Alice and Wonderland Part 2....

OKay, camera battery died on me so I'll be posting these backwards but here are some pics of my girl's big day, she was the Lead FaceCard Soldier in Alice and Wonderland..... sniff sniff
She prances well, she gets that from me. Along with her hair color, bone structure and pouty lips. Yep, all from me.......the attitude, all from The Man oh and the big feet too.
Blurry but you can see her behind the tall chick, such good form. I love to watch her dance. She just takes right to it. But man you should see how dirty her toe shoes are.....dang......
Staring at Alice.........doing her part well........this is titled "Off with her Head" they then chased her around with machetes, ummmm paintbrushes.....
In the finale, holding hands with the white rabbit..........the only boy in the entire studio....little stud, bless his heart.
On the way home, arms busting with flowers from her daddy and I, her sister, her mimi and a necklace from Cec. What a great evening! It was all about her.........just makes my heart sing, tears up my eyes and I just love being her mom at that exact point.

Then real life comes back into play and I want to hang her upside down and bite off her toes. Pre-teen angst is starting early at my house...........waaahhhh

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Fore!

This morning, for the second time ever, I golfed. Not just at the driving range. We played the back nine at our local course. I'm hooked.

Attendees: One Cajun, One Yankee and One Canadian
# of lost balls total: 8
# of times we nearly tipped the cart: 3
# of times I swung and missed: 7
# of pars: 0
# of times, people played around us: 7
# of bathroom breaks: 3
# of ciggies: 4
# of times I cursed: countless
# of times I threw my club: 2
# of cats that stole my ball: 1 - don't ask, weird story about cat that lives on hole 13
# of holes we walked till we realized that you could drive cart on rough grass: 3

Final score for me: 59 for 9 holes.......

I'm going again next saturday morning!

I'm hooked......

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Baptist at the BBQ

(**** my happy stupid self has internet people.......at my house......woohoo.....)

So two nights ago we got a knock on the door at 9 p.m., since I was surfing the big ole tub in my bathroom, The Man graciously went to the door. He came back with a cute, scrapbooked invite to the neighborhood BBQ.....the next afternoon.

There went my plan to photo copy it and get it out to all the uninvited neighbors......dang....they must have seen the evil smile on my face....

So I got home yesterday and got busy making stuff to take. Then my boss had a travel emergancy in Midland Texas. Then since I had no internet I was on two phones, one with my boss and one with a travel agent, trying to save him. No such luck, dang economy and cheap, flight reducing airlines. Sorry boss man, I tried....

So hence, I was late for the BBQ, and I went in my office clothes, all black with the whole professional face and hair plus heels. Rocking that burb look, I was not. But I had food, happy clean cute kids and The Man was due in any minute from work. I put on my happy face and promised The Lord I would not drop one F bomb at all. Not one.......so help me Jesus.

It didn't start off promising at all, I got there and my oldest took off to coo and hold every baby around, this is Utah so there were tons of infants to occupy her time. Duchess promptly climbed up the back of my shirt, thus lowering my cleavage level into dangerous territory. She's shy and doesn't like strangers. Lord help me, I taught the poor kid to be unfriendly, great.....

I put the food down and promptly two husbands walk up and start the 3rd degree trying to juice me for my life history. I so don't fall for that, boys I have worked for people like you forever, I totally can turn the tables, learn all your little secrets and then remind you of them later. But it was fun to watch them try. Meanwhile, I'm holding my cleavage as Duchess continued the Hudini act behind me and The Man was not showing up as promised. He was hanging me out to dry, it was pay back and I was not happy.

Not to mention, the wives of said husbands sat 50 feet away in lawn chairs surrounded by their children. Glaring. Okay, should have expected that, I wore heels to a BBQ, fry me at the stake. This continued until I was able to gather everything, including my dignity and return home.

Until The Man walks up with lawn chairs, a big ole kiss and promptly gathered Duchess out from behind me, thus saving my dignity and cleavage. The husbands quickly shifted their attention and the wives slowly began approaching the area in the yard, out by the curb where the children and I sat while waiting on our steaks to cook. It was looking up....

Until as we all gathered around the table to serve up sides and one wife asked me where I got my cute little accent....(mental eye roll inserted here, man I'm a cynic) but I'm game and I do want to get along decently with my neighbors. So I just smiled, told her I left Louisiana on a bus 13 years ago but it was hard to shake. Then she mentioned how people must just love to hear me talk. Well I said sure until they start automatically deducting IQ points. Silence...... then a full minute later her husband starts laughing hysterically and yells, I got it. Oh boy.

But I chatted and talked recipes and answered questions about what I did for a living and how my kiddos had to attend kids camp since I work. I started to feel pretty good about the whole thing. My kids were being adorable too.....One family complimented Duchess on how articulate she was for her age, then she preceeded to tell them every large vocabulary word she knows, in random order. Little cute show off, she gets that from The Man.

As the sun started to set, I gathered my dishes, peeled Princess away from a bald headed baby named Oscar (yes girlfriend, Oscar........how is that for a hoot......bigest brat you reading this...I pay you to read my blog so you'd better), wrestle Duchess away from the dessert table and The Man and I start inching towards the street where we'd walk two yards over to our house.

Two things happen that became the train wreck........one, a husband who just loves to talk and had followed The Man around all night chatting, actually told The Man that he was just amazed at how many big tough guys (i.e. ex-military) lived in the neighborhood and that The Man was the bigest of the bunch......that silence was golden until the poor guys wife picked him up and carried him home, I jest.....really he is just such a little fellow, he meant no harm.

The Hope4Grace moment of shame came when our hostess' dad showed up in his car and promptly went around shaking hands and kissing babies. He came over and caught us as we had made it to the street and introduced himself as a local church leader. We shook hands and The Man introduced himself....the guy looks at me and goes "well are you related to him"

WTF?

I wish I could say that I said, "Oh I'm his better half" or "I'm *&%$%&, his wife" or even "F--- you, have a nice day" but oh no.......I had to pop off a quote from my favorite Simpson's episode and I go "Oh yeah, I took his DNA when we got married, and then we had babies"

Silence = Awkward

Everyone kinda laughed a little after a minute, while one guy was literally swallowing his tongue while his eyes bulged out trying not to laugh, The Man just kissed my forehead. Yeah, you know it's bad when he does that.

Poor old man, he was awful red in the face but we left and marched our little family home. The Man, he loves me enough to assure me that it all went great and we'll all be best of neighbors.

I'm soooooooooo not getting invited to the next BBQ.

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Brace Yourself......

Supreme Court: There is a right to own guns


I personally try really hard to not censure myself on my blog. That is so not why I have a blog. I like to write, I like to throw it out there and then dust my hands off and say, well...take that. However, lately I've found myself really censuring what I write.

I do not write about my job or work -

1. Because I'm pretty sure that someone or someones (plural) have found my blog and now read it. If they have, that is cool and dandy with me, I really could care less. However, as much material as I could have for my blog from work.......I refuse to put it out there because I do like my paycheck.

2. Did I mention that I like my paycheck? Oh yeah, it pays the mortgage.......and buys me shoes, and furniture. Which is how my budget reads.......mortgage, shoes, furniture.

3. I find that work here is a completely different animal than I've ever experienced. Therefore I really can't do it because it would be hurtful to someone.......not me, but to others. Cause honestly, the stuff I hear and see......wouldn't come across lightly with puffy blue clouds and little chirping birds........get my drift?

I do not write about anything that I believe my mother would be ashamed to see on my blog -

Now keep in mind that beside being responsible for giving me life, she also knows me better than most and knows that I am 10,000 times worth than you could possibly perceive. But even she has limits......therefore I try to keep it somewhat clean......love you mom!

I do limit the amount of info I give about my kiddos......

Because therapy is expensive and I personally can't afford it when they are teenagers.

HOWEVER.........

I realized this morning that I've neglected to really dig into some of my favorite conversations, so let's just clear the air.........I'm gonna embrace the Internet and throw it out there.

I own guns.

I have a conceal and carry license, meaning someone has deemed me well trained enough to pack heat.

I shoot as well as my husband.

I have no qualms about killing someone else if my life or the life of my family is in danger.

I have no problem defending myself in court afterwards either.

I believe that this nation was built upon very important things.....the two most important being the belief in God and the right to bear arms.

To me, the right to bear arms means so much......

I have the right to decide my own fate. I can protect myself and my family as I see fit. Whether that is 911 or using my own gun.

You have those same rights, it is your choice though. Freedom of choice is still freedom.

A co-worker of The Man's is from Asia. He is here training with their company. In his country, a private citizen is not allowed to own guns or even ammunition. Therefore the first thing they wanted to do was go targeting shooting with the other guys. He was absolutely amazed that our country allowed us the right to bear arms. And by the way, the violence statistics in his country are far heavier than ours, I believe this is because we as private citizens are free to defend ourselves, among other things.

I once was asked by a cop (kin of mine) if privately owning guns was smart. Studies have shown that your home can be more dangerous is you have a gun in the house.

My thoughts on that were formed over the past decade. So here you go.......people kill, not guns. It takes a finger and a brain before the trigger can do harm.

If you have guns in the home and you do not properly secure them from children........problem

If you have guns in the home and you do not properly secure them from break-ins......problem

But the point the cop made was this: you take away all the legal guns and there will still be guns....unregistered, illegal guns. In the hands of the bad guys. Good point.

I do have to make mention that guns are not used only for security in my house. We hunt, target shoot and such as well. My children have already been introduced to rifles and target shooting, as you have seen on this blog. We teach them to respect guns. We also teach them safety with guns at all times.

So, in spite of all the controversy over private ownership of guns.......

I'm really proud that the DC gun ban was dropped.

I might not live there, but once it starts, it will spread throughout our country.......

As Heston would say, "Pry it from my cold, dead hand"


*****Coming up after lunch: the baptist went to the BBQ

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This is funny to me....why?

I did have a dream once that there was this great 'Eureka!' press conference about how we've discovered life on Mars, and it was actually the dead skin of one of our employees.

STEPHEN GOREVAN,
co-founder of Honeybee Robotics, whose scoop helped the Phoenix Mars Lander collect what scientists believe is ice

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True Story (Raising my Right Hand)

Overheard.....yesterday.....

The Man on the phone: "yeah so just swing by.....we're on the corner, yeah......oh and it's the yard that looks so good it should have BAD MOTHER----ER written on it"

Name that movie.....

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Still NOT unpacking

This past weekend we managed to get alot of NOT unpacking done. Between last minute ballet rehersals, play dates with friends from the old neighborhood at the new house so the kids wouldn't be sad.....and The Man's new fetish with our yard, we managed to unpack ZERO boxes.
It started Saturday when he realized that our yard was a tiny bit too tall......so he ran to the store and bought a mower. Then lectured me about it for 30 minutes explaining the difference between a bagger and a mulcher, like I'm EVER gonna use that nasty thing....
Then we began the process, which apparently included doing it redneck style with a ciggie hanging out of his mouth.......I kinda think he looks hot there.....but that is me.......
It continued.....see there was a geometrical shape in his head and the yard had to be mowed to its exact specifications. I was seriously just enjoying the feel of tall, lush, I pay for it therefore I own it, grass between my toes......

Duchess and FiFi came out to observe too, and they had to put their toes in the grass as well. I think it's very important to raise your kids to appreciate the little things in life......grass between your toes is one of the big ones. Notice that the garage is still so packed, you can barely walk through it, much less park a "very spoiled and never parked outside" car in there.
See his cute little bag of clippings over on the sidewalk.......see his pattern in the grass......see his adorable little hat......although I do wish he'd have gotten the mower in a different color, I'm not so much into red.
Neither is Duchess, we're leaving this party and going back inside where it's exactly 71 degrees.
Princess stayed the course. Riding her bike and then stopping to help her dad bag up clippings as needed. What a little helper.......well and she was grounded and that was part of her punishment but it would probably be nicer not to mention that, or the fact that I threatened to empty out her room and donate all the goods to charity........
Speaking of charity......this wasn't part of her punishment, she just threw it in for good nature. What I missed was the 1.23 hours The Man spent edging the yard precisely, with military precision.........I was shopping.......for groceries I swear.....nothing fun...... ;)

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There ARE others like me in this world.....

Sorry, had to share this email I got...


When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don't take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don't know.

I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I'd forgotten to make. I found the number and dialed it.

A man answered, saying "Hello."I politely said, "This is Chris. Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?"

Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear "Get the right f***ing number!" and the phone was slammed down on me. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so rude ....

When I tracked down Robyn's correct number to call her, I found that I had accidentally transposed the last two digits.

After hanging up with her, I decided to call the 'wrong' number again.When the same guy answered the phone, I yelled "You're an asshole!" and hung up.

I wrote his number down with the word 'asshole' next to it, and put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I'd call him up and yell, "You're an asshole!" It always cheered me up.

When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic 'asshole' calling would have to stop. So, I called his number and said, "Hi,this is John Smith from the telephone company. I'm calling to see if you're familiar with our Caller ID Program?"He yelled "NO!" and slammed down the phone. I quickly called him back and said, "That's because you're an asshole!" and hung up.

One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking Spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I'd been waiting for that spot, but the idiot ignored me. I noticed a "For Sale" sign in his back window, so I wrote down his number.

A couple of days later, right after calling the first asshole (I had his number on speed dial), I thought that I'd better call the BMW asshole, too.

I said, "Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?"He said, "Yes, it is." I asked, "Can you tell me where I can see it?" He said, "Yes, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax. It's a yellow ranch, and the car's parked right out in front."

I asked, "What's your name?" He said, "My name is Don Hansen," I asked, "When's a good time to catch you, Don?" He said, "I'm home every evening after five."

I said, "Listen, Don, can I tell you something?"
He said, "Yes?"

I said, "Don, you're an asshole!"

Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too.

Now, when I had a problem, I had two assholes to call.

Then I came up with an idea. I called asshole #1. He said, "Hello." I said, "You're an asshole!" (But I didn't hang up.) He asked, "Are you still there?" I said, "Yeah," He screamed, "Stop calling me," I said, "Make me," He asked, "Who are you?" I said, "My name is Don Hansen." He said, "Yeah? Where do you live?" I said, "Asshole, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax, a yellow ranch, I have a black Beamer parked in front." He said, "I'm coming over right now, Don. And you had better start saying your prayers." I said, "Yeah, like I'm really scared, asshole," and hung up.

Then I called Asshole #2. He said, "Hello?" I said, "Hello, asshole," He yelled, "If I ever find out who you are..." I said, "You'll what?" He exclaimed, "I'll kick your ass," I answered, "Well, asshole, here's your chance. I'm coming over right now."

Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax, and that I was on my way over there to kill my cheating lover.

Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in Oaktree Blvd. in Fairfax.
I quickly got into my car and headed over to Fairfax. I got there just in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six cop cars, an overhead news helicopter and surrounded by a news crew.

NOW I feel much better. Anger management really does work.

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Unpacking.......Still

Well the mighty unpack job is underway......still.........we're now days into this, but we're coming together quite well, except I was tired so I needed me some beauty sleep, so then I wasn't unpacking......and I had to work, so I wasn't unpacking, and then the people I live with wanted to eat dinner every night (the nerve?) so I wasn't unpacking......are you picking up what I'm putting down?

So here is where we left off, the livingroom........hmmm not impressive at this point.....

Kitchen, yeah there is no way this is what it looked like in my dreams...... Oh wait, it's starting to come together......I do so love me the face to face conversing seating. I have a fixation with it......but I'm sure other people do too.....right? I will get around to filling those bookshelves, I promise........first I have to find the boxes of books......hmmmm
Starting to see some promise in the kitchen too.......slowly
But the best part was watching my hubby, The Man sink our first ever brand new mailbox. Go hubby go........

Anyone notice that it got dark really freaking quick? It's already 9 something at this point.....
Still going. He's very meticulous at his work. It doesn't help that I pointed out it wasn't up to postal code so he had to start over.........not the point at all...........
And still going..............OMG do you need some help?
Almost there........putting the finishing touches on..........

And what was I doing? Well I was sitting in the grass in my "I see London, I see France" pjs documenting this glorious experience so we can look back on it when we're 80. Maybe, just maybe when I point out that he was doing it wrong and it took almost an hour to do, he'll finally think it's funny.

Well it was funny..........Still waiting on internet service (we be in the boonies now) so will probably be back Monday morning, hopefully with full house shots of a beautiful and unpacked house.........

Maybe

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Square Peg......Round Hole

I just don't fit in all the time. And you know what, I'm totally okay with that. Even though since moving to Utah, it's becoming glaringly obvious that I'm the square peg. Don't get me wrong, I'm not melancholy about it, I'm not gloating in it either, just stating an obvious.

I'm different.

Before moving here, I can easily say that I'm the most conservative person I know, this counting the f-bombs and smoking......my two greatest faults. Yep, ask most, I'm a prude. But I'm a fun prude.

Nope, here I'm the "one who shall be spoke about in quiet whispers". And again, strangely I get a kick out of it. My boss is a perfect example. Not too long ago, he remarked that I was in an oddly good mood that week, when asked why he thought that, he replied that I haven't dropped an f-bomb or given anyone "the look" all week. Yeah, talk about classy! Whew, move over, cause the pearls and the highlights are helping my redneck image, not at all.

So last night after chasing my children around the house, begging them to put clothes on and go to bed, I finally managed to drag my sorry self out on the back porch for a bedtime smoke, cause I was sooooooo gonna go collapse. Now, I don't know about you? But me? I do not have cute pjs. Oh I have two sets that are company friendly but otherwise they are old exercise pants and one of The Man's white t-shirts, that dwarf me. So there I sit, on my back porch, swearing cause who can really sleep with the sun shining so brightly at 9 p.m., smoking away in my pjs.

The Man comes out to join me, he is not in pjs. He must be psychic. Cause sure enough, before I could get through my ciggie, five (please count them FIVE) couples had wandered over to meet and greet. The Man quickly looks down at me (probably remembering that the pants I had on at the time, have a rather large hole in the seat of them, greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat!) and promptly rushes over to the sidewalk to intercept them. All the while, gesturing with his head for me to go in, presumably to change clothes and come back out.......

Does he not know me?

So I ignored them and finished my ciggie, finished his too. Waved a couple times when someone looked my way, and completely hung him out to dry. Then I went in. Where he scared me half to death by beating on the bathroom window.

Okay fine. I got dressed and went outside, with my hair on top of my head, no makeup, and a not very genteel attitude. Sorry Nanny, just couldn't do it.

So I finally met EVERYONE, good lord. And then we chatted, yes I work, no I don't mind, yes I like it, no I'm good at it, geez...........MYOB much people.

But then we started yaking about HOA's and I totally started communing with these people. They were real nice at that point. Till one of them said this.........

"I'm so glad you moved in, our kids swore up and down there was a dead body in your house, with blood all over the ways and a ghost, ha ha, you know........kids being kids, especially teenagers....but at least they'll stop trespassing and looking in the windows........"

Before I could stop myself my mouth popped open and the words that were coming out of my mouth were pure Louisiana gold....you know the type.......sugar wouldn't have melted in my mouth......accent so thick you had to pay attention to really get what I was saying.....(I blame my mother for that ability, I really do....)

"Oh of course, how very rude of them, well we'll have a fence, real soon and I do conceal and carry for a reason you know. Oh honey, remind me to call the preacher and have him come purge that damn ghost right across the back yard into her house would ya?"

Okay, #1....did I really just tell them people that I shoot trespassers and #2.......did I really just threaten to send evil spirits over to visit?

There was probably good reason they all stood there with their mouths open, I swear one crossed himself and I'm 100% sure he was not Catholic....but the minute I shared this gem....

"Oh we're Baptist"

Everyone smiled and nodded and went back to our conversation like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Square peg..........

But in the end, before I yawned so big The Man told me not to eat him, we were invited to the neighborhood bbq this next week. Holy cow, it's almost like being in a click in high school.......cause not just anybody gets invited to those.......or so they assured us.

Square peg..........

Square peg trying really hard to resist the urge to invite all the other poor neighbors who didn't get a flyer and then play stupid.........

(insert evil laugh here)

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Move Day

Move day started early.......real early. Especially since The Man insisted on sleeping at the new place, on pallets.....awww isn't he cute? My back was killing me! I'm too old for that crap. But while awaiting the troops, he spent his breakfast time calling people to set up new house stuff.


Whereas my baby, Duchess slept in.........then wandered around in her jammies until I made her go to kid camp for the day. Moving with kids underfoot is NOT cool......


The calvary finally arrived. We started with four. That rocked, four guys that work with The Man (sporting his favorite Dads Againest Daughters Dating shirt). Four meant that I could make donut and coffee runs and then work my way over to the new house put things away as we received them. Didn't happen. Why you ask?

Cause seven more people showed up. This action was more than I would have gotten if I'd have had military movers, they only send three. So it began, the tearing down of furniture, the stuffing of crap into boxes, cause I didn't have time to pack ( hey, I was working...... ) the jokes and colorful commentary you get from ALL EX MILITARY guys with only one woman around, hence I was temped to buy earplugs, yuck.
Once at the new place, the guys started really going over the place. Worse than chicks they were. You should put this "here" and that "there", too funny. Especially since I put this "here" and that "there". Fun times. With eleven men on the decorating scheme.....
Then I noticed that they started slowing down around lunch. Most of the big stuff was moved. Now it was all garage junkola.......now The Man and I don't drink. We do smoke, but we just don't drink........so it never occured to me why so much got done before 11 a.m. and then after 11 a.m. everything slowly came to a grinding halt.

See all those coke cans.......yeah.......SOMEBODY brought rum (line: Yes, but what about the rum?) and it wasn't until I went to grab mine that somebody yelled, smell it first, make sure its clean.........oh boy.......
So the chickie here is my girlfriend Mrs. Hockey (named cause she plays every Friday night and is much more aggressive than her husband, she kicks complete arse.....) we typically spend every Sunday together while the guys work. We shop and we hang, cause I haven't been to church lately, but I'm starting back this Sunday so yeah me. Anywho, Mrs. Hockey and I were the chicks in charge of being in charge. We were cracking the whip. And ordering the massive amounts of food that was required to feed all these people. Plus, we switched to Dr. Pepper to avoid the tainted coke cans.....they almost got away with imbibing at my moving party. But honestly, this is one of the dangers of having so many of these rogues in one spot at one time.

Speaking of dangers......Poor guy......they completed nailed him twice with the headboard of my bed. Sorry fellow........there is ice......in the cooler......over there
As he waddled away, the rest just kinda too it in stride, laughing............

So the end product is not quite to my liking. But as of 5 p.m. on Friday, we were completely moved into the new house. Dang.............now we're unpacking..........still............and could use some help...........please.........

More interior shots to come tomorrow...........see you then

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Blank Canvas.....

Welcome to our new home.......come on inside.
This is the view from my front door.......so if I kick you out of my house, this is what you will see. Beautiful green grass......they love them some stucco here.....but the mountains in the background. Worth it. I do miss my morning lake views but I own this view. It rocks. The house across from me is for sale too, anyone want to be my neighbor......oh won't you be my neighbor....
Duchess is introducing the brand new kitchen........ohhhhhhhh.....pretty. I wasn't too sure about the cabnet color but everyone else raved about it, so I shut up. Then I realized it perfectly matched my table and was an upgrade on the model of my house. Sweet, I am in love with it now. The floors rock. I do love me some hardwood floors. Plus the major theme of my home decorating is wood and iron so there you go. This house was build with me in mind.

I lost some dining room space but you won't hear me crying.....the other one was so big and awkward that it was hard to decorate and didn't have that homey feeling that I love. Plus my pub table works well in this area......
This is the entrance to my living room. You see the coat closet.....You see the stairs to the full basement......off to the left you can see the foyer and the other end of that little hallway leads to bedrooms. I must admit that I am loving me some one level living. 10 plus years of multi-level living just sucked once I realized how much easier life is when you're all spread out on one floor. The Man gets points for knowing this ahead of time and forcing the rambler living.

More to come over the next couple of days........you'll get to see, gasp.....the reality of civilian moving. Which might be normal to most of you, but this was my FIRST non-military move. Meaning I couldn't sit and sip iced tea and just point, I had to actually work.......

It was not pretty.....you've been warned.

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Anti-Climatic

Well we have the house....now what. We need a deck, back yard sprinklers, grass and a fence. We will eventually finish the basement into more bedrooms and a den. We also have to plan a real family vacation.....

Life didn't stop.

Very strange, but for so long, I was so focused on getting the house that everything else just kinda seems details. Now that we have the house and have lived there for under one week, I'm sitting and looking around going, wow.......what next.......

I guess I'm that kind of person.

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Back in the Saddle.....Briefly

Since we are in the new house, slowly unpacking, and living without wireless till next week, I'm stuck blogging on my lunch.....bare with me....

Before we get deep into house crapola.....I had to finish up the whole county fair thang.....
This was Duchess' first real ride. The Man took her on the ferris wheel and I could hear her screaming over by the corndog stand. Poor thing, she was excited and scared to death at the same time, which is kinda the point. I was so impressed with her. Could she be up under his arm any further?
Ahhh, this was more her speed.....she liked this one.......
Princess decided to do a big girl ride too.......now she has her dad's approach to difficult situations.....downplay the drama and puke in private. She totally grinned with this frozen terrified look on her face. Then when I reached over and grabbed her hand, she yelled "why isn't this thing going faster" Yep, she gets that from him......
So The Man and the kids tried the scrambler. The Man kept telling me I "owed" him cause this was not a ride for a grown man.......but he chickened out and wouldn't ride the zipper with me. So the picture you won't see, is the one where my mom, me and our cameras got into a little steel cage with Princess' purse and a jacket. Then the recipe said to shake and stir it up, so we flipped and flipped which was great until mom lost her grip on her camera. That farker hit me in the forehead and kept flying. Then I lost my grip on the purse and Princess' change collection went pinging around the inside of that cage like little flying death traps. It went downhills from there. So when we landed and went stumbling out, the little operator man laughing quite evil-like....my children pointed out that they knew which car mommy was in, cause it kept yelling obscene bad words. Really obscene bad words.......geez.......opps

Then s the rain pelted us and soaked the kids, I finally got The Man on one ride. Except, we'd just eaten a full lunch......full carnival lunch I might add. So when I was hooping it up, he got red, and then more red and then "OMG, are you having a heart attack" red and finally the ride slowed so he admitted that he really needed to puke. Just to have the thing start going backwards.....oh yeah.....next time he says "no honey, I don't want to ride ANYTHING"

I should just respect that.......

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Our New Home

Forgive me, as I'll not be blogging till I have new wireless service, in my new house. (Unless I can mooch off a neighbor's....)

Today we bought our home, we closed. Tomorrow we get the key and we're moving. Tomorrow morning, we're going to be buying blinds, curtain rods, and then we're rolling naked through the deep beautiful green grass........hello, new neighbors.....

We left the military dreaming of settling somewhere to do just this......thank you Lord, a year and a half later, here we are!

Plenty of inside pics coming, although please don't let me kill you with tons of house talk. I hate that.

So about the house........wink wink

"Home Sweet Home"

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The Silver Lining

This beautiful shot was taken off my back porch. I just love it, the beauty of God's work. Plus, it's the perfect representation of my silver lining........

We are scheduled to close on our house at 4 p.m.

Cross your fingers.........

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My Princess

I dearly love being a mom. Now that we are past the burping, diapers, bottle feeding, nursing, nighttime bed wetting, and such stage, parenting has just gotten cool. Oh well besides the attitudes, fighting and inability to share a bathroom. But I must say, I'll all aboard the "active kid" train. Once I was told by another parent that keeping my kids busy would be better than paying therapy later in life, that was funny then, now I take that crap to heart. Hello after school activities.........you are my sanity.....
Princess has really taken to ballet. After all the things we've tried, this is the one that stuck. She just thrives on it. I must say though that between choir, speed stacking clubs, ballet and school we just jump and run throughout the week. But man, her grades have soared, her reading has really improved and she is constantly striving for more and better. I think I like this busy thing.
Besides that, watching her perform, one of two people on the stage in front of the town fair just makes my heart swell. She was beautiful, graceful and amazing.........I can't believe how very much she has grown. How before my eyes she has gone from little fat cheeked bald baby to this tall, graceful creature.
And the talent she shows just amazes me.........Look above.....do you see how high she leaps. Utterly graceful..........how in the world did I create (with The Man's help) something so amazing...I was teary eyed at this point (just blows my hardarse image to shit doesn't it)
So yeah, if my kiddo wants to continue with ballet? Yeah, we can do that.
Because I can't wait for more days like this.........when she just shines........

And then comes straight over and demands $5 for a hotdog and soda.

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