Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Two Things to Cheer About

1st..
My house is officially for sale! Sign went in the yard yesterday at 5:30 p.m.

2nd and more importantly..
I ran an entire mile today without stopping one time! That's okay, I'll say it again. I RAN AN ENTIRE MILE TODAY WITHOUT STOPPING ONE TIME! And it only took me 15 minutes! I'll admit I was on the treadmill. Yes, the one with the T.V. and me and Bret Favre were running like maniacs, "WE'RE NUMBER ONE!" He had his third consecutive game throwing over three hundred yards, and I ran a mile. We may be old, but we still got game.* I think we both were looking for the oxygen tank when we were done.

We got our house plan back on Friday. You know, the one from the custom builder, that we've been waiting for three weeks for? And? Not good. Not that it was not good, but we made the mistake of taking the plan from a $500K house he had built. We thought we were going to lose the study and about $300K but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. By the time he cut enough from the plan, we didn't like it anymore. Disappointed would be an understatement. But Monday came, we got back on the horse and took him these two plans. Charlie meets with him tonight to see What UP?

More to come....

*(Although I ran a mile, I was unable to bring down the undefeated Le Tit Out of Bounce. ILLEGAL USE oMY FOOT has slipped to sixth in the standings.)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

GASP...huhhh...huhh...

I (gasp) just jogged (huuhhh) from the elementary school to my street corner.

gasp... huhhh...huhhh

Because I couldn't make it the three extra houses to my driveway.

gasp...

If you see a group of women running in a parking lot today say around 9:15, honk, roll down your window, find the girl that is second to dead last, and holler "RUN FOREST RUN!!!"

I could use a little encouragement.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

And now it's time for another installment of

"Moving. A Turtle's Story."

I can't believe it's been another week since last I updated...

The deck has been primered. The Armoire has been moved. Another five boxes to storage. The exterior guys got here yesterday and spent the day repairing bad spots around the house. Today they come back to finish up repairs, caulk and then power wash. Tomorrow paint. Quiver Tan at Sherwin Williams, in case you're bored enough to look it up. The stucco will be Wool Skein. My wood for the floor repair in the den is on back order and won't be in until Nov. 2nd.

THPPPPPPPPPPPPTTT!!!

The truth is, when Charlie got home last Thursday night, all I wanted to do was goof off. I'm tired of working. Maybe I'm just tired. Friday we went to Perry's Steak House for lunch. It was my first time to go (can you believe I've been here for 5 years and I haven't ever been?!) and it was so nice. It was so nice and I chose the wrong desert, so we're going again this Friday. I need a do-over on the desert. He made it seem like the deserts were just okay, so I got the Chocolate Ameretto Tart and he had the Nutty Di'Angelo. I ate half of mine and half of his. And I wanted another one of his. Saturday Melee' had a ballgame and then on Sunday we went out to eat at Pappasito's. So needless to say, output is low and my weight is high.

Actually I had a great workout Friday, another appointment on Monday and I went to "boot camp" yesterday, so I'm feeling justified. It was my first boot camp and I realized I've been working out for about nine months now and I'm out of shape! HOW THE HELL DOES THAT HAPPEN?! I can't run. We had to run from one end of the parking lot and back and I had to walk once and when I got back I was suckin wind! Charlie said, "Well, you're stronger than those other girls." and I said "Well I better be, because I'm gonna have to be able to knock your ass out, because I sure as hell can't out run you!" It SUCKS! So, I'm on a mission. I'm gonna learn how to run. I'm going this week to get some real running shoes and I'm gonna make a plan. (Does anybody have a plan? Ken? Justin? A little help here!) And I'm not going to run on the treadmill. I'm gonna actually go outside and run on the ground and everything. For more than two minutes at a time. Dammit. (I sound determined don't I.) I'll start next week. (No! Seriously. I mean it.) I have boot camp again tomorrow. Can you say shin splints? And then an appointment on Friday. Right before I go back for the Nutty Di' Angelo.

And by the way, Charlie's team beat my team in Fantasy Football. By Four points.
But this week, I'm going to do what NO ONE ELSE IN THE LEAGUE HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO! I'm taking down the undefeated Le Tit Out of Bounce.
You heard it here first.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

More of the Same

Well it's been a week and then some and you would think I was done. But I'm not.

Last week Charlie came home Wednesday night, as I talked him into coming home for the appointment with the realtor. I love my realtor, but it only takes a couple of hours with one to decide that you are a schlub who should have really done a hell of a lot more to your house in the five years that you've been there, than you actually have! But at the end of the two hours she thought we could ask more money for the house than we thought, so we were pumped about that. My fix it list got added on to and I've got to move a gigantic armoire out of John's room. Unless I can move it to the top of the landing on the stairwell, I'm gonna need four really big football players to move the dang thing. After spending an entire day in the front yard, plus the 15 bags of mulch, she thought I needed a lot more color in the beds. I've planted 8 flats of pansies and petunias and have 10 more to go. (I have gigantic flower beds.) The countertops have their final clear glaze as of this morning and are drying as we speak. I wish I could show you a picture (but my camera's broken) because they look fabulous! Now I'm waiting on an estimate for having some woodwork done on the outside of the house w/ paint. I spent 5 hours powerwashing on Thursday while Charlie fixed all the loose boards on the back deck and got it ready to paint. We've ordered a box of hardwood flooring to repair two small boards in the den and I've got touch up painting to do to the formal dining, bar entry hall and I'm going to paint the front porch.

Oh, and you should know it's raining.

I left Saturday morning with John to go to a family reunion in the Dallas area and my Dad's 70th birthday was Friday, so we went to eat brisket and wish him a happy birthday. Charlie came up with the rest of the kids, after he had power washed the deck and returned it to Home Depot. Sunday morning we made a run out to look at the land we're looking at to build a custom house. Still no plan from the builder. And then we took a really quick run through the Highland Home on the way back to my Dad's to watch the Dallas Cowboy's loose lose.
And to add insult to injury, I have dropped to number four in my Fantasy Football league. right behind Charlie.

Sorry no humor. I'm all out of it.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Sunday

Sunday was less productive than yesterday. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed with Charlie's impending departure to Dallas on the horizon. I went to Wally World and shopped for groceries by myself in peace. Then we....

Loaded the trailer of motorcycles and added the game chairs out of the playroom, along with my first six boxes (OMG! DID I ONLY PACK SIX BOXES? IT FELT LIKE FIFTY!) and took them over to storage.

Charlie replaced the two rotted outside plugs with new GFI plugs. He finished installing the powder room faucet. I continued to pack more boxes. I got the playroom totally finished and the tables and chairs got put back together. One room complete. Only 11 more to go. I completely packed the Littles room and took out two small dressers and a doll house (off to storage). Got Melee's room completely packed and in good shape. (For those keeping score, that's 3 rooms down, 9 more to go.) I spent the better part of the day avoiding John's room. He's a bigger pack rat than I am and his room gives me the hives. And seeing as how I still have TWO GIGANTIC zits on my face, I can't afford hives. We loaded up a round table with four chairs, the dressers, the piano, the dollhouse and a few more boxes and headed back to storage. Charlie finished taking down all the vines and scraping the back of the house. I tried to put the kids to work powerwashing the sidewalk and after a curse-filled twenty minutes, realized that the hand-me-down powerwasher was officially broken. *&%$#!

We wound down to a snails pace sometime in the evening and I put the littles in the tub and sent Charlie back to the storage facility with a load of amplifiers and a couple more boxes. He came home and textured the ceiling and put my light back up over the dining room table. Sunday's final box count, around fifteen.

The carpet cleaner called this morning and I have a 2:00 appointment today. I still need to call someone about some wood replacement on the outside of the house and we have a call pending to a countertop refinisher. I have a box of books to take to the used book store, dry cleaning to drop off, an appointment with my trainer. I have to paint the ceiling, sand and paint around the microwave, sand and paint around the upstairs bathroom light fixtures, take out four more hefty bags full of trash, put 3 more boxes in the garage and four bags of clothes to give away.

All that, and as of this morning, I'm the ED Low Scorer of the week in my Fantasy Football League! I still have a chance seeing as how I have 3 players to go in tonight's game, but what are the odds ILLEGAL USEoMY FOOT can raise my score from 23 to over 100 to catch Intentional Pounding?

GO COWBOYS!!!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

List of Things We Did Today...

Woke up too early. (Because neither of us are able to stay asleep. And he had help of the alcoholic beverage variety.)

Went to Sonic for breakfast burritos. (Because I weigh 188 pounds. (Forty pounds down, baby!)That's why.)

Came home and waited for my hung over hubby to help me make a list of things for him to do. (I promise I'm a model of patience and virtue!)

Called in my brother Krull for reinforcements. (He's handy AND he has a truck)

Went to Home Depot and purchased all the odds and ends to do the jobs. (Plus 15 bags of mulch.)

Came home, got out my shiny new Echo weed eater, mowed down what was left of the weeds that I had not been able to take care of on Thursday, when I spent the entire day in the front yard cleaning out my flower beds and edging the lawn. (Melee' mowed for me.)

Helped my brother mulch the three flower beds in the front yard. (And by help, I mean I unloaded the last three bags of mulch out of the back of the truck.)

Meanwhile Charlie started installing three new toilet seats and two new light fixtures for the upstairs bathrooms. (If only the toilets themselves were clean.)

I cleaned out the closet under the stairs while they trimmed out the space around the microwave that we installed...how many months ago? (I found the case of CD's that Charlie was certain someone had stolen.)

Charlie fixed the bedside light fixture that had come down due to some swinging toddler mishap about six months ago. (Found a few candy wrappers under the bed. I have no idea where those came from.)

Glued dowel rods into two legs off of the kiddy furniture that we bought Peach for Christmas, that evidently the kids use to train lions with or something.

Charlie repaired the cable outlet that had been yanked out of the wall in the playroom by Ace. (Why did I have kids again?)

He has (for the most part) installed a new faucet in the powder room bath downstairs.

While he was doing all that I think I packed two boxes from the closet and one box of games. (I do my best work when someone is babysitting me.)

Made Charlie go pickup Chinese food. (Because anxiety and worry burn a lot of calories. And so does moving boxes of crap that I can't beleive I'm taking with me.)

And now I'm sitting here writing this down for you guys while Charlie is outside on the top of a 20 foot extension ladder scraping vines off the back of the house. (I hope he doesn't walk in before I finish.)

Well, I better go. I've got to go upstairs and pace around alot, looking at every item I own and wondering "Should I throw this away or pack it?" With Chase on one of my shoulders saying "Embrace the throw-away!" and me on the other, whining "But what if I neeeed it?"

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Really BIG news!

Guess who was the Viagra High Scorer of the Week? AGAIN? That would be me.

NO! I'm talkin about Fantasy Football you gutter rats!

Well we have BIG news at the house of Chaos. Charlie got a promotion that means we will be moving from Houston to the Dallas Area. He starts next Monday. Yes, we're blessed, I'm stressed and I confess the house is a mess! I had my garage sale last week. GadZOOKS, I hate garage sales! "NO LADY, I WON'T TAKE LESS THAN 50 CENTS! GOSH!" (Never mind that she can fish it out of my trash can today for free.) I sounded like Napoleon Dynamite all day long. "You mean you sold that desk for $10 and you're gonna deliver it to her house for free?" "CUZ I'M AN IDOT, GOSH!" And my friend Chase entertained the neighborhood by modeling my size 42 double D bra around on top of her clothes. I had it in a sack of stuff to throw away in the garage and she fished it out and provided the comic relief we needed in order to sit sweating in the sun schlepping our junk a nickel at a time.

After two Kamikaze trips to Dallas over the last two weekends, we have narrowed our choices to a Highland Home, you can see the floorplan here and here, oh and it has an optional media room and bath upstairs. It would be in a traditional neighborhood with a postage stamp sized yard, but across the street from the park and pool. And our other choice is closer to my Mom with a custom builder and we haven't really gotten a plan together from him, but it would have an acre of land. So big house/little yard/city living or big yard/little house/country living. It really doesn't sound like a tough choice when you put it like that, but we're used to big yards and we both come from country living. But the custom guy has got to come up with something quick because I'm ready to start building something!

Charlie and I are meeting at U-haul today, to pick up boxes so I can start packing closets and things and we've got to go get some storage to put away some of the excess furniture. I'm hoping to pack up equal parts boxes and trash. I've got my realtor called, a floor guy called, a lawn service guy called, I still lack a carpet cleaner and someone to fix a couple of spots on the outside of the house. I have a zit on my face the size of Mount Olympus from nerves, and I can't keep my train of thought without being derailed with thoughts of wood floors, countertop options, stone exterior options and all the fun stuff about buying a new house.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Just so you know..this is how we roll...

My neighbor Chase, was asking Peach some questions about Kindergarten the other day. Peach is always giving out the low down about the bad kids in the class, so she starts with her list of which boys had to move their pin that day. She says "Colby burped today." and Chase said, "Ew, did you tell on him?" and she said "Oh no! I got Will to do it for me."

:) That's my girl.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Just to say I'm Alive...

I've been MIA. We're three weeks in to the new school year and I still don't have the hang of it, plus I've been sick for about a week and a half. I now have six pack abs from coughing my guts out. Blech!

Ace started "school" a little over a week ago and he loves it! He sings in the morning when it's his "school day". Sometimes he wears his Spongebob backpack on our way to the elementary school even though his doesn't start till 9:30. Wouldn't it be nice if the one in eighth grade loved school that much? If wishes were horses...

Bonnie is still loving Kindergarten and I only cry occasionally, like when she tries to walk with the big girls to school and doesn't want to walk with me, and then the big girls run ahead and leave her behind and I don't know if I'm crying for me or her. I haven't had many free days to ponder the fact that I'm on my own for 5 hours, three days a week, it's probably safer that way.
I start my gig as a volunteer for Kindergarten Centers today. Eye roll. Not only do I resent Kindergarten for taking my baby girl, now I've got to go work the gig. Wish me luck, I have it on good authority that Ty is a bad boy and that Colby is a burper.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Crying Over Kindergarten is SO Yesterday

At least I hope it is. I'll tell you tomorrow.

But TODAY I have a little business to take care of. You know how all the people you know who are playing Fantasy Football are pissing and moaning because they didn't get LaDainian Tomlinson on their teams?

SORRY 'BOUT YOUR LUCK! LOSERS!

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!


That's right! I had first pick in the draft and got L.T.! I can be gloaty and full of myself for approximately 6 days and 5 hours when the Chargers play the Bears and Tomlinson will have a season ending injury that will help lead ILLEGAL USEoMY FOOT to fourteenth place in the league.


Not to be pessimistic or anything.



Saturday, September 01, 2007

The Definition of Taking it Hard

So to recap...

Peach went to Kindergarten on Monday and I cried.

Tuesday, she decided she wanted to be like the big kids and have a tray for lunch, so we went to the cafeteria early to buy a lunch ticket. The cafeteria is where all the kids gather before the first bell rings. One of the "helpers" wouldn't let me buy the ticket but insisted I put a check in her backpack and the teacher would take care of it. So I had to squat down and try to explain this new thing she had to remember in order to get her lunch and as she listened to me and looked around the cafeteria at the throng of kids, her eyes glazed over and she zoned out. When I got home, I cried.

She came home in a great mood on Tuesday and thought she was such a big girl for having her lunch on a tray. So on Wednesday, I dropped her off at her room and it was ALL good, and then I went to the psychologist, and I cried.

Thursday, I thought I was gonna be totally in the clear, because if it hadn't been for Dr. Scott, Wednesday would have been a tear free day. Drop off was just fine. Short Shanks and I hit the gym (my gym partner really IS a monkey) and afterward we headed to Target to spend his $20 in birthday money that was burning a hole in my pocket. We got a couple of toys and a new pair of gym shorts for me, as this is evidently going to be my morning uniform. We topped it off with some popcorn and cokes and headed home. On the drive home, I realized I don't make enough money to shop my way out of the fact that I just put my baby girl in Kindergarten, and I cried.

Friday, we're in the home stretch. We're having all our friends over after school, everyone's in a great mood. I've got my appointment with my trainer at 11:00 and lunch with a friend at 12:00 and as Ace and I walked back to the house we stopped to talk to my neighbor Chase and she asked how it was going and I opend my mouth, and cried.

Monday, August 27, 2007

And the Oscar GOES TO.....

ME!

for Best Portrayal of a Happy Mother Dropping off a Kindergartner. It started out in the Comedy/Musical category, but as soon as I exited the building it became a Drama. I might have scared some children on their way in, but I hold it against their Rule Breaking Mommas who were taking them IN what was clearly the EXIT. For her part, Peach held it together. She looked like she might have wanted to cry, but it might have just been allergies. I haven't slept in over a week. Last night she came in and got in bed at midnight, I woke up sometime in the three o'clock hour and I quit pretending and got out of bed at 6:00.

We went to "Meet the teacher" Friday and it was a MADHOUSE! Kids, Moms, Dads, Sibs, teachers, tables, pens, paperwork, then the tour of the facilities, "This is this, and that is that...", then the putting away of the school supplies, saying hello to the teacher, saying hello to the turtles...an hour later we were home and I was catching my breath and realizing I had a whole handful of papers I had not turned in per the instructions. I'm off to my usual stellar performance for Mother of the Year.

Over the weekend she would ask questions or make statements totally out of the blue, like "I didn't notice very many toys in Mrs. Pinecone's room." (She thinks the teacher's name sounds very fancy because they call the teachers by their more formal last name, instead of Miss First Name like they did at Mother's Day Out, which made her laugh and say 'It's like Mrs. Broccoli or Mrs. Pinecone!') And then she said "Do we go on field trips?" Which is a no. She said "But Melee' went on a field trip." and I said "Yes, you have one field trip in the fourth grade." Then this morning she said "Daddy said they had centers, but I didn't see any centers." Because "centers" at Mother's Day Out is toys and playing, but "centers" in Kindergarten is Reading, Math, Computers and Oh yeah, Arts and Crafts. Needless to say I felt like I left my baby to the wolves this morning.

Short Shanks and I are rattling around the house, every hour or so he comes up to me and says "Where's Peach?", my stomach seizes up, I explain again and we start all over.

Melee' and Zoe both got great teachers this year and since they're in fifth grade, they're the big kids on campus, as is John who got on the bus as an eight grader today. As he and the neighbors went out to the bus I said "You guys be benevolent rulers." They all looked at me like I was an alien so I said "Be nice to the little kids on the bus!" Then I got the "Whatever" eye-roll and sideways grin.

Three down, one more to go. So, when does this get easier?

Friday, August 17, 2007

Tales of Camping. Light.

On the first day Peach said,

"Isn't this great Momma! No chores! No Dishes! No laundry!"

Amen sister. Except for the part where I'll have 14 loads of laundry to do when we pull up into the driveway, and after I've soaked everything in Oxyclean for 24 hours. And contrary to popular belief I can not feed the four of you Marshmallows toasted on coat hangers for every meal for the next three days. But other than that... Pure Bliss baby!

One morning while helping Ace put his pants on he said,

"A one, a two, a skiddley-diddley-doo!"

And that's how I hope to put on my pants for the rest of my life.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

TALL Tales from West Texas

OR

Rural Emergency 911



One hot morning while camping at Lake McKenzie, I decided to walk the kids up to the playground area. So we headed up the dusty dirt road in search of swings and merry-go-rounds. It didn't take long for the kids to start whining and complaining about how far it was. John decided that we should definitely take a shortcut down one of the ATV trails, but I didn't want to start down a trail and have it wind off in the wrong direction so I said "No." we would stay on the road, it was only a little further. John said "Well, I'm taking the shortcut." and off he went. I thought 'Whatever. He'll be sorry when we get there and he's still trying to figure out which hill he's supposed to go over.' But as we topped the long steep incline there he was, sitting on a picnic table saying "What took you guys so long."

(Internal eye roll and Doh!)

The playground turned out to be two swings, a rusty merry-go-round and a plastic slide with a hole in the top that looked like a booby-trap. I kept yelling, "Ya'll don't go too far! You're gonna get stickers!" to which Ace would reply "Stickers! I WANT STICKERS! I WANT STICKERS!" Which begs the question, 'How did I raise kids that don't know what it's like to never have your shoes off outside for fear of goatheads?' So the minutes wore on in the hot sun until finally my plan of catching a ride back to camp with Charlie as he came back from town, turned into trekking down the shortcut and letting the kids pick up a few rock treasures on the way. We got to the edge of the playground when John started complaining of something really sharp in his shoe, but after investigating twice, couldn't find what it was. Turns out he stepped on a mesquite bush thorn that went all the way through his hiking shoe. When neither of us could get it out with our fingers, I had to put the bottom of the shoe up to my mouth and bite down on the thorn in order to pull it out. We regathered ourselves and headed down the trail. At the bottom of the first hill it opened up to a big riding area with hills and trails and the kids went in search for rocks to bring home. After another ten minutes in the sweltering heat I said "Times up!" and we found the trail that would take us out to the main road. Up the trail we went, around a corner and on the way down, when Peach lost her footing and fell hands first into a cactus.



I scooped her back up onto her feet to find that her left hand was covered in small thorns with four or five large thorns mixed in. Every time I touched her I came away with a few thorns in my own hands. I pulled out the large ones and when I did, her hand spurted blood that drizzled down her arm. She was wailing like a siren as I tried to calm her down and I soon realized we would have to get back to camp and find my tweezers to pull out the hundreds of tiny stickers. I told her we'd have to keep walking and I turned to find Melee' behind us watching and bawling and behind him, Ace was looking up at Melee' and crying. I was already chanting the mantra "It's okay, it's gonna be okay, it's alright, it's not that bad....." I said "Okay everybody, take a deep breath, we've got to get back to camp." We walked down the path, I was trying to hold her hand but we could only hook pinkies while she held the other hand in the air and the blood flowed down and dripped off her elbow. Melee' was making hitching sob sounds while cursing all cactus on the face of the earth, and Ace just trailed behind crying quietly. I asked John if he would go back to the cactus and see if he could find her two special rocks. The rest of us plodded along and I rallied the troops by singing a rousing course of
'F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me, TRY IT, N is for anywhere and anytime at all! Down here in the deep blue sea!"
We had gotten 15 yards farther down the road, when all of a sudden, John comes shrieking around the corner towards us in absolute abject terror. He was screaming and running faster than I knew he could run. I thought 'OH MY GOD, HE'S BEEN BITTEN BY A SNAKE!' No. Not exactly. He was, however, being chased by what was evidently a killer hornet, which chased him mercilessly causing him to fall down tearing a hole in his jeans, his knee and the palm of his hand. Now it's as if we're in a Friday the Thirteenth sequel and I'm leading all the unlucky souls on a death march to what will no doubt be our ultimate fate when we get back to camp. Of course Charlie pulls up in the truck right as we get to the camp turn in, and finds us dusty, sweaty, bloody and crying. It took the two of us working two pairs of tweezers at least 15 minutes to pull all the needles out of her hands and arms, after which she said she needed to lay down because her stomach hurt. After a short nap we were checking her hand when Charlie found that the knuckle on her fourth finger did not seem to be there anymore which caused us to drive into Silverton to find an Urgent Care center. At the end of the day she had four ex-rays that showed she probably hyper-extended her fingers and had a small sprain but all was well and the Dr. sent us off with instructions on icing her hand and a warning about the rattlesnakes which are having a banner year.

And I never slept for the rest of the trip and we all lived happily ever after.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Rockin the Purple Spandex Unitard Circa 1993, Bitch!

Everything was still packed in the Suburban. Because we were supposed to be on vacation last Thursday. Everything includes my workout clothes, and I was determined Not to unpack. Which sparked this conversation at the gym yesterday...

As I'm laying on the floor doing my ab work....

John: "Mom? Are those shiny purple shorts you're wearing?"

Me: "What?"

John: "Are those purple things shorts?"

Me: "No it's a unitard. See?" I show him a purple shoulder-strap under my T-shirt.

John: (With surpsrise eyes) "That thing goes all the way up?"

Me: "Yep." I pull up the T-shirt just over my waist.

John: "A unitard? Like that thing Jen on Big Brother had to wear for a week? You're not gonna wear that without a T-shirt are you?"

Me: (Grinning from ear to ear) "Maybe in another twenty pounds. Why? You don't like my shiny purple spandex unitard?"

John: (Grinning and shaking his head no) "Where did you get that thing?"

Me: "Top of my closet in a bag of clothes I haven't worn in over 13 years."

Monday, July 30, 2007

Who Am I?

I’m changing my name ya’ll.

I’ve decided that no matter how you say it, or what my original intent, but Momma sounds like I’m calling myself Fat Ass. And while that’s not completely inappropriate, I would never call any of my friends Fat Ass. And in the spirit of being my own best friend, I’m retiring but Momma and giving myself a new handle. And because I stink at giving myself a nickname, I thought I might let you guys give me some input.

Here is a list of names, most of which, are things people have called me , because evidently my name is too hard to pronounce…

Geraldine
Josephine
Christine
Jolene
Kristin
Justin
Steve

Nobody ever actually called me Steve, but something about the way my brother pronounces my name, makes me turn and respond to anyone who calls out “Hey Steve!”

I also am thinking about

Jay Dee
Just Me (I think there are a lot of those on the internets)
The Little Red Headed Girl (to my husband’s Charlie Brown. Too many words.)


I’ve got nothing….

Sunday, July 29, 2007

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!! OMG!!

And now for Eight Random Things from Colleen at Spank your Inner Moppet...
Ya'll be sure to go visit and tell her I said HI!

1. It's raining again and my mood has gone from a 9 to a 3 in two short hours. It could have to do with the rain, it could have to do with the fact that, although my kitchen looks Fan-Tastic, the rest of my house still has little piles of junk that I took out of the kitchen, that I don't want to put back, but I can't bring myself to throw any of it away. I hate that about myself.

2. Friday Ace got himself into a little trouble, when Charlie told him he had to get off the computer he mumbled under his breath "If I was as big as you, I'd kill you." (I had to stifle a laugh, because...well, come on, he's THREE and we don't let him watch CSI or anything.) So he got sent to bed and may have gotten a spanking which I will neither confirm nor deny. Later when the boys, Charlie and I were on the couch watching a movie, Charlie said "I'm really hot. Is it hot to you?" I said "You better check the thermostat, Ace might be trying to kill you slowly." He's sort of known around here for shenanigans with the thermostat.

3. I haven't called any of the people that I need to call, to let them know that I will be here this week but won't be here the next week because I'm too dumb to know when I'm on vacation. (That would include my trainer, my psychologist and John's Viola teacher.) When Charlie showed up to work on Thursday, they had taped a big WELCOME BACK poster on his door and everyone had written little notes like "We really missed you" and "Please don't stay gone so long next time." and "HaHa!! Lay off the booze!" and "You're killin us! And we have to go through this again when?" Because Wednesday he had gone to everybody's office and sang "I'm on va-CAY-tion! I'm on va-CAY-tion!"

4. I finished the last Harry Potter book Friday night at around 10:30 and in my humble and un-literary opinion it was the best! Some of the books kind of dragged with a lot of information, but this one just tied up all the loose ends and was lots of action! And I wasn't smart enough to figure out the ending before I got there. I believe J.K. Rowling deserves to be richer than the Queen.

5. I'm really in the mood to see a new movie. The boys have seen most of the ones I wanted to see. I took them to see Ratatouille, amusing, but rat's cooking my food? EECHH!! Melee's seen Transformers and Evan Almighty and John's been to see Harry Potter. We rented Bruce Almighty the other day and although we've seen it before, I laughed SOO hard and we let the kids watch it and we must have looked at it five times and it never got old.
"I lik-a do-a da Cha-Cha!" Go rent it if you haven't seen it in a while!

6. This morning I was down to 192.6 on the scale, which is FABULOUS (35 lb loss) considering I haven't been very strict with my eating plan (she said while eating some M & M's) and haven't written in my food diary for about three weeks. Ya'll please don't tell my trainer, he'll want me to do more burpees for punishment. Cause I'm supposed to punish myself when I do stuff like that. Have I told ya'll lately how much I love M & M's and how fun it is to eat all the brown ones and then randomly decide to eat some other color next and then at the end you have some fun color combination? That's why I have a psychologist.

7. Staring intently around the room really doesn't help you think of anymore random things. And neither will your husband who thinks Eight Random Things would be

  • boloney
  • ceiling fans
  • tin cans
  • water bottles
  • stuffed animals
  • silverware
  • comb
  • aloe vera gel

Which is an actual list of eight random things I can see while staring around the room.

8. Today I looked at the weather forecast for Amarillo for the next two weeks. Go ahead, guess...

Rain.

I'm really not too good at tag, but just for fun, let's see if I can get One Tall Momma, Bonnie B., and Jodi to play....Tag. You're it!

Friday, July 27, 2007

I Was on Vacation for Approximately 93 Minutes

Funny thing happened on the way to my vacation...

I was SO totally stressed out. Were the appliances coming or weren't they? They decided they would try and deliver and install on Tuesday between 3:00 and 6:00, which I took to mean, "I'll passify you by putting you on the list for Tuesday, but will then call you late Tuesday evening and tell you I can't make it till Wednesday, which is when I wanted to deliver them in the first place." But all that did was paralyze me while I waited. So instead of sitting around the house all day, I took the kids and we went to the gym and then the bank, Smoothie King, Sonic, Academy, and Walmart. (Because I have no problem doling out $6.00 for a Skinny High Protein Almond Mocha w/Diet Down for me, but the kids are getting a $2.00 Ice Cream Shake at Sonic) So we piddled around till 2:00, then I went back to Sonic and picked up their late lunch and we returned home to wait out the Maytag Men.

I could have been getting ready for our trip to Amarillo. We were tentatively planning on leaving Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. But no, I was content to sit in my chair and read Harry Potter till the delivery truck rolled up at around 6:00. And yes, I could chronicle another long complaint against the Maytag store, but I'm bored with it and I know ya'll are too so....

TA-DA!



ALL HAIL CHARLIE, THE KITCHEN REMODELER!


SO SEXY IT HUUUUUURRRRTS!


AND ALL HAIL MY BROTHER KRULL! WHO CAME OVER WITH HIS SAWS-ALL AND CUT A PERFECTLY STRAIGHT LINE FOR THE INSTALLERS TO PUT IN MY DOUBLE OVEN AND HELPED CHARLIE INSTALL THE MICROWAVE SLASH VENT A HOOD......



So on Wednesday, instead of getting ready for our trip to Amarillo, I sat in my chair reading Harry Potter right up until about 2:00 when I forced myself to put the book down and start packing everyone a suitcase. Charlie got home around 6:00 and he pulled out the trailer full of motorcycles and began to pack up camping gear. We had decided to drive to Canton where we would pick up John,spend the night with my Mom, and then head on to Amarillo Thursday morning. We packed suitcases, diapers, medicines, sheets, chairs, helmets, shoes and more shoes, makeup and hairdryers, pillows and stuffed animals, camera, snacks, hats, sunscreen, tools, ipod, purse, magazines, dvd's, and Harry Potter. We pulled out of the driveway just before 8:00 p.m., we circled the block and came back for the Best of The Dallas Cowboys DVD set, and we were off. 93 minutes later, Charlie spoke to my brother-in-law and realized we weren't supposed to be on vacation until NEXT week.


I'm just telling you right here and now, I'm not unpacking that suburban.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Appliances and Humor. I need both.

The appliance saga continues. I told you guys last Wednesday that the appliances were backordered for another week. Well then she called me late Friday and said "I have all three of your appliances! (Aren't I good and now you can't be pissed at me!) Could we come to install them Monday between 10:00 and 2:00?" And I said, "Why yes! You CAN come and install them between 10:00 and 2:00! (You've totally redeemed yourself and I can't wait to get off the phone and sing your praises!)

So Charlie and I kicked it into high gear this weekend and grouted (Thursday and Friday nights) and then repainted all the kitchen cabinets. (Yes! You should be totally impressed, because repainting cabinetry sucks!) First coat all day Saturday and second coat all day Sunday. Charlie sanded and first coated all the scub marks, (scubs being a technical term) and then I painted while he, reran the drain to the dishwasher because we forgot to knock out the drain plug in the new disposal and therefore the dishwasher had no place to drain. (Notice I said we, because I'm thoughtful like that!) Then he changed out the old ugly faux wood panel and shiny brass ceiling fan for the new shiny white one, reglued all the drawers that were falling apart, ran to the store to take back the handles I didn't like and get more knobs (Because I'm great at math and counting things!), and he got a new white faux wood blind and hung that, and took my half doors that have louvers that were totally scuffed and peeling and painted them outside with the fancy spray painter and then spray painted the inside and outsides of all my drawers. (Because the goobers who painted the cabinets before us only painted the outside!)

And we patted ourselves on the back some more!

Then this morning the owner of the Maytag store called to tell me that two of his installers had called in sick and he needed to reschedule for Wednesday. And that's all I have to say about that.

So I'll leave you with this little bit of Ace-humor and if you'd like to cheer me up, you can leave me a joke or a funny in my comments. Don't feel any pressure. It's not like I'm on the verge of going postal in the Maytag store or anything.

* * * *

We were getting ready to leave my Mom's a couple of weeks ago and I was in the back bedroom tidying up where the kids had been sleeping. Ace walked in put his hands on his hips and in his 3 year old Texas drawl said, "WHAT IN THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?"

And I squinted my eyes at him and answered in my best 'You must be ridiculous!' voice, "I'm making the bed!"

And he says "HOLY SHRIMP!" and exits the room. While I stammer and laugh "HEY! You better watch you exclamatory language young man!"

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Stabbed in the Back by the Maytag Man

Today I was supposed to be posting pictures of my fab new appliances. Go ahead, take a look, I'll wait right here...


Nope, NO FAB NEW APPLIANCES! We ordered them last Wednesday.
Tuesday I called and asked for the status and the girl said "Oh, they're scheduled for delivery for tomorrow." So yesterday I got up all giddy with anticipation. I vacuumed, dusted, rearranged all the piles of stuff from my cabinets, I even moved out the refrigerator and cleaned underneath it so I wouldn't be embarrased when they moved the old one out. (And man, would I have been embarrased, evidently that's a chore that needs to be scheduled on some kind of monthly basis.) Then midmorning I started cleaning out the odds and ends and leftovers out of the fridge. When they hadn't called by noon, I stopped by to say "WHAT up?! :) " you know, in an absolutely jovial, "Love ya. Where's my Maytag Man?" sort of way. That's when she told me she was still waiting on my Ice2-O. "Huh?" Turns out, my fridge is BACKORDERED for TWO WEEKS!

TWO WEEKS? When was she gonna call and tell me THAT critical piece of information? Evidently, never. I was just gonna sit here the entire day saying things like "They must be really busy today." "They're probably waiting till the end of the day since we have three things to install." "They probably had trouble with someone else's delivery, they're just running a little late." "The rain's slowing them down, I bet." "Man, they're really cutting it close." "But it's nine o'clock, why didn't anyone call?" Or today, or the next day, or the next day, or the next day, for SEVEN MORE DAYS WHEN I'M GONE ON VACATION!!!!!@#%"!!!!!!!!!!



But I'm not bitter.




So instead of a pic of my cool new appliances, I'll let you see this one. Please excuse the tired piece of toast and my old nasty cookie sheet. I'm going to Wally today to buy two new shiny ones, because I won't sully my new oven with a rusty bottomed cookie sheet.

Our arms are SO tired from patting each other on the back! Not to mention I've got some kind of weird hip flexor/knee pain from leaning over the counter for seven hours straight and Charlie damaged something in his groin area that is somehow critical for pushing down hard enough on the brake to stop his truck. I don't think we'll ever get hired out for this kind of work, we'd have to charge $100 an hour a piece, plus we'd both end up on Workmans Comp. Tonight we've convinced ourselves that we're going to grout, (WE being the collective we as in Charlie grouting and me sitting and giving unsolicited advice.)