Depression.
One last thing...if you haven't already (and those of you who have, THANK YOU!) take a minute and VOTE for my friend in the Name Your Dream Assignment contest, voting ends April 3rd.
The light at the end of the tunnel?!
My baby is 6. Today! I KNOW! I can't believe it myself.
And we survived another Birthday Party! Saturday Brookie had 5 friends plus a sibling over to celebrate her 6th birthday. We only had RSVPs for 4, but had invited 8 so we had plenty to share with everyone. Whew!
The night before the girls colored lots of Littlest Pet Shop pictures and hung them all over the house. It was a great and cheap way to decorate! And as you may remember getting decorations for this party was not easy.
The cake that Dad made.
Brooke told him exactly what she wanted and he made it.The coins and yellow road make it look JUST like the Littlest Pet Shop game she loves to play.
Everything but the LPS figurines, candles and the foil wrappers on the coins is edible.
And it's cute from EVERY side.Dad is getting pretty good at the fondant. And he makes it with marshmallows, so it tastes good too!
First the kids decorated "doggie bags" brown lunch bags, which were for the goodies they would take home from the party. This has become a staple in our party planning. We have the kids decorate their own bag while we wait for everyone to arrive. Cheap, easy, fun and time filler.
Playing "Doggie, Doggie, where's your bone? Someone took it from your home."They also played a rousing game of animal charades and toss the bone in the dog dish, with graham cracker bones they got to eat!
Pin the tail on the Pony. Painting courtesy of daddy.
Lunch was served from dog dishes.Puppy Kibble = chicken poppers and pretzel nibblers
Cat Chow = "goldfish" (crackers) and "mice" (cheese in the shape of Mickey Mouse)
With fruit and veggies for the little bunnies.
Happy Birthday to Brooke.
A sampling of the goodies that went home in the doggie bags.
They each got a Littlest Pet Shop toy, Littlest Pet Shop Box of Bandaids (which were declared the greatest idea EVAH) Littlest Pet Shop magnets and Littlest Pet Shop Coloring book.
This makes us one down and one to go on birthday parties for 2009! And now I am enjoying my only 2 days of doing nothing for awhile. Spring Break starts Friday. Ahhhh!
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