These last couple of weeks we've had snow off & on. I could be wrong, but I want to say that in my 12 years of living here in Idaho, this is the most snowfall (with snow sticking around for awhile) that I've seen in awhile. Yeah, it makes for crappy driving conditions now & then, but when you're at home, with the fireplace blazing and the front curtains open, it's awesome! I checked Weatherbug and it looks like we can count on more, too. Woo hoo!
On another note, I had forgotten to write about our great Christmas Tree cutting trip. This was the first time I've ever cut down a Christmas Tree. The boys thought it sounded like a great idea so after we bought our $10 tag at the Department of Forestry, we took a drive up to Idaho City. After getting to town we checked with some locals on suggestions for where to go. We went up the road a couple of miles to a forestry road and after a few stops finally found "the tree".
Zach and Randy took turns chopping (they wanted to do it the old fashioned way with an axe--no chainsaws for us!) and got it down pretty quickly.
We hauled it back to the truck, drove it home & later cut it down to size to fit our ceiling. Note to others wanting to try this: "Wild" Christmas trees tend to carry most of their bushiness from the branches way at the bottom. So when you cut down to size, the tree looks a lot different than originally thought. But that's okay, we still love our tree because we made the trip to get it ourselves.
Tonight after work I have my "final fitting" on my dress. I can't remember... Did I tell you about the dress? For someone who is doing more of a "budgeted wedding", I can say it is a dream come true. It's really a long story that I won't get into, involving going to a couple of bridal shops and making the mistake of trying on beautiful dresses before looking at the price tags. "Excuse me miss...do you have anything for a lot less that doesn't look like a 7th grade home-ec project?" Behold the sale rack. Some of the stuff on that rack (which was not even as wide as my arms expanded, by the way) was pretty scary. But one dress kept catching my eye, even though it was white.
You see, I thought that the bridal police would come hunt me down if I tried on anything in white. "Ma'am...I'm sorry....You are neither virginal nor chaste, so we'll have to ask you to remove that dress and come with us." It's my second wedding and I thought it was a MAJOR faux pas to wear white. But I'm finding out from a lot of different sources that nowadays the color of the dress really doesn't matter, whether it's your first, second, or fifth wedding. (Okay, I really don't know anyone who has been married five times but that just sounded good...) In fact, they say that wearing a white dress can represent a "fresh start" or "new beginning". So after trying it on I realized I really could picture myself wearing that on my wedding day. The great thing about the dress? It was clearanced out & marked down to $99. Woo hoo! I've seen "Say Yes to the Dress" and let me tell you I feel like that was a major score. No $7,000 dress for me, thanks! Obviously I don't want to share pictures of the dress itself, since there's the remote chance Randy may decide to read my blog sometime between now & the wedding.
Plus since some of you who are reading this are invited to the wedding, I don't want to spoil that first look. I want my guests to be surprised too, not just Randy.
So I've decided to do a little "teaser" for you all. Just a few random shots of bits & pieces of my dress for your viewing pleasure. (And if you can figure out what my dress looks like from this little snippets, then you're a wedding dress savant...at least in my eyes.)
After I posted yesterday, I looked at it again and decided I really liked that little graphic at the bottom. I think maybe I should use that in all future wedding posts...kind of as a "warning" that the post is wedding related. That way, for those of you who aren't into the wedding thing can skip past and look for something non-wedding related. Yeah, like I'll post anything non-wedding related anytime soon... (smirk) Too late! You're all in my evil wedding-related clutches now! Mwuhahahahahaahahahahahaaaaaaaa.......
Okay, that sounded a lot more dramatic (and evil) in my head.
It may seem a little strange that a 40 year old woman on her second marriage is getting so into the whole wedding planning thing. I blame it on the internet. Yes, the internet. Do you know how many wedding related web sites there are out there? Especially ones with message boards where you can talk to other brides-to-be and get opinions, advice, suggestions....snark. It sucks you in, I swear.
One of the more popular things these days is DIY. Yes, as in "Do It Yourself". I'll admit I bought my wedding invitations at a craft store and printed them myself, then spent a whole night meticulously peeling & sticking little adhesive dots & aligning ribbon. But some of these brides are SERIOUS DIY'ers. They make their own aisle runners, place cards, card boxes, veils, hair pieces, invitations, favors, candle holders, bouquets, centerpieces...you get the idea. It all sounds very inspiring, but do I have the time (not to mention the energy) to do all of this? And boy, do some of these girls make you feel guilty if you aren't doing all of the extra little details. It can drive a person crazy. My favorite quote is from one of the ladies over on the "Second Weddings" board on The Knot:
"And every day there's a new post in which Suzy Homemaker bride is DIY'ing her hand monogrammed napkin rings made from all the movie tickets she and her fiance have ever seen together with the couples' reviews of the movies typed, laminated and tucked inside with gold plated embossed signature logos on them!!!"
And the acronyms? FI, FMIL, RD, BM, MOH, GM, WC, STD... (Anyone care to guess what all of those mean? Go ahead, I dare you. Leave your guesses in the comments.) Do you know how frightening it was to go on a wedding web site and see all of these women posting messages about whether or not they should do STD's??! Yikes!
What I'm learning mostly is this....it's our wedding. If we choose to thumb our noses at tradition and have our wedding in a really cool restaurant instead of a 100 year old cathedral church or at the hottest country club, so be it. If I think sunflowers would look awesome at a wedding, regardless of the fact that it will be winter and 31 degrees outside, who cares? What?!! I'm not having a Maid of Honor and he's not having a Best Man?? And we're not having an exactly matching number of bridesmaids and groomsmen?? Pfffffft! Another great quote from one of the gals on the "Second Weddings" board, and kind of a motto for everyone there: "Do what makes your heart happy." Yeah....my heart is pretty damn happy....
Yes, it's been awhile...I think I blogged enough during that 30 day thing to make up for the rest of the year, lol. But the real reason I haven't blogged lately is because I've been pretty busy. Changes abound in our household! Here's the latest update...most of you know all of this already, but I'm just putting it all out there to get everyone up to speed. If you have to ask, you probably don't know me that well:
Randy is now living in Idaho. He made it out here in November with his oldest son Zach in tow, who wanted to "start over" away from the lifestyle he had gotten used to out in North Carolina. His younger son, Trevor, was living with Collin & I already so he could start school at the beginning of the year and not have to transfer to a new school in the middle of the semester. So now our household consists of myself, Randy, Collin (16), Zach (18), Trevor (15), my two dogs Rowdy & Zoe, and Randy's dog Roxie. Oh...and let's not forget the cow.... So my life has been busy getting everyone all settled in, rearranging rooms, making room for everyone's storage, getting used to new routines, etc.
(Trevor, Zach & Randy on the night Randy & Zach arrived)
Another reason my life has been busy lately is because now that Randy is out here, we've decided to get married. People will have their opinions, and I say let them have them. I'm 40 years old, I know what I want out of life, and I'm done playing dating games. Actually that pretty much goes for both of us...except that Randy is 39, not 40. (He's quick to remind me, lol.) We're both very happy, our kids are happy (or as happy as teenagers can be) and everyone gets along (for now.) Sure, with 3 boys in the house between the ages of 15 & 18 there's going to be testosterone overload now & then. I'm learning to deal with it. We've made sure we keep the lines of communication open and not let things fester. We plan to have "family meetings" on a regular basis (once a week of possible, maybe twice a month more realistically) so everyone can air out their opinions, etc. and we can get everyone's schedules coordinated.("The boys" relaxing out on a fence in the pasture)
All this brings me to a warning...if you don't want to hear the mad ravings of a 40 year old bride-to-be who is planning a wedding that's rapidly approaching and dealing with venues, officiants, florists, bakers, family, teenagers and a fiance....you might want to turn this channel off for awhile. Because this is pretty much going to turn into the wedding channel for the next couple of months. Don't get me wrong--I'm no Bridezilla...but having to plan something like this can make any sane person a little temporary insane. I welcome opinions, suggestions, help, etc. and would love to hear from anyone who wants to chime in on any of my wedding subjects. You've been warned...
From the official 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games website:
"On 12 November 2008, the Special Olympics Flame of Hope will be lit in Athens, Greece to commence a three-month journey across five continents to delivering hope, courage and inspiration to Special Olympics athletes worldwide.
The flame will stop in 10 cities around the world and transported more than 60,000 kilometers (37,000 miles) by DHL, the Official Transporter of the Flame of Hope for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. At each stop the Flame will be carried by teams of law enforcement personnel, Special Olympic athletes and volunteers.
On 28 January 2009 the Flame of Hope will reach Idaho, USA, and begin the Final Leg of the Global Law Enforcement Torch Run. It will reach Boise, Idaho on 7 February 2009 and be used to light the Cauldron to mark the official beginning of the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games."
People may think I'm weird, but I am so proud that Idaho is hosting these world games. Boise and the surrounding area will be host to approximately 2,800 athletes, coaches & delegates from 100 countries. Yeah, it's not the regular Olympics, but these athletes train just as hard, if not harder, just to play in these games.
It's kind of soft spot in my heart because when I was young (I think around 10 or so) my mother signed up herself, me and my sister to volunteer with the Special Olympics being held at that time in Long Beach. I don't remember if it was regional games or what, but it was pretty big. During the opening ceremonies, when we were marching around the Millikan High School track with the athletes, the excitement was contagious. I remember an athlete who was probably high school age and the two of us talked the entire time we were marching around that track, about cartoons. At my age, I thought it was the coolest thing that this older person knew SO much about cartoons, lol. I also remember how loud everyone clapped & cheered when the races/competitions were over. It didn't matter if an athlete was a winner or the last one to cross the finish line--everyone clapped just as loudly for every one of them.
To this day, I'm glad my mom signed us up for that. It taught me humility and tolerance. When other kids at school made fun of kids who were mentally challenged, I didn't join in. Because I had seen these athletes and knew they were awesome competitors in everything they did & put forth more effort than a lot of people I knew.
I ran across this on the Cute Overload blog and almost "squeeeed" out loud when I saw it! Brought back memories of being a kid and the anticipation building as I neared the end of a dot-to-dot puzzle. Guessing all along what it was and usually being right when I finished, lol. The really good ones kept you guessing though...
Alas, my poor Scarlett has had her first mishap...and it wasn't even with me behind the wheel! My darling son (said in a sickeningly sweet way to try to override the urge to choke the living daylights out of him) borrowed my car last night so that he & Trevor could get out of the house for a little while and give me some down time to watch a movie & relax. I had just sat down in the living room when I heard an odd thud noise from the garage. I knew it couldn't be good. I rushed out to the garage to see Collin looking very surprised and the garage door partway open. He pulled forward as I opened the garage door. When I made my way to the back of my car, (Collin saying the entire time "I swear it had opened!") I saw a lot of white paint from the garage on the back of the car right around the handle to open the back upper hatch. I immediately unleashed a tirade on my son and asked how he could manage to back into the garage door. He tried to explain that it was totally an accident (DUH) and that he swore the door was open. He said he was looking in the rear view mirror when he backed out. I yelled at him, "Didn't you see the big garage door looming in the mirror when you looked in it??!!" He claims he didn't. (I'm actually wondering if he was looking in one of the side mirrors and from that lower vantage point the door looked open.) He's actually lucky that I didn't take a really good look at it until this morning after I got to work and it was light outside. Because underneath that paint (and probably scratches) was a nice sized dent. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh!!!!
You can tell where the dent is by the way the reflection of the ground looks like there's a big hill behind me. That should be a straight line. Anyone know a good body shop guy? A cheap one?
Woman in Cincinnati, Ohio arrested in cow suit. No, seriously. And what do they mean "It is not clear why the woman was wearing the costume." Find out, damnit! Isn't that their job? To find out these things and report back to us?
Damn...so close to the end of the month, yet I just can't keep it up. There are some days when you just don't feel like it. Like when you've had a couple of stress-filled days in a row, involving stolen iPods, the county Sheriff & stupid teenagers. (sigh)
So to cleanse our pallet, here is something I happened upon totally be accident while surfing through Youtube. It is the day for Friday Videos, after all!
In my opinion, this is pretty damn cool. Something I've never seen before. If you search Youtube, you'll find other songs he's done, such as Sesame Street and the Inspector Gadget theme. One of my favorites believe it or not happens to be the Peter & the Wolf theme, simply because it reminds me of my dad. When I was little my dad had this huge collection of records. Yes, big vinyl records that played on his "hi fi" stereo in his den. If we were really good, he would let us sit quietly in his den and listen to some of them. He had a lot of Broadway musicals & classical music, along with some of the old big bands. I remember sitting and listening to Peter & the Wolf and closing my eyes, trying to identify all of the characters in the story through their specific music. Here's Greg Patillo's version if you want to give it a listen:
P.S. He also has a version of Flight of the Bumblebee that is pretty cool too. I don't know how he does it without passing out!
I just realized that I never updated you (probably all two of you who are reading this) about what happened with my phone. I went in to Verizon and ended up explaining the whole spiel to one of the sales guys there. He said he had never seen a charger pull out the charging slot before. Lucky me! I'm the first! He went & got yet ANOTHER replacement phone and proceeded to get it set up. During this process, the manager came over (the one who helped me originally) and started apologizing about all of the trouble I've been having. He took over & got the phone all set up and tested all of the things that had gone wrong previously to make sure this one would work. He also told me that if ANYTHING else goes wrong to come in and they will do whatever it takes to "take care of me". So now I have a phone that works and a charger that works and all is right with the world.
Hockey season has officially begun--Collin played his first game tonight. They lost, but they played hard. Their poor goalie was playing with a pulled tricep muscle and they eventually had to switch him out for the goalie who will be playing for the varsity team & didn't have his goalie leg pads with him. All in all though, after the kids spend the first half of the game learning to gel with each other, they played a hard game. But unfortunately, tonight's blog is about something else that happened in the game. At one point, Collin's stick got hung up on a player on the other team. Collin tried to get his stick free but the kid clamped his arm down onto it and refused to give it up. So of course the referee saw this and called a penalty on Collin for hooking. (And yes, I know sometimes the kids really do hook but I knew this wasn't really hooking this time. The other player was blatantly holding onto it while Collin tried to get it free.) As Collin went past the kid on the way to the penalty box, he reached out and thumped the kid in the back of the head. I was surprised by this, because Collin isn't usually a violent player. But after the game, when Collin explained what happened, I understood why he did it. Apparently, as Collin skated past, the kid on the other team called Collin the "N" word. When I heard this I was furious. Are you serious??? This isn't 1962. We're not in some podunk backwoods southern town. Who are this kid's parents? What do they teach him? I spoke with Collin's coach after the game and he told me that Collin told him about it and he spoke to the other team's coach. He assured me that the coach took care of the situation and gave the kid a stern talking to. But I'm still floored by it. I'm just proud that after Collin thumped this kid he just skated away and didn't let it escalate. He did the right thing. Too bad the other kid didn't.
Okay....I think I just need to resign myself to the fact that I'm not going to remember to do this EVERY day. But I think only missing one day here & there isn't so bad.
Let me tell you about my week involving my phone. (Warning...this is gonna be long.) Last week on Friday my phone stopped pairing with my bluetooth earpiece. (It may not sound like a big deal, but when you're in a long distance relationship and the majority of your contact with your someone special is over the phone, it's nice to have your phone working properly. It's also nice to have a bluetooth earpiece so you can go about your daily business around the house like cooking & stuff so you can have a 2 - 3 hour phone call and still get things done.) I called Verizon and did a few tests and they determined it was the phone that had the problem, not the earpiece. They ordered me a new phone to replace mine, but of course my phone had just passed the warranty date last month so I had to pay $50. Oh well, better than paying full price for a new phone. Since they were sending it Fed Ex I had to wait until Tuesday to get it. Unfortunately, of course they tried to deliver it while I was at work so when I got home there was a note on my door saying I could sign the paper and have them leave it there the next day (which isn't a good idea because I live on a major road and my front porch is in plain view) or I could come get it that night at 6:00. Even though the only Fed Ex pick up location was 25 minutes away in Boise, I decided that was the best option. (Little did I know...) I arrived right around 6:00 and when the guy at the counter (who had the personality of a dead fish) scanned my door tag, he said it "wasn't back yet" and to come back in 15 minutes. So I went out to my car & waited 15 minutes. When I came back in, he scanned it again and again told me it wasn't there yet. I moved aside and this time stood in the office and waited. About 10 minutes later he asked to scan my tag again (don't they save that info the first time??) and said wait just a minute I'm going to go look in back. He was gone for 20 minutes. Seriously. At 6:45 he came back out and said "It's not here. I don't know where it is." Um....excuse me?? So I said, "You've lost it?" He said, "No, it's misplaced." So I said, "Which is the same thing as lost." To which he replied, "Yes, it's lost." (insert angry face here) He said that if they found it they would deliver it the next day. Oh yeah, that's what I want...so I can go through all of this again! So the manager came out to talk to me. I noticed she seemed a little perturbed when I told her that her counter guy admitted that they lost my package. However, while we were talking about what they were going to do to fix this situation, another woman came out from the back and said she had found it by going through the boxes one by one. So finally, around 7:00 I got my phone and went back home. But wait, there's more! After arriving at home I eagerly opened the package and went through the directions to get it all set up. Things were looking good until I opened my phone up and saw that every time I pushed any button the screen would double up, making it nearly impossible to read what was on the screen. (Really fun when you're trying to send a text.) Also the front screen was intermittently going dark, even when buttons were pressed. Crap. At least it worked for a basic phone call and it paired up with my bluetooth earpiece so I made do with it for the rest of the night. Wednesday after work I picked up the boys and headed to Verizon (my son was having problems with his phone also--same model, surprise--so I wanted to get his taken care of too.) Of course by the time I got there they were very busy so I had to type my name into a queue and wait to be called. When I got to the counter I explained the situation to the guy (luckily I had the manager so he was very competent and helpful) so he replaced my phone for me again. He also took care of my son's phone, ordering him a new one because they didn't carry his color in the store, and also didn't charge me for his replacement since I was having so much trouble. Before I left I told him that also my charger had been acting up, turning off & on while charging. He said that maybe it was my old phone so to try it with the new phone and if it still didn't work to bring it in and they'd replace it. So that night after getting my new phone set up and making sure it worked properly, I plugged in the charger before I went to bed. It did the same thing it did with my old phone. Okay, I have to take another trip out to Verizon tomorrow... Thursday...after work...Verizon store...Luckily this time they weren't very busy and I just walked in & told them what I needed and they replaced it for me. Easy peasy. When it was time for bed last night, I was excited that I was finally going to have a phone that worked AND a charger that worked. I plugged the charger into the wall, plugged it into the phone and....nothing. Not charging. I pushed it in a little further and it kind of flashed the charging symbol for a second then stopped again. I moved the cord around a little bit to see if it helped but nothing I did would get it to charge. Crap. I knew I was going to have to take yet ANOTHER trip to the Verizon store on Friday. So I unplugged the charger from the wall, pulled it out of the phone and...wait a second...that doesn't look right...holy crap, the charger pulled out the whole charging slot from the phone!!! (insert another angry face here) Great, so the charger just broke the brand new phone. This is getting ridiculous. Needless to say, I had a hard time falling asleep last night and woke up feeling tired & cranky. Today after work I get to drive over to Verizon again (did I mention it's a good 15 minutes from my house which equals gas that I'm wasting driving 30 minutes round trip for four days in a row??) Someone is going to fix all of this. I will fill you in later on how it went. But I have a feeling I'm NOT going to be in a good mood.
Oh yeah...and today is "National Talk Like a Pirate Day". Arrrrrrgh.
Do you ever have one of those weeks when nothing is going right and just when you think "Okay it only has to go up from here" then something else happens? Yeah...it's one of those weeks. Today after work I had to run some errands but needed Collin to go with me because we're having trouble with his phone. (That in itself is another story for another time...) So Collin, Trevor & I loaded up into the car and went to Verizon. After conducting our business there, we were hungry and wanted to pick up something quick at Wendy's. Things went well at the drive thru, the girl at the window said "If I could give you free stuff I would just because of your hair." But as we pulled away from Wendy's & got barely a scant block or two away, tragedy struck. They had put all three of our drinks into one of those flimsy cardboard drink trays. I was trying to extract them from the tray and put them in my car's cupholders when the tray tipped. One soda flipped completely upside down and poured down the side of my seat, all over the door and the floor. When I went to try to stop that one from falling, the one I had in my other hand dumped sideways on me and I got about half of a cold Mountain Dew in my lap. Of course, no amount of cheap Wendy's napkins are going to take care of this, so after I apologetically let an expletive fly, I told Collin to get us home as quickly as possible. So I had a very cold, very wet ride home, sitting in a big puddle of what really looked like pee since it was yellow Mountain Dew. By the time we got home most of it had soaked into the seat and I was soaked through to my underwear. I got out of the car and quickly headed into the house so the neighbors wouldn't think I had peed myself. I waddled into the bathroom, took my shoes & socks off, stripped the soaked jeans & underwear off and took a shower from the waist down. After finally getting adequately cleaned off I went back to the kitchen to eat my now lukewarm burger & fries. Is it Friday yet??
Crap...I did it again. Missed yesterday. This is really harder than it looks. Especially on busy days when I have to drive to the far side of Boise to take my son to hockey practice since his truck broke down. :( Since I don't have a lot to talk about, just some random updates today...
I had to break down and make a doctor appointment for my shoulder for next week. My shoulder has been giving me problems off & on for a very long time now and more recently it's just in constant pain. Both my mom and my dad had to have surgery on their shoulders because of rotator cuff problems so it makes me nervous. Kind of like having both decks stacked against you. I've put it off for way too long, but you know it's time to see the doctor when it hurts to get dressed in the morning. I'm sure I'll keep you posted on how that all goes.
Last night I had a very nice ending to my day via a heart to heart talk with my son. He is the one who initiated the conversation and it I won't go into details because that conversation was between him & I and I don't want to be blathering on about it all over the internet. But the best part about the WHOLE conversation was at the end. He had been lying down on his bed during our talk and when I stopped talking at one point I just looked at him and asked if he had anything else he wanted to talk about. He sat up in his bed & scooted close to me and said, "No you can just give me a hug now." Then he wrapped his arms around me and gave me the tightest, longest hug I've had from him in ages. (And the first one initiated by him in I don't know how long.) I told him that I love him and he said, "I know...I love you too." Just a few words, but they were some of the best I've heard in a long time.
I've been thinking lately about making cakes. No, seriously. When I was little my mom took a class through the local Parks & Recreation program and learned how to make cakes. My memory is a little foggy, but I seem to recall her making cakes for people, probably to make a little extra money on the side. She made wedding cakes, birthday cakes and even an entire fleet of little ladybug cakes (There's a picture somewhere of all of them sitting on a long table in our garage.) With that in mind, the other day I ran across the show "Amazing Wedding Cakes" on WE this weekend. (I actually sat through 2 whole episodes!) Some of these (actually most if not all of these) cakes rock!! For some reason my absolute favorite (shown in the video above) was the Birch tree cake made by the Cakegirls. If I could make cakes like that I'd quit my day job.
I'm signing on just long enough to beg off tonight... Having some problems tonight with my BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) and am just typing this quickly before I fall off my chair. I'll be back tomorrow...
So I don't usually get all that excited about new movies coming out, but for some reason when I saw this trailer today I thought, "I really have to see that movie when it comes out." I'll admit there were some Bond movies in the past that I thought were good. And trust me, as an adult female I am in the party of "there's something pretty damn sexy about James Bond"...(I'll even admit that when I set up my Garmin Nuvi navigator, I changed the voice from that annoying woman to a guy with an English accent. It's like having Bond right there in the car with me, LOL!) I will say though that I don't think all of the Bonds were sexy. My opinion? Sean Connery was NOT a good looking man when he was younger. But he did age well, I've got to give that to him. I'm not usually one of those "hot for older guys" kind of women but Sean can eat crackers in my bed any day. I know that some people don't like the newest Bond...maybe because he looks "different" than the other five (wait, six?) who have played it in the past. If memory serves me correctly, Daniel Craig is more fair-headed than his Bond predecessors. But maybe that's what makes him more appealing. Or, maybe it's just because other than Pierce Brosnan, the others had those awful 60's/70's/80's hairstyles that just automatically turn me off. (The old hairstylist in me comes out on this opinion, I think...)
So chime in--who has been your favorite Bond and why?
Short but simple...why do guys (doesn't matter what age) get such joy out of farts? The other night I had to endure my 16 year old son and my boyfriend's 15 year old son farting on each other & laughing hysterically every time they did it. Sigh....
Okay, I felt bad about missing yesterday (AND Sunday--I still can't figure that one out!) so when I ran across a particular website just now I knew I HAD to post it here. PMSBuddy Yes, it's a real web site. Their tag line is "Saving relationships, one month at a time." I suppose some women would get all uppity about this and freak out. But personally I think it's hilarious! It reminds me of when I worked at First State Bank of the Oaks in Thousand Oaks, CA back in the early 90's. We had an Operations Manager who quite frankly scared the crap out of some of us. I remember one day coming in and my co-worker saying "It's a red day!" After seeing my bewildered look, she explained to me that she and some of the other girls kept track of our Operations Manager's cycles on their calendars so they knew when to tread lightly. Who knew someone would take that idea and run with it? If the man in my life wants to sign up, more power to him! Maybe then he'll know when to stock up on chocolate. :)
Okay....I realize I missed yesterday, and I feel like a slacker about that, but my mind was a little unfocused yesterday/last night because someone I care about very much is having surgery this morning. But what's really weird looking back at my posts is that I don't have one for Sunday. Huh?? I could swear I wrote one but for the life of me I don't remember what it was about. Very strange...
So, on to a real blog post... Yesterday was pretty busy after work. After I had to run to the store to replenish my empty refrigerator & pantry, my son had a parent meeting at school for his Robotics group. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the FIRST robotics competition, but my son got involved for the first time last year and he had a blast! Here is a link to the FIRST website: FIRST Robotics Competition
He's doing it again this year and I'm wondering how he's going to pull it off with both hockey & a part time job. Their team is pretty awesome, in my opinion. They are a combination of the three main Nampa high schools: Nampa High School, Skyview High School and Columbia High School. (That's where they came up with the team name - it's the first two letters of each school.) Here is their web site: NASKCO Bots Collin is standing just behind and to the right of the robot, with the thumbs up. He was the driver of the robot last year and is planning to be the driver again this year. (They chose Collin as the driver because of his extensive experience with building & driving RC cars and his ability to drive the robot without running it into a wall.)
This is a great opportunity for these kids, as they learned last year. Their team won the Rookie Inspiration Award because the organizers were impressed how the three rival high schools came together to form a team of kids who worked so well together. This experience counts as internships for these kids also and at the parent meeting last night they announced that starting this year they will actually be able to letter in Robotics. The time they put in is absolutely amazing. They work on this Monday through Friday from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. and on Saturday from 9:00 am until...well...whenever. There have been many nights when they didn't quit until after midnight. Then in late February/early March they travel to Oregon for 4 days for the competition.
A lot of local business (and not so local) have sponsored this team and made donations for parts, resources and fund raising. (Our local Dominoes has donated pizzas & soda to be given away by raffle at all of the home football games at each school. The winner & their friends get to sit on the sidelines of the game on two couches with five pizzas and two 2-liter bottles of soda.) If by chance any of you reading this would love to help out the team in some way, whether it be a monetary donation (big or small, every bit helps!!) or other resources donated, please contact me and I can give you details.
I'm sure I'll be keeping you all posted on what happens with this great team over the next 6 months or so.
PLEASE, please, please tell me I'm not the only one who gets hooked into watching this show... I'll be scrolling through the channels and see that it's on and I'll say to myself, "Oh, I'll just watch a few minutes." An hour later (or even more if God forbid they're doing a marathon) I'm still rooted to the couch. Maybe it's because I only had one child and so these parents to me are kind of "super parents" in my mind. Or maybe I watch and am relieved when I see them do something that makes them more "human". All I know is that they're doing an awesome job with all 8 of those kids. If it was me, I probably would have crumbled by now and the filming crew would have found me curled up in the fetal position under the kitchen table.
The brain is not functioning tonight...the boys are playing their new Mercenaries 2 game with the surround sound hooked up. Can you say loud? My living room sounds like a war zone. On a good note, I finally got my hair trimmed & colored today and I dare say it looks pretty damn good. I always forget how good the color looks when it's fresh until I actually do it. Tonight I got lazy and put it into two braids. It actually looks really cute. I was going to take a picture and post it but for some crazy reason whenever I take a picture I look way older and worn out in the picture than I think I look in person. Or maybe I'm just in denial.
I've noticed a pattern with some of the blogs I read....Friday videos. It's gotten to the point when I open up my blog list on Friday mornings and start going through them, the anticipation grows as I wonder what hilarity I will be viewing before my weekend. So if they can do it, why can't I? Of course, the hard part is not just posting something that I saw on someone else's blog. I need to find something funny or interesting that is something that hopefully my readers (all 2 of you) haven't seen. I think it's easier for those other blogs though because they have tons of readers that are constantly sending them stuff. As for me...I have maybe a handful of you. And I hardly get any comments, feedback, or suggestions. So what say you? Do you have any funny videos to pass along? Maybe a favorite of yours? Or something you just stumbled upon while skimming through Youtube the other day? In the meantime, I will post a favorite of mine that most of you have probably seen, but still cracks me up every time (and even comes with an important message):
I was thinking about it tonight and I really have to say I'm blessed when it comes to my family. So many people out there have families that they are ashamed of, embarrassed of, want to get away from. But my family is something I'm very proud of. When I was growing up of course, I'm sure there were moments when I rolled my eyes when I had friends over and my mom or dad said something that I thought was "uncool". Or times when I thought my big sister was so mean because she wouldn't let me borrow one of her cute tops. But as an adult, I can't help but look back and remember the good moments in between those other times. Like standing in the livingroom with my mom while she tried to teach me to two-step & I tried to teach her to "shake her booty". Or when my dad & I took a 4 state road trip, just the two of us, and he let me drive his new 1984 Camaro. And I can't forget how proud I was when my sister had me stand up next to her as her maid of honor at her wedding when I was only 14 years old. Then at the times in my life when I needed them most, even when I didn't ask for their help, they were there. When I gave birth to my son it was my dad who picked Collin & me up from the hospital the next morning and took us home. And my mother came out from Texas to help me out those first couple of weeks when I was totally clueless. My sister gave me so much encouragement over the phone when I talked to her, giving me tips that she learned years before me. I don't talk much about my brother, but that's only because he has chosen to remove himself from our lives. But even though he won't answer emails, I hope that he reads them and knows that I love him. He's still my brother, no matter what. I hope that my family knows how much I love them and appreciate them every day. I'd like to think that they're proud of me too.
So if I blog about not having anything to blog about, does that count? Seriously, I can't be dry already on day 2. I suppose I could just start picking random things in my life to talk about but honestly my life isn't that exciting. Plus all of the interesting things happening in my life I don't feel like putting out here because I think my ex is still reading this and I (unlike some ex-wives) do not like to purposely stir the pot. Really, I don't. Things happen, people get divorced, people move on, new lives are started... Can't we all just be mature adults and get on with our lives and maybe even get along for the sake of the kids? (Or kid in this case.) Because, really...I'm pretty damn happy right now. And I don't think it's fair that I can't talk about it. So I'm officially lifting my self-imposed ban on talking about my personal life. I already dabbled in it a little when I posted pictures from our trip to West Virginia. I've been opening up little by little to close friends and family about my personal life lately and it feels good. My problem is that I always worry too much about what other people think. Worried they'll think something that's untrue of me. But screw 'em! My family & friends know me and know the truth and to me that is what's most important.
So I was reading my friend John's blog ( http://johnhawkinsunrated.com/ ) and saw that he and one of his friends are doing a "30 day challenge" of blogging. Designed to get you in the habit of blogging on a more regular basis. So what do I do? I say, "Hey that sounds like a great idea!" even though that little voice in the back of my brain is screaming, "Don't do it!!!" But for some crazy (heh) reason I ignored that little voice and have decided to join in. Although I'm starting on September 2nd, so technically I'm doing 29 days of blogging. (Just call me the leap year of challenges.) As if I didn't have enough going on... School has started, hockey season is getting underway, I'm doing another year on the hockey board as secretary...but that's okay, I'm a mom. I have the power to multi-task! I'm sure my blogs won't be as exciting and thought provoking as most blogs out there, but I hope to at least make you smile once or twice. Heck, if I'm really lucky I might even make you chuckle.
I think I have a new favorite site... Who doesn't love cake? The comedian Jim Gaffigan does a great monologue on cake. But this web site that was brought to my attention "takes the cake" (UHG...SUCH a bad pun)...
(and yeah...don't ask me to explain the above pictured cake....I have NO idea!!!)
Hey, I just realized something. I was looking at my profile and it says "I am a divorced mom of a teenaged son who plays hockey. (fear me!) So I spend about 6 months out of the year hauling a teenaged boy & his sweaty hockey equipment back & forth to the ice rink a couple of times a week."
Um....Collin just turned 16 and he has his own car now. Wooooo hooooo! Those late nights coming home from the far side of Boise in the snow/rain/dark after hockey practices are over! Of course, I'll still be going out there once a week to see his hockey GAMES. But he can get his own butt to practice now. And since he has at least one good friend out here in Nampa who is on the team, they can carpool. (So that's a plus for him.)
And actually, eventually he may get a break from that far drive too. There is an outdoor ice rink being built in Nampa and the team is going to try to work out something so they can get ice time for practice. It would be SO great for them to be able to get more practice in. I'll keep you posted on that development...
THAT, ladies & gentlemen, is Amanda & Nevil's new restaurant in West Virginia. Amanda is my 24 year old niece who just got married over 4th of July weekend. Heck, when I was 24 I never would have been able to own/run a restaurant! I'm so proud of Amanda & Nevil for grabbing hold of their dream and making it come true. Not to mention the wedding was great!
My dad (Amanda's grandfather) walked her "down the aisle". Or in the case of this beautiful setting, down the front porch.
Amanda's sister Charlotte (far right) and Amanda's friends were in her wedding party. Also CJ & Jessica's daughter Raegan was the flower girl. I love the look on Charlotte's face in this picture--it reminds me of the way she used to smile when she was a little girl.
Nevil & Amanda with her mom (my sister Nancy) & dad
Randy, Trevor, Collin & I at the wedding (I love how we inadvertently ended up all color coordinated. The boys all in blue and me in a blue striped dress.)
The visit to West Virginia for the wedding was stretched out a little so we could enjoy some relaxing time visiting the family. Our first night there, there was a rehearsal dinner at Amanda & Nevil's restaurant and we had a nice time catching up with family and getting to meet all of the new "significant others" of all of the nieces & nephews.
Charlotte at the rehearsal dinner with my mom & dad.
The kids slept out on the big covered porch and also out in the meadow in tents, having fun scaring each other every night. They spent some time riding the four-wheeler and the dirt bike, swimming at the swimming hole, and playing basketball.
"But what about the levitating goat?" you ask....Ah yes... One of the things we did in the evenings was to go feed the sheep & goats. Might not sound like fun to you--but walking around in the dusk, watching the lightning bugs lighting up around us, hearing the sheep bleating at our approach....kind of relaxing actually. I snapped a few pictures while we were out there and after uploading the pictures to the computer we realized in one of the shots, at first glance, one of the goats looks like it's levitating behind the fence. Kind of made us laugh so now it's a favorite picture. (Secretly I think the goat really was levitating and was planning an escape...)
We've definitely decided we have to visit again soon.....
Well folks, it's that time again....I can't believe I'm turning 40 years old today. I don't know if I should be freaked out or happy. Naw, I know I'm happy. I was doing some retrospective thinking last night (probably TOTALLY not the right word for what I was doing, but I can't think of the right one right now) and I can honestly say that I'm happy at this point in my life. There are a lot of people in my life who care about me (you all know who you are!) and that's what is most important. Although my morning started off rough (teenagers are so trying at times!!) this day is looking better and better all the time. It's only 11:00 in the morning and I've already gotten so many texts, emails, Myspace messages, etc. wishing me a happy birthday. Tonight is a "date night" with my son--dinner at whatever restaurant I choose, then we're off to see a movie. I'm sure I'll end my birthday talking on the phone to the person who loves me the most.
Then two weeks from now, I get to see all of my family. Well not ALL of my family, but my mom, dad, my sister & all of her family. It's been years (seriously, like 20?) since my mom & dad were in the same place together for some kind of event. I really think the last time was my brother's wedding. So this will be a real gift to visit with both of them at the same time. I think going to West Virginia to get some "down time" in will do me a lot of good. It's been a rough 7 months or so and this will get me centered again.
I feel like I should be ending this post with something really philosophical....but I got nothin'....
It's Mother's Day.... I talked to my mom yesterday, but I'm sure I'll still send her an email today or make a quick call to wish her a happy day. Yesterday, she called me--she called because I was having an extremely rough day and needed encouragement and without hesitation she picked up the phone and called. (This was after she had already sent an email giving me encouragement and offering some great advice.) I can't say enough about my mom...I've always loved her and always appreciated her, although not as much at some times (like when I was a teenager, sorry Mom) as others. But as an adult, I can look back and know that even when she was going through rough times, she was still always there for me in her heart. She always did what she thought was best for me. These are some difficult times for me right now and she is always right there with the shoulder to cry on, the sound advice, and the great encouragement. Yesterday she sent me this poem that she said is one of her favorites and it really made me get teary-eyed:
My Daughter I love to hear you come through the door, Calling my name as you had before, And feel your embrace, knowing you care, Patting you gently and stroking your hair. As you begin to tell of your day, My thoughts return to yesterday....
I'M selecting the dress that you are to wear, And choosing the ribbons to put in your hair. We're having a party, you're serving me tea. You're loving your "baby." pretending you're me.
...I know that you say, "It was years ago, And I was just little," but I miss that so! I cherish the minutes you now spend wit me As we laugh and share those old memories. Often at times - though you're unaware - I'd love to put ribbons once more in your hair.
I love you Mom, more than you know. Thanks for always being there for me....
Down at the bottom of my blog, there is a map that shows what cities people are from who have stopped in and read my blog. I'm sure there are random people who just stop in and read it because they happened upon me purely by accident. But there are some cities (you know who you are, Duluth, GA!!) that pop up on a regular basis. Who are you people? Drop me a comment now & then. I don't care if you tell me my blog sucks or you just say hi. But I'd sure love to know who you are, and it would also be nice to hear what you think of all the hard work I put into this blog (ha!) Share the love!
Another funny commercial from Orbit. Still don't think it's as funny as the first one...but still made me laugh.
Added note: Even funnier than the commercial, I think, are the little video clips that can be found on this site: http://www.myspace.com/cheerfororbit Click on the different videos to see the different cheers.
Well kiddos, I've done it again... I've gone way too long without writing anything. Like my friend Scott (Little) recently said, "I WILL NOT become one of those bloggers that blogs less and less and then before you know it, it's been 1 year since your last entry. I will not!" My sentiments exactly...
But I'm having difficulty keeping up with this post for more reasons than one. Mainly, with so much going on in my life lately regarding divorce, moving, custody, etc., things like blogging fall to the wayside. But one of my biggest issues is this: I have already discovered that my soon-to-be ex has been reading this blog and also trying to find ways to read my page on Myspace (which has been set to private). He even went so far as to look up friends of mine to see if he could find out info about my live from reading their comments. So unfortunately it makes me feel a little less "free" to blog away about my life in general. I could make this blog private also, but that would require my friends & family to sign up for a blog account to be able to read this and I don't think that's fair.
But to keep you up to date, Collin & I are still in the house we're renting but I never really have unpacked all the way. Still no livingroom furniture, but I'm kind of used to it now. We do have some new additions to the house....COWS!! They're not OUR cows, they belong to the neighbors. (There are only seven of them) But we are just enjoying the benefits from them. (Yes, cows do have benefits...) I've been trying to figure out for awhile how I was going to keep the pastures cut down, especially since I don't have a lawnmower anymore. So the cows will keep the pastures down, and also the neighbors have promised to take care of irrigating my pastures. I don't have to mess with it! Plus I can lie there in bed at night and listen to the gentle lowing of the cattle....okay, not really. They don't really make any noise at night. In fact, I've only heard them make noise on a couple of occasions. Mostly just when one gets seperated from the rest. One of them in particular is very gentle and seems to like people. He comes up to the fence or to where I'm standing and lets me rub his head. He even had an encounter with Rowdy once too.
Other than that, life has been pretty non-monumental around here. It dawned on me the other day that even though I've been only been living in this house for about 4 months (wait, ONLY?? Geesh, time seems to have flown!) I've actually been seperated for 5 1/2 months. That's almost half a year! Life goes on.... I've gotten closer to some old friends, made some new friends, and...well...there are some things about my personal life that I'll just keep personal for now. ;)
Don't think there's much I can say about this...It's really funny all by itself. For some reason I keep watching this over & over. (And I giggle every time.)
Okay, I'm all for mistranslation of Japanese into the incorrect English words, as proven by my love for the website http://www.engrish.com/ But this great video cracks me up... It's not so much a mistranslation as it is a misinterpretation of the words being sung. But the results made me laugh pretty hard. Plus it has a catchy little tune that will be stuck in your head for the next couple of weeks (or until you can remove it with a sharp object)...
Added footnote: I actually found out that this song is a Swedish song called "Caramell Dansen". The real translation to English is no where NEAR as funny as the misinterpreted lyrics above.
So we are 9 days into the new year... For those of you who know me well, this year is going to be a year of big changes. The good thing about all of this change is that it's reminded me just how much my family and friends care about me. I was terrified of telling my parents about the divorce and thought for sure they would berate me for "being a quitter" or be disappointed in me for "being a failure". But shortly after telling them, my mother sent me an email that literally made me cry. The encouragement she gave me was nothing short of pure unconditional love. And the outpouring from my friends has kept me optimistic throughout this whole thing.
Collin & I moved into a new house this past weekend. It's an older 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom brick house on 4 acres. Yes....I said 4 acres. "Why such a big parcel of land?" you may ask... Good question! Right now, with all the snow over it, it looks lovely. But check back with me after spring hits and all that pasture starts growing. Then we'll see how much I love it. Either I'm gonna have to buy a riding lawn mower or I'm gonna need to buy some sheep or cows. Wait...sheep have smaller poop....maybe I should stick with the sheep.
I'm sure over the coming months, my new house & acreage will lend itself to all sorts of great anectodes to share with all of you. Not to mention "starting over" as a single parent again. At least Collin is out of Pull-Ups this time...
I was originally born and raised in Southern California near the beach. I later moved to Ventura County before eventually making the big move out to Idaho.
I am currently living in Caldwell Idaho, embarking out on a new adventure on my own. I like to think I'm a gardener and more recently I've decided to get serious again about photography.
This is my life....
Zach and Randy took turns chopping (they wanted to do it the old fashioned way with an axe--no chainsaws for us!) and got it down pretty quickly.
We hauled it back to the truck, drove it home & later cut it down to size to fit our ceiling. Note to others wanting to try this: "Wild" Christmas trees tend to carry most of their bushiness from the branches way at the bottom. So when you cut down to size, the tree looks a lot different than originally thought. But that's okay, we still love our tree because we made the trip to get it ourselves.
