Archive for Uncategorized
A Killer Party
Posted by: | CommentsThis is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.
Check out this rockin’ contest from Hampton Hotels! It’s the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes. How awesome would that be? Getting an entire hotel for you and 100 of your closest friends? Cool. Makes my head dream a bit…(insert the boo-da-doo-da-doo from Wayne’s World)
First, it’s not hard for us to get 100 people together. Christmas Eve dinner is 30-40 people, and that’s just immediate family! Where would I take 100 of my closest friends, and what would we do? Let’s see…
I would have to pick a place that everybody could drive. Not everybody can afford airfare. So, at first I thought Cleveland. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, some bar hopping in The Flats, some nice dinners…but what about the kids? Not everybody could get sitters for the weekend (including myself!) So, then I thought it would be cool to have 100 people go to Williamsburg. We could take the kids to Busch Gardens. And Colonial Williamsburg. The grown ups AND the kids could have fun. The Hampton Inn & Suites in Williamsburg has an indoor pool AND an outdoor pool. The kids can swim, the adults can relax. And we’d be with 100 people that we like.
I’m gonna put it out there to the universe….that’s what I’d love. OR, you can all enter and invite me for the weekend if you win! Where would you go? Let me know…’cuz I’ll need to know what to pack. Oh, and if it’s a kid-free weekend, I’ll start recruiting babysitters early!
It’s All Downhill From Here, Right?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, everything is different now. first, I have to go over to the ‘about me’ page and change “almost 40″ to “40.” I had about a bazillion people wish me a happy birthday, and it felt great. What didn’t feel so great? The hangover I had for my entire 40th birthday. BUT, it was a lot of fun getting to that hangover. Lemmie give you the deets:
Friday, the 2oth, was the day that I was getting to celebrate. Now, I knew that we were having friends over that evening for a deck party. Tony told me to take the day to myself and be back by 6:00. Hey, I wasn’t going to fight him on that! I left the house, and headed to lunch. I had a nice, quiet, lunch at Friday’s. No kids bugging me, asking when the food was coming. I sat at the bar. It was fantastic.
Next, I headed to the bookstore. And I didn’t look at one children’s book. Again, awesome. Peaceful. Off to Kohl’s. I got a piece of art for my new, grown up walls and a new pair of shades. I poked around the new Kirkland’s that opened near me, and then off to Target. I bought all new make up. Lotions. Soaps. (OK, I did buy Play-Doh, but it was the one thing I forgot on the back to school list). Then I went gambling. Nothing like playing the slots 
And you know…even when you go to the Casino with somebody, you always end up splitting up.
So, when I was done I got in the car to go home. I blared some of my old CD’s (instead of listening to whatever movie the kids are watching). I listened to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Can’t listen to that with kids in the car.
I got home, gathered my new belongings, and headed up the steps. When I opened the door, bunches of friends were there IN COSTUME to greet me. They had planed a 70’s themed party. It was fantastic. All the kids had tye-dye on, one of our friends wore classic black roller skates, and Tony looked like this:
There was a ton of food, a fantastic tiramisu cake, a variety of adult beverages, and it was just a darn good time. Of course, I had TOO MUCH fun. We played drinking games that I hadn’t played in FOREVER!!! We played Drug Dealer, we played Flip Cup. It was all good. I fell asleep next to Tony, on the deck, about 1:30 in the morning. He dealt with the kids all night, and then tucked me into bed. I spent the entire morning of my ACTUAL birthday on the couch. But the kids did this for me:
I was a slug all day. About 5:00 I decided that I needed something greasy and spicy to make me feel better. I ate the most awesome Italian Hoagie with sausage, hot peppers, green peppers and mushrooms. It DID make me feel better. A little. I still felt it a bit on Sunday, but I made it through.
So, 40 years old. And what happens today? The kids went to school. My baby went to kindergarten. Which made me feel extra old. And YOU KNOW how much I’ve complained about the fighting. But I still cried after they got on the bus. Hmmph. Go figure.
40? Not the end of the world. I’ll take it
Team Jake
Posted by: | CommentsI just want to say, that after seeing eight bazillion t shirts that say “Team Jacob,” I had to share this one. This is a little more my speed.
Hey, it made me giggle. Not a lot of time to write again today. We just got back from the girls’ very first Girl Scout meeting. Man, holding those three fingers up and doing that hand-hold-squeeze-the-next-hand thing sure brought back some memories. Memories that were from a very, very long time ago. So, they need to memorize the little Girl Scout thingie, and prepare yourselves…’cuz there will be nuts, magazines and cookies to sell 
Don’t worry…I’ll set it up so you can pay me via paypal. Easy peasy.
Have a great night!
Tick, Tick, Tick
Posted by: | CommentsLazy mornings. I really enjoy the lazy mornings of summer. I had them for two whole weeks (until Summer rec. started today). During one of those lazy mornings, this is what happened:
As I rolled over in bed, I felt a presence. I open my eyes, and there’s Becca…big ol’ blues staring right at me. It was 8:15 – past any “respectful” waking time, I guess. So, I pulled myself up out of bed and headed downstairs with said child. Before making the coffee, I decided that I needed “just five more minutes” before I was ready to greet the day. As I laid down on the couch, Becca (and Rex) crawled up next to me. Becca was happily petting Rex. Then Chloe, with her anti-gravity morning hair, came tromping down the stairs. I guess there was no more “five more minutes.” As Becca continued to pet Rex, she stopped and said, “Mom, there’s a bump on Rex’s neck.”
A bump on Rex’s neck could mean just about anything. He’s had gum, broken pieces of suckers, liquid ‘gooey’ candy from a tube and other oddities stuck in his fur. So, with one eye open (and the other about half open), and no caffeine in my body to speak of, I check out Rex’s neck. There sure was something sticking up. I thought it was his skin. I gave it a little tug, and something about the size of an old fashioned watermelon seed was between my fingers. I hold it up to my face, and then I see it. The head and the legs. (Ewww, I’m getting itchy just thinking about it now). It was a damn tick! Ugh! I take it into the kitchen and try to squish it in a paper towel. No go. This thing was a fighter. A big, fat, ugly, full-o-blood fighter. I had to get tough. I took it outside and squished the paper towel under the leg of our patio chair.
I had to make sure it was dead, right? I didn’t want to (OK, maybe I DID want to…just a little). Ewwwwwwwwwww! It was like…like…blood jelly. Completely gross. I made my coffee and hoped it would help the heebie jeebies go away. Then, of course, I had to look up ticks on the internet. Just because. I’m going to share a picture with you. Again, just because.
Photo compliments of University of Nebraska
And that’s how I started off one day of summer vacation. What followed in the next few days was a big ol’ dose of Frontline on the dog, and some crazy chemical on the lawn. But here’s a preview for my next post: the tick was NOT the grossest thing that has happened so far this summer. Have you ever heard of GWAR? I’ll fill you in next time!
Forced Enjoyment
Posted by: | CommentsFirst, I’m going to say, “Happy Mothers’ Day” to all moms, especially my own. Being a mom is the hardest gig out there, no doubt about it. I don’t think that any woman can TRULY appreciate what their own mother has done until she, herself, is a Mom. So, thanks Mom. I love you.
Yesterday I had our day all planned out. The weather was crappy. Windy, cold and rainy. And I knew it was going to be like that. So, the plan was to do our little Saturday morning routine at the restaurant and then hang in the house. I had the girls all prepped for an afternoon of jammies, movies and the Wii. Perfect. And while they were doing that, I was planning on catching up on some housework (you know, clean a couple of bathrooms, vacuum, laundry) and some internet work. But wait…there was more. After putting them to bed, I planned on reading my new book from Charlaine Harris (Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10)
It all started out great. The girls (after a little, um, “discussion” about what they were going to watch) settled in to watch Goosebumps and All Grown Up. I chatted with Tony for a bit, got some work done, and we all decided to have a snack of ice cream about 3:30. That is the time of day that my energy hits that gigantic dip. I brewed coffee and sat on the couch with the kids, enjoying Rugrats: All Grown Up. Well, I think I was actually enjoying the inside of my eyelids. Then it happened.
The power went out.
Thank God the coffee had already brewed! We sat and waited for a couple of minutes to see if it was just a flicker (because that happens more often than a long stretch of no power). No go. The kids continued to play, but I was sort of stuck. Couldn’t do laundry. Couldn’t vacuum. The bathrooms that needed cleaned were the ones without windows, so that was out. No internet. So, I started reading my book.
And that’s what I did until the power came back on around 6:00.
It put me in a great mood. I happily made dinner. I set the kids up in Chloe’s room for their quasi-sleepover. I kept on reading. I surrendered my to-do list for a day of doing what I wanted to do. I mean, I had to diffuse some fights. I had to freak out when they wouldn’t just LAY DOWN AND GO TO BED AT 10:00. But I finished my book.
Just in time to watch Saturday Night Live, which was awesome! This was probably my favorite:
And guess what? I DID vacuum this morning. And do some laundry. Oh, and I got breakfast in bed! (Watermelon , a fiber bar and iced tea from Chloe. Iced tea and a salami sandwich with a broken up string cheese on it from Becca. Awesome.)
Have a great Mothers’ Day!!!!
