Southern girl plowing her way through life making the rules up as she goes. Warning: likes to bake, curse, quote movies/literature, is tattooed, married to The Man and mother of two girls. We bring new meaning to the "griswald way of life". Come along for the ride!



Life is My Highway

Montana and North Dakota have become home.... dang it lol.

These Girls

Lord help me but these babies wear me out.... they are just perfect!

Superheroes

Yes, it's from last winter but I adore this shot...so us....

Duchess

This kid glows from the inside out... my almost 11 year old!

We are so smexy!

Favorite sport: embarrassing our kids in public

Princess

My mini-me is finding her own way in life

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Life in My Shoes...

So I thought I'd give a little glimpse of my day... this is a peek of life through my shoes.

 I share traffic with cows. Yeeeeehaw baby. He kept staring......

 The highlight of my work day yesterday, learning how to wire for a new product. Not cause I have to or even need to, but simply because somebody lost a bet an thought it'd be funny to have to teach me something technical as a result. IT WORKED though so I rock.


The kids' opponents forfeited without even showing up (guess word is out that we rock) so we played parents verses kids. HYSTERICAL. I can't wait to get the rest of these pics in but Dave played right field and I played short stop. Princess is still pissed cause I fielded her line drive and threw her out at first before she was half way there, lol. I do so love this sport.


The daddys! Since our 12 year old pitcher throws some super fast balls, the boys refused to hit off her without helmets. Dave's didn't quite fit, lol.


We wore them out. She didn't make it to even put on jammies.


Cause after the game, we took all the kids (and sore parents) to DQ where we ran into someone else who'd lost a bet. He was dressed like Thor (with hammer and shoes) on a date, lol.


Tonight is girl's night. Prin and her bff chillaxing on my couch. Right now, they are getting coached on two-steppping from Dave. It's always fun at my house apparently.


Duch is just a hot mess, lol. That girl has been distracting me from writing papers all day with facts about dogs. She read a new book, sigh.


We did nails! I'm blue and she's green. We b hot.


Stud monkey is just hot. And such an amazingly good sport to have a house full of loud music, little girl giggles and off key singing wife.... he's still smiling.


Speaking of hot mess.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

More from this week...again I'm lazy

 Cause they are so purty.......
 My kiddo, just chilling poolside in Texas. She's so grown!
 My baby who is also poolside elegance!
 Me and A. trying to stay dry. No make up and covering up my severe sunburn, I was sweating like a pig!
Princess in action on short stop tonight's game. Two great hits, one walk and two scores. We got'em 15-7. Go girls go.

And now fork me, I'm done. Bedtime!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Live with Video... the Texas Griswalds

OKay, first vid: middle school cheer Prin started learning today, god help me.




second vid: the close up tight formation drill from camp on saturday, hysterical (my kid in the yellow LSU shirt naturally)



third vid: showing off her arm to daddy, six weeks since picking up a glove the first time, lol. Ham.



and now pics: cause I'm lazy and just gonna throw it all up at once:

 Duchess doing Wii bowling, since it's raining and the yard is off limits.

 Princess studying for mid-semester tests, 6th grade is tough in Texas!

 Murphy keeping watch over his domain...... spoilt rotten dog.

 Duchess petting some dogs *cough-horses-cough* at the school.

 Duchess's attempt at taking mommy pics, lol....

 Prin and some of her team mates after a practice, ummm we have ice cream afterwards, lol

 She's Dave's kid, eatting sunflower seeds and spitting in an empty coke can.

 My hair is FINALLY long enough to put in my favorite "work" do....

 In control of the buttons......that's also Dave's kid, lol....

 Barbies at the ballfield, Duchess and friend on game night....

 Prin taking ball pics for the regular season...

 Girl done went and got a weave. Thanks to Miss B for hooking her up, she and her friend are the envy of the 6th grade with their feathers.

 We start our mornings with 20-40 minutes of piano practice here, do you? If not, you should, nothing says "get your butt out of bed" like the same song over and over and over

 At least she loves it, cause it's freaking early!

 Prin making Tuesday night dinners. That's her night to cook. It's usually breakfast for dinner. Yum.

 Duch on laundry duty.

 Murphy on Murphy duty. It's a tough life.

Rain!

We finally got some rain down here in East Texas. Whew, the burn bans have been waving for awhile and I was happy to have rain to fall asleep to. Although not happy to have a dog and a child wake me up at 3am cause the thunder/lightening was so bad it scared the crap out of them. Poor babies. Then there was my and Murphy's special mommy/doggie bonding time at 530 when I let him out and he promptly fell off my porch into a mudpuddle so early bath time for him! Nothing says happy Tuesday like fighting a dog in the tub before the sun rises.

Today was TAKS tests for my kids. I was so worried as it's their first real state test ev-ah so I put them to bed early. Got them up and made them homemade breakfast tacos to fill up their little brains with knowledge and packed them a super duper lunch. Par for the course, Duchess swears it was easy cheesy and Prin was like... I miss 3 or 30, I have no idea. lol. She's like me, can't really peg how she did on any test. But tomorrow is the reading portion so it's rinse and repeat here. Big ole healthy dinner, early to bed (no dancing with the stars for us tonight) and then yummy breakfast to send them off. Another month of school and my babies are off for the summer.

Excited to have Dave home all next week! Gonna enjoy some chill time with my guy. He starts traveling for his new job (all over US and possibly Canada) on the 9th and I'm super proud of my guy. Three weeks till he's awarded his degree and he's already nailed a job using that degree. So very proud! I do believe there will be fishing in our future next week.

So while I'm cooking dinner, Prin is reading and Duch is play Wii golfing ... we're gonna send our regrets and hop off here.

HUGS!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Why I'm Not Ashamed To Not Be Creative

So when we moved into this house, I splurged on a bedding set for the master bedroom. Cause a room that makes me so happy should be purty. I get so little sleep that I literally giggle everytime I walk into my room, so freaking love my bedroom.

(and some people who know what a cheapscape I am, literally just passed out at my use of the word splurge, lol)

So when SOMEONE decided to wash my comforter to remove the Murphy drool spot, the whole bottom seam came unravelled and open. Ghetto city. And I tried ducktape but it didn't last a week.

Finally got smart, sucked it up and dropped it off at the dry cleaners to be "fixed" and cleaned. I didn't ask how much, does it really matter? I was gonna leave it no matter what so I'd rather not know.

They called today. $8 to fix the sewing.

Excuse me, seriously?

$8 freaking dollars?

This is why I don't get all twisted up over my lack of creativity and girlie crap.

I can PAY someone $8 to sew a pain in the ass comforter fixed and not hurt myself, bleed all over something and basically stress myself out.

I'd rather waste my money on something useful like slut novels, shoes, softball tournements, wii games, and Sonic drinks than sew, make hair bows, or scrapebook.

(found a shop in the mall where you can buy hairbows too, snicker)

So the main idea to this whole story: Murphy is kicked out my bed so he can't drool on my really nice comforter. Cause the I have the matching drapes and pillows and everything, and I'll never ever open my wallet enough to buy it all again.

Amen.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

More of our weekend/week in review: Texas Style

So as usual, we had a busy weekend. Dave is home!!!! Love having my guy home, just lights up my house. And since we'd already had a ton of stuff scheduled, he jumped right in. We got rid of our old washer/dryer and in 21 minutes went in and agreed on/paid for/loaded up and headed out with our new ones. It's like we use the force, we just look at each other and know, yep or nope. But we got the ones we wanted/needed and here's to another ten years with a good set. Our AC unit went out in our leased house, great..... it's less than a year old too, sucks for our sweet landlord but it's a work in progress. It's hotter than the seventh circle of hell down here already. But the rest of the day was fun stuff.....

We actually went over to some friends for a crawdaddy boil. Yes, you read that right. We volunteeringly socialized with another couple not family. We may be evolving, not sure yet, lol. But they are funny and we're stocked about meeting Dave.

 Duchess spent about eight hours in the pool today and this is the only shot from the entire day of her that was NOT blurry. The kid was in super sonic motion all day. This is where she started to wilt. She's been in bed for two hours now. Poor baby was tired.

 My friend, Miss B, who drug me out of the house to socialize. It's rare to meet another human being with my snarky humor, hence she rocks. Even if she did put those hair feathers in Princess' hair today. Prin is rocking some zebra stripes, red, and blue feathers weaved up into her head. Oh boy!



Okay, the mudbugs were fuking awesome.... seriously yummy. Except they were HOT. I had half a platter before my fingers went numb, and I had to have help prying the meat out. Then my lips went from fire to numb and I had to stop eating cause food was fallign straight out. HOT. Everybody laughed when I got a cup of milk and kept coating my lips down but soon I wasn't the only one. Milk really does remove the heat peeps. Prepares you for that second helping.

 Today was Billy's camp, verses individual lessons over the holiday weekend. The girls were all brought together and put through the ringer. This is the tight formation drill. Concept is foreign to me but brilliant. Girls are told do not let ball past you, any of you, or everyone runs to the woodline and back. They let ONE ball get past. Ran. Then worked their butts off as a team to keep all balls from getting past them. Brilliant.

 See, the ball got past the first line and they were all working to get to it. Balls were coming so fast that there was no break in between. Love this drill. Real team builder.

 Prin scooping one while another chases down the stray they ran on.

 They did multiple batting drills. They are prepping for all-stars. Prin's team has the fast pitcher in the league, fastest in this area of the state true for their age bracket, at 50 mph. But all-stars we'll see teams with that and more, so they are working on it already. Bunting is getting widely used by the girls now and so is slapping.

 Prepping for a bunt, notice the feet. That is only way I can tell when it's coming.

 Regular hit.
 Showing Daddy her arm, he's been hearing about her throwing for awhile now so at 730 yesterday morning they were in the yard. Love that he's all about it. Duchess refused to get out of bed.

 Slight glove adjustment. We're trying to work her into a bigger glove but she really likes this smaller one.

 Self-defense training for Dave's daughters. lol. Seriously, Prin just trying out the sights on Dave's AK. Notice that while she's a righty, she shoots left handed. This is why they are starting to batt her lefty some.

Scrimmage game, Prin laying at third base. Bad-arse hit that got her 3 bases and safe on third. Daddy was suppose to be umping third base, but was instead taking pics, lol.

Now, I have to run to wally world and get Easter stuff. More pics later. Hugs, mudbugs, and softball from Texas.

Yesterdays fun in pics




Life be simple but blessed in the country yo. Armed to the freaking teeth.

Friday, April 22, 2011

It's Not Really Funny, but man.....

I'm currently watching my dearest studly husband move into our house, his grandfathers safe that while we've had for the last ten plus years... we've never moved it into one of our homes. Well it's past time for a safe for our arsenal...... cause we roll like that yo. We be prepared for the next world war.

But while this really isn't funny, I'm sitting here laughing my ass off at these guys. Dave and his buddy are moving this 500 lb safe off his tailgate and into my house. OMGawd, these boys.

Plus watching his arms flex is hotter than hell.

Bless his heart. He's been here since 530 am. We got 30 minutes together before the dog and kids woke up. Then we got an hours sleep before he got a phone call about a job, more on that later. Then it's been errands errands and errands. Runs to the nursery, runs to wally world, unloading safes, throwing the ball around with the babies in the backyard..... and it's only 230. Good grief.

This afternoon is softball practice and planting flower beds.

He's getting a good workout,lol. ;) so am I.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Soooo.....

How is your week?

Mine is good thank you! Seriously we are having a good week. Productive is my middle name and I love going to bed knowing everything is done. OCD much? What is an extra hour of sleep when there are dishes, laundry or a dog that needs a bath? Shhhhhit.

Easter is swiftly upon me and I have nothing ready. My work, they rocks, gave me tomorrow off (worked like a rapid bunny today getting everything cuaght up so I can take it without feeling guilty!) so I have to jump on the Easter train and get caught up. The biggest pressure is off though after Duch and I had a candid talk about the Easter bunny. Seems she was feeling me out to see if she'd still get Easter stuff if she told me she knew the truth about the Easter bunny. Stinker. So logical, she laid it all out for me as to why it was obvious that there was no EB. Then she just threw Santa and the tooth fairy under the bus too. Love the brain on this kid.

Princess and I had some mother/daughter bonding time over our toes this morning and that was nice. I crept in there and woke her up, we turned on Pride & Prejudice, then curled up on the coach and painted our toes to match her softball uniform. Such a snarky sassy kid although like me, she signs and coos at the sweet moments of our favorite film. Mommy's raising a closet romantic, lol.

Excited that in a little over a month I'll have my mom and dad here for a visit! Plenty to do and lots of southern shopping for my momma! This is the perfect excuse for scouting out all the good stores....

That said, I'm going to do some school work and head to bed. Hugs everyone and may your Easter be wonderful.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

warning: me being me

so this past week has been hellishly long and frustrating. But I made it to Sunday night, and I'm ready for bed. woohoo, going to hopefully get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight! party in my house!

although I dropped my prized comforter off to get the hem fixed and then dry cleaned so I'm sleeping in my king sized bed with a single sized comforter. and a stuffed monkey pillow pal cause Duchess thinks I'm lonely and missing her daddy. she is right.

so I am pushing through this last semester of school. it's close to killing me. so dang tired all the time, Dave says more vitamins. i keep forgetting to add to the grocery list. i need a wife. any takers?

and I've decided against capitalizing my sentences, in the spirit of being an individual and not a sheep. i'm a rebel, gotta watch me cause you never know what I'll do.

the girls' softball team is 5-0. they kicked some major butt the other night and Prin hit a line drive down third base that had me trying to climb the fence. she made 3 bases and then stole home. that is soooooooooooooo my child. duchess is now learning how to throw a ball AND keep her eyes open at the same time. it's tougher than it looks people.

the highlight of my day today? in between studying and playdates for kids and cleaning my house, I feel in love with the wet swifer. OMGAWD that thing is awesome. especially if you be like me and have no carpet what so ever in your house. hello beautiful floor.

but I did accomplish alot this weekend. i managed to put my "get her done" hat on and mail out some stuff, organize my closet, spend some one on one time with Duchess, and even do alot of school work ahead of schedule.

but best of all. i found a new word. i'm in love with it and if I could still have babies, I'd have it's babies.

fuckhawt.

don't judge. try it in a sentence.

Dave is so fuckhawt.

see, told you.

snicker.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Bring it mister

So the final countdown is one, my next completed degree will be done in 3.5 weeks. And one professor is doing his damnest to raise the bar and bump me off my 4.0. I'll be damned. So what if I got 3.75 hours of sleep last night, I got a kick arse paper turned in. And since he keeps adding suggestions and assignments to the 8 students left in this class that started with 30, I'm gonna finish this sucker with a bang. I set the curve, yo! So tonight even though I have no assigned work, I'm still gonna start on my next paper. But stinkers..... he just sucks.

So the girls team is now 4 and 0. We are all-stars bound for sure. However, these little momma's almost need to lose a game cause they are getting cocky! I hate that part. Humble is as humble does and them little missies aren't humble. Practice tomorrow will be similiar to bootcamp in hopes of breaking some egos. Crossing fingers.

Tonight is our only night off. Duchess and I are making dinner. Prin is reading in the bathtub with another AR selection and Murphy is pining at the window on his perch for a little poodle running around our yard. Life is pretty good here. Even without sleep.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Huh!

So I'm 33 swiftly approaching 34. And I just realized something this morning, I'm completely comfortable in my skin. WTF? Seriously, it took 33 years to figure out who I am, what I like, and what I want? Life coach I'll never be.

But you couldn't pay me to do my previous 33 years over. Take those bitches and run far from me!!!! Run!

If only I could pass this on to my girls but sadly it doesn't work that way huh? I'd give anything to have them reach the point in their life where their worth isn't determined by who they are to the people around them, where they know what they want from their life and how they want to live their life and make no excuses/apologies for it, or better yet... to give a rip about what people around them think or expect from them. Instead I'll guide them and hope that they reach this point sometime long before I did.

Deep thoughts when I should be writing..... back to paper!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Hugging the Trashcan

Well if the people I work with had any doubts about my non-ability to digest wheat products, they are no longer under any misconceptions. My salad at lunch from Wendy's (thanks farkers) about freaking killed me. Was having a great day, so happy and then got red faced, swollen and in front of a coworker grabbed my garbage can and spewed. c-l-a-s-s-y is me. And not some little lady-like barfing either, on no. It was "my ass has been eating out of a dumpster behind a bar" kind of action. I came straight home, puked till I was dizzy and seeing spots then passed out in my bed. Fun Friday.

Woke up just in time, to scald my teeth and mouth then pack up kids to head out for ballgame. We played a team tonight in a very narly part of the nearest big town, hence the yoga pants cause you can't carry concealed to a league game in shorts you know, duh. And it was on, we shut them down finally in the 5th when they called it (other team, not us) as there are no time limits on Friday night games so we decided to have some good use of the game. We switched kids up putting them in positions they've never played, lol. We had outfield on first and third, it was crazy but fun. We won 14-2. Best part, another coach that will play us in two weeks showed up asking questions about us and then stayed to watch the game and take notes, oh boy. It's league ball dude, seriously? Scouting? lol. Prin got over her fear of being hit by the pitcher when she took one in the leg, shook it off and not only walked to first but stole second right in front of the pitcher, poor pitcher just looked confused, lol. You know what I love most about their games, we draw a crowd and they really get into the action. Softball is bigger than baseball here and for a reason. The girls are faster, make double and triple play moves, steal like there is NO tomorrow and it is far more entertaining than most ball games. I love these kids. They are almost all newbies and they are learning fast.

So because the power of prayer is huge, I just wanta put it out there and ask for prayers for Dave. Out of the blue, he was contacted by a large corporation out of Canada about working for their US branch. After three phone interviews over the last month, they are flying him in for a face to face in two weeks. We are not sure what is going on the table, and we're not sure what we'll do about what's on the table, but please pray that the Lord has his way with this all. That we are guided to do the best we can for our family and what is best for us all.

And pray that I have the strengh to pull my head out of the toliet and get back to normal soon cause we have a busy weekend of playdates, school projects, lessons, piano, and a birthday party. Good grief. But I'm sleeping in tomorrow, we freaking deserve it around here!

Hugs, kisses and mustangs!
H4G

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Blah.......

Totally exhausted. I'm determined to just sit here and do nothing but drool over the tv tonight. Well I'll get some homework done too and then some laundry. Urgh. Last night was amazing, the girls rocked their ball game, after stinking like yesterdays dirty diaper in the first inning (seriously I was scorekeeper for the game and I was hiding behind my book) they pulled out a 10 run lead and shut the game down. Go girls go. But this last semester of school is ALOT OF FREAKING WORK, but I"m half way through. Say a prayer for me. Sigh.........later

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Brings A Freaking Tear to My Eye....


My sweet child just blows me away. Not only does she beg to go to the fields, she is helping around the house, bringing in good grades, and although she still wants to roast her sister over an open pit in the backyard, she is doing amazing! Kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop, lol....yeah I suck.

But most amazing to me, her sessions with her private coach. Each Sunday morning we get up at the butt crack of dawn and she is rearing to go. She listens, and so do I. Prin is picking things up from him and it just blows my damn mind.

Today, he was working on her throwing arm. Out of nowhere last week she fired a ball from outfield grass line behind second straight into the catchers glove at home plate. I don't know who was more shocked.... her, the coach, the catcher or me. The strength of that dang arm just brings a tear to my eye. Control is coming steadily and she works like a dog.

Duchess and I are working on her catching too so I'm knee deep with kids. I actually had to tell them no cause she wants to join the "select" team, as it right now. I said no. Once this season is over, then if they still let her tryout and she wants to, we'll tryout but being a newbie, I'm holding off in case she changes her mind about being so into the sport.

GRADES ARE IN! My babies make me proud, I have a straight A student and an Honor Roll student. They are doing so freaking good here in school. Duchess went on a field trip this week to the theatre for art class and informed me she thought they play was childish because it was all silly songs and she preferred the nutcracker. Oh boy, snicker. Princess went on a field trip to the art museum downtown and took a sculpting class which resulted in a really nice "head/skull"... dudes of all the things she could have made, lol. A head. Okay. Prin also got to do some pretty cool science experiments this week which I love about her school, that science lab isn't just gathering dust in the back of the class! We just her Seventh grade class electives and she is excited about the idea of taking Spanish again. I can't believe I'm gonna have a 7th and a 3rd grader. Damn I'm getting old!

Otherwise, Dave is still on assignment in Oklahoma and I'm working my fanny off juggling my babies, my final semester in school and my work. Happy is me though. Life is blessed around here. Hopefully it's going well for you too!

Peace, Love, and Crabs!
H4G