I earned this........

I'm totally gonna add a little something, something to my Sonic cup tonight. Good grief what a day. It started out great, and while completely nuts it's ending on a high note but really? DAYUM.

I actually got to sleep in. Although I went to bed late cause I was reading the Survivors Club per Dave. See he's determined that I have to read this book, to be prepared for whatever. And since I'm flying out to see him next month, it came into discussion that I'd not gotten past the proulouge. Mainly because in the prolouge it was all about surviving water safety training at a military facility by the author. Ummm, I hate deep water. I don't swim where I can't see the bottom cause JAWS is in there waiting just for me. He likes B+ blood I'm sure of this fact. So why tempt him, you know. I don't even like to swim underwater in a pool where I can see the bottom, forget putting my face in the water to swim too. I've mastered swimming fast without having to do this either. Hell, I barely wash my hair in the tub either. So yeah imagine reading that part of the book about a simulated helicopter crash UNDER WATER and having to get to the surface.

SCREW THAT. But I'm off topic here. I woke up 10 till 9 this morning before the alarm went off thanks to Dave. I had one of those nightmares where you wake up frantic, sweat soaked, gasping for air and scared shitless. I did verify that I hadn't wet myself, yah me! Because that sweet adorable stud I married booked my flights to come see him. And when I noticed the seating he chose it went something like this:

-Dude did you PICK those seats? BTW thanks for the direct flights.
>Yes
-By the potty? really?
>No, five rows from the emergency exit in the rear of the plane
-WTF?
>Safest place on plane in event of a crash. Also wear sensible shoes, they are a must to quickly escape in event of cabin fire. Didn't you read the Survivor's Club yet?
-CANCEL THE FLIGHT, I"M NOT GOING
>??????????????
-Seriously?
> Very
- OMG

So I felt obligated to read that part of the damn book. And it was pretty eyeopening. Everything it says NOT to do during airplane travel.... I do. The few times I fly. I wear cute, nonsenible shoes and then shuck them off immediately. I leave the seatbelt loose cause I hate tight shit on my tummy. I put in my ipod immediately so I don't have to talk to people. I ignore all safety briefings cause really who wants to listen to that crap. I sleep until someone pokes me to get the hell out of their way cause dumbshit, we've landed.

Apparently, I'm a 0% chance of survival in an airplane crash. And I fly very very soon. So I would not be one of the 95% of people that overall survive an actual crash or fire. Great. I'm gonna buy a lotto ticket right before I fly now too. But seriously, I stayed up late last night reading that damn book. Then had a dream about said damn book.

So my day was frantic from the start. With reason apparently, but you can bet your ass that I'll be wearing the right shoes, sitting in the right seat, studying that safety shit like I'm preping for a final when I fly soon.

We got up and quickly hit the local heaven in a hole in the wall donut shop where you can get kolaches and if you don't know what they are, I'll pray for you. The kids stuffed their faces then it was time for momma's Sonic run. We were off. Grabbing girls along the way as it was my turn to carpool, we headed to our new fav ballpark for a sat morning practice. Three hours of dirt, sweat and gossip with the moms. Love it.

I brought them home, fed them through a window and we all hit the hay for a big ole nap. Except my nap went for three hours and it was wonderful. I could write some really hawt lyrics to a good nap!

But the fun really began when I drug myself out of bed. Started by cleaning out my vehicles. I have two with me. Dave has his personal and his work truck in Idaho with him. Now I love having two of my own. When one is down or needs oil changed or what have you, I don't have to count on anyone to help me out. I'm very self-sufficient like that yo. But the jeep has been giving me grief and I have travel tournement coming. I hate packing equipment/kids/supplies in my car for a road trip so I cracked the hood, borrowed some jumper cables and had at it. No dice. Using my car, I jumped the jeep but it wouldn't keep a charge. So I struggled alot and finally got the battery out and into my car. This is where I called Dave and bragged about getting that huge monster out by myself just to have him tell me that is a really light battery. Stop raining on my parade babe!

I have Kay with me this weekend as B is working and it really feels natural to have this kid with me. It's like I have three kids instead of two. Love it. So we hit up her house for more clothes for the weekend and I need to grab a new battery for the jeep. Now my goal is to get to walmart and get what I need and get out. Right............

Wrong. I get there and my battery is under warranty. So they have to put in a super duper charger to test it for sure. It takes an hour. Well I'm a multi-tasker. So since there is no wait, I have them take my car to change the oil. And me and all the kids head into walmart where I start shopping for groceries and stuff and they start off watching fish (hear this, I will not have fish in my house again. After crying my butt off over wiki, I just can't do it again) but they could stand there and watch them for hours. So off I go. Except before I even got to the grocery section, I'd been paged three times. Turns out my break light was out. Yes, fix it. Then I got three aisles and called again. The CAR BATTERY was bad and going dead too. Could someone please look up the odds of this shit? Please........ So yes, replace it and thank you Lord it's under warranty too. So I finally get to grocery shop and doing it with an 8 year old and two tweens is rough stuff. I sound like a drill instructor........Fall in, fall in, fall in. Yes, we do formation when we pass other people cause I hate those people who let their kids block aisles and stuff. Not cool people, take control are don't bred please.

Two hours later..........yeah you read that right. TWO HOURS LATER. I had a $12 core charge only for one battery and 50% prorate on the other and a shiney car with fresh oil and a trunk full of groceries and one new waffle maker. We love waffles dude.

I got home just in time to rush inside and dive over the loveseat to catch LSU make their second score. I was a bad mom and made the kids bring in groceries so I could at least listen to my boys play. Then I whipped up some waffles!

So all in all, this day has rode me hard and put me up wet but LSU is winning, I have new batteries and a purty car. Full belly and my house is semi clean.

Life is blessed.

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What Won't Kill You...

Will slowly drive you insane....you can quote me on that if you need to.....



So this week as been a handful. Duchess made her first "F" cause turns out she gets really anxious and freaky when there is a timed math test. Bang head on wall! So mom has been doing math drills and trying to help her get past this sudden fear. I'm such a showoff, I love tests and timed stuff cause it's just another way of showing my stuff so I'm working hard to relate to this, my poor kiddo.



The brand new floor in my new house is buckling. Started a month ago, so my sweet landlord has been keeping an eye on it. Well yesterday he popped over to check it out. We found moisture/water damage on the subflooring and the beginnings of white mold. HOLY CRAP. So I now have two industrial hepa filters and dehumidifiers going round the clock. Today his crew is under my house digging french drains and putting down moisture resistant plastics then who knows what else to stay on top of this drama. Poor Dave, I had to call with this kind of news while he is busting his butt up in a northern state (yankee country y'all) completing this assignment while doing school work and paperwork for the next assignment.



I'm eyeballing jobs, part time at this point cause there is only so much cleaning/grocery shopping and laundry to do....I've started watching daytime tv....this is NOT good peeps.

I had a lovely argument...I mean talk with my doctor. Turns out that I'm a walking mess. Seriously, a mess. My blood sugar is too LOW. Ummm, how is that possible? I eat a ton of sweets, carbs, and protein....like that is all I eat. So I'm being monitered for that. My cholesterol was too high so I'm now on meds for it, that makes me want to jump out the window of my car peeps. Seriously don't I take enough freaking pills? Turns out though that my hormones are great so there! Hah! No moody....menopause bitchy crazy woman for me....I seriously told everyone who suggested it that those are my nature personality qualities but no one listens to me. I'm also excited to say that since my surgery I have lost and KEPT OFF 22.5 lbs. Turns out the doc was right and I'm so much healthier after my hysterectomy. Yeah!!!! So I'm 7 lbs from being the weight I was at my wedding. I can't tell you how exciting that is to me. Except my shape has changed, let's just blame the kids for that proportional issue, shall we?

Lastly, I have a lesson for you all. If you work in a highly secure area....please leave all weapons and ammo at home. For someone who carries a handgun everywhere with her, this one is hard for me to remember but Dave will remember now. Last night, his truck was searched at the facility he's working at.....the dog smelled gunpowder. Turns out, he had a box of 22 shells for my kids rifle under his back seat.......luckily they were super cool about it. And very happy to say that he'd left his handgun back at the rv. Bless his heart, when he texted me I seriously couldn't breathe.......good lord!

Well on that note, I'm gonna go sear a roast before putting it in the crock pot for dinner then I have an accounting test. Oh excuse me, a financial management class. Same damn thing. Sigh.

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An Interview...I swear

so when you start getting bored during the day, you occassionally stroll through the want ads looking at jobs and when you see a cool one, you apply. And occassionally they call you and give you one hour notice that they would like to meet you for an interview. And occassionally you'll throw on clothes and go forth to said interview...

These are (seriously* hand to the Lord) a FEW of the many many questions I was asked by a six panel board.

*can you deal with blood, urine, or possible feces soaked materials?
Ummmmmmm yes if there are hazmat clothing nearby

*are you comfortable debating with someone older and more senior to you?
yes I can hold my own
*really? you sure?
Ummmm yeah, I might be 5 ft nothing but I can hold my own

*can you testify in open court about your job duties and how you handle this job if you are chosen?
yes
*are you sure?
yes
*now court is very stressful....
I've worked in open court and am very familiar with the process
*but testifying....
If I've done my job to the best of my training and abilities then there shouldn't be any reason to be stressed
*hmmmmm....

*are you overqualified for this job?
excuse me?
*don't you think that you are overqualified for this job?
In certain areas I am overqualified however in other areas I am underqualified which is why I would like more information on the training available
*which areas are you overqualified?
You specified that the candidate must type 40 words per minute, I type 80. So I'm double qualified in that area.
*you think very fast on your feet
Thank you!

*what is your best work quality?
I get the job done, everytime.
*what is your worst work quality?
I get the job done and at times it may not be in the friendliest manner.
*example?
If I have to do my job and yours to make sure it's done on time and correctly because you took a long lunch or disappeared, I will. However, you and I will talk about it later.
****** (silent man finally speaks up)...hey that is my line.

So I'm not thinking that I'm gonna get a call back from that one. Especially when this subject came up:

*what was your last salary with (insert former company name here)?
(insert my answer here)
*so you made double what we are offering?
yes, but I understand that rural Southeast Texas is a different market (insert sweet smile here)
* (mutters) Christ that is more than I make
---silence on my end-----

Oh good lord, seriously.....

I'm starting to think if I want to work while my kids are back in school then I'm gonna have to go with the whole "my dog ate my resume" routine. Either that or lie..........

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Friday Night Lights

So it has begun....my girls have morphed into typical little girls.

It's all about Friday Night Lights.

My sweet little girls have donned the town colors (which are surprisingly super cute) for Fridays at school where each school has a pep rally and it's all about high school football.

Typical small Texas town and football REIGNS.

I haven't been this happy about going to a football game since my own school days. (and side note, I can't fit into my outfit any longer and I sure can't kick over my head from a standing position but I can do one heck of a jump still as proved by almost killing my leg muscles in the yard earlier thanks to my evil-ish child who dared me, ouch)

We have our tickets, my youngest is sporting a cute little cheerleading outfit that the neighbor passed down to her and we're geared up for our first football game of the season.

I seriously hope these kids don't suck. And I really hope their band is good cause our football team way back when may have kinda sucked but our band ROCKED.

So if you're looking for us on Friday nights.....we'll be in the home stands peeps. It is really awesome to be back in a small town. There's no place like a small town. I'm really not surprised that I have come full circle back to that. It feels right.

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Everyone Has One

I adore my family. I have a very large extended family that just rocks. We're a little crazy, a little strange and a whole lotta country but I wouldn't trade my family for nothing! Very few of us live outside of our hometown area but we try hard to get together sometimes and it's like a big ole carnival whenever we come into town. And make no mistake we make some big sized trouble together.

So I thought I'd put my guard down a little and introduce some of my family to you. I had very little room on my memory card so I didn't get the amount of pics I wanted but here we go.

My uncle and his grandson. My uncle is a man of few words but is always there if you need him.

So let me introduce you to this strange pic. See my momma and daddy sent me a Wonder Woman shirt cause I guess I'm not hiding my superpowers very well. And that foot belongs to my daughter as she is carrying on an age old tradition of trying on and wearing my grandmothers' shoes (seriously she came home with a pair) and this guy. Well he's my youngest uncle and he was my college roommate and there when Dave and I were doing our falling in love dance to offer wit and encouragement. I adore him. But this picture was us trying to find a way to get rid of our wrinkles for pictures. It was a diaster. snort.

So we dance. With each other. With no music. At any given time.

This little dinner was hosted by my pearl wearing, proper Southern grandmother, Nanny, and her husband, Noel, who is known as Big Daddy cause he can get anything done. They bought a house in my hometown to be near the family and are in the process of majorily redoing this house, God Bless'em.

We had a HUGE family reunion while I was there. All the family and families of my grandfather and his siblings, none of who are still with us. And cause we b the smart side of the family, we have a waterslide and bouncy house for the kids and a tent and huge industrial fans for the adults. And no beer, cause it was the smart side of the family.

So Hi girl, this is my cousin's wife and oldest son.

And again with my girl, Duchess. Who'd changed into her "real" clothes so she could get in line early for lunch. That is totally my child. We think at least 5 steps ahead of most people.

I love these peeps. I went to high school with this chick, who looks way to young to have been in my class all though school. And this is the oldest of us cousins (I'm the next in line) who is not only a vet but a cop. Cause we raise'em up good in our fam.

This is the long time beau and husband of my nurse practioner cuz. He is really the sweetest guy on the planet and so fun. My girls just flock to him.

Nanny and Big Daddy chilling in the shade at the reunion. I'm getting a thumbs up cause I was showing her my pearls. Notice the extremely hawt shoes she's wearing.

The cousin who ranks under me in the age list, he works in the oil fields similar to what Dave does and he can tell a story like you wouldn't believe.........actually we know better to believe. See his sister-in-law's face? She knows better.

Sweet baby girl and my Princess. These two were partners the whole weekend. So much fun. I swear she looks just like my cuz the cop with earrings. You can totally tell she is his little girl.

Hamming it up for the camera.

Now we are a family divided. Half of us are serious rummy players. Like kick your ass around the block rummy players (seriously, don't ever play for money with us) and the other half are domino people. It actually causes quit the friction between tables. ;) But I'm sure every family spends alot of their evening talking major shit.

At some point, I partnered up for rummy and Duchess took over as the photographer. Everything was blurry and too close up to show. Dang it.

Now Nanny is doing something extremely important here, she is showing Duchess how to properly close the bag of chips. These are life lessons people, and gives you a good idea of where I got my OCD from.

Big Daddy in his superman pose. I got a Big Daddy story for tomorrow that just kills me.

We cook from scratch, alot. We had spaghetti, purple hull peas, potato salad, cakes, cookies and pies. They are so awesome and always make sure that there is something I can eat too.

Then there's the photo ops. This is my sweet momma who is seriously the best thing ever. We're sunburnt and makeup less with bedhead but here we are. Me and my momma...who wouldn't straighten up and quit making silly faces so I pinched her. Opps. Notice my gritted teeth, I put some ompt in that pinch.

And this is my sweet uncle, my old roomie. And wow can I just say that I'm not normally so trashy as to wear a black bra with a white shirt. But it was a new present and I had to throw it on to model it. Judge not.

A better pic of us playing nice. He may be a deacon now but when I look at this man I see two things: 1. sitting in the dark outside smoking and drinking wine coolers on our back porch while signing ABBA loudly and badly and 2. a very very good friend who truly knows me.

Oh look, we look serious here! Yeah!

Hopefully I'll have more pics soon from my 48 hour trip. Cause oh boy did we have fun.

And I do have to find a pic of my sweet cousin who ripped a heavy old oak bathroom door off the hinges in the bathroom at an upscale decorative store when she got locked in. I seriously about wet my pants thinking she was hurt but turns out the lock was stuck and poor baby is worse than me about small spaces. Apparently they heard me scream in the back of the store. It really says something when I scream loudly and all the sales people in the store come running in to check on us but we had to go find our moms and aunts who were shopping and just look up and go "what'd you do now?".....sigh.......

More later.

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oh Lord, sweet baby Jesus

I have lost 4 lbs since Dave bought my new mower.

Now this is huge especially when you consider that I have been cooking up a storm and eating up a storm. Hello!

Turns out that mowing an acre yard, twice a week with a self-propelled mower at noon time in black clothing will make you sweat more than you ever thought possible. Between that and my free weights I'm doing better than I did when I was in the gym. And it's cheaper. And my yard looks better than my neighbors which really is the important part right? right?.....right? I have this thing about my yard being nicer than the yards around me, it's a Southern thing. The same reason why my kids are accessory people, it's all about the little extras. Yet another reason I wear pearls to Walmart..... I have no excuse really, it's just my thing. And now you know my horrible secret. Moving on.

I do so love the look and smell of a freshly mowed yard. We did it just in time for the winds and storm to blow in. So far I have escaped pictures too because my oldest in now threatening to take a picture of me in my mow wear...which includes a black tank, black nylon shorts and knee high rubber boots. I have this horrible reaction to fire ant bites hence the boots. But I am one hot mess when I mow. But I sweat BUCKETS. Sexy is back!

But in addition to getting my yard straightened out today, I pulled my car up on a crest in the front yard and Dave figured out where the squek was coming from. Now to make a mechanic appointment to have my tie rod screws replaced. We finally got off our tushes and picked the tile to replace on the top of our coffee table....really this is a finish to a story that started awhile ago when I purchased the table in one of my uber dober shopper moments. I actually posted the original picture when I purchased back in April of 2007. The cracked and broken tiles on top made this coffee table a steal at an outlet....but the plan to retile just never happened, I kept stuff on top to hide the crack, lol. Ghetto much? But I hope to have new pics soon as we are waiting on the grout to set. It's purty and very unique I think. The tramp is up, on a level place in the yard and finally has all the newly purchased bolts to make sure it stays together no matter what. Dave has managed to get every honey-do thing on his list done.

Which is good cause he leaves tomorrow.....sniff sniff

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We've been a little busy....

So for once my 11 year old requested that I 'do' her hair. Today we go to her new school, get her schedule and then she takes her yearbook pic. They are some serious organized here peeps. So she has 5 different teachers, her elective is computers/art which surprises me since I just knew she'd pick band but nope. So okay. Then I got to do her hair, again which was a treat for me as she is my no frills ponytail girl.

I think I did okay.

But instead of wearing the corvette shirt, I talked her into a cute purple and black outfit with a black flower headband tucked into that huge thick do of hers. She looked adorable.

Then Dave and I went our for our cough*14th*cough anniversary, saw the Other Guys and laughed ourselves sick. Hysterical!

My girls had to get in on the picture taking too. Princess has started Dave's habit of collecting amusing t-shirts. She has an AC/DC shirt, a Corvette shirt, and a few others that she grabs everytime we go to the WalMart. Hysterical. Dave just bought one the other day for "Callahan Auto Parts" ...name that movie.

Dave has also started dragging Princess jogging with him every morning. She made the mistake of taking smack about him being out of shape so he drug her out on his usual 1.5 mile run. Hysterical, especially since he left her 1 mile behind. So that sweet baby had to walk back to the house. Oh to fun, especially since he now takes her everyday. Something I always look forward to.

But to make it up to her, he's giving her driving lessons still. She now wants us to put down cones so she work on her parking skills. Geez.

So Duchess is doing great, however her activities are revolving around her pet shop animals and the tv, so hopefully I'll have some new pics of her on the trampoline or helping mommy with the laundry soon. Cause laundry is her new chore, lol. It's interesting to say the least.

Dave leaves next Wednesday heading to his next jobsite in Nebraska. Travel mercies!

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More Carrot, Less Stick

So Dave has figured out what to do with our third vehicle. The issue of the third vehicle has been killing me. I have my car, he has his truck but we couldn't part with the 4x4 jeep. I used it in Ooootah cause of the ice and snow. And frankly it's a kick arse go anywhere jeep so I just can't sell it.

So last night, while dealing with pre-teen angst Dave reminded me we needed more carrot than stick. And this morning, he figured out his carrot. Our blue 4x4 rough and ready carrot.

So we're gonna give the jeep to Princess whenever she gets her license. Honestly it's a great first vehicle for a teen however we do have 4 years before she'll be legally able to drive it.

But we live in the country and country is as country does...

So we figure if we start her now, by the time she has a license she'll be as qualified as a NASCAR driver.

I love my life.

And my kid already drives better than 60% of the people I know. The odds will only increase.

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So I Repaid A Favor Today....

So in my new house, mercy me did I luck out. I have a great neighbor whose husband works on the railroad so he's often away from home (sound like someone you know?). This neighbor has three girls still at home (two more out of the house and into college). These girls have made tight friends with my girls.

They helped us unpack. They pull in my trash can when I'm out of town. I must tell you that they have made settling into my new house just lovely.

And she mentioned last week that they haven't had "girl" pictures in a really long time.

So I did what I could....I drug them out to a local state park, that was after I spent two hours helping with hair and makeup. Fun!

Meet my neighbors.

This is Princess' new bff...the Texan version.

Momma.

Again, the bff...she is too funny.

The high school freshman....who fell in love with the way I did her hair, my shirt, and the eyemakeup...looks like I'm doing it again for school pics.

I love this laugh.....

The adorable new bff of Duchess. I had to be careful with her pics so her leg cast wouldn't show up. Poor thing, fractured heel from jumping into a pool at camp.

The family....

All in all, I seriously took over 200 pics. So I just threw a few of them up here. But can I just say, I had a blast even though I'm so not a professional.

What a fun time we had today.

And since Dave is coming home tomorrow, gotta get my butt cleaning!

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Warning, Warning

I'm getting bored.

This is usually the start of bad things to come. Seriously, it's not good when I get bored. And it's not like I don't have a million and one things to do, still bored.

This is my first summer not working since I was 16. Now granted I took some time off after each baby was born and whenever we were transferred it was always a month or so before I found the perfecto job so it's not like there haven't been times when I wasn't working. But this is different, the husband now makes it to where I don't have to work but I keep thinking about it. I really should just shut up at this point, cause honestly like I don't have enough to do with keeping apts and running the kids here and there.

I think if I could get a bead on this house it'd be different. I'm dragging my feet. Honestly I think it's because I done got spoilt and miss Dave. Another is that actually decorating a new place always makes me crazy cause this crap doesn't come natural to me.

So in an attempt to chase the boredom away, I started doing projects. I refinished a wood painting I found at an antique mall and changed it from a god awful rooster scene to a chalkboard for my kitchen with a really cool frame. I'm put my library up in my bedroom which really makes me happy, I love my friends (I mean my books, opps). I've sketched out two paintings I want to work on this week as soon as I find my paints (closet maybe? attic?).

But it's the other things that are bothering me...I need an outside shed and since I'm cheap and miserly I caught myself actually googling it, looking up directions online and even printing them. It was when I was attempting to do the math on the amount of wood needed that I realized how utterly outthere this is.

I am not a builder. I paint, canvases (that aren't that good) and my toenails....not buildings. I have a hammer and a small socket set because my husband locked all the major tools up in his toolbox and took them with him.....cause he needed them? NOPE, pretty sure he did it so I couldn't maim myself while he is gone. Yet, here I was seriously considering how I needed a small table saw to build this dang shed.

This is the part where me being bored = stupid.

So yeah, talking sense into self is really hard, especially when self is as gunho as I am when I get my head wrapped around an idea. And frankly, I hope Dave doesn't read this post cause he'll promptly order me a freaking shed off the internet and have it delievered and then I'll see the bill and pass out.

It's a cute idea that one of my bff's could totally do on her own (ohhh maybe she'll come help me....) but me... um no, I busted a fingernail with a hammer trying to build bookshelves from a stupid kit.

This is the same thinking that gets me into all sorts of trouble and then Dave has to a. rescue me, b. finish the project, c. red0 the entire project, or d. all the above.....so no shed for me.

Now that the shed thing is completely and honestly dealt with, could someone please talk me out of redoing my coffee table on my own.......cause the marble tiles broke in the move and it needs to be retiled and I sliced open my thumb today trying to get all the old ones off so I could prep the board for new tiles. Which I haven't bought yet.

I'm obviously a danger to myself, lol. Dave is probably hearing angels sing right now cause I have never admitted that outloud or in writing....lol

But seriously, how hard it is to redo a coffee table, right?

Maybe I should just start on that flower bed.....

Or I could just go ahead and quit stalling and deal with hanging all my house decor myself, lol.

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Hello Little Town

Oh what is a girl to do when it's raining and Murphy is hiding in her lap, Duchess is still snoozing and Princess isn't due home from church camp till this afternoon.......

Why she should catch up on True Blood and Hawthorne episodes online.....of course.

That aside I've been up to my eyeballs in crazy around here these days.

We got our rental house.

Then I made arrangements to fly up and get my household goodies out of storage in Oootah.

Then I realized that I blessed a good family friend with my 10 year old bedroom suite that I absolutely loved but Dave said was on it's last legs. Oh it was a beaut. Honey wood, gracious me alive that bed was beautiful, wrought iron and 4 posters. It was a birthday present from Dave a bout a million years ago and had been through about a million military moves.

So Duchess and I made hay while the sun shined and after a million and one furniture stores, I finally did the smart thing. I asked my hairdresser, Lance, where to find a good bed and not bleed money. So there we went and there it was.

A big ole beautiful king sized all wood, Ashley sleigh bed on clearance being the last one in the store. It was insane that it was still on the floor, but once I left the store it was sold baby sold.

So we got it all delivered yesterday and set up in the new house. The bed is gorgeous and even more so because it was so dang cheap....but seriously I am in love with the new bed. I surprised Dave by taking him over after work to see the new bed, put together, in the new room, in the new house. And he promptly took off his shoes and tried to take a nap. Now he's pushing to have us move in asap. He's ready for that bed.

I'm ready for the showers, baths, 3 toliets, and yeah the bed.

However, it's the kitchen that has been featured in several dreams. You see, it's massive...seriously massive. Countertops for days. A dishwasher and all the usual kitchen stuff.

So after our house "visit" last night, we tried out our new neighborhood's super walmart. And I realized that I'd left my old must have square plates that I just had to have with my renter at the old house cause frankly they were a pain in the butt to wash and basically live with. So at the new house I would be living with more paper plates, plastic cups and utensils. I did what any sensible woman would do, I purchased a walmart set of plates. And man oh man, it become the biggest conversation and debate Dave and I have had in weeks. We swiftly agreed on the fabulous white, thick, 50's style diner dish set for 19.99 and then we talked about how much we've progressed from "buying it cause we can" to now, being uber frugal and cautious with our spending, just because we want to.

Overall, I have to say I absolutely was worried about how this new move would turn out for us. Except, it's shown me that we can still be somewhat normal, putting ourselves back into society without conforming to everyone else's standards.

This weekend, starting a move in on the new place........then on the 5th I'll be going up to Utah to drag my stuff back and people.....it's gonna get crazy after that, trying to set up house.

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Whew, Finally Get A Breath

I've been running nintey to nothing for weeks now. Finally this afternoon, I've been able to sit back and take a deep breath. Dear Lord but has my summer been insane. As Duchess says, "I'm so glad your home all the time to take care of me..." Good night, how do mom's stay at home and get all this done. I've juggled parenting, work, and marriage for years now. This is the first summer I've had off with my kids and I have never been busy!

Princess is now knee deep in youth at our new church. She is going to weekly summer youth camp and today right after church left for a 5 day spirit filled youth camp past Houston. Today for the first time in our Sunday morning service, I saw my kid (sitting with the youth group) raise her hands to the Lord during a praise and worship song. I teared up and was weeping like an old lady watching my baby interacting with the Lord. What an amazing moment for a mommy!

So youth camp each day includes devotional, music lessons (this week was trumpets), community and/or church service and then they spend time helping the youngsters with their devotionals. The confidence and maturity is already blooming in my pre-teen. I love seeing her so happy. I don't think I realized how much of a social butterfly Princess is.

Duchess spends her day helping me with errands and has special playtime when Mommy is at the gym.

Both kids were the driving force in our finding a house here locally. Since we're not traveling with Dave's new job, the kids and I were having a hard time justifying the rv. And people, we needed more than one bathroom.

We are so blessed. We got an amazing place down here. It's simple, out in the country on the edge of a fantastic little town. We were so worried about how we would manage this new move. We were anticipating being on the road for a year and a half. Six months into this, the Lord had other plans. And here we are.

The first person to call on a house listed with no pics, the first to see this little gem and even though he is working 70 hour weeks my sweet, dear Dave made the time to go see it the same night. We called and told them it was ours. We're leasing it, considering we have our house in Utah under lease to a renter. We signed the lease and paid our monies yesterday. It's fantastic and it's ours.

Best of all, it's in a great school district so now we don't have to put our kids into private school. When we began broaching the idea of settling down, Dave was insistent on the kids going into a private Christian school. I would work to pay the tuition and we'd settle down. The areas we looked over never felt right. Until this house in the country and this small flourishing school district. Now, I can work parttime eventually to stay busy and the kids can get back involved in a school, making friends. My sweet babies are chomping at the bit. We didn't realize just how much they missed it. You know it, it being normal life....

But while we're settling in, we're doing it our way. I have found that carving our own path is much better for us in the long run.

So I have to get plans made to return to Utah for our household goods, get my kids to their final summer camp in July and get our happy butts settled into a real live house....a house with 3 bathrooms........love me some bathrooms....

And now I have a ton of school to catch up on...

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Warning: Me in a Canoe

There are so many options for blog post titles on this one, I've considered the following:

I tipped it alot but stayed dry.

He did all the work.

They all had chicken and beer, we had salad.

I peed on my shoe.

He took a picture.

This is not how I pictured this.

And finally: holy crap this is harder than it looked.

So we got up early on our first full day without my sweet babies, who are as I type living it up in Colorado with my folks. Dave the Gentile rolled me out of bed and we headed to the gym bright and early.

For once, we had a good time at the gym. I almost fell off the exercise ball but managed to catch myself and I didn't toot at all so I consider the gym a success. We also managed to work out with each other and left the gym talking and happy, a first for us as usually when we work out together I'm pissed and he's frustrated. Thank you Robert the trainer.

He treated me after the gym to a breakfast taco in the very worst area near the refinery but oh my goodness what a yummy yummy treat. Hmmmmmmmm good. For sure!

Then it was pack and float time. We hit the local super grocery and loaded up on lunch and fruit and drinks. I packed my southern belle floppy hat (totally would fit right in at the Kentucky Derby) and we stopped by an army surplus store for him a booney hat. Side note: after giving him the pouty look and a big ole long suffering sigh, I got the cutest camo skirt on earth....trust me, it's jam up.

So then it was off to the river. This setup was the best. We paid when we made our reservation then we parked at the pickup point where a big ole van loaded us and our cooler up driving us down to the insertion point. We picked our canoe, blue to match my toe nail polish. Then we attempted to insert. Attempted, cause it took me awhile to get my balance and get my butt up on the front seat. And would you believe I had to face the front of the boat and hold an oar. I was sure it was wrong cause I'm suppose to sit facing my rower and admire his muscles in the sun as he rows us along with my in my big ole sunhat and trailing a hand in the water....turns out paddle is a verb, fancy that.

So we started upstream, then turned around and headed down stream. Now, I've canoed once before, in San Diego bay, and it was ALOT different. This river was so low I could touch my oar to the bottom at any given time. We had to work around logs, fallen trees, drunken groups of beer drinkers and the occasional church group, but the funniest one was the family with the parents in the kayak and their boys in a canoe. The daddy spent more time getting out of his kayak and pulling his boys out of the brush then moving down the river. Boy howdy we barely made it past them without getting t-boned.

Then we moved along and found us a sandbarge where we picniced in our boat, eating our yummy salads and drinking our sodas. We must have been quite a sight sitting there eating salads in our big ole hats while the other peeps were drinking beer and eating buckets of fried chicken. We started joking about being the old yuppies on the river, boy have the times changed. lol

So here we were chilling in our boat, having lunch, laughing and feeding the fish all kinds of egg, salad, and veggies then I realized I had to pee. Apparently my husband didn't realize that I was no stranger to pee-ing in the woods. So I went up on the bank by the brush and hunkered down behind a log and set about my business. I'd asked Dave to stand with his back to me and watch the river, making sure noone came around the bend. Except he turns around and giving me an evil grin, raises the camera and starts snapping pictures. I feel backwards and peed on my shoes and part of my shorts. Damn it.

Nothing puts you in a good mood like pee-ing on your shoes. But we prevailed and had a great time. Best of all, when we got to the end pick up place, they helped us out of our canoe and we jumped straight into the truck and home for a nap.

Proof that we're not too old to have us a good time without our babies.

I'm kinda scared of what tomorrow brings.

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Why I Carry A Gun...

My husband recently received an email which perfectly sums up why I carry a small lightweight Ruger in my purse or on my person (I prefer the ankle holster unless I'm in shorts then it fits in my cargo pockets). Regardless of the laws (even though I am legally authorized to carry, picture id included), I carry for one simple reason...

To Not Be Forced.

Reason or force is how people get things done. Because I carry a gun, you can't force me, you have to reason with me. I'm leveling my playing field. If you're interested, read the email below.


**Borrowed**


God created men, Sam Colt made them equal . . .
Interesting take and one you don't hear much...

As the Supreme Court hears arguments for and against the Chicago gun
ban, I offer this letter (written by a Marine) that places the proper
perspective on what the gun means to a civilized society...

The Gun is Civilization
by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and
force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of
either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding
under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those
two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.



In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact
through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social
interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is
the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.



When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use
reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your
threat or employment of force.



The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on
equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal
footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal
footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun
removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a
potential attacker and a defender.



There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad
force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more
civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm
makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course,
is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed
either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most
of a mugger's potential marks are armed.



People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the
young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a
civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a
successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force
monopoly.



Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal
that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is
fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are
won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on
the loser.



People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute
lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come
out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes
lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not
the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.



The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an
octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply
wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal
and easily employable.



When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight,
but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means
that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm
afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the
actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the
actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the
equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

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A Day in the Life of the "Griswalds" aka Us

So today was a typical "do or die" day in the life of our family, which I think I shall refer to us as the Griswalds. It seems proper since I shy away from revealing our last name. (Makes it harder for the devil to find me, lol)

So Dave is in crane prep for his national crane license. He's working sun up to sun down literally working on his practicals so he can blow it out of the water, typical husband of mine. I love ambition in a man, it's freaking hot. And he's freaking hot if I may wonder from the subject at hand, opps sorry.

Moving on, so he was up at sunrise and heading out to the school for more work outs and we started our school day early. We got school done even though the sun was shining and the kids were restless. We went through our errands quickly even though a visit to the grocery led to three well meaning ladies wanting to know where we were from, why my kids weren't in school and wow what a great life we must lead...why yes we do thank you...it's not without sacrifice but it's ours and we like it just like it is.

Instead of having lunch with Dave like planned we dropped some off for him and ran back to the rv for more math, cause I'm all about us some math these days. Then I gave up and decided to move math lessons out to the picnic table. Which actually increased productivity alot! Till Dave called and said surprise he was on his way home and we were going down the road to the South Texas State Fair.

It was ladies day so every ride, 1 coupon rather than 6 for us ladies. Since Dave doesn't do rides, that left me to ride with me oldest, Princess and Princess to ride with the baby, Duchess. God help me.........I don't do rides well. It's a good thing I hadn't eatten all day, it'd been messy. Cause not only did I get drug on the roller coasters but the 115 ft in the air swings...oh my lord. Seriously, Im not the brave parent at all but I kinda lost it and told my 11 year old that she sucks and "in four languages" which she told her dad, "thankfully she didn't actually tell me in other languages". Not cool mom!

Fun houses seemed real popular with my babies too, so they visited lots of those. The ferris wheel was awesome. The two kids went together and Dave and I stood in the shade below chatting and watching them when I noticed their cart at the tip top of the wheel with Duchess' head poked out, ohhhh I was hot. So then we had ride safety lessons for 10 minutes. I was hot.

We found me the cutest Texas purse to replace my big ole work purse that is falling apart. Now here is my confession on purses. I own a lot of purses. I have bought only the cheap ones for myself. The "good" ones are in storage in Utah. The really expensive ones were all bought for me: one by my former group of bosses when I left a job with a board of directors: they all pitched in for a to-die-for Brighton purse, another is from a bestie who told her husband to buy us purses overseas and he came home with real Coach purses rather than fakes, and then theres the beautiful beautiful purse from one of my boss' wives last year from overseas (although its so delicate I'm scared to use the damn thing) or the purse my hubs bought me for a birthday that got 2 years of use and is still immaculate. So see I rarely buy myself a purse. But I picked out the cutest little purse, brown leather and camo material with big ole redneck bling all over it and a huge honking cross on the wrong....will eventually post pics. The dang thing is adorable. Whoa way off track here..........

Anywho, so after being distracted by a purse and then taking it out to the truck while the kids stocked up on junk food and slurpies, we got back to the business at hand. Rides. We rode everything. And finally got Duchess to go on an adult ride with us: Mouse Crazy which was FUN! Def one of the best rides I've ridden. Except even though she sat in the middle, Duchess went from nervous to scaried to terrified to --------. Yeah she went comotose at one point. At the very end, even though I was holding her close and talking to her and explaining it was just a little roller coaster, she checked out. So much so that when we pulled in to dismount our car, the guy helping us out was like whoa, is she okay? Ummm no. Dave snatched her up and did the whole daddy will beat them up thing and 5 minutes later she was running off to go to a funhouse so it wasn't a lasting thing but man oh man. Lesson 1 learned: Duchess isn't an adventurer like the rest of us: kiddo rides only. Poor baby, she went straight from the big rides back to the little tyke rides like the oh so gentle caterpiller roller coaster which Princess rode in the very back cart, texting the whole time and Duchess sat up from with her hands raised whooping like crazy as it oh so slowly went around corners. Oh well.

So it was finally time to go and with the last tickets, Princess and I did one last screaming ride on the big roller coaster while Duchess went through another fun house with Dave standing guard outside. Except, I got off the ride to see her crying and standing next to Dave. That fun house had a mirror room and seems my baby couldn't get out, paniced and ran into a glass wall resulting in a huge pop knot on her head. Ice? check, crying kid leaving fair? check, kid bought off with candy? check............she just wanted her momma to carry her but at 7 my kid is now too big for me to carry as I can barely lift her. My kids are quickly outgrowing their mom. It's sad how short I am compared to them.

So we came home and cooked a quick dinner and sat around looking at one another......another day done to death in the Griswald rv home.

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Redneck Is as Redneck Does

I'm embracing my true self.

I am a redneck.

I carry a gun (actually I have 3 but I only carry 1).

I shoot my gun for fun.

I heart hoodies, camo, boots and jeans.

I just bought tickets to take the family to the Monster Truck derby after church.

I rock.

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Who Dat Baby

I yelled, I screamed, and I prayed....

And the boys did us proud. 1st superbowl win for the New Orleans Saints!

Who Dat baby, who dat!

I also apparently scored major cool wife points since I put off my homework for a football game. ;)

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My Bad Child

Everyone has one child that is just bad. I don't care how much you himhaw back and forth over it, you just have one that is bad as shit. One that you look at and think, I'm in trouble. Deep deep trouble.

Murphy is my bad child.

He has become the laughing stock of the rv park. You know its bad when he is too redneck for the rv park. I've noticed that people laugh, literally stand back and watch us go by with him for his walks.

Everyone knows his name.

Unlike Cheers, it's because we're constantly getting onto him, to stop that or don't eat the lesh or to leave that other dog alone or why are you barking at a tire? It's pretty back.

We've been told by two people now that he makes their day. That is very very not good people. He is my bad child. He might not be the future felon but he's my bad child.

Who I adore and babytalk to, so really what does it matter? right?

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Between Spelling and Math

So in the middle of spelling today, I got a text to come outside the rec center, where Dave was waiting. He'd actually rained out. So between spelling and math, he took us on a fieldtrip. The girls got to shoot the new 22 rifle they got and then to also shoot a very old 22 pistol of Dave's grandpa's. Then momma got to shoot. We had a grand ole time.

Princess is a righty but left eye dominant and before today couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Dave started her shooting leftie today like Duchess and let's just say if we're in a gunfight, she's totally my partner!

Sharp shooter!

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Louisiana Trip

Memory lane is a long winding road. I don't go home often. I worked so hard to leave that little town behind a long time ago, yet it seems that that laidback, slow little town still holds alot of appeal. I'd never move home but I've realized that something similiar is what I'm looking for, to raise my kids. But visiting is great, especially when it's been 5 years since I've been back home. I got to see my family and meet my newest little cousin. My kids got to take the brief trip down my memory lane, like they did Dave's in Tulsa. It was a great trip.

Best of all, being back with my family. I got to hold Dave's hand while walking the areas that made up my childhood. My old house is literally falling apart, abandoned and so very sad. But that is okay, time moves on. My old high school looks tired and worn out. Not nearly as fun and lively as when I was part of a graduating class of 75 people. You can't really go home and frankly that is okay with me. But it was great to see my family. Who dropped everything for our last minute visit and not only had a big ole cooking but made sure to cook something I could eat.

There really is nothing like Louisiana; the moss hanging from the trees, the homes spread out on large lots with big ole trees, doors left unlocked while people are at church. It really has a certain appeal. I love being from the sticks. But those sticks just aren't for me. One day we'll settled in some other sticks, somewhere else.

But for now, we're mobile. And I have a trailer to finally get organized. Rv living with pics coming soon. (As soon as I find a place for everything, school starts officially on Wednesday so I have to get busy!)

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