Working out....

Let me start at the beginning.....4 days ago I signed into Turbo Tax and did our taxes to see what kind of wonderful refund we were gonna be spending on shiny things this year. Let me say it was guuuuuuuud. :) I informed my hubby with a grin, explained all the things I thought we should do and see and buy when I realized he was sitting at the table with a pen, calculator and pad of paper.

Uh-oh.

This wasn't gonna be good. In a fit of craziness, the other day, I helped him get a handle on our bills...interest rates.......monthly payments and where the good booze is hidden. In my defense he asked while in his new uniform. Have you seen him in his new Air Force Issued Uniform?? It makes me drool and want to say Come To Momma Big Boy while giggling. Why the Boo-Bear thinks we only did some of IT three times I will never know. Anyway he asked me to sit. I said I didn't wanna. He asked again and pointed to the empty chair next to him. All of my traitorous children left the room. I think I heard one of them say "She is sooooooooo on her own with this one!" heh.
I sat. He explained that we were going to be all grown up this year and get some things in order with MY ummm I mean OUR refund. I may have run screaming out the front door WHY LORD!!! WHY?!?!?!!!! He wasn't swayed by my look of bereftness. I wanted a new computer for the family room int-netz!!!! The one we have now is soooooooooo slow and old.....it's old. Again, the Capt? Not moved. I asked him if he had a soul??? And how could he hurt me this way??? He waited patiently for me to see reason. sigh. What's a girl to do. He explained.....he figured....we talked new tires and breaks.......he figured some more....talked about being debt free in a year......had to get my attention again as I day dreamed longingly about new shiny computers that go fast, real fast.....then he sat back to see what I had to say. Again, sigh. I agreed to everything cause I am a good wife and he had a pretty good plan, plus he told me that earlier that day he had gone out to get me a really rockin treadmill but the store was all sold out so he said for me to get my coat on and we were gonna go and find us one!!!! My soul sangeth once more. :)
Three days ago in between snow storms I braved the elements and became the proud owner of a treadmill. Let me just say that it is fabulous and that I lurvs it with a red hot passion. Yesterday I got on there for the first time and worked my little heart out. I have it down to a science. Two miles to start since two miles about kills me I thought I'd work my way up. This morning I thought I'd do a little narrative on how it goes......

Get I-pod.
Find earphones that Boo-Bear has hidden in the dark abyss of her room.
Get bottle water.
Find shoes.
Hop on treadmill.
Hop off and then stretch.
Hop back on and do a half mile power walk all while patting self on back for how skinny you already look.
Run half a mile regretting all the while those two cupcakes you had last night.
Power walk half a mile while chugging some water and thinking who is gonna get your fabric stash cause God knows you are about to keel over and die.
Eye distance and see that this half mile is almost over and you have promised to run the last half mile.
Re-think that promise.
Call self a big fat wuss and tell self you can do it.
Self is mad and thinking about the cupcakes in the fridge and really, what if we get hit by a bus...would this little work out really matter?? Would I die with a smile on my face for getting these two miles in or would I smile thinking that the very last thing I ate was a fab-u-lus cupcake.
Rue the idea of making those cupcakes last night.
Decide to pump up the speed and go for it.
Go for it while singing Rob Thomas' Lets See How Far We've Come.
Boo-Bear comes in to see what I am doing and laughs.
Rue her.
See I have only run a tenth of that half mile and wonder if anyone will know if you lie and say you ran.
Realize I will know.
Finish run and go outside to stand in the snow cause I am a burning volcano.
Laugh out loud cause I am so darned proud of me!

Tomorrow I try again. I will keep you posted! I am determined to be Fabulous and 40 this year!!!

Happy Healthy Eating Today Everyone!!!

Out of the mouths of babes....

Tonight it's just us girls here at Chez' Owens. The Capt is once again in parts unknown doing Captainy things. Since The Son is also out tonight we decided to watch John and Kate Plus 8. Love that show!! One of the commercial breaks talked about the lady with the 18 kids. Got our little Boo-Bear a thinking....

B.B : "Jeez, she should stop having"...remembers I'm in the room and shoots me a look with a big grin on her face.

Middle Daughter: "She doesn't believe in birth control so they just keep having kids."

Boo Bear: "I'm glad you don't do that anymore mom." "You and Dad only did it 3 times."

I guess she means one time per kiddo. Cue hysterical laughter in the living room. Then she gets this look of horror on her face and says to me "You only did it three times right?!?!!!!!! You don't need to do it any more then that right??!!!!!!"

This is when I jumped up to get on the computer and blog about her innocence. Gave me a great laugh for tonight and I'll let her father explain all the rest to her when he gets home. heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee

P.S. Mascanlon....do you have a blog?? I feel in my inner most heart that we are BFF's and I would love to shoot you an email to thank you for all the lovely comments you've left. :) You da' bomb!!!

Monday update....

So you know how I said I have a bunch of stuff to do around here today and was looking forward to it?? heh. The hubby is home.

Ladies, may I ask a question of you?? Do you have a certain order to your day?? Like on cleaning days do you partake of a cup of coffee and get your thoughts in order as to what will be tackled that day? Do you maybe blog for 30 minutes or so and tell yourself that at 9:30am you will get started...all fortified with caffeine and some good blogger vibes??

I do. I like to have a cup of coffee.....have some breakfast with The Boo Bear before school and then I hop on the computer with another cup of coffee after she leaves. I sit until 9:30 while my thoughts get in order and then I hit it and hit it hard. Now remember I told you that the hubby was home. He has the day off because he needs to write a paper and he needs Internet access and wants the comfort of his home. I totally understand such needs but may I just say in my sweetest voice that if he come in here one more time to see what I am doing with a perplexed look in his face all while drying dishes (no one told him to do any dishes...I was going to do them in just a minute) I will put a Valium in his coffee. I will put three in there so he will sleep the day away and stay out from under my feet. Then when he awakens wanting some lunch I may put some Valium in that so he can sleep the rest of the day away. Heaven help the man if he asks me what I am putting a kick knack "there" for or why am I moving furniture over "there"?? and don't I have to much to do to rearrange pictures in such a way?? I may punch him in the nose and then turn some music on in celebration.

May the force be with us ladies. Amen.

Monday...

Made it home from the Rents house in one piece. We ran into some snow around Indianapolis but no worries, we just drove a little slower. :)
Today I am finding homes for all the little things my momma gave me. I left with one very packed van. OH HAPPY DAY!!! STUFF!!!
My brother is hard at work trying to figure out what to do about the Laptop Tragedy of 09. So far things are looking grim. I may have to send it to him so he can sauter and bypass and upload.
Word on the street is that we are going to be getting some snow tonight and all day tomorrow. Anyone wanna put some money on it that my kids will be getting the next two day off?? Hmmmmm?? Anyone wanna bet?? No? I don't blame ya. sigh.
Okay, off to start my day.

Happy Australia Day to all me mates down under!!!!! Hugs and kisses to you guys!!!

MWAAAAA

Hi Intnetz!!!!! I missed you!!! I did!! I did!! No, my laptop is not up and running. It is sitting in the timeout corner thinking about what it has done and how it can rectify the situation. We are expecting it to crack like a walnut any day now. Oh, and yes hmmmm I do have another computer......hugs to My Thanh for worrying about me....but is is really cold in that room (whine whine whine) and it is old and really slow. I can't post any pictures on it. Plus it's not on my couch where I can sit with a cup of coffee in one hand and the laptop in my welllll in my lap. It will have to do though until my brother aka Lord Of All Things Computer can figure out what is wrong with it just by reading the EMERGENCY OH MY GOODNESS MY COMPUTER/LIFELINE TO MY SOUL HAS DIED HELP ME BEFORE I COMMIT HARI-KARI IN OHIO WHO CARES IF YOU WORK 1225894 HOURS A WEEK I NEEDS YA NOW LOVE YA SMOOCHES TO THE KIDS email I am gonna send him today.
So what is a blogger to do when her laptop has committed suicide and she cannot blog comfortably?? Why go to her momma's house!!! Yep folks, I bundled up The Boo-Bear and drove 5 hours to The Rents house for a little visit. I'm actually here to pick up a treadmill they have and take it home oh AND CAUSE I LURRRRVS THEM!! Not just cause I'm taking home a very cute red corner cabinet for my bathroom as well. Oh, and they are letting me have a TV to replace the one that blew up on us, yes the one we bought the day after Thanksgiving that was all flat and gor-gee-us, til we can get another one. Income tax refund here we come! Oh, and do not let me forget that very late last night a call came in that my dad's only surviving brother was in the hospital and they should come now, RIGHT NOW, so they are not home right this minute and I may need to help them downsize a bit more AND the roll top desk is batting it's brown eyes at me. I do not care that my middle brother has dibs. He is three hours away. By the time he figures it out I will have it all shiny in mah hiz-ouse. Boo-Ya Mickel Pickle!! Who's your momma now??!!!!
Just kidding about taking advantage of a family situation (uncle will be fine by the way...Rents called this morning and all is well) and cleaning my parents out....ooooohhhhhhh china hutch come to momma!!........before they come back this afternoon............OOOOOOOOO small fireplace unit that would look fabo in my living room.......Okay, gotta go and get to packing ahem I mean making some breakfast! Honest!!

Update on mah life...

Our laptop fried itself. heh. Good times all around. The screen went all black and scary then it said I needed a password to get back in. I tried to pretend I was a Super-Hacker-Type-Person and put a bunch of different ones in there. No dice. My blog will be black til I can get that thing fixed.

Miss me Dear Intnetz for I will assuredly miss you.

Being Deployed....

Okay Int-netz, one of our own is having a very bad no good day. The besty formerly known as Walker Leigh now known as Texas Leigh, her hubby deployed tonight. He is to be gone for a whole year. For those of you who don't have a family member, let alone a spouse, over in Iraq let me tell you it is really hard. She had to take her hubby to a designated spot and drop him off. She had to hug him, tell him she loved him and then say goodbye to him. Her kiddos had to say goodbye to their daddy. She now has to hold down the fort for the next 365 days. Jen and I will be there for her and are even taking a road trip to see her in a couple of months but still, can you even imagine. She is the first of the Ya-Ya's to be going through this. Jen and I are next.

So here is what I'm asking. If you could find it in your heart to go and visit her here and leave a comment it would totally rock the house. Just let her know that she is being thought of today. It would really mean a lot.

Leigh, my heart is with you tonight girlfriend. I'll call you tomorrow. To our dear friend the Major...you will be in all of our prayers. Stay safe and know we adore you.

d

SCREAM!!!!!

Oh Dear Int-netz!!!!! You are never ever evvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver gonna guess what just happened to me!!!!!!!! I am laying here on the couch...the place I sleep with one eye open in case the girl from The Grudge decides to come outta my sink to get me while the hubby is being tended to by his Plane Butler....when outta nowhere, remember it is night time here and dark.....and scary.....and dark......and the Grudge Girl is waiting to get me......when outta nowhere MY GREENERY FELL OFF THE UPPER PART OF THE WINDOW WHERE IT LOOKS OH SO PRETTY DURING THE DAY BUT OH SO VERY SCARY WHEN IT LANDS ON YOUR FACE WHILE YOU HAVE YOUR I-POD PLUGGED IN YOUR EARS LISTENING TO ENYA AND FEELING ALL IRISHY AND ALL. It fell on my face!!!!!! When it fell on me I sat up and went to scream when I choked on my own spit and then I just knew it was over and I was gonna die.

Good Gravy that man oh' mine can not come home soon enough.
The End.

Oh Ma-yan!!!!!

Remember my last post about waking up on Sunday thinking I should do something with my sewing room?? That it needed a change...member that?? Well I did it. I had some coffee and then filled to the brim with caffeine I charged in there to see what was what. I wanted my big sewing center from IKEA to be moved from one wall to another. This meant I needed to take everything from in it's interiors and put it on the floor. I have a lot of stuff you guys! It was The Son's day off so and I didn't want to wake him so I figured I could move the thing by myself. I mean how hard could it be I ask ya?? There is a desk and two shelves hooked onto a large armoire thingie. I had to move the whole thing at one time. I girded my loins and pulled. Nothing. I girded some more and pulled harder AND BROKE THE DESK PORTION IN HALF.

Oh. Boy.

That thing cracked like you wouldn't believe. It made such a loud noise with everything crashing around and me screaming that all my kids got up out of bed to see what had happened. All three of them standing in the doorway looking at me with their mouths open. No one said a word. We all just looked at each other and then I sat down. I tell you I cannot believe it happened. As I was sitting there looking at the broken desk, trying really hard not to sob WHY?!?!?!? like Nancy Kerrigan, my kiddos came in and sat around me. No one touched me or said a word. Even the dog came in to sit by me. I started to laugh and then gave this big sigh and put my head on my knees. We sat that way for about 10 minutes. My son says to me very gently "Mom, why didn't you come and get me? I would've helped you." Why because that would have made SENSE dear heart. heh. When I looked up at their faces I realized I needed to get it together. This would not break me!! Hubby on TDY....two cars broken.....sick child......IT WOULD NOT BREAK ME!!!!! I am woman hear me meow.
I had another desk portion to the sewing center out in my garage. We all tromped out there in our pj's (big sorry to the neighbors that you had to see me in all my morning loveliness!!) found what I needed and then tromped back in the house. All 4 of us, even the dog. We got rid of the broken parts and The Son helped move the armoire into place. The he told me that I could have his shelving unit from his room to put my fabric on. He got my other desk into place and then walked over to me. Ladies, get out your hankies....then he put his arms around me and held me for a second. He says, while my head was on his shoulder, "sorry about the sewing center mom."

When did my boy become a man?

After all of that I started to take fabric out of my bins to put on shelves. When the first bin was unloaded I decided it would be a good time to take a nap! hahahahaha I told the kiddos to wake me in an hour. Since the hubby is gone the house can look like a tornado cause I have all day and night if need be to get er' done. I woke up from my nap and worked in there for a solid three hours....cleaned the rest of the house and made some dinner. The next day I went to Walmart to get some more book shelves. I put the small one together with no problem. As I was working on the bigger one my son got home from work and peeked in to see what I was doing now. Then he laughed cause what I was doing was putting the darn thing together backwards. AUGH!! He helped me get it right and told me that on Tuesday he was gonna take me to lunch...his treat...and then take me to Barnes and Noble so he could buy me a book. Any book. Any ole' book I wanted in the whole wonderful place. Yeah, he is a keeper.

Today my sewing room is all done and it looks wonderful. All of the fabric I've been collecting the past 4 years is out on shelves so I can touch it and look at it dreamily. Now when I want to do a project I don't have to move heavy bins around trying to find what I need. It is right at my fingertips. What a day it was.

I am off to get myself ready for lunch and Barnes and Noble. Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday out there!!!

Sunday.........

Well the Great Storm 09' has officially been dubbed a dud. The Storm That Said Psych is what they should have called it. I ate the snaps anyway. Now it is Sunday and I have a whole day stretched out before me with not a whole lot to do. I'm thinking I may do my Monday cleaning today cause I am wild and crazy and like to mix it up every once in awhile. I may even....waaaaaaiiiiit for it....I may even re-arrange my sew room. I know, I know, you are sitting there in your comfy chair saying "Who knew she was so exciting?!?!" What can I say?! I am woman hear me meow.
I finished up my 3-d quilt. It is not my favorite and I am sorely regretting my choice to quilt it in sections. It looked up at me from a bin in my sew room for days until I finally decided to either finish it or get rid of it. I had a very pleasant hour last night sewing the binding on. If I fold it just right it will look really nice in a basket. :) So that's my day folks. Hoping everyone is having a good Sunday out there. To any besty's out in Australia who may be having a sew day please have a moment of silence for me and know I wish I could be there with a stitchery and some chocolate!! (hugs to Lise and Tracy!!)
dawn

Saturday....

The Boo-Bear had a spend the night birthday party to go to last night so after I dropped her off the 16 year old and I went to the movies. We saw Bride Wars. It was pretty good! Got a little teary at the end and made her promise me she would get married with a real wedding and not elope to Vegas. She has promised me it will be the wedding of my ummm her dreams.

We were to get another ice/snow storm today. So far no ice, just rain. Lots of rain. Do you think maybe the weather people are just as confused as the rest of us as to what it will be like outside from day to day and are giving us their best guesses?? I was all stoked about the storm. So much so that the 16 year old and I went to the grocery store after the movie last night to stock up on things we would need to survive the Great Snow Of 09. Things like goldfish crackers and ju-ju bees.

With no snow how can I justify eating two boxes of snaps?

Also, with the Capt of Healthy Eating on TDY we were able to get the good bread. The no nutritional value whatsoever but oh so tasty bread.

How can I justify eating that if I'm not stuck in my snow covered house???

Just checked the forecast again and they are promising we are going to get some ice and snow. I will have the snaps and the bread of mah dreams at the ready. For now I need to get some laundry started and clean house. I need to pick up The Boo-Bear in two hours. Maybe the powers that be felt bad about all my car breakage (yeah, our second car? Making squeaky noises when you press on the break and gas peddles. That would make broken cars - 2 wife scratching her head - 1) and decided I deserved some snow. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm We shall see. :)

Happy Saturday-ing everyone!!

Ummmm Okay.

It is a fact of nature that when your military spouse goes TDY that things happen. Now I know you are sitting there thinking what is a TDY and how does my hubby go on one?? A TDY stands for "Times When Your Mate Is Away In Sometimes Parts Unknown And Sometimes Parts Known But Really This Does Not Matter Because Prepare For The Universe To Laugh In Your Face And Make Things Go Awry" See this is when we military spouses really need to gird our loins. Washing machines will overflow. Cars will break. Children will become sick and need to be bundled up and taken to the ER in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night when it is dark and stormy. With burglars around every corner waiting to get you. Oh, and speaking of nighttime....there will be times at night when your dog will begin to bark at the window just to mess with your mind and you will wake up terrified with the knowledge that the people from The Strangers are sitting out there peeking at you. Let us not even begin to talk about the loneliness. Yours and theirs. Of course things are easier for the one who stays home because they have their fabulous children to keep them company. Mine keep me amused by fighting from the time The Capt gets on the plane til the time he gets home or I shock them into silence when I stab myself in the eye with a pencil. heh. Good times. When my hubby left for this TDY it was with the knowledge that yesterday our van broke....yes this is the van we picked up from the car fixy place because I got into an accident during the last TDY. Seems they forgot to fix the door openy thingie. Oh, and last night as I was watching some TV trying to stay out of his way while he packed, our brand new flat screen got all these pretty blue lines across it and while I stared at it with my mouth open it did this bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz noise and shut off.
It. Fried. Itself.
As the hubby was leaving this morning he tried to explain to me what to tell the car guys and begged me not to say anything like fixy or openy. He begged while his eye got a twitch.

Side note: I figure the car fixer dudes get what they get by way of explanation from me since they didn't do their mechanical stuff right in the first place and anyway, they are car fixy guys and probably speak wife. End Side note.

As for the TV?? Can't buy one til he gets home since every wife out there knows that whatever TV I buy will not be the right one. It will not have the amount of pixelly things needed for good contrast. Or whatever pixelly things do. sigh. God please help me in the morning trying to get The Boo-Bear ready for school without her morning fix of Sabrina the Teen Age Witch.

When I dropped the hubby off I noticed that they got THE PLANE. Sometimes while the team he is on goes on a TDY they get this plane. It comes with first class seats for every man and woman. They get fresh made cookies, right after take off, that are still warm from the oven and they get a........wait for it ladies.....THEY GET A BUTLER! I just...I can't...who...wait...ummmmmmmmmm yeah. A butler. While I was trying to figure out how to make the store take the the broken TV back and give me my money my darling one was eating cookies given to him by a butler.

I am off to contemplate my life as a stay at home mom while in a hot bubble bath calmly sipping a glass of wine whilst listening to Enrique Iglesias sing to me about wanting to be my Hero. Then I will try to sleep on the couch with one eye peeking out my window. Someone needs to be on the lookout for all the boogey men that roam near and far.

Swap!

I just joined a really cool swap going on over at Jen's. You can read about it here...:)

If you want to join in there is still time...HURRY!!!

It was too good to last...

The phone rang this morning at a very early 6:15am. I ran downstairs to get it and listened in disbelief as a recording informed me that our kids were getting a snow day due to an ice storm on the way.

ARE THEY FOR REAL??????! I looked outside and didn't see anything. Just a very light......VERY LIGHT....dusting of snow. Maybe a flake or two. I let the dog out while rethinking my plans for the day. (big whine coming...) I had things to do!!! Plans!!! Important things!!! I was gonna watch a movie and get out some of my quilting books, patterns, magazines. I am itching for a new project and today was THE day to pick a little sumpin sumpin out. I finished a rockin' pin cushion from one of the stitchery's I got from chookyblue and my hands were ready for something else to dig into. I mean really people, did I clean all day long yesterday and do 8 ka-trillion loads of laundry for nothing?? Oh, and...AND when I let the dog out ( she usually runs out front, does her business and then shoots back in letting me off the hook for a very early morning walk) she ran. Far. Far far far. I was out there in Antarctica weather with my bed head and pj's yelling "Abbey wanna treat??? Abbey....TREAT!! ABBEY!!!!!!!!!!" Yeah, the neighbors love me. She finally took pity on me and decided to come on home. She had the nerve to grin and beg for a treat. Didn't happen.

Just looked outside and holy moly the ice storm commeth.

I'm off to hide in my sew room for the day. If anyone needs me round here they'd better think twice! hmph.

Seeing an old friend...

When my hubby was young his family was close with another military family. They had an assignment or two together and over the years kept in touch. We found out when we moved here that they were only an hour from us. The hubby called and made a date for us to go to Columbus and meet with them. Her husband had died a while ago but the woman he always considered an aunt was still alive and feisty. Her oldest son was a doctor and the youngest was doing well with a new baby. The MD is the one my hubby remembered best as they are the same age. We got directions to his house and hit the road yesterday. After an hour or so in the car we pull up to a gorgeous 4 story brick home and knocked on the door. He answered and as the hellos were being said he introduced us to his significant other. A man.

Now let me stop here and tell you all a little story I've been thinking about since then. When our son was a year and a half old we got pregnant. We were so excited to be having another little one and couldn't wait for our family to grow. We lived in Florida at the time. When I was three months along the hubby had to go out in the field for a couple of days for a training exercise. I woke up the second morning to horrific cramps. It was two days before Thanksgiving. I kept thinking that if I got up and stretched a bit, maybe made the bed, that the cramps would go away. I had a hard time getting up and started to feel a little nervous. I called my best friend at the time (she lived just across the street) and told her that I thought I was losing my baby and could she come over to get The Son. She told me that her mother in law was in town and they had plans to get some shopping and cooking done. She wanted to be all ready for Thanksgiving with her family. How nice for her. I then called the hubbys work and told them what was going on. They had someone find him so he could come home and take me to the hospital. It took two hours. I was so young and wasn't sure what to do. I waited for him while my baby played with his toys. We went to the hospital to be informed it was a tubal pregnancy and I was rushed to surgery. I stayed in the hospital for 7 days. No, my friend didn't come to visit. She had family to entertain. I did make a friend with the woman in the bed next to me though. We were separated by a curtain. I needed someone to talk to during those lonely nights and told her of my loss. She was much older then I was and when we shared why we were in the hospital she was just so nice to me and very caring. She called me honey. Since my own mom was many States away it gave me comfort. When my husband would visit we would talk through the curtain like old friends. She was wonderful. Two days before I was to be discharged the orderly opened up the curtain. Since they were always checking on her they wanted to keep the curtain closed to give her privacy. She wasn't always able to be covered. Because she was much better they could open the curtain and we could finally meet face to face. We were very excited to meet "the voice" on the other side. I will never forget her face when she saw that my husband wasn't exactly the color she figured on. She was shocked into silence. She didn't speak to me or look at me for the next two days. I will never forget that look. What had changed for her? We were still the same people that had been talking and laughing with her for 5 whole days. We had talked about children, spouses, moving around due to the military. We shared so much. She called me honey. And then when she SAW us things changed.
I thought about that day when my husbands old friend introduced us to his partner. The one he shares his life with. I saw the discomfort on his face as he wondered how we would react. My children? Never batted an eyelash. They didn't even pause. It made me want to scoop them up and hug the living daylights out of them. As the two men gave us the tour of their gorgeous home the five of us went from room to room. None of the kids gave them a second look. They didn't eyeball each other with a "wah??" look. There was no surprise at the picture with them standing with arms around each other. In the car The Boo-Bear says to me "momma...were they TOGETHER????!" I told her that they were and we'd talk about it later. Then we drove to The Aunts house and had dinner with everyone. It was just a really nice day. We have plans for the 4 of us to get together and see a theatre show in February. The hubby and I are celebrating 20! years of married life on Valentines day and I'd like to do something special.

I don't know why all of this is on my mind today. As I was making the bed upstairs I was going over the day yesterday and just wanted to share a little slice of my life with you guys out there.

Everyone has different opinions, it's what makes life interesting. We don't always have to agree 100% but maybe if more people took the time to "consider" ........well then. Wouldn't things be better.

Finally!!!

Today I got my house back. Bliss. Heaven. Nirvana. Everyone is back where they belong. The hubby and son are both at work and the girls are back in school. Vacation is ovah!! It was nice having them home but it sure is nice to be able to get my house to myself. I know this is gonna sound really ungrateful for the wonderfulness that is my family but Jeez Louise! I couldn't take the noise anymore! And why with all the places to sit in a house does everyone wanna sit by the mom???? And why do they ALL have to tell the mom things ALL the time?? And show us things?? And call us to "come here"??? And is everyone else's family so neeeeedy?? If one more person came up behind me while I was trying to make myself some toast and asked "what cha' makin us for breakfast?" I would've lost my mind.
Do not even get me started on the laundry. Or the mess. Good gravy, I will be in here all day long trying to get things back to normal.

Today I will turn on MY I-pod and listen to MY music. The dreaded TV will be off. The phone will not ring. The word mom will not be heard all day long. I will get out my cleaning supplies. I will dust and vacuum and wash and spritz and launder. I may even....hold your gasps...I may even cook a nice dinner.

The holiday season is over. Thank God we all made it out alive.

Yellow Springs..ice cream....witches...

So my mom and niece are here for a little visit. We didn't have anything to do today and decided to hop in the car to check out Yellow Springs. I love Yellow Springs!! It is so cool there!!! The hubby and I checked it out last week to get the lay of the land.

There is a section in town that is two blocks full of neat little shops. Book stores....a Green store....a vegan eatery that we totally enjoyed cause we'd never had vegan anything and if you are ever offered vegan pie there is just no way to pass up such an opportunity and much Yuuuuummming was had til the hubby told me it was made of tofu. heh. Capt Joy Suppressor there folks.

Anyway, today Young's Dairy was on the agenda. Jen told me they have some awesome ice cream and as I am quite the ice cream aficionado I was all about getting me some o'that there stuff. We map-quested and headed out.

The ice cream was all I had heard about and more. I had chocolate chip gellato and about died on the spot. It. Was. That. Good.

We ate until we could eat no more and then decided to check out the local Wiccans. Now let me just say right now that I don't care what religion anyone is. I just had never seen a real live Wiccan and was told that there is a large community there in Yellow Springs. I had to see for myself what was what. I had my moms put on some dark glasses, we buckled up the kids, put on some Mission Impossible theme music and were off. We drove around for awhile trying to find one. No dice. Then we came upon a house set back in the woods.....

There was this little beauty on the outside wall. I pulled over to the side of the road and got my camera out. We looked around nervously cause hello! You do not want to piss off someone who can turn you into a toad with just a finger snap. I got a picture and we shot off.

All in all a very productive day. :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years!!!