2011- Who Know's When?

Time again for my look back at 2011 and give you my favorites! Yay!

Favorite Song:

Its a toss up between Crossfire and Only the Young by Brandon Flowers. I am OBSESSED with these two songs right now! LOVE IT!

honorable mention:

Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes

Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 (oddly those two songs both have Adam Levine singing, huh.)

Favorite Movie:

Kung Fu Panda 2 (I really loved this movie!)

honorable mention:

Thor

Sherlock Holmes 2 (I haven't seen this but I KNOW I would love it! Mmmmhmmm)

Harry Potter--so epic!

Tangled

Favorite TV Show:

The Vampire Dairies

I am obsessed with this show and can't wait for it to start again in January! Whoo!

honorable mention:

Any of the Real Housewives of course ;)

The Rachel Zoe Project

Project Runway

Favorite Book:

I Capture The Castle

I read over 60 books this year, its hard to choose a favorite!

There were a couple series I loved, Gregor the Overlander and Inheritance (which is the Eragon series), I really enjoyed those!

honorable mention:

My blog friend Melanie wrote The List and I honest to goodness LOVED it, it was hysterical, seriously had me laughing out loud and grinning stupidly. It was a fast, light read and I so enjoyed every minute. The ending was fabulous!

Favorite Vacation:

We honestly didn't take ANY trips this year. Not even a camping trip. What a lame year. My husband did take many trips to Washington DC for work and he spent a month in Korea, so lucky for him. :/

Favorite Outfit:

I'm changing this from clothes I own to ones I want ;) I discovered Pinterest this year, so there is a lot to be inspired and want from off there! haha

Yes, I realize these don't really have anything to do with 2011, except that I spent a lot of time coveting these outfits. If I had the money, I would have dressed like this in 2011. ;)

Favorite Project:

(this isn't mine, same idea but picture it in a mustardy yellow)

It would be my favorite project if I could get it to work, but I redid a coffee table into a tufted bench. Except that I've redone the top twice and need to again since Kimball's pulled half the buttons off. This time when I re-do it, it will be PERFECT! :)

Most drastic change:

I cut my hair short again, and dyed it bright red!

Highlights:

Bethany was baptized!

Kimball turned one

new family pictures

fun summer and fall

Peter Pan themed Halloween:



Maddie started kindergarden (Bethany 3rd grade)

Fun 30th birthday for my sister

Kimball started nursery!

Lowlights:

my computer crashed and I lost a LOT of pictures :(

Dave was gone for a month in Korea, that was hard :(

Definitely this was a good year, much improved from the year before, I like the thought of every year getting a little better. We grow a little more, we become a little more patient, a little more loving, a little...more. Here's hoping we can take 2012 and make it what we want it to be!

Christmas...I Don't Want to Talk About It...

There are many, MANY things on my mind about Christmas right now. But since today really IS Christmas, I'm thinking it would be bad karma to actually complain about it...right? I mean, just a few small...you know...observations about the holiday, that I absolutely LOATHE right now?!?! (*huffy breathing* and *crazy eyes darting back and forth*)

Okay, you're right. Its wrong. I won't complain about Christmas on Christmas. The only thing I'm going to say is "I don't care if I ever give presents to anyone ever again."

See, there, that wasn't so bad was it?! Naw, not at all.

So to end this post on a slightly more positive note, here's our Christmas letter! Whooey!

Well, I've tried four times to upload our family picture but blogger is a total mo fo and I hate it.(*this was said very calmly by the way*)
Since blogger won't let me upload our actual Christmas picture, this was going to be the back up:

Honestly, we had a very nice Christmas; just the stress of it about sent me into a psychiatric coma and let's face it, I will not learn anything from this and do it next year as well. And however many more Christmas's until someone begs me not to participate anymore. Sooooo...

Meeeerrry Chriiiistmaas!

Sometimes This is How I Feel

*shuffles in, peaks around the corner, bows head*

Hey guys...

Just a few random things to let you know that yes, I am in fact still alive. I'm freaking out about getting the homemade Christmas gifts I planned, actually out of the planning stage and done. And by freaking out, I mean watching every episode of The Vampire Diaries I can squeeze into my day. And sometimes The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The two shows are surprisingly alike, just based on drama. And sucking the life out of people.

I did get my Christmas decorations up, hallelujah for that.

I was on my period this last week and decided I would be completely happy to have my uterus removed altogether. I don't need it right?! Also, I'm pretty sure whoever designs feminine hygiene products is a man. A big, fat, stupid, hairy man that has never bled a day in his life and has no idea what "absorption" means. Because that crap does NOT work.

You know, kids really are disgusting. You ever walk into a room and see something sitting there and you can't even explain WHAT THE CRAP that is? I have to periodically go in and clean my kids rooms (yes, after they've done it themselves REALLY GOOD--according to them), and it so disgusts me with what I find. Why the crap is everything shoved under the bed? A used tissue wadded up under something? Something I can't even begin to describe? Check. I feel like I should call my mom and apologize for ever being a disgusting child.

I realized the other day that the only time I feel like blogging is when I have something to complain about. Thats bad. So when I was a teenager and my mom would hear me gossiping to my girlfriends for hours at a time and tell me that that was wrong and when I was an adult it wouldn't just go away--she was right. Not that I sit around and gossip, just meaning that I'm a complainer and I like to talk about complainy, whiny things. That those things are the things that I like to think about and talk about and analyze kind of things. Things. There were a lot of things in that last sentence. But the point is that I complain a lot and I guess I don't like that.

I was thinking how awesome it would be when all my kids are in school and how much more stuff I would get done during the day, and then I realized that I would probably be just as lazy as I am now. That wasn't a complaint I swear.

So much stuff to avoid doing...but I should probably get something done before my youngest wakes up from his nap and before I have to pick the other two up from school, at which point everything goes to pot. So yeah...thanks for the little chat...

*neck hurts from talking into my chest that whole time, shuffles away*

Laying Out My Weaknesses

Okay FINE! I am finally posting.

I don't know why I haven't felt like blogging lately, I haven't even felt like reading blogs really and that has never happened before! There are things I've been thinking about and the thought keeps popping up: "You should blog this before you forget about it!"

But then I forget about it.

Okay fine, I DO know why I haven't felt like blogging...

A couple weeks ago my husband and I were asked to speak at a youth Standard Night. The Bishop asked us to talk about (get this:) media, the computer, phones, texting, Facebook--that kind of thing. The irony in this is hysterical. Since I am completely addicted to my computer.

So I started preparing and I started reading and I started feeling really, really...guilty. I was reading quotes about "idleness" and being accountable to God for how we use our time, and how Satan tries to minimize the importance of our bodies by sucking us into a life of "unreality" instead of living a REAL important life and enjoying the time and people we have right in front of us. Ugh.

So, although the point of it wasn't to say that the computer (or phones, or texting or whatever) is BAD, it is highly addictive and we have to be careful about not "becoming a slave" to it.

So I've tried to make some changes--do you know how hard it is to be addicted to something thats right in the middle of your living room, that calls to you, that says "just sit down for ONE minute, take a little break, its okay..."?! Its hard I tell you. I've also found that I don't know what to do with myself a lot of the time. Okay I won't sit on the computer, my house is clean, now what do I do? Is that not completely pathetic?! (Please don't answer that, I'm going through a very rough time...)

So I've tried to get organized, come up with ideas, make lists of things to do and whatnot; and its starting to sort of work, I think. Yeah. You know, I think Satan is pretty smart because although I haven't had a real sort of physical addiction to anything (except maybe Mountain Dew), I think a mental addiction could be just as hard to break. Its like my brain is fuzzy, its like every time I stay away from the computer I have a million questions that need to be answered by google RIGHT NOW...

So anyway, thats about it I think. I'm working on using my time better and not being completely consumed by the convenience of the internet. I did have a great post to write about my thoughts on Pinterest, but somehow this came out instead. Sorry. Next time we'll get to the addictive qualities of Pinterest. See its related!

Masquerade!! People's Faces on Parade!

It was my sister's 30th birthday at the beginning of the month, since she has a long history of kind of sucky birthdays her husband REALLY wanted to throw her a big party. It was a little bit of a rough go, trying to find a place to have it, trying to figure things out and get stuff done, my sister made her costume--it was AMAZING--but that takes time, so it was a little stressful for her I think.

You guys have to know, that my sister is one of my very best friends, I was really hoping this party would be awesome for her! It was a masquerade ball, so everyone should have some kind of mask and be dressed up. I LOVE dressing up and I LOVE Halloween parties, I wish I'd taken some pictures of the food (shame on me!), because there were intestines and worms and eyeballs and all kinds of awesome stuff! She had the party in a dance studio, so we even got some fun dance instructions too! We set up a little backdrop and had fun props and took pictures and really just laughed and danced and had a great time! I hope she knows how much I love her and that I at least had a fantastic time! :D Here's a couple pictures from the party:



This is my costume, I did a kind of "steampunk" costume. Its a little bit victorian with a punk twist, lots of clocks and cogs and stuff. Google it, I love it! :) And YES, I did make my costume!


This is my brother in law, he was a pirate (with a leprechaun belt...) and apparently the top hat just finished things up. :)


This is my beautiful sister! Doesn't she look awesome?! She really seriously made that dress! And you'll have to check her hair out in the other pictures, it was so great (I know I don't sound humble, but I did her hair too and was freaking out it looked so cool! haha)!!


I know she's cut off in these pictures, you'll have to click on them to see them full size!






This is my studly husband, I LOVED his costume. He kinda looks like a soda jerk, and I wish his mustache would have stayed on, but seriously so cute!


This is the backdrop, pretty fun right?



I made this cake special for my sister, its a lemon cake with raspberry filling, it was like five layers thick! haha

Sometimes This Happens With Short Hair

Just realized how much I look lesbian-ish today...

...don't ask how my posing reflects that, that part is just because I'm weird.

I Like Wasting Time Apparently

So its happened. I must have been super bored or my blood sugar was low or something but I decided to join...

...pinterest.

If you're on pinterest, you totally know what happened. If you're not you'll think this is totally dumb.

So for those of you WEIRDO's who've never even heard of pinterest, let me try to explain it simply. Have you ever been browsing blogs and come across a great tutorial or idea that you loved and wanted to bookmark for future reference? I don't usually bookmark sites, so I would normally email myself the link and hope I'd remember about it when I actually needed to use it. Well, with pinterest when you find that great idea, you "pin" it to a "board" about whatever interest you have and its all in one place for you. So lets say I have a board about cake decorating (which I dooo), if I come across a cake I like the style of or whatnot, I can pin it and find it super easy for future reference.

Now past the simple part, you also get to see what all your friends are pinning, so thats super fun and good for more ideas. PLUS you get to see what EVERYONE IN THE WORLD is pinning so even MORE fun. PLUS (yes theres more!) if you want specific ideas for specific things--like last night I was looking up "halloween food" for a party--you can type a search in for that and get thousands of ideas. Its awesome.

Also, its addicting.

All of a sudden not only do you want to pin ideas-- you want to SEARCH for more and more things to pin because its fun and its cute and people like what you pin and you feel super validated when someone sees your pin and RE-pins it because they like it too. Its like the cool kids group for craftiness or something.

I don't know if this is a post telling you to join pinterest or warning you of its evils...I'll leave that up to you! :)

Swass and All That Too

So this week on Blossoming Bloggers, there's a recipe for fish tacos and the prompt is:

"Tell about one of your favorite dates you have ever been on."

Hmmmm. Favorite date huh...honestly, I got married right out of high school. Like five months after high school, and I was engaged those five months, so those kind of dates aren't real...datey; mostly just making out...heh heh...yeah...

Before I met my husband, all my other dates were in high school and you know thats not the same as dating as an adult. Not that the dates I went on then were BAD, they just were lame high school dates. :)

When my husband and I were dating, they were good dates, but pretty normal: dinner, movie, putt-putt golfing, baseball game...and then we were engaged...haha

This is the only story I can think of to tell you:

For my husband's thirtieth birthday we decided to invite some friends and go play lazer tag. We were super excited about it because...well, because lazer tag is freaking awesome, thats why. So we get there and get all geared up and ready to play, I'm pretty sure we played guys against girls. We're in the arena, its dark, the black lights are going and we are running around all crazy ninja style trying to be awesome and get the most points and MUTILATE the boys. We played several games until we were so hot and sweaty and exhausted we were done.

We go back and hang up our vests and guns and I turn around and look at my dear sweet husband. He has sweat lines all down his back, across his chest and under his moobs (man boobs). I looked at him and all I could say was, "You're really lucky this isn't a first date, because I'm not sure I would have gone out with you again..." and busted up laughing.

So there, not only do you get a fun story, there's some sound advice for dating:

Don't do a physically sweaty date for a few weeks, until you're sure they REALLY like you. And it helps if you have a few kids together already... :)

Lunch Bunch

Okay, for this week's Lunch Bunch, the question is:

If you could address a graduating high school class, what would you say?

Boy, do I want to go short and sweet or long and boring? Hmmmmm, I'll probably think I'm doing short and sweet, and end up with long and boring...

Its different being general to everyone or even just specifically for boys or girls. If I was just talking to girls, I would say BE NICE TO EACH OTHER, working together women can do amazing things--but put against one another we can be seriously awful.

One thing I have tried to have as a motto is: You will always feel bad about doing something wrong, but you will NEVER be sorry you did what was right.

I think I love this Mother Theresa quote though:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

And I think that about sums it up. :)

What would YOU tell them?

Schedule Schmedule

My kids are just going back to school today. Our district had a strike and they were out of school all last week and all this week until today. Now they're back and I can start that whole worrying about my kindergartner all over again. Its lovely.

But at least we can hopefully start our "school schedule" now, you know the one that says I should have showered by now...

I suck at keeping schedules.

I surely like to make lists and plans but thats about as far as I get most of the time. And I love it if I accidentally do something so I can cross it off. Thats awesome.

This is about what my day was like with all the kids home (in picture form):

It was craziness I tell ya.

This is how it is now with only the boys home:

A whole lotta this. Why are boys so gross?

I Like Everything But I Like The Computer Best

Hi guys. Yup, I'm posting two whole days in a row! Can you believe it?!

Anyway, I was contacted by the bloggers who started Blossoming Bloggers and was asked if I wanted to do a Lunch Bunch post. All it is, is sharing a recipe and a prompt question. You can click over there to see the recipe, the question I asked was:

"Do you make time for hobbies and interests outside of being a mom and how do you do it?"

I'm supposed to write an answer to it as well, but I'm more interested in knowing how you guys make time for your interests--thats why I asked the question! heh

Since I have about a million and one interests (I'm easily amused....look a butterfly!!), I try and stick to things that are beneficial to my family (like decorating my house for cheaper than buying stuff) or things that I truly love so that the time I do use away from my family is worth it.

I've always liked photography, but never had an opportunity in high school or such to pursue it much, after I started having kids, I was of course taking pictures of them as much as possible. I've always loved art and drawing and painting, but to pull out supplies is messy and the time it takes to paint can be ridiculous when you have small children. Photography is instantaneous for the most part. *Click*--you have art. Its sometimes hard to go back to drawing, even though I miss it. Besides the fact that photoshop also fulfills that artistic need I have. One thing I've done this year to encourage my photography hobby was to join a 52 week project, each week we get a new prompt and have to take a picture for the theme within the time frame. Its fun because its not just pictures of my kids and it stretches my imagination, I've loved it. (If you want to check out my project, you can go to my photography blog here.)

I have lots of interests that I've put aside until my kids are older, like quilting and serious sewing and I mentioned painting as well. One of the interests I find doable with little kids is reading, we can even do it together sometimes! I made it a goal to read 50 books this year and will be finished with that goal within two more books. Exercising is another interest of mine, although I've fallen in and out of that so much. My husband and I started doing the "Insanity" work out, I got about four weeks into it, without seeing very good results. My goal now is to just do something active every day with my kids, and hopefully that will be a good start.

My biggest interest is the computer, so I encourage growth in that area by spending as much time as humanly possible on it... And I'm interesting in being extremely rich, but just haven't quite got it down yet.

Alright then, obviously since this is all about me, I could go on and on... :) But really, let me know how you make time to grow your talents and keep your interests...well, interesting!

What is HAPPENING?!

Dude. It isn't even 11am and I am ready for this day to be over.

Our school district is striking, today is the first day of no school. So of course I want to sleep in. Do the kids get the memo? Of course not.

I'm laying in bed, and my one year old climbs up to me, and promptly throws his tiny bowling ball hard head right into my closed eye. There was a flash of light, I'm surprised I didn't have a vision or something.

I decide to kick him out and stay in bed and read to recover. He comes up again and promptly throws one of those hard cardboard baby books. RIGHT AT THAT SAME FREAKING EYE. I have a big old lump there and it hurts to blink. I've never had a black eye before, we'll see if my very first is caused by a one year old baby. Kristina, maybe you are right.

I decide to go downstairs in an attempt to not be mauled anymore. The kids are fighting, they are screaming. Besides being tired, hurt, annoyed and frustrated, Aunt Flo came to visit yesterday, so I'm also an evil witch.

Then the phone rings. Its the dentist office, wondering if we're going to make our appointment that started 10 minutes before. Uhhhhhh, I thought it was tomorrow. I had to have told her "I am so sorry!!" fifteen times and she never once said it was okay, she was mad at me. I feel like crap.

I'm cramping. My face hurts. My kids are being crazy, wild animals. One of my children screams at least every two minutes on cue. Someone please make it stop...

School Blues

I sent two of my kids off to school today. My oldest loves school, she's excited for school, she's responsible and I'm not worried about her at all. My #2 is starting Kindergarden and I AM FREAKING OUT.

You have to understand a couple things about her. First of all, she's tiny. And I mean seriously TINY. Like my three year old is bigger than her, like she's almost six and can seriously wear 3T clothes on her skinny butt. It makes me nervous that she'll be picked on. Plus its just heartbreaking to see her tiny little body sitting at that big table all alone...(control yourself woman!) Secondly, she's super quiet. She has a tiny little voice and when she's upset she curls in a tiny little ball and quietly weeps to herself. WEEPS! I just can't stand the thought of her being upset and crying in the corner where the teacher won't notice. Ugh. Also, the girl is sort of in la-la land, she is creative and funny and just does her own thing, which I love--but it might not translate so well sometimes. I'm so afraid she's going to be lost in there.

Now for the non-negative part:

The other day we went to the park, within minutes she was wrapped up in a blanket with two other little girls. She makes friends easily and she's not worried about dumb stuff. She doesn't usually let things bother her (because she's in la-la land...), so I'm hoping she'll just be kind of go with the flow-ish. She's sweet and cute and loves to do art and wants to write and read, so I'm SURE she'll have a great time.

Its just the not knowing thats making me crazy.

I may have hurried out to the car trying to hold back tears and then cried like a baby before I got home. And I HATE it when people get all emotional for the first day of school, so once again karma has come back to bite me...

See how my one year old comes up to her chest? Yeah.

Oh Yeah, I DO Have a Blog

Hey guys! Remember how my husband's in the army? And remember how last year he was gone for six months? Yeah. Dark time for me. I didn't blog a lot then either.

Well, I haven't blogged this month because he was in Korea. It wasn't nearly as hard this time because 1) I wasn't pregnant 2) I wasn't post-partum 3) It wasn't six months and 4) We've had some fantastic weather and that really helps me feel happy :)

So he got home Saturday and now some of the pressure I've had this month is lifted and I can think of other things besides: FEED CHILDREN-- PAY BILLS-- DON'T FREAK OUT-- FEED CHILDREN-- PAY MORE FLIPPING BILLS-- BREATH-- etc. etc. and so forth

At least I THINK I can think past that, here's hoping.

We went to the beach today. We've had great weather, but today was a little cooler and overcast, still really nice though so I won't complain because it wasn't raining. We had a little picnic lunch and played in the water and I'm trying to hold on to these last couple days before school starts and I have to have a normal schedule. Good luck with that Melinda...

So I have dinner to do right now but I'm going to leave you with this fantastic picture:

It never fails when I'm trying to get a good shot of her that somehow she ends up coming up with something crazy like this. She's great.

Until next time my friends!

And We Didn't Even Get Popcorn

I go to the movie theater maybe twice a year.

I do not enjoy the theater. Well, let me clarify, I do not enjoy the other PEOPLE at the theater. Because every other person in the theater besides myself is RUDE and LOUD and ANNOYING.

A few weekends ago my husband and I went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...part 2"--yes, in a theater. I am a HUGE Potter fan, loved the books, really enjoy the movies and sometimes a movie on the big screen is just so much better than on your regular old tv. So I was desperate to go see the finale to this epic series in the theater and my husband made that happen for me.

This is what we were barraged with: burping. We were surrounded on all sides by disgusting burps every few minutes. You think I'm exaggerating, but I am NOT.

When we first got there, there were only a couple other people seated, so we took the good seats right in the middle of the theater. Bad idea. As more and more people showed up, they squeezed themselves around us. Like right next to us. I like a seat or two as a sort of "cushion of protection" against the weirdos, but this didn't happen. And then it started...

Not the movie. The burping.

The guy next to my husband loudly burps. We look at each other. Seriously? Then he does it again. And again. Then a bigger group sat right behind us, they were a little older and quite loud, and they started burping as well.

It was just ridiculous people. The movie started and it seemed like if there was any sort of quiet moment, that was the time to burp. It was insanity!

So instead of coming away from that thinking I had just seen a fantastic movie, I came away thinking I NEVER WANT TO GO TO THE THEATER AGAIN!!

Boo for dumb people.

Less Money, Mo Problems

You know what?

I'm tired of being poor. I really REALLY am.

Before I go into this, I will start with a disclaimer: I know there are people in worse off situations than I am. I know that I should be grateful for what I do have. I KNOW. Believe me, I know.

Its just sometimes I get so tired of worrying about how we're going to pay this bill or where the money's going to come from to pay for this that just came out of nowhere. And I'm tired that every penny has to go to something responsible. Maybe sometimes I want to buy something fun, maybe I want to buy some clothes, maybe I want to be frivolous for two minutes without regretting it. Maybe I don't want to have to worry if its going to be okay to go out to dinner or to the zoo, like normal people get to do.

I shouldn't look at other people and compare their situations to mine, but it is SO HARD sometimes. Its like all these people are right there in my face constantly with their big houses and their money and I WANT THAT. I WAAAAAAAANT IT.

People are so judgemental towards people who don't have money too. If I told you I was on food stamps and you saw me at the store buying soda and chips, you would think I'm being irresponsible or wasting that free money right? Well, gosh dang, I can't buy anything, you're going to begrudge me some freaking chips too?! Do I get any sort of indulgence ever?

Honestly, I want to be rich because I want it to just be easy for awhile. There are a bunch of other things already that weigh on me, and I would like the money weight to be lifted.

That would be nice.

Okay, pity party over. I feel like I go through highs and lows where I'm okay with our situation and I realize that money isn't whats important in life, but then when things start to pinch I want an easy solution. And of course, nothing I come up with to make extra money is ever going to be instantaneous and solve all our problems, so I'm stuck feeling overwhelmed by it. Someday I'll figure it out. Or else we'll get rich and I won't have to. I really hope its the second thing... ;)

You Are What You...Hate?

Does it ever hit you that you're one of those people that does the things you hate about other people?

Do you know what I mean? You're like "I HATE it when people gossip!!" but don't realize how much you gossip yourself? Or you think, "People should really pray and read the scriptures every night!" except for the fact that you don't actually do it yourself. You think you do, but not really.

When my husband was gone last year, all of a sudden I was in charge of ALL the money. I hadn't had to pay tithing in a long time, since my husband always took care of it. Then there was the fact that we didn't start getting any income at all for almost two months (that was fun) so I guess it slipped my mind when the money started coming in. Then I had a conversation with someone about someone not paying tithing who said they were, and I was like "That is SO WRONG!!....wait a second...I HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING TITHING!!!" It wasn't a conscious thing, I just didn't realize I hadn't been doing it.

I got super sunburned yesterday and the day before. I hate chronic sunburners', like seriously, learn to put some sun screen on. It makes me crazy. And here I sit, burnt to a crisp because I didn't have sun screen to put on (the first day) and didn't put extra sun screen on my neck and face (just my arms) the next day. Stupid.

My husband's out of town this week, in Washington DC again. I let it sneak up on me and didn't actually prepare for him being gone, its like my brain is seriously not functioning--even worse than usual. Scary thought. I mean it would be a scary thought if my brain could think. But it can't process anything right now. I blame too much Mountain Dew. "Don't do it kids--it'll melt your brain!!" (Thats a quote by me.)

I'm lazy, and I don't like it. I would do something about it, but I'm too lazy to. And thats the honest truth.

I hate lazy people.

Achy Breaky--I'll Break Your Leg

Hellllooooo there!

So.

I'm back.

For reals this time.

My computer is fixed and I think I've made it to a happier, less stressful place and I am ready to blog again. I think.

You know what I feel like blogging about? You are so about to find out!

Last night my husband and I watched that "Surprise Homecoming" show. I really didn't think I could stand watching it, I was tearing up bad just watching the commercials. This wasn't planned either, we were just watching "Cake Boss" and this just so happened to come on afterwards, and we were totally sucked into it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, especially because Billy Ray Cyrus is the host.

Can I say that man made me crazy the entire show?!

Just starting with how the man looks. He still has a mullet. Which makes me want to punch him in the head. Then he was wearing some ridiculously--and I mean ridiculous--tight pants. With a leather jacket. Gosh what a douche.

So then every time he opened his mouth it was some outrageous crap. At one point he was introducing this soldier during an assembly and was all, "This man is my hero. He is my biggest hero. Please applaud...(pulls out an index card and READS OFF HIS NAME) Cpt. Blah Blah Blah." Are you freaking kidding me?! You couldn't respect this man enough to remember his name?! Then he says some garbage at some point about how he can relate to having a child in a war zone and how hard that is...uhhhhh, he does?! And THEN he said something like "I am so glad I could do this for them." What, you really didn't do anything. They would have a homecoming whether he was there or not, whether it was on tv or not, he really didn't do much of anything. At one point he tried to make some joke about Miley waiting out in the truck and I wanted to kick him in the groin. He just came off as such an idiot. By the end of it, I was irked. I just think the host should be someone who has the tiniest inkling of whats its like to be apart of the military, but its a pretty intense situation and deserves someone that knows how to treat the families with some sensitivity.

Alrighty, that is all. For now.

Rambling Madness

So I'm back. Not because my computer's fixed or anything, but because I'm bored and...yeah.

We were supposed to be in Utah this week. I don't want to talk about it.

My husband still took the time off work, we're just staying here and doing fun "family" things instead.

Today we took the kids to a nature center, we looked at turtles and snakes, played at a cute little park and took a 1/2 mile walk around a lake with a bridge in the middle. It was fun. (Imagine awesome pictures I took, that I can't load on here because I don't have a computer I can upload them to:)

*picture of kids going down slide*


*picture of turtles resting on a log*


*picture of us walking along a trail*

Then we went to this restaurant we saw featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" that my husband's been begging me to go to for months. Its called "Southern Kitchen" and this is what you should expect if you went there:

I smaaaall area to sit at, which will be ridiculously crowded. The crowd will be....(whats another word for ghetto?) yeah, that. Because its located in the heart of Tacoma (if I called it Tacompton, would that help you visualize better?). The service might be slow, but they are very friendly. The food will be pretty good. But to be honest, I would have been just as happy with the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC. At least then you could eat it at home, and not with some gang member two inches in the chair behind you asking the waitress if they had a liquor license because he needed at drink at 2 in the afternoon...anyway, I think my husband was happy, so thats good.

Then I decided I really was going to dye my hair. It was going to RED and it was GOING TO HAPPEN this time. Do you think it happened this time? No. My hair is stupid and it sucks. And I hate it too. I seriously spent hours last night trying to figure out the best way to get the result I wanted, do you know how many YouTube videos I watched about dying dark hair red?! A LOT, thats how many.

And you know what?!?! I can't even show you guys a stupid picture of my stupid hair because my stupid EXPENSIVE computer quit on me!!!!!! (*heavy panting, because I've totally worked myself up*)

Hey, have you ever noticed when you dye your hair it feels like your brain is swelling out of your skull? Or maybe it feels like your skin is swelling like a giant hive? Anyway, its a weird feeling...and perhaps you shouldn't blog right after you've dyed your hair because it killed a lot of brain cells...

Anyway, I think thats my hint to stop this hot mess...

Mac Daddy

I know its been awhile, and I have a valid excuse (not just laziness, which is my usual excuse). My computer is broken. :( Wait now, did you read that right?

MY COMPUTER IS BROKEN!!!!!

My life line, my muse, my best friend, the only one who understands me, my one true love...is on the fritz.

I've been having problems with it freezing up every couple weeks, it will last a day or two and then be fine again. This last week it started freezing up, and it never got better. I was reading the help site and doing some of the things it said when I came across the hard drive, it said something awful. It said: FAILING. ("Copy as many files as you can, and then see a licensed Mac representative.)

So anyway, thats why I've been gone, and thats why I officially lost my mind this last week (the separation was horrible). My husband brought his work laptop home and is letting me use this. Hopefully next time I blog, it will be on my newly mended computer. And pray for me that they'll be able to save all my pictures, otherwise I might honestly lose my sanity. Ugh, I don't even want to think about it.

Yup, I'm Talking About Hair...Again

So I cut my hair a week and a half ago. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted but its not a big deal. I guess I was hoping for more of a change, but it just doesn't look that different.

So I went out and bought a box of hair dye. I know I should have gone to a professional, but I really just can't afford to pay someone $70 when I can buy a box for $3. I even talked to my friend who's a hairdresser and she showed me the color of hair dye I should buy and told me just to do it myself if I wanted to save money. So I went and bought some.

I was really nervous. When I see other people with the color hair I wanted, I really like it, but trying to picture myself I just couldn't do it. I was afraid I'd look totally weird. But I finally mustered up the courage and I DID IT.

This is how it turned out:

Does this look red/auburn to you?! Nope, it pretty much looks exactly what my hair normally looks like, with a slight reddish tint when the bright light hits it. I would never look at my hair and think "Oh she has red hair!" Nope, its brown. Stupid dark brown that doesn't want to be dyed.

So now I'm angry and annoyed and I think I'm just going to chop it all off short and dye it blonde. And its going to work even if I have to fry my hair to do it.

WIN A TRIP TO PARIS!!

In 2008 my mom and sister were in a car accident. An older woman pulled out in front of them and hit them head on. My mom received three torn discs in her back, which won't heal even though she's done everything her doctor's said and is a very health conscious person, like the perfect patient. The woman's insurance refused to pay for anything.

You see, that insurance company is Allstate.

If you don't know anything about insurance companies, there are a few you REALLY don't want to have, the worst being Allstate, and others like Nationwide, State Farm and AIG.

If you read up on any of these companies you would be appalled. Despite the fact that its what their company is paid to do, they will do anything not to help when its needed. They want to pay NOTHING out, they want to keep all the money.

My mom wouldn't accept that, so she pushed the issue and they sent her to arbitration. The arbitrator said he would award my mom the highest amount he could ($50,000) and would give her more if he could. Of course, Allstate wouldn't accept that, so they took it to court.

Here's the thing, while in court, no one can say anything about Allstate or the arbitration. They made it look like my mom was suing the little old lady that hit her. Who was a police officer. Yeah. They also had their doctor do an "exam" (where he ignored what my mom said, didn't even look at her MRI and basically didn't do a dang thing), even though my mom had FIVE doctors saying what she had, this guy came in, lied and the jury believed him. What have we come to in America? Where our courts protect the wrong and make the people out to be liars. The doctor they used was kicked out of another state for malpractice, works for L&I and was being sued from a previous case for making an injury out to be less than it was, but none of that was allowed to be said in court. WHY? The lawyer for Allstate lied his freaking head off and then had the nerve to go up to my mom and say "No hard feelings huh?" afterward. I don't know how people sleep at night.

And my mom, who is the most honest person I know was called a liar and irresponsible and ripped to pieces. And now has thousands of dollars of court fees, besides the medical fees she'll have for the rest of her life. Its sickening.

You should know: don't support Allstate--they will NOT support you. Think about it, if you bought a shirt from a store, but they refused to actually give you the shirt, would you sit back and be okay with it? I don't understand how an insurance company can refuse to do their job and then be PROTECTED in court about it.

Okay, I think I got some of it out, but I'm still so mad about it. Its just wrong.

Now I think there was something about Paris in the title? I know, that was way tricky. But 'Oh Happy Day' is having a contest to win a trip for two to Paris. Amazing. If I won, I would take my mom. :)

The Weather Isn't the Only Thing Gray Around Here

A few weeks ago I was braiding my older sister's hair and noticed she had a couple gray hairs. I was a little shocked since she's not quite thirty yet. She was all "Oh yeah, I've had some gray for awhile..." all nonchalant and whatever. So it got me thinking (see: obsessing) if I have any gray hairs. I looked and saw nothing, asked my husband if he saw anything: nope.

Then the other day I was sitting in my car putting make up on. I looked in the mirror and behold what did I see?!

A GRAY HAIR!!

You know what I honestly think? I focused so much on if I would get a gray hair, my body responded and grew one.

I suck.

You know who else sucks? Our new neighbors.

Oh yeah.

Our seriously crappy old neighbors moved out (actually were kicked out--they were that crappy), and were replaced by people JUST. LIKE. THEM.

They smoke outside my front door. They BBQ at 9 o'clock at night. Play their music super loud all day long and into the night. They have a dog thats even louder than the old neighbor's dog, that will probably poop on only our lawn like the last one. And they've only been here TWO DAYS. No wonder I'm getting gray hair.

Don't worry, I'm going to go look at a house today and hopefully we will be out of here by the end of this month.

Pray for me.

And Now...A Letter

Dear Utahns,

I know you've been having a lot of rain and bad weather lately, and I'm sorry about that. Who am I kidding, I am not one bit sorry. I've noticed a little something about Utahns, and that is: you complain about the weather--A LOT. Every Spring there is the obligatory "What's with this SNOW Utah?! Don't you know its the end of March?!" Dude, the weather does this EVERY year, when are you going to get used to it? I remember one year it snowed in flippin' JUNE, and I remember saying those same things then too. But now that I'm not in the middle of the Utah world, I've noticed that Facebook status's from Utah constantly say the same thing (see above quote). Now for ME, I can complain about the weather all I want because I live in Washington, which really does have horrible weather. At least Utah actually gets a great summer, so boo. Just thought I'd let you know.

Someone who's a little bitter about the weather and maybe slightly hypocritical,
~Melinda

Sip of the Crazy Life

My three year old just had a melt down over juice.

He said "Mommy, can I have apple juice in a cup pwease?"

So I got him some apple juice in a cup.

Simple enough right?

NO!

He wanted apple juice in a SIPPY cup. So he sat there and stomped and cried and I said sorry, but I already got you juice, drink it or don't.

Then he laid on the floor and very pathetically moaned, "I want my daddy." over and over. He even turned to his sister to make sure he made his point, "Maddie...I want my daaaaddy! waaah!"

It was ridiculous.

Over JUICE!

Of course now he's playing toys and laughing his head off, but who knows where we'll be in another five minutes. I live with a flipping' crazy person.

Peach Fuzz

All the boys in my house got haircuts last night. Yes, all three boys did, which means my one year old got his first haircut last night.

I cried.

I have never cried cutting my kids hair before. But do you know why I cried?

Not because he had beautiful sweet baby curls and now they were gone. Not because he looks ugly. Not because I miss his longer hair (it wasn't really long in the first place).

I cried because I didn't put a guard on at all. So after that first swipe, I saw that I had pretty much shaved him bald. Completely BALD.

I couldn't take it back after the first go, so then I cried for a minute and kept on shaving. He sort of looks like a little cancer patient. You can see all the veins on his head, the little dent where his soft spot is, everything. Basically he looks like a giant peach.

Its growing on me now, because heck its just hair and it will grow back. But that "what have I done?!?!" feeling last night, was not nice.

I should probably care more about my three year old's hair since he can NOT hold still and he has long pieces all over his head, but no, who cares about that?

Hey, Handy Manny right now is talking about haircuts! Weird. Do you ever think your electronics are spying on you? No...yeah, me neither...

Weird or Just Plain Funny?

I had a meeting last night and when I got home--waaay past bedtime mind you--my husband had given our one year old some fruit snack. Yes, fruit snacks. The baby was such a ridiculous sticky mess, he honest to goodness couldn't get his fingers unstuck from each other. I wiped him up as good as I could and kept looking at his face, something was off a little. His bottom lip looked swollen! I asked my husband if he had gotten bonked in the mouth or something? No, he hadn't. So what was wrong? On closer inspection, his face was so sticky that his bottom lip was stuck to the skin underneath it. Kind of like Bubba Gump. For real. His lip was stuck to his chin. It threw me for a loop for the rest of the night, it was just so weird/gross/icky/odd.

I think its hilarious today.

I've been trying to stop nursing for like a month now. Its going...okay. I have definitely cut back, and he is taking a bottle better; but he REALLY wants to nurse still. Anyway, last night was a hard night for the boy and I think I ended up nursing him on one side three times. And NO times on the other side. One of my boobs is seriously huge and rock hard. The other is tiny and deflated. It is the weirdest thing I've seen since...well last night with the lip thing.

Its sort of hilarious to me as well.

Hope you guys have a funny weekend and not as weird a one as mine is starting out as! :)

Some Seriously Deep Crap

I was watching America's Next Top Model the other day and one of the girls won a challenge about being a good role model and another one of the girls was really upset because she felt that girl didn't deserve it. She felt like the girl was fake, and pretty much she was getting away with a lie. She felt justified in saying something--almost like she had to say something--because she was TELLING THE TRUTH and that person WAS LYING.

Tyra (O Wise Crazy One) said something along the lines of, you have to be professional, and its one of the hardest things to keep your mouth shut when you feel like you should say something about someone's character because you need to tell the truth.

Its really is so frustrating. We're taught our whole lives to stand up for whats right, to do the right thing even when its hard, to tell the truth and be honest; and yet, we get to be adults and thats not really what people want you to do. They want you to look past their faults, they want you to get over yourself, they want you to mind your own business, they want you to keep your mouth shut. Nobody likes a tattle tale. And yet we train our kids their whole lives to BE a tattle tale. To let us know whats going on, to not keep secrets.

What would you do if you knew some personal information about someone, and they were telling your best friend complete and total lies, then your friend came to you and was talking about it to you? Do you keep your mouth shut? Do you set your friend straight? Do you share, do you keep quiet?

There's so many different sides to this. The person who you know is lying, now says you're judgmental. Doesn't matter that what they did was horrible, you're judging them so that means YOU'RE bad. Somehow when you "tattle" on someone, no matter how true it is, you get made to be the bad person. You're a gossiper, you're intolerant, you're mean.

Maybe you're not trying to judge someone, maybe you're just trying to be honest. Maybe you were raised by a mother who despised lying, and its hard for you to take any of it. I know I was. I HATE when people lie. Hate it. So its hard not to want to stand up and say "THAT ISN'T TRUE!!" But is it my place? Is it right?

Why is it so hard to sit back and watch someone "get away" with something? Its not my place to inflict justice on someone, but it sure is hard not to want to sometimes! Do you struggle with this? Do you wish people would stop lying and just take responsibility for their actions? Or does it not bug you, let people live their lives and thats that?

What do you think?

Parlez Vous?

When I was in 6th grade, we had to learn some Spanish basics. We learned colors and simple phrases and...I don't know, whatever means "the basics." Obviously, I didn't learn much because the only phrase I remember at all is:

Donde esta el bano? (And even that I didn't learn well because I spelled "bano" as "banyo" and had to google it to get it right. Doh.)

Which means:

Where is the bathroom?

At some point in the school year, I thought it would be funny during Spanish Time to go up to the teacher and say "Donde esta el bano?" and give him a good little chuckle. You know because when you're twelve, anything to do with the bathroom is hilarious. Heck, it still is most of the time...at least to my husband. Who I wonder about his maturity sometimes...which is probably about the level of a twelve year old..

Anyway, I went up to him and with a big goofy grin on my face delivered the words in espanol.

He glanced at me and told me to go ahead and go to the bathroom.

Not a crack of a smile. Nothin'...

As I trudged down the hallway I realized two things:

a. Not everyone gets my sense of humor.

and

b. I really didn't have to go to the bathroom.

I think its Called Writers Block, You know, if You're a Professional

I'm trying to come up with a blog post. I'm watching 'America's Next Top Model' instead.

Believe me. I love blogging, it was like blog at first sight. But something is just missing lately.

I have no desire to blog.

I'll check blogs a little, I'll try and comment and sometimes thats even hard to do. Then I think about blogging and I'm just like...blaaahhhhg.

So sorry everyone, this is my very sad attempt at getting back into it. Maybe I'll have something better next week? :>

The Eensy Weensy Spider

I think I ate a spider.

I woke up yesterday morning with a bite on one of my fingers. I didn't think much of it until the evening when I noticed that the corner of my mouth had been sore all day. There was a red spot there and it was getting more and more tender.

I get up this morning. The red spot on my mouth is getting bigger and hurts even more than yesterday.

I would say its a cold sore but I've never had one of those, and no one else in my family has either. So how would I just magically get a cold sore?

So thats when I came to the conclusion that I must have eaten a spider, and right before it went in my mouth it bit me.

"They" say that we eat an average of 8 spiders in our lifetime. I have NO idea how anyone could possibly know that, unless they watch someone sleep every night of their life, but thats what they say.

It doesn't make sense to me though, I mean when do you see spiders crawl on people's faces? They usually stay way up in the corner of the ceiling. Are they watching you, waiting for you to fall asleep so they can commit suicide? I can just see the thinking, "Hmmmmm, of all the places I can crawl, I think I'll go in this gaping hole thats forcefully blowing air at me..."

It just doesn't make sense.

So anyway, I might have a cold sore. But I really do want to know who could have spread this to me, so I can set some spiders loose on them one night.

Its a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Hey.

Is been awhile.

I'm going for a record of starting each blog post apologizing for not blogging enough, so you know.

I just haven't felt like I've had anything to share lately. I've been doing stuff here and there, I've got stuff going on but I haven't felt like blogging really. Whats got me here then, compelling me to blog?

Nothing like barf to get your "juices flowing". (Wow. That was so gross, the visual I gave myself with that!)

Anyway, the barf thing. I went outside yesterday morning to throw something in the recycle can, and there on my front porch (that I share with the neighbors, as their house is attached to my house) was barf. Someone had thrown up all over the porch and then they had. left. it. there.

I was mortified. I was disgusted. I was shocked.

I went back out a little bit later to get my mail. Still there.

Pick my daughter up from school.

STILL THERE.

At this point, my mind is completely blown.

I mean, I shouldn't be too shocked right? These are the people that smoke like its the sixties, put their trash in MY trash can, throw parties every weekend until the wee hours of the morning, have who knows how many people living there, have a huge white poodle that growls at my kids, and conveniently wake me up every Friday night at 2:30 for a reason I'd rather not share. But BARF?! I just don't get it.

Who seriously barfs all over in front of their own front door and leaves it there?! I even heard the kids come home from school, walk past it, and still NOTHING HAPPENED. Here's the problem (you know BESIDES that there's a bunch of barf outside my door), my daughter was going to go to a friend's after school, and then her mom was going to drop her off. On MY front porch. That porch, the one with the BARF EVERYWHERE. So when my husband got home from work yesterday at 5 PM (he said the barf was there when he left for work at 6 am), I made him go out there and spray it off.

Because apparently not only are our neighbors rude and inconsiderate, they're also incredibly disgusting and unsanitary.

It boggles the mind, it does. Good thing we're going to move. As soon as we find a place to live. And then pack EVERYTHING up (by myself most likely). Bah.

Do you have neighbors that drive you crazy?

Yay and Nay

Guess what guys?! I WON SOMETHING!!!!!

WHOOO!!

Okay, I seriously have the worst streak of luck when it comes to winning stuff. There will be a blog give away, and only like 5 comments and I will still not win. Boo. But its finally happened for me and I couldn't be happier!! WEeee!

Melanie J. over at Write Stuff, wrote a book. YES. I know! She wrote a book AND its been published. And since I am on a conquest to read 50 books this year, it is just perfect that I won her book! Pretty awesome right?!

So happy. *long, deep sigh*

You know what I am NOT happy about though? Something completely unrelated to what I started with of course!

The last two times my mother-in-law's babysat my kids, she's swatted my baby. My BABY.

The first time, he was getting into one of her cupboards over and over and over, so after awhile she swatted his hand.

The last time, he kept going up the stairs and apparently that deserves a spanking on the bottom.

AND apparently my mother-in-law thinks its quite funny. Like its the cutest little thing to watch his lip quiver and cry because she HIT him.

What would you do? My relationship with her is already strained (more on my end than hers), I don't really need another reason not to like her. I WANT to like her, believe me I do. And sometimes I actually really do. And I'd like to keep it that way, but not at the expense of a little 11 month old who I care much more about. (edit: Kristina asked if my husband could talk to her, which is what I would normally do, but he's out of town. And she's supposed to babysit TOMORROW. So yeah. Poo.)

At least I have a book to throw at her if things don't get better...is it a hard back Melanie?

(Did you see that?! Did you see how I totally came back around to the beginning to wrap that up. Awesome.)

The Longest Night of My Life

I was scared. I laid in bed shivering and trying to calm my nerves. It was dark and only a few lights could be seen in my bedroom, except the clock which brightly revealed the time: 1 am.

I had finished reading my book a bit after midnight and knew it was playing games inside my head. The book was suspenseful, reminiscent of The Hunger Games. In fact, VERY similar to The Hunger Games, except even more gruesome and even more detailed. I was trying to calm my nerves and go to sleep, but sleep would not come.

I kept thinking: go check the back door. I was putting off getting up because I knew, I knew, I had locked it earlier that day. But since sleep was still not coming, and the thought would not leave, I slowly crept out of bed. And slowly walked down the stairs, watching for shadows moving, trying to keep calm and not let my imagination run away with me. I crept through the living room, looking at the shadows and reassuring myself as to what they were. Okay, there's the couch. There's the flowers for my birthday. There's the kitchen table. I made my way toward the sliding glass door, moved the hanging blinds out of the way and looked down at the lock. It was where it should be to indicate that the door was indeed locked. I pulled at the door just to be sure and gasped as it slid open!

You see, sometimes when you lock the door, if it isn't pushed all the way tight the lock doesn't catch and although it looks like its locked, you can still open the door. And that is precisely what had happened.

I slid the door shut tight this time, locked it and pulled to make sure it really had caught. It had and I quickly made my way back upstairs, trying to keep the scary thoughts at bay. It didn't work. By the time I was back in bed, I was shaking and having trouble breathing. What if someone had been in the house?! What if they were in there right now?! What if they wanted to kill me and my little sweet family?! I tried to reassure myself, No, if they wanted to hurt me they could've done it downstairs when I was alone. You would have felt a terrible feeling before going downstairs if something was wrong. But I feel terrible now! But thats because you've worked yourself up. On and on and on I battled with myself.

I stayed awake listening for any sign of an intruder. I would slowly start to dose off, and then wake with a gasp at the slightest sound, terrified and alert again. I dosed and jumped back awake all night long.

Of course nothing happened because I'm here writing this down for you right now, but I have to say I am thankful for whatever thought that wouldn't let me sleep, to go down and check that door. Even if it meant a night of fitful sleeping, because I would feel a lot worse if I hadn't and someone HAD tried to come in our house later that night and was able to. *shiver*

And that is how I know I will make it to my next birthday.

(It was my birthday yesterday, what a way to end the day huh?!)

(My stomach's all clenched just writing this. That is the last scary book I'm reading for a long time!)