About Last Night 2/8/2009 AKA as The 80's Revisited

This is me and Big Daddy all dolled up for the throw back valentines banquet. You were suppose to dress like your graduation year....let me clarify that BIG DADDY graduated in the 80's, NOT me. But really, how much different were the early nineties????

He was so channeling Don Johnson....make sure that you scroll down and see what he had on his feet...I was dying when he put them on!!!



This is me and "Candy"...at least that is what my kids call her. We were collectively working the 80's eyeshadow, the gaudy jewelry, the mauve lipstick and the hair by "Aqua Net"

This is Crack and his lady...she did an amazing job during the show. The youth did a flash back to the previous decades, and she was by far the best dancer.

These are the previously mentioned shoes. Do you love the white pants? I guess you should know that he actually had PINK pants on to begin with, but we liked the mint green shirt over the pink Tee with the white pants in the end. This was also taken after we got home, but when we were there, his pants were tight rolled, right above the ankle...just like the ladies liked them back in the day.

We had a marvelous time re-living memories, and making some new ones.

Now, if I can just get my hubby to order me this for Valentines Day, I will be all set.

Big Daddy and Hot Momma

So, my wonderful husband asked me to go out with him tonight. I think we are going to try a new Hibachi Steak house tonight...which means SHRIMP AND SCALLOPS for me...yummo!!!!

And even though the night will also include groceries, Sam's Club and Lowe's...I am not going to complain.

But then I walked into the living room and found this....


All dressed up and sacked out on the couch...Can't I get even a little enthusiasm?

Why I LOVE Our Friends and My Husband

First, let me fill you in a little. About 6 weeks ago, our Minivan went kaput. The transmission is shot, which is seriously one of my greatest nightmares since a previous minivan put us through the ringer with its transmission problems...so much so, that we traded it in and bought this one.
Well, since were not sure if we wanted to fix the van and sink more money into it or just cut our losses and get something else, we decided to be a one car family for a while.
Here is the good news: Jeff's Mom and Dad had a car that they were not using, so they let us use it while we decided what to do about the van.
It was such a HUGE BLESSING to not have to worry about a vehicle or repairs. And at the same time also have the luxury of staying a two car family. Well, at least that's what we thought. Here is the bad news: About two weeks after we got the "loaner car" the starter went out. (on a side note...this car has NEVER left the in laws on the side of the road or stranded...it has been a really great car for them) BUT, I guess no such luck for us. So much for not having to think about repairs right???? So we bit the bullet and got it fixed.
Fast forward two more weeks, to last Sunday, and part of the engine LITERALLY FELL OUT!!!! I am not even kidding you. It went...metal clanking metal loudness like a really bad nightmare...and chi-ching...there was the harmonic balancer lying in the middle of the driveway. I will say that I was glad that it decided to drop its load in the driveway and not on the highway, but really, was anyplace a good place to have parts fall out of your engine??? NO!!

That brings me to today. One of our dearest friends JR came over to assist Jeff with the repairs. (I should stop here and clarify that Jeff is REALLY great at fixing cars, and we actually very rarely have to take our vehicles in to a shop to get fixed) Anyway, they were out there working just fine, minding their own business when the SKY FELL OUT.
Now, let me clarify again. We do live in the south, and we are known for having random thunderstorms in the afternoons...but it has not rained in like 2 1/2 weeks....can't a guy get a break?!?!?!
But, since they are not faint of heart, they kept on working...in the RAIN!!!
Here are the pics to prove it(and it really was raining super hard like the watermelons I shared about a few weeks ago BUT I was a fraidy cat and did not want to get my camera drenched so I waited till it let up some before venturing outside to document the whole ordeal.)...only REALLY GREAT FRIENDS and a SUPER HUSBAND would stick with such an undertaking. I am so blessed.

Pouring Down Rain

Last weekend we were at the Outlaws house and the sky was totally falling out. I needed to run into the grocery store to pick up a few things, while Jeff and the boys waited in the car. As I was quickly filling my mini cart and waiting for balloons to be blown up, the following conversation was happening in the car.

Jeff: This rain is unreal. I can not even see the road. This is just crazy bad rain, I don't think it could be any worse.

Jake from the cheap seats: It could be raining watermelons Dad!!!

Jeff: Okay, so it could be worse

Refinement???? I Can't Get Any Respect!!!

We have a long standing family joke about me desiring to have some "refinement" in our lives. I am often met with burps and farts right in the middle of getting ready for church, or talk of body parts during a family meal.

Last night, I made a pretty amazing meal. I made manicotti stuffed with ricotta and pesto, yummy garlic bread and even the AMAZING dessert pictured below.




So, in light of the hillbilly life I live, it is no surprise that last night I was witness to the following conversation.

Jared: This looks really yummy Mom

Me: Thanks Jared, I hope you like it

Jared: Am I suppose to eat it like a sandwich?

Me: no words, really none would do

a few minutes later from the other side of the peanut gallery

Jake: I like the fruit, but not the cheesy stuff

Husband: Well, umm, I really liked the fruit and the biscuit...

Me: Did you just call it a biscuit??? Really, are you kidding me???

I give up, I guess refinement will only come on the other side of eternity. Surely the Saints will know the difference between a biscuit and a puff pastry.

Blinded by the Light

Remember the other day when I said I could see the light at the end of the tunnel? Well here is proof.

First, late into the night my family came to the rescue...paint, paint, paint.


Then a little comic relief form KC.

Then a little painting love from my girl Shawna. Remember the jealousy post? Well, she was the one who had my back. This night however, she had my paint brush. She painted away.


After all that hard work, the pros got to work laying the floor. That is James and Raymond in the back...working hard laying my NEW FLOORS!!!



Of course, we needed a little more comedy to make fun of the stress we have lived in the past 8 months. So here is my man, pretending to lay my floors. He could have done it, really he could have. We could have, and I really wanted to, but timing was not on our side.



Now, if I could just get the table cleaned off again, then the pictures hung back on the walls, then the walls need touching up, and then the bar needs to be tiled, and somewhere along the line the bookcases need to get out of The Beezoos room. Where did the light go? Really, it was here a moment ago. I am sure of it.

Hodge Podge

This one is for Sippy...I had to post proof that Jared was was as tall as Grammy...notice the DH in the background...not getting any love. Just FYI...we had dinner outside that night because you couldn't even see the top of the kitchen table with the remodel mess.

This would be the above mentioned kitchen table...it did get cleaned off finally!!! The kids were able to eat dinner at the very table last night...progress!!!

Another benefit of remodeling...you get to write on the floors. I wanted to document the experience on the sub floor.

All the kids got a sharpie and doodled various stuff...Micah wrote the number 5 like a hundred times...don't ask me why. Anyway, I guess Jeff snatched the marker when I was unaware, and wrote the following message.

Can I just say, I totally cried my eyes out. You have no idea. When a husband tears down walls, lives in insanity, and generally is just superman through this whole ordeal-while working insane overtime at his REAL job, this simple note means the world. It goes without saying, that most of the headaches we encountered were from things that I specifically requested(expanding the kitchen which meant tearing down a wall, removing the popcorn from the ceiling, which was a total nightmare, removing the carpet and installing new hardwood floors, and sub floor too, removing the old bar, making a new one, painting every wall in the living and kitchen, and I could go on and on) it means the world.

The Pros and Cons of Little Girls

Our youngest is a girl. After 6 years of raising little boys, I literally did not know how to "do pink". As a matter of fact, the week after I found out pink was entering our lives, I went to the mall and tried to find a beautiful "girly" dress. It was a miserable experience, really, I left in tears. After searching EVERY store...I couldn't find anything that I liked that wasn't BLUE!!! I was sure that God had made a mistake by giving us a girl, I was sure of it. Hormonally overcharged, I called my husband from the parking lot and told him that our little girl was most assuredly going to grow up hating me ...he said he didn't know anything about "pink" either, but that we would do just fine.

Fast forward 5 years. Our little angel is now approaching the BIG 5 year mark. I am not really sure where the time went, she is all about pink, high heels, feather boas, Hannah Montana, princess', baby dolls, and Justice League (just for balance!!!)

This week we had two prime examples of the good and the bad of the world of girls, indulge me while I share.

Monday night I declared the bathroom to be a Barber Shop. Both my boys needed a trim, which I say lightly, because I love their long hair, but with the heat, they needed it thinned out and a little shaping. Well, Micah thought she needed a hair cut too. I told her that she was fine, and after some convincing, she decided she would just be my helper and brush her own hair.

After both boys were done, while I was cleaning up, I hear this, "Um, Mommy. I need some help."

I approached her and found the following:






That would be a three sided teasing comb embedded in her precious locks.

After ten minutes with no luck my husband becomes worried that I might need to cut it out. I assured him that was not an option, even if she had to graduate high school with it still in there.

Then, my Tool Man Hubby says, " Let me go get my wrench"

I was appalled. "What for?!?!?!" I inquired.

"To break the comb apart" he replied.

Well, I would have NEVER thought of that so he got super BIG Kudos from me.

This is what the next 15 minutes were like in our house:






In the end, her hair was saved, the comb was in at least 50 pieces, and Daddy was the Hero.



So while a "Con" of little girls might be getting things stuck in their hair. It is totally overshadowed by the next photos.





She has totally been in a wedding phase. She has been asking all sorts of wedding related questions lately.


"Mom, when did you and Dad get married."

"Who was the flower girl?"

"Why couldn't I be your flower girl?"

"How do you find the boy you are going to marry?"

"Will you come to my wedding?"


So when I was cleaning my bedroom this morning, I decided to get my wedding dress out and let her play with my veil. After I put it on her head and she modeled in front of the mirror, she disappeared. I found her watching "Word World", just chillin on the couch.


I immediately thought, this is why you should keep your wedding dress. So your little girl can play dress up.


I told her when she got a little older, she could wear the dress too. She squealed in delight.

Pink is not so frightening after all.

Kiss and Tell

Our kids are going through this stage right now where every time my husband and I steal a kiss, they fall out and rush toward us trying to pull us apart. They would yell, "Smoochy, Smoochy" and literally try to get between us.

Sometimes, we would smooch just to get their feathers ruffed up...it really was quite funny actually. A few months back I explained to the kids that smooching with your spouse is a benefit of being married. We are suppose to love on each other like that. I also told them that if they ever saw me kissing another man, that they by all means had the right to pull us apart, but as long as it was Daddy, they needed to let us smooch whenever we wanted.

But then Tuesday night while we sat at the drive up at our local Sonic, I leaned over and beckoned for some some love from my beloved. Although he declined at first because he was hot and sweaty (we had just left the ball field following a back-to-back double header), he finally gave in (against the roars from the back seat) and smooched away. Just FYI, I am talking about a simple kiss, nothing PG-13, but we definitely put on show for their behalf.

Once again during the smooch, they begged us to stop. When we did, I turned around and said," What have I told you about moms and dads kissing?"

Micah popped up, hand raised and said, "I know, I know!!!! We can only say stop kissing if mom ever kisses someone that is not daddy."

I replied, "That's right Micah, as long as it is Daddy, I can smooch away!!!"

From the cheap seats in the back of the van, Jake pipes up, " Don't worry Dad, if I ever see Mom kissing another guy I am going to run over, jump on his back, and pound him into the ground."

Jeff replied, " Thanks Jake"

From the cheap seats again, "You're welcome Dad, I got your back."

We all fell out at this. Jake is a scrappy fighter, quick as lightning, but to envision him taking out some kissing intruder had us all busting at the seams.

Gotta love loyalty.

Another "Mom of the Year" Moment

Well, hello friends. I am actually very surprised that I made it to the computer at all today, I have been busy in my garden and in my house and then just for kicks I mowed the grass for my sweet hubby who has been working crazy hours the past few months. But, as promised, here is one of my two favorite stories from the past week.


I spent last week at Adventure Camp as a counselor with my church and although there are a weeks worth of "incidents" I could share I thought my "Mom of the Year" moment was the best. On day three, we (as in 50 3rd-5th graders and 10 crazy adults) headed out to "the Field" to play a friendly game of kickball. We were split into our teams and away we went. We were playing no outs, so that everyone could have an "at bat" and we were down to the last kicker. My son Jake was on the opposing team, and he was on second base. The ball was kicked right to me so I turned to peg my beloved 10 year old. When I did, ever so lovingly peg him, he being the dramatic son that he is, really played it up big time. In the end, he was jokingly rolling on the field, hollering something about me not lovingly him, and how could I do such a thing. But a game is a game and so both the kicker and Jake were out so we headed off the field for our teams turn to kick.


About 30 seconds into our teams "at-bat" Jake comes running off the field straight toward me crying and hanging his head down. I asked him what it was and he said "Ants, mom there are ants in my hair!!!" Well, for those of you who do not know, my Jake has a beautiful head FULL of long hair. I stood there pulling ants off one by one, ripping his shirt off we found them all over his upper body and neck. I am not kidding when I say that we pulled 50 ants out of his hair. After a few minutes of all the chaos, we decided to take the van and get him to the cabin to take a shower. We ride up the hill and go directly to my cabin, and he strips down and jumps into the shower. At this point he calls me into the shower stall and says, "look mom", and there in the bottom of the shower stall I see at least another 50 ants floating down the drain to their fully deserved death.


After his shower, I check him out, only to find welts all over his head, neck and chest.(I lost count at 40) I couldn't even begin to see or count bits on his scalp because of all of his hair. I gave him some benadryll, but he was mostly complaining about the terrible burn on his scalp. luckily another mother had some prescription strength hydro cortisone (which has the consistency of Vaseline) I then basically massaged massive amounts of this stuff into his scalp, making him look like the most greasy headed monkey ever. He chilled out in the cabin for a about thirty minutes and then, was right back in the swing of things.


When I sent my husband a text message about what had happened, he of course blamed me because I was the one who pegged him out which then was immediately followed by him rolling his head around in the ant bed....go figure????


I was thankful that it was my kid, or more correctly I was thankful that I was there, because no one could have made it better like a Mom. Sometimes, you just need your mom, even if it was her fault.


Just in case you don't believe me, I have pictures to prove it. In the first picture you can see how red his ear is....they were both like that and probably had ten bites on EACH ear!!!

Catching up

Hello there, you long lost and deserted friends. I am the worst kind of blogger, I know. Somehow, selfishly I let my life get in the way of our relationship and I am truly sorry. Here is quick re-cap of our last week.

Thursday: I spent the entire day in the ER. I know it was inconsiderate of me not to bring you all along for the ride. But believe me, there where things happening in that exam room that you REALLY did not want to be a part of. In the end, it was a mystery illness, and although they wanted to admit me for overnight observation, I opted for my own bed.

Friday: Mostly spent recovering from a fore mentioned mystery illness. Then, eventually got with the program and got the family all packed for our weekend away. Somehow, everyone had plenty of underwear. That evening, we went to Jared's ballgame, funny, but I can not remember if we won or lost. Then we hit the road and headed to the outlaws house.

Saturday: The kids and Jeff spent the day in the pool, I spent the morning sleeping and eventually made an appearance. The pool felt great, and just being away from our own house was vacation in itself. We played "Marco-Polo" ALL DAY...every couple of hours changing the rules to spice it up some.

Sunday: re-read Saturday except add me to the entire days activities.

Monday: re-read Sunday.

Tuesday: Re-read Monday, but add a shopping trip by my lonesome. I went to Michael's to get all the stuff for camp in a few weeks. I am in charge of crafts...and on a side note I am really NOT that crafty. So I will keep you updated on that. After I returned, we made one last dash for the pool and ended of course with Marco Polo. Then we loaded up the van and headed for home...with a stop at Starbucks on the way. We got back into town just in time for Jared's ball game, it was good one. We were down 2-0 the whole game until the 5th inning...Jared tied the game with a beautiful hit, and then we kept it going and ended up winning 4-3. Good times!!!

Starbucks side note: I am a bargain shopaholic. I can feed me and the kids on the McD's dollar menu for less than ten bucks. I never pay full price for anything that I can wait on, and then get on sale. I am known for going into Dillards(which I could not afford at retail price) and get $700 worth of clothing at 75% off for less than a hundred bucks and then have the kids summer clothes for next year...and vice-versa for winter. So, when the opportunity arises to indulge at Starbucks...I do on occasion. That has since taken a whole new meaning since all the kids now have their favorites too. So, a few times a year, I go from feeding the fam at McD's for less than 10 bucks to getting Blended Cremes and Frappacinos for twenty....not including the husband who swears that he would have to physically stop being a man to order a drink that you can not get in a small, med or large. He swears it is un-American to say"tall, grande or viente" Never a dull moment.

Here's to many more Summer Days...especially, since today I am house bound cleaning the castle.

Tuesday

Unexpected Joy

A few weeks ago my sister and I got up early and headed out to go bargain hunting. She was looking for a bed for The Beast, and I was up for the field trip. As we headed down the highway, we came upon a man out jogging. He was just about to cross the road when we noticed that he had a bouquet of wild flowers in his hand. We both gushed, knowing that he had picked them along his run, and was most likely going to hand them over to his beloved upon his return home.

I remember those days...not that my husband went running, but he did on MANY occasion surprise me with flowers that he picked himself. These days, my kids are the ones who bring me flowers freshly picked. (He taught them well!) And, I am surprised in others ways, by my beloved. After 13 years, flowers just don't do it, but I love when a simple gesture is made on my behalf. Especially, when it is something I mentioned in passing, or him simply doing a chore I hate.

A few weeks ago, after much rain, I noticed that our back yard looked more like a meadow, than a yard. All sorts of clover and random little white flowers were spread beautifully between the house and my garden. When my husband said he was going to mow the back, I told him how Micah and I had been running and skipping through the meadow everyday, and loving it.
He went out and got started and then called me outside about an hour later. He said, "what do you think?" I couldn't believe my eyes. He mowed the entire yard but kept my "meadow". There it was, a rectangular meadow, probably 10X20 right smack in the middle of his precious grass.

I was so happy. It was so strange, yet utterly joyous for me. The UPS man even asked me why our yard was "landscaped" in such a fashion. I smiled and said, "Because my husband enjoys making me happy"

Who would have thought? A patch of weeds to some, but joy to me. I am grateful.

What has your beloved done for you that brought you joy in an unconventional manner?

Quirky Things

For some reason, I have been thinking about quirky personality traits and preferences. I have a whole passel of them and so does everyone else. For some reason, our own never seem too weird or "out there" but when you think about others, sometimes we think, "they're crazy!!!"

My husband really likes spaghetti. But don't even think about mixing the sauce with the noodles. He hates that. He likes a heaping helping of sauce right on top of his noodles, and then HE mixes it up. Even when making his lunch for the next day, I send one container with noodles and bread, and the other with sauce.

He will drink a soda, right out of the pantry at room temp.

He thinks that any burger, even homemade, will taste like a McDonald's one if you put ketchup on it.

He dries off completely while still in the shower...that one makes no sense to me.

If the house smells good when he gets home, it automatically seems "clean" in his mind. (pine sol rubbed on the door jams 15min before he gets home works wonders on his mind!!!)

Me, I have my own as well.

I would rather not drink milk or OJ at all then to have to drink it in a plastic cup. I like mine ICE COLD and in a real glass.

Same with my coffee. No Styrofoam or paper cups please...and don't get me started on lids on coffee. I need a big hefty mug and a comfy chair.

If I am going to get the luxury of a long hot bath, I like to jump in the shower first and get all clean. That way I can soak in CLEAN water, which is much more relaxing to me then in dirty water.

I enjoy cooking so much that I really HATE going out to eat on special occasions. Give me fifty bucks and let me go buy steak and scallops and artichokes or asparagus and I am pleased as punch to make my own birthday lunch or Mothers Day lunch.

What freaky things do you like or dis-like? I would love to know so that I am not alone.

Yippee

Just had to stop and sit down in all my painting mess and let God have His due. Like I posted, the remodel has been all headache and no reward. I was so sick of the frustrations, one in particular, the ceiling.
After removing the popcorn texture, which was SO easy, even if REALLY messy, we fixed some of the problem areas. When we removed the wall, there was obviously part of the ceiling that needed to be patched with drywall and joint compound. Once again, not too difficult, but a little time consuming to say the least. But then we really hit the headache. After much discussion and research, we had decided to re-texture the ceiling by hand, not with a hopper. We thought at the time this was the less mess, less hang up option. But after SIX days of disaster..with not even one application going as we hoped, we had given up hope.
On Wednesday night when I got home from church, my husband was bummed with the progress or lack there of, and was ready to buy ceiling tiles to cover the entire kitchen ceiling. That is not the look I was going for and in my mind I just saw more opportunity for problems.
So, I asked my DH if I could take one last shot at making it work. He was hesitant, but agreed. I agreed, as well, that if my last ditch effort failed then we would go with his option. So this morning, before my feet hit the ground, I covered my ceiling in prayer.
I know, that seems silly, but I just asked that the Lord give me wisdom and patience. And that my husband, not matter my failure or success, would not be stressed with the situation. I pleaded with my Lord, not for a miracle, just a respite. Just a little light at the end of this mess.
I guess, you already know that HE showed up in a HUGE way.
After six days of trawling the texture on with no success, and six days of trying to roll the texture on with even LESS success. I had the idea to apply the texture with one of the huge sponges that we cleaned the grout with when we laid the ceramic tile. And guess what? It totally worked, it looked GREAT, and it is done!!!
Yes, I said done. After six day of failure, one morning of prayer led me to the promised land. I completed the entire kitchen and hallway in about 4 hours.
How about a little praise dance yall? This was so huge in so many ways...you might not fully get it...but I do. And I am grateful.
Who knew He was such a pro at kitchen remodeling? Especially with the hangups and the disasters?
I guess, He has been practicing lately.
I wonder what he has been remodeling here of late?
Could it be me?
Yes, indeed!!!

Remodeling...more than I bargained for

We are still working on our kitchen remodel. We decided 3 weeks ago to have custom cabinets made and installed by a professional. We were kind of stuck after the cabinets that we planned to install ourselves were discontinued. Since we were not going to be able to match our existing ones, we decided to start all over and pay someone else to have the headache. I was so looking forward to doing "our" part and let the heavy weights handle all the hard stuff. We were going to have 3-4 weeks to patch the drywall where we had removed a wall, remove the popcorn from the ceiling and re-texture it, fix a plumbing issue, and remove the existing cabinets.

Easy enough, right?

WRONG!!!

It has been one headache after another. Both my DH and I were wearing thin, and it was really getting to the point of not even being excited about the beautiful cabinets that would be arriving once we tackled "our" part. I was ready to throw my entire kitchen out the window...and would have, but that would have been one more drywall patch that I would have to do and it just wasn't worth it in the end.

Everything, and I mean everything has been a problem. Not one thing went according to plan. Most things didn't even go by plan B or plan C...that's how bad it has been.

Then just when I think I see the light at the end of the nightmare, I see that God has a remodel of His own in mind.

I shake my head in wonder. What is HE thinking? Why now? Why this area? Why can't I just remodel my kitchen now and my soul later?

Then I am reminded that God often speaks to me when my world is already slightly off kilter. Like when there is all kinds of turmoil around me and everything seems shaken, He comes in and shakes me. I am beginning to see that I often miss his subtle clues and hence when I finally pick up on His still small voice, it is only because I have given up on everything else. I am at my whits end, and unable to take any more.

And there He is saying, "Did we really have to go through this all again?"

Than slowly, it unravels before me. My hindsight is amazing! I mean, I could really get lost in bragging about how clear I see the signs when I am looking at them from this side. Yep, there it is, the small nudging of my Father to slow down and listen. And there it is again, that verse that came to me...out of the blue. And then I see Him speaking to me through others, and then in my prayer life...and YET I never listened and heeded.

And now, here I am. Disheveled and ashamed of my own "cabinetry". Aware of every flaw, and in pride, still pointing out that everybody else is worse off.

I guess my life, like my kitchen, was in worse shape than originally believed. And only in removing the old, and tearing down the rotted frame work, was the real transformation even possible.

I want more than anything for my real kitchen to be beautiful and a shining example of the hard work that has been put into it.

But more than that, I want to be a new creation. A shining example of what a True Master can do with a shabby excuse for a disciple. I realize that remodeling is always more work than new construction. Instead of building from the ground up, you must weigh what is worth keeping and what must be replaced.

Remodeling always involves removing the old and replacing it with the new. It just hurts so bad.

I am trying to be a visionary. Trying to find that place of new creatures, of solid foundations. But the cost seems so steep. And I am not feeling worth it.

But maybe I can cling to the fact that He says I am.

Not only that, but that I can be transformed. Made new.

Me and my kitchen, are gettin a face lift.

Bear with me. He's not done with me just yet.

Good, "Clean" Bathroom Humor

We have been remodeling our kids bathroom since just before Christmas, and I am excited to say that it is finally done. Living with just one bathroom has been tough, but to have two toilets, and two showers again has been wonderful. Just this weekend I moved the kids shower items out of our master bath and into their new digs. It was this action that brought about the following "conversation" the other day.

DH: (from the shower) You have got to be kidding me!

Me: (to myself in the other room) What's he barking about?

DH: (still from the shower) Why is a grown man being forced to use this?

Me: (still talking to myself) What is he talking about?

DH: (yep, still in the shower) Never in my life did I think I would be using "Passion Fruit Smoothie" shampoo. What is the world coming to?

Me: (now falling off the bed in secret laughter) HeHe... I bet he's enjoying too!!!!

Obviously, with the kids shampoo gone he was "forced" to use my inexpensive girly indulgence...V05 Moisture Milks Passion Fruit Smoothie Shampoo.

It smells so yummy you'd think you should be counting calories.

Kid Free Zone

My husband and I do not get out as much as we should. I wish I could say that we are adament about a regular "date night" but that is just not our reality. So, when the time affords, and the stars line up(which means that all the kids are shuffled out to various friends) we like to take in dinner and a movie.
This weekend, we ended up being able to take off straight from church and steal a few hours just for ourselves. No huge plans, just a yummy lunch at our new favoirte mexican resturant, a quick jaunt around the mall, and then a movie.
We arrived at the mall, and I was pleased as punch when my DH took my hand in the parking lot. Ofcourse, you must know that I can not take his hand without LAUGHING MY HEAD OFF!!! because it is so not in his nature to do the "girly romantic" thing, but luckily it is in his nature to love me.
So off we go, hand in hand(hee-hee) to get our tickets and have some lunch. Since our free time was going to fall before the movie, we took a "stroll" down memory lane...I mean merchandise lane from one end of the mall to the other and back again.
I really must say, I was very proud. He kept my hand in his 90% of the time and even kept his eye rolling to a minimun when I stopped in to buy a new pair of jeans with my Valentine $$$.
Then we headed back to get lunch before the movie started. We were seated in perfect people watching position, which is always fun with my DH. I always crack up that even when "people watching" we "see" totally different things.
Anyway, back to lunch. You need to know that my DH is not a "share-er" when it comes to eating out. He is very territorial when it comes to his meal. And worse yet, even if mine is the super yummy dish, he still does not want a bite. He simply tells me,"If I wanted that I would have ordered it" So you can imagine my surpirse when he OFFERS to share something between the two of us. NEVER IN OUR 13 YEARS has he ever done that. Me, yes, all the time, but NEVER him. I thought I had died and gone to my own personal heaven...hand holding, new jeans, and a shared meal. We even splurged and had the fried ice cream for dessert....so yummy!!! (who knew that we could be such a cheap date...16 bucks)
Then we were off to the movie, where we settled in awaiting our flick.
I was tickled about our time together, and excited about being with the man I love, who loves me back and still thinks I'm catch when it overcame me.
I leaned over to give him a sweet kiss to thank him for spending the day with me and he....

....he gave me his ear.

That's right, his ear. We laughed out loud when I told him I wanted a smooch, and he thought I wanted to tell him something.

I guess I should be thankful...how many times have I scolded him..."You're not listening to me"

Good times, good food, great laughs, a good flick and I eventually even got my kiss. Not a bad afternoon after all.

Was that a compliment???

Here is part 2 of our hilarious weekend.

First the back story. You need to know that my husband is not exactly forthcoming with compliments. I mean, he will throw the occasional, and I stress occasional, "good dinner babe", "is that a new shirt?" ( and yes that counts as a compliment...at least he noticed, right?) and my personal favorite, "wow, you look hot" (which in female lingo, I translate, "that is a great outfit honey, and it only makes you look more beautiful than you already are."

But aside from those, I don't hold my breath, I'm kidding with you, I don't hold my breath for those either. So suffice it to say, he is not really one to notice things like, new shoes(unless they are still in the box/bag and in his "man chair"), hair cuts and color changes, and the like.

SO, when he does make a comment about something, I take note, I mean I take notes...cause I need to document it for posterity sake. Anyway, back to our wonderful weekend in Florida. We were on our way to one of our favorite resturants, Carrabba's, and while we were at a stop light my husband turns to me and says, "What's with those earrings? They look like FISH EYES."

Are you kidding me? Did he really just say that? Fish eyes? Come on!!!!

In my defense, my daughter LOVES these earrings, she calls them my "sparkle-lee ones."

Since I really want this to be a compliment, I am going to give him points for noticing that I not only have ears, but earrings as well. And furthermore I will not count off for his unusual comparison, instead I will translate "FISH EYES" into female lingo going something like this, "amazingly radiant spherical jewels that accentuate your propensity towards seafood"

There, that was a compliment....I think???

Don't Get Comfortable

Song by Brandon Heath

Comfortable, don’t get comfortable.
I am gonna’ move this mountain then I’m gonna move you in.
Yesterday, this is not yesterday.
You were standing on my shoulders now; you’re standing on the edge.
You’ve been looking for a sign all this time.
I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna love like you’ve never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
This is your new song
So afraid but you don’t have to be afraid
Even if you make mistakes
You know that I’ll remain
You’ve been looking for a sign all this time.
If you seek you’ll find me every time.
So I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna’ love like you’ve never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
This is your new song

Sometimes, actually quite often, the Lord speaks to me through song. Yesterday I heard this song for the first time and it really moved me. I have been so comfortable in my life and recently I have been praying that the Lord would take me to a desperate place. I was so yearning for desperation that I felt lost without it. I want to be desperate in so many ways, like desperately loving my husband, desperately living my life and most of all desperately in love with my Savior.

Well, it seems that the Lord might be answering that prayer in a way I never dreamed. We might be moving to Florida. More specifically, my DH might be moving there in three weeks and then we will follow when our house sells.

This is desperation on a whole new level. While the move would be good for his career, and there are some benefits like more vacation and fewer hours, it not really a "we're moving on up" move. It's a, "ok Lord, we'll move, you take care of the rest" move.

I guess it's like praying for patience, a trial by fire expirience.

So , as for now, I will not only follow the heart of my DH but also the heart of my Lord.

Desperation, be careful what you pray for.

Sweetheart Dance

Father Daughter SweetHeart Dance


Micah, 4 years old and all dolled up!!!


Notice the matching outfits, I try really hard!!!
And, please notice the tie-I bought it 20 minutes
prior to the dance and asked some random suit
wearin man in the store to tie it for me :)- during
the dance I texted him and asked how the tie
was doing...he replied, "not nearly as bad as some
others"


Getting Down, Jeff said she was a dancing machine!!


Time to head home...one more pic for the camera.


Okay, I lied, this is the last pic...she crashed 5 min after getting in the truck!!!

Well, horay for getting my pics on the blog. (Thank you Bridget)