"Broken" Home For The Holidays...

I feel like our house had a major surgery... piece by piece, scar by scar, laughter begetting more laughter... we are becoming WHOLE again...

Christmas was good to us, in the sense that we had one...

However, my 2014 would not be complete without a sickness for my planned vacation...

Oh ye gods!  Thank you!

I call bullshit... every time we have tried to plan time together for any length of time I get something wrong with me...  Sick, ill, call it what you will... it sucks.  I did get through the entire SERIES of How I Met Your Mother...  Ithankyou...

It was, in fact, legen-wait-for-it...DARY!

I have been yelled at for years about not watching the show, and now I can tell you all to suck it cause I watched it, it was wonderful, and now we're moving on to other things...because not only does it now remind me of the great flood/renovation of 2014, it reminds me of how I was sick on Christmas, AGAIN...

You know, sometimes, change is a really good thing folks.

We had our company christmas party and might I say, it was great.  I was just great to sit in the front Lobby, phones off... but ringing that initial ring that takes them to voicemail in such a way that you would swear it was Howie chiming in... "That could be an order!", he would say if he were here...  and he was...

We had a great weekend considering... we had a nice night Friday the 19th, Saturday was nice, Sunday was Christmas with Gma and it was lovely... Then I woke up Monday to the ever dreaded sore throat/swollen glands... I felt feverish and chilled... I went down drastically in a matter of hours and had to go home.  Tuesday, stayed home and went to the dr.  Got two doses of anti-viral in me and went to work Wednesday for our ever appreciated and fantastic half day for Christmas Eve, went home and we had a Turkey dinner!  Our first ever Turkey Dinner for our family on Christmas Eve when it was JUST US FOUR!  Actually, come to think of it, it was our first ever dinner on Christmas Eve with just me n Choni.  It's always been Christmas Eve at the In Laws, Christmas Day at my Ma's...  Funny... talk about breaking free from tradition, that was holding strong 14 years!  Hah!

Anyhoo, woke up Christmas Day after the neighbors decided to party ALL NIGHT...  and into some of the morning... Until I picked up my handy phone with the handy list of contacts...one in particular being our County Sheriffs... Yeah!  I'm THAT CHICK! SO WHAT!!  I'm ALL FOR parties man, and I know Christmas Eve is a biggie for some people... BUT REALLY?!?  3AM!!!  And I don't mean the song!  I shut that fucker down@!@#%#$@%$#@

Christmas Day I woke up sicker...  I stayed on the couch while the kids ripped open their second batch of gifts, I saw awe and wonderment in what was probably the "smallest" Christmas ever and I felt great afterwards (emotionally).  We got up our things together and made the trek to Noni's for third Christmas and had another great time, more yummy food stuffs and we even got to take some home :)  My sis and bro in law and their (combined) 4 childrens were there, a houseful of kids.  What my Ma always wanted!  As the day went on, I was feeling less awesome.

I woke up Friday to the ickiest of ickinesses and I called my dr's office.  Told them how I was feeling and what was new and was gone and they called me in a Rx.  I then proceeded to have a couch bound Christmas break/ New Year's.  I STILL don't feel 100%.

I feel like I need to sleep a few more days.  I over do it the second I feel well.  That's a big problem for me.  But I can't help it, I feel like such a slug when I'm sick!!  I hate that feeling... that there are things to do and I'm not doing them.

But here we are, new year, new gear.  I am thinking that I am much more accepting already of the new year than ever.  I wanted to be done with 2014 so badly.  Generally there is a time frame that I go through where things need to be gotten used...  Happy to report, writing out that 2015 comes much more naturally than any year ever!  2015...FLOWS LIKE A RIVER FROM MY PENS!!  Wonderful...  I had a busy busy busy super busy Monday and today was much more doable... I had much more coffee too, so I'm sure that had NOTHING to do with it!  hehe...

Well, it's that time kids...gotta warsh out my mug and make the trip to the loo before my long trip home...  I need to write a note to myself to tell you about the great Purge... no not that mediocre movie...  we did our own purging during the great renovation and it felt great!  Loved it!

Basically I Feel Like This...All The Time...

I wanted to write something about how I like to write a lot of somethings...and that no it doesn't always come out interesting our coherent, because I don't always think that way...Some of the best inside jokes I have with Choni are completely uninteresting and incoherent...and then I read this...and this is so much...me.  Right now.

Moles and Trolls...

Work work work...

Oh what it is to be with a man with a strong work ethic.

Something my Ex Step Monster never appreciated.

My Ex Monster in Law (Bitchie Valens) decided that he would call in sick when it suited him or when he was too hung over to go in, or if in rarer occasion was STILL drunk from the previous night's escapades...  always a good time finding out which one.  Yet, HE never got the SHIT from the ESM that Choni did for working on days that we had family functions... I mean, really?  Which is the lesser of  the two evils?  I didn't mind lending him out to the retail world because I knew I got him every other day of the year...  everyday is family day, the holidays just make it more special in our house.  But really, EVERYDAY should be family...but anyways, that's neither here nor there.

That being said:  He still has a strong work ethic.  Our house is very kept and our lives are well oiled machines because of our co-working.  He works hard on our kids and to make sure everyone is taken care of...so do I... we are just as much an in-love couple as coworkers in the company of the household.  Fantastic... it took Choni a while to realize that he had a passion and had a dream and he wanted to make sure he knew what that was before saddling himself with another job.  We were somewhere and someone asked him what he did.  Without pause he said he was a videographer.  Just so matter of factly that I think it dawned on him then that he IS a videographer.  That is his profession, his passion, obsession...  Since then, everything he looks for in an off season job requires him to be behind a camera.  He did a wedding and it was beautiful.  He KILLED it... they all cried when they saw the video he put together and he even got a bonus at the end... yay him.  THEN he gets on line and trolls for more jobs and finds one filming a 3 day national sporting event...ON Thanksgiving, but that's what Pyrex is for.  Leftovers.  No, he will not physically be with us, but he is doing this for us as much as himself... maybe a few percent less actually.  It's very important for my hubby to LOVE what he does.  He's a very emotional person.  I accept that as one of the things I love about him as much as something we work around.  But that's love...that's marriage.  I want to work around it.  I am fantastic at it, nobody can work that emotional thread like I can, because I am his wife.  I know him better than anyone including his own mother.. including himself at times.  And that's why when I saw we could afford for him not work, I chose to discuss with him staying home with the bebes, than run him out of the house for some soul sucking fakakta job.

I honestly can't wait for him to come home and tell me all about it!  Actually, that's not what's going to happen.  The even starts tomorrow (Thanksgiving) and goes on til Saturday.  On top of that, it starts at 5am the first day, 6am the second day and 7am the third day (an hour drive to get there, so he's gotta get up at 430 on the first day and an hour later each proceeding day) and lasts about 12 hours or so.  He'll have intermittent breaks and they pay for food.  I won't really be hearing about it until Sunday morning more like... but that's ok.  The wedding went swimmingly, this will also go great and hopefully his boss has some more off season jobs to include him in to keep him AND the sports relevant in the off season!  It's a very exciting time for us to be in our particular job positions right now.  They are bringing commuter trains to our area, when that is finished, it will open his job opportunities even more!  Very exciting time...  Hopefully he'll be able to shoot a few extras to bring home and show us his work.  If this event does well, maybe he'll get some kind of automatic flag put on his name for call backs, kind of like it is at the stadium for him now. Seeing someone you love doing something they love for a living is priceless....

**Knock, Knock...***

Oh, HI!  Fancy seeing you here... Like there's anybody there...

I seriously want to learn how to post something thought provoking enough to make people leave comments...  but until then.. you get this:

I am busy as hell at work... My entire dynamic has changed. For the better really, but there are things I am unable to make room for in my day and it's just so much different than before that the new reality is this:  I have time for Facebook throughout the day, but really just to keep up with other people not so much to comment. I found myself about to comment the other day and all that happened was that I was about to send a paragraph into the void...and I told myself when the Facebook posts get to be about a paragraph, that's when I should really choose to blog... fine..  I don't really care about making sure I get on and comment on Facebook these days... It mostly just turns into more like a tweet... small short concise post with a pic attached.  Usually it's an IG with a sentence that I auto post to FB and Twitter...  GAWD that just sounds boring writing that...

The catch up game will take a while so I don't know which is better... one long giant post or a few over the next few days??  I'm going to try the latter and see what happens... again, not like anyone reads this god forsaken thing...

I have decided to change the name of the blog if you have noticed...if not, no matter.

When I got our new phones in Spring I got an unbelievable deal that included 2 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 3's... I seriously didn't even know what I would do with these things, but they quite literally GAVE them to me...so I thought, hey... party, bonus.  I took them home and Choni was reticent about them at first... 6 months later he wouldn't know what do without it!  I bought cases on Amazon that came with bluetooth keyboards.  Great investment, might I add!  The charging chord to the keyboards fits the galaxy, so I basically always have the charger for it... doesn't sound important to some I bet, but it's SO important when you're lugging stuff for people.

When these things fell in our laps, I had been contemplating a laptop purchase...but wasn't sure...then I read an article about 10 Top Dying Techs.  On that list were laptops.  Simply stating that with desktop PCs doing incredible things that you pretty much would want to NOT do on a subway and tablets coming with expandable memory and keyboards...why?!?  So I thought, yeah why?!?  My mission then became to use the SHIT out of my tablet...and I do.  I game on it, I'm addicted to Hey Day.. shut up.  I have a few little life regenerating games to fill in the 1 minutes holes of down time I have throughout the day and that's about it... Thing 2 still requires I sit with her while she plays, but she doesn't want me to play with her because she doesn't want me touching her stuff...so I will sit there and video her playing and play a game and show her video and pictures of her set ups... it's all about presentation for her right now.. "See what I did?!?"  Yep, that's her in a nutshell...

My big idea is to use the tablet for those few minutes between when I brush my teeth at night and then choni goes to brush his teeth and I sit there waiting for him to be done...in those moments I can do one of two things: 1) sum up my moments and thoughts of the day Doogie Howser style on my tablet or 2) map out something a little more interesting to say when I have more time...Either way, that's my new personal goal...writing with pen and paper still hurts even with the wrist support and typing this now in my Icelandic office (don't get me wrong if it's hot in here my nose bleeds end of story), I have finger-less gloves on and wrist supports but I'm covered...I'm A-OK.

I got really busy over the summer...in my head... I was over thinking the idea behind the blog, whether anybody cares and whether it's worth it, and whether I have time and my new tasks at work...my tasks at home... making sure I'm "present" all the time... getting called out about being on my phone when I was like "I'm only on MY phone... when YOU are on YOURS..."  some eye opening developments in my relationships with people that are not Choni...

Summer went by slow...  No softball I think did that.  I had a break to myself that I spent sick...again...and I got this WEIRD skin thing that itched like a spider bite and scarred like one too.  I think it was a brown recluse bite because those tend to turn into cellulitis if not caught ASAP.  It's fine now.  My TMJ something something disorder is in cahoots with my neck and shoulder tension and makes my teeth hurt.  I had my extensive dental work done and hopefully that's the end of that...I don't think it is.  I'm lucky to have any teeth with my family history.  Allergies are still in full swing... All of that compacted toghether equals me being in some form of pain everyday at some point in the day..  If I am busy with enough things I don't notice so that's nice.  My plantar fasciitis is somewhat more under control than in the two years I've had it so that's good...  $40 insoles later and a new pair of shoes and some exercises later...  But it's better than what it was at the beginning...it's not completely gone away and I'm supposed to go in for a cortisone shot the foot to calm down the muscle next month.. Can you guess how exciting I find that?  Can you?!?

I joined GoodReads and have been reading up a storm thanks to 1 minute intervals in the day and lunches and waiting for things... I put forth a challenge for myself.. I am almost done :)

I have been using the HELL out of Coconut Oil for all of it's benefits, I am very into at home remedy mostly because I already have all that stuff at home most of the time.  Because of the DRY ASS winters, I have switched to a Cleansing Conditioner because I am prone to dry scalp in winter more so than any other time of year.  Last year was HELL on my hair because I cut my hair OFF and as much as I loved the cut I jacked up my pH balance on my head and then even with a pseudo winter we had...I itched...and itched...and itched. No amount of OTC head stuffs worked.  So I suffered.  Then it got warmer and it stopped.  Now it's cooler and it's starting...not as badly as last year, but it was this time of year I cut my hair OFF...and it's growing back at lightning speed.  This time next year I'll be like "What short hair?"    I think I'll stop there because this is just rambling now and who cares?

I'll start the smaller blogs with more to say in the next few days.  Mister is working an off season job but I'll get into that later!

If a flea bites a tree in the woods, does it itch?

Single Parent Summer...Hold the Softball...

Full swing into single parent summer, and not one blog about it...

And why?  No more softball...Thing 1 has moved on from that phase in her life and I know why...

My darling older child hit that realization that she is older and the softball kids are older and they actually want to win games and work harder and practice longer.

Thing 1 doesn't... She is the deer-like prancer around the bases, swatting at the ball with the bat like it's a fly in her way.  All the while, having the most fun of her life.  Her Daddy and I explained to her that if she did softball again this year, it would be much more competitive and she will more than likely feel a little pressure from her team mates to PLAY.  As always, she respectfully declined the invitation to take part in sports this summer and I have to say, I applaud her for that.  It took fourth dimensional thinking to get that decision.  Also, she is stating quite matter of factly that her school will let her sign up for orchestra next year and she wants to try that.  Of course, we are all over that!  I come from a musical family (I am only musical when I try my ASS off really hard to learn part of ONE song because I broke my hand really bad and can't do a lot of chords with my pinky and ring finger not functioning on my left hand... really I can barely type some days)  And then there's the whole "It's part of school" and we don't have to cart her around anywhere which is a logistical impossibility and I hate that but oh well right?

That all being said, no softball... No softball means no meals on the go, no rushing, no hurrying like a made person, no forgetting the diaper bag and a change of clothes and carrying a soaking baby around a park with me and no battling the baby with the "No, No NO!  Don't eat that, put that down, don't touch that, don't run away from me, don't take that kids cookie, chips, candy, drink..."  I feel like I get a break this summer.  Which is perfect.  Because I can sit back and put a smidge more effort in my job because it needs it right now.  I had a very demanding May (hence the no posting) and I am reaping all the benefit rest assured.

Choners might be looking into something steadier for employment, we'll see... I think Thing 2 is still too little but it's cool, we'll see what happens.  Roll with the punches can be the best medicine for a crazy life.

After two full months of Single Parenting, June is a break.  There are only 8 games in June and they're on weekends... so we're good... I get my Choni-baloney on the weekdays when I need him most, what with my three hours I get with the kids once we're home and step foot in the house...  My cousin came to live by us recently and she is from Pop's side.  Pop's side is small and spread out at that, so they don't get much lovin.  I was STOKED when she moved here, she's my "Pop's Family Doppleganger"... everyone has theirs in their families, she's MINE :)  So Thing 1 got to spend some time with her while school is out YAY!  Then, next week, summer program starts.  It's a cool freebie offered through the freebie after school program... Part of the day is free and then you pay a small fee for the rest of the day, so Thing 1 is just going for the first part.  But they're still going to be doing some REALLY cool stuffs in that time, so it's ALL good...

Whether she realizes it or NOT, Thing 1 doesn't really want to stay at the house with Daddy and baby all day every day all summer long.  Usually she goes to her Noni's house when she has days off in the week, but that's not all the time and I HAVE to get her after work for that to work out, so she doesn't get the lion's share of time with her on those days anyways... It's a good summer this summer, I'm excited... We had a heat wave already and right now right now, we are having some good weather... 70's 80's in June, we're HAPPY CAMPERS!!

I just made my vacation plans for the summer, not exactly vacation by usual standards, but lets call them "days off"... gonna see what we can do in that time off :)  So, basically just a check in...  so long!!!

...196 days 13 hours and 30 minutes until Christmas... but how's counting???

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

Single Parent Summer back in full swing...(pun intended)...

Daddy's back at the Diamond this year and it couldn't have been a less underwhelming transition if we had planned it that way.  No Softball for Thing 1 this year, which I am CERTAIN is part of the reason.  Thing 2 is a little more patient these days, letting us cook meals without FREAKING OUT completely that we are not putting all attention on her.  Even if it's just to sit with her on the couch while she does, whatever it is she wants to do...

My Choni-less routine is back in full swing as well... feed the childrens, do some domestic tasks that I can fit in so I feel like I'm actually participating in home life, put Thing 2 to bed early (as her schedule as somehow changed itself while life was going on) then Thing 1 goes to bed and boom...  Mom has an hour to herself.  Usually this hour is used by dishes or wrapping up the domestic task of my choice for that night.  If it's Friday, it's manicure night and I kill my time of blowing on my nails by reading a few pages of whatever book I am into...rinse. Repeat.

Still able to fit in reading and crochet into my lunches.  It's been a HOT ASS winter/spring and I have NOT been going on my walks like I should...Which is ok... it affords me the time for my crafty crafts that I tote along with me..I finished my baby room cross stitch that I got WAY post babies... as if there's an expiration when you can celebrate the birth of your children... There isn't by the way...  Keeping a look out on a new cross stitch/embroidery project to start...  I want to make a set of washclothes for our kitchen... yay...

It's so warm, I have already "spring cleaned" the kids' room.  There are winter clothes galore that still fit the wee one so I did my Spring Time Frugal Mom Task: cut off all the sleeves from the shirts and legs from the pants... now there are shorts and short sleeved shirts aplenty...  and very little cost to me... YAY!

I have been using my new camera lens more and more... Holy Shiznits...  that thing is a game changer... my pictures are amazing now.  I have a small gig doing wedding pictures in September and the Mister is doing the videography... Should prove to be a nice little padding for the bank account ...  This year I am wiping off my budget list...I get a full mulligan...  Here's why:

We bought a car.

It's awesome.. it's brand new...I got a great deal...and I traded in our 8 year old mini van...  Yes, I still have a wee one... No I won't really miss having the van.  Because we are frugal, we are realistic, and we are not assholes... we don't travel much... Not that I really miss it all that much.  We did NOT in fact get to have our weekend anniversary getaway because I got violently ill right before our dinner reservations...so i know it wasn't the food.  I have my money on someone at work got me sick/mixed with the anxiety of the weekend and having thing 2 at Ma's when I wasn't sure how that was going to fare with ANYONE...it went GREAT and now we have more confidence that maybe we can start small trips and travel with the wee one.  But I spent my anniversary weekend in bed...and NOT in the fun awesome way... in the flannel-nightgown-reruns-of-Roseanne-sleeping-all-day-and-night-eating-dry-toast kind of way...  Anyhoo...  Choners ran out of his money early this year... I don't know why... but he did... and it's not because he spent it on anything other than gas food and a minor car repair when he felt he had the money.. food costs go up, gas goes up, things increase and his pay stays the same.  Same deal with me, but a little different because of how he gets paid and gets the off-season unemployment.  He will have gone two months without any money coming in as of the end of April...  The only saving grace is that he is able to sell off some comic art, but then he'll be paying me back... not literally, but I know him.  He'll pick up the tab for something later remembering that I had to come in where he left off until he got paid.  But that's why I save... so I can come in behind him and SWIPE SWIPE everyone's happy...  Also, we got a new car!  He was driving the van and since he drives 50 miles per work day, that wasn't really working out well staring down the season's throat and watching the gas prices go up...  So he gets the old car, I get the new car and while I'm over here driving the new car, commuting in it...he's driving the old car a third of the miles I would in a year...  Again, everyone's happy!  And he is SO ecstatic to have that car back...

You see, I don't know if I mentioned, he used to drive the Civic.  We had two cars when Thing 1 was born, an '02 Civic and his '98 Aspire..  as in, it Aspired to be a real car...  The Aspire DIED (I know, SHOCKING) and we had to make a decision...and because we were living my mother and Step-monster at the time, i fucked up ROYALLY and listened to him when he suggested I get a family vehicle and get a minivan... knowing that if I financed the cheapest one I could find it would be a hefty down payment and a hefty car payment because we were still a young married couple, no house payment yet, not paying rent "living with my parents"...  we were doomed from the start...BUT I listened, I was trying to do that at the time, I was trying to be involved...  big mistake...  months after that monster purchase that nearly cleaned out our savings, and just after Christmas and shopping trips full of "Oh but it's Christmas, go ahead, put it on your credit card" we were broke and out on our ass because he kicked us out for some fakakta reason.  I know the reason and it's totally fakakta...

Here we are 8 years of a monster free lifestyle, but that van was still a little bit of an albatross, the final thread to be cut from that other life that is so far behind us now I can't believe that ever happened, I can't believe I ever let that happen!

I purchased the new car a week ago today... it's still so surreal...that I look in my driveway and see that metallic charcoal beauty staring back at me...at us... The Things LOVE the new car...  my nephew was a little upset at the trade in concept, but he got over it...and my little sis of course loves it... it's shiny... She's in.

Our credit is apparently flawless...  Hmmm, wonder how that happened!  Hahaha... yes, I'm laughing... it's funny.

But with two dental appointments that came up and bit me in the ass, I still have to get glasses and the buying of the groceries, OH and the civic needed work that I was quoted on 7 months ago and yeah... considering I"m in an industry dealing daily with quotes and how you can't really count on them lasting very long, I STUPIDLY and admittedly used the 7month old quote to budget the maintenance work on the civic...  and extra $300 later, we are officially OUT our anniversary money and anything we decide to do later is going to be "out of pocket" fine...  Thing 1 needed new shoes after I got home from work the other day and what did I do?  Went and got them, didn't think twice...didn't use a credit card...  I need to keep things like that fresh in my mind so I don't feel like a failure because I will NOT by any stretch of the imagination be saving the kind of money I expected this year... but that doesn't mean I won't be saving at all... just not as much...which is fine... we have a new car!  two cars that get great gas mileage instead of not...  big happenings for us!

We are still planning on getting my eye surgery next year and doing our New York trip the following year...then I am hoping to maybe take and adjust my tax return if I need to.. we'll see...  I talked to the CFO of our company and we had a great talk about life and stuff....  he's a good guy, the kind of person you would strive to be in life and I got some great confidence up after that meeting.

Feeling like my damn hair is taking FOREVER to grow, but it's not... but it IS!!!!

Thing 2 is STILL nuts, but it's either not as bad, or we're just managing it a lot better... or both... but still...  she threw a world class wobbler yesterday that cause me to drop off her big sis way too early for school...  oh well... Shit happens...

Now that I have bored whomever to tears, I'm going to go now...  the computers at work were/are down and has cause a lovely break that I haven't' had in WEEKS due to a chick at work going on maternity leave that, growing huge belly not withstanding, no one planned for... mmmhhhmmm....  I started a crochet project today that needs to be done by Saturday and if I have two more lunch hours like I did today, it'll be a piece of CAKE!!!  Can't wait to finish that up... lovely...  so now I get to go drive my new car home... damn man... it sucks to be me...  with my achey foot, my achey nervy mouth/teeth blind as a bat eyes full head of gorgeous hair...oh yeah...and my new car....

Mister is making rad ass taco recipe he came up with all by hisself...  Dear Lord...  I am so excited to get home!

Dirty House, Crazy Mary...

...that's not fair...my house is not dirty...but did you ever get yourself into the frame of mind that no matter how well anything goes, or how clean anything is...it's not clean... because you're mind makes it dirty... because your feels make it dirty...  because when you are not feeling the bestest and brightest...nothing is bright or best enough...

Thing 2 is crazy... it's not terrible 2's.. (pun intended) it's just her nature...she's a tornado of force and she is going to win... We pick our battles and I agree we are winning the war... but with the cluster-fuckery of last night...I mean REALLY?!?!

She's kind of a metaphorical bi-polar tornado of Dorothy Gale and The Wicked Witch of the East...  She tried to drop a house on her sister... you know, those Little People?  We have the Little People house... Thing 2 picked it up and tried to literally drop it on her sister while she was lying on the couch...  Houses and bruises and fights, OH MY!

What was really happening, she was smothering her with a day full of love that she has to push into a three hour period...  and when the summer comes, and they are together forever (forever only lasts from memorial day weekend to August 11th this year)...  they'll be sick of eachother...  Fine.

I feel like my toes are broken, I stubbed them BAD into the ottoman last night while carpet skiing across the living room care of a freshly discarded picture book.. yay me.  Between "Get OFF ME!"'s, and "Be QUIET"'s, and "I'm THIRSTY!"'s, and shit that popped off about something that I was hoping was dead and gone that won't stop rearing it's ugly, smug, egotistical, maniacal head...  I was done... I had to get an Ice pack for my foot... thing 2 thought it was her duty to pull it off my foot because it doesn't belong there, right?  15 minutes of agony and excruciatingly cold water and elevating, the foot was not swollen, it "looked" fine, but I needed pain killers to sleep... and I didn't even sleep cause the shit that popped off made my mind go like a freight train, and I don't know why I put myself through that every time that same old shit comes up... because nothing ever happens with it...because I'm not a coward...and that person is... nuff said?  Nuff said...

I said all that to say this...Amongst all that...nestled in the dank swamp of last night's events... was Thing 1's report card...  She has exceeded her Spring goals and has met her goals going into 4th grade next year.  Not only that, but it has been recommended when she starts 4th grade, they start her at 5th grade curriculum.  Her state test scores showed she tests at a 5th grade level...  OH my...  there is always a light at the end of the tunnel...and for this, she got to stay up and have a treat, watch some of a show with me and daddy and go to sleep after a much needed shower... she got her alone time...  priceless reward for such a good report card.  The behavior report was exceeds expectations and her participation was also.  That must be residual, me n choni weren't like that...  grandparents are to thank for that, I have no doubt 'bout it...  So now, my actual not so dirty house has an awesome husband who is trying to bring my car back to life after two days of battery issues because this here genius didn't turn the headlights off when we got our first afternoon in a LONG ASS TIME of dark cloudy weather and mist.. awesome... I am driving our van, our "new" car...  our newest car is 8 years old...  that's funny to me. Can't tell you why but it makes me laugh...  Hopefully not much longer... hopefully we will be downsizing when the next big Sale Weekend happens...  Been thinking on this one for MONTHS and I think we finally have it figured...Come end of May, Mama's got a brand new bag...

This morning I am lagging ass, coffee be damned...soda is next on the list... no walk, due to weather and toes.. still keeping an eye on them, foot is elevated and I am using the ice pack from lunch...  my lunch is safely nestled in the confines of our work fridge...  yay...  and I am still very proud of my Thing1... I think I need to save all this healthy worry I worked up for having my first child go to school... I have a feeling I'll need it in a few more years... hrmph...

Luckily, it's wednesday...and as much as I would like to think that I don't have much to do today because I don't have much to do and not because my boss FORGOT to give me my work... I'm going to enjoy my delusion while it lasts...  I gotta go, it's Dr. Pepper o'clock...

Mulligan...

Generally, I don't find myself being one to use golf terms... but... 

Last weekend, NOT the best weekend.  Not that anyone died, or went bankrupt, or anything... maybe something INSIDE them died, and maybe someone went EMOTIONALLY bankrupt...  again...  NOT the best weekend.  

And even though the disturbing and upsetting events didn't necessarily happen to ME or Choni, they affected (infected) our family unit just the same. ... Because we care dammit!

Choni's got some upsetting news about his friend...that made him blah.

We went for a visit with my mother-in-law on saturday and basically dropped Thing 1 off with her to spend the night...and then Sunday was a blah day... the kind of day where you have a list of things to do...and there's 5 day things to do...and all 5 of those things don't go either A)The way they were supposed to B)The way you atleast hoped they would C)Didn't go at ALL.

Bummer...

But it wasn't my list it was my mom's, but I was there as one thing after another did NOT get checked off on a day that was already sucking for her.  

Bummer...

Big.Fat.Bummer.

So, Monday, we awoke, getting ready for the first after the time change, which also leaves everyone in a state of blah.  The morning became dark again.  That does not help my family of four get jazzed for the mornings...  We were late getting up and getting out of the house... the next day we were less late...the next day we were on time, this morning, we were early.  Yay us.  It only took us 4 days to get this down...

But Monday when we got up, and the maddening tornado of "Move! I'm late!" started...and in between the lines we knew... we knew our weekend pretty much sucked... it did... it sucked... I wanted a do-over... I think we deserve it. The way things have been on a bit of an upswing for us and we've doing our due diligence as good adults and grown ups and members of society...  we deserve a good weekend... a weekend full of good, positive, awesome vibes... 

Not to put the pressure on , but we will get what we want!!  Ha-haaa!

The plans for this weekend are starting to come together into something that one way or another, we will get things checked off our list, kids will be happy and we will go to sleep exhausted and fulfilled...one way or another.

That being said: a little catch up-

Thing 1 does not require a parent/teacher conference for the spring (as usual) and I am happy about that!  Thing 2 is talking her gibberish that gets more understandable each day.  She says SO many things, yet it is total gibberish... A few words are clear as day.  You can tell she wants to learn the words so badly and wants to communicate... One day, just like her sister, she'll be three years old, and Daddy and I will be on the cusp of a nervous breakdown from people telling us "She should be talking by now, my *insert toddler relative here* is just talking up a clear, concise, articulate storm of diction!" and then BOOM!  Fully blown conversations will erupt over night.  We're not worried, it's fine.

Thing 1 goes to an after school program and when she gets there, she is assigned a "teacher" and a "class room".  It's held at her school, so there's no transporting needed and she's already in a place she is familiar.  The staff is brought it in just for the after school program and if something happens with your child, these people will pull aside to talk to you.  That's never happened to me yet, and I always see the staff talking to the parents and telling them that their kid got a warning, or is on a second warning, or that they have had enough warnings that they will be considering dropping them from the program... always negative... never positive.  When I walked up to the room to get her the other day, a woman in a blue shirt rushed out the door to meet me and asked if I was Thing 1's mom... 

ME:  Uhm... yeah?

Miss B: OH Great! I'm Miss Brandy!  I just LOVE having her in my class.  She's a good reader.  I mean, she reads VERY well..?  **because it was almost a question...

ME:  Yes, she really does. She reads all the time.  I've read to her since she was very little and I read a lot, so she sees me do it and wants to be like Mommy, you know.

Miss B:  She puts inflection and voices into the reading out loud that we do in class, it just amazes me.  I just love her, she's so sweet!

ME: Yes, she really is.

Miss B: Well, it was GREAT to meet you finally!  I hear so many good things from her about her mom and dad and little sister!

ME: **Trying NOT to hide the shock and awe* Good to meet you, too, thanks!

See what I mean?  Things trod along just fine, and then a weekend of extreme less than mediocrity comes and bites us in the ass...and this after I spent a FULL week in bed with some such YUCKINESS i care NOT to ever repeat in my life and then another week of getting over that while trying to function at work and catch up...this week is REALLY the catch up week... 

I got my lens in the mail and all my fun purchases I made with the tax return...not able to enjoy it at all for about a week due to illness...it's like someone getting something you can't have, but you know you can in a few days or a week, but you STILL can't have it right now and that just sucks... First world problems right?  I know... sad but true... My new lens rocks!!  It's a Tamron, my lil cuz says it's the Civic of lenses... sweetness.  And I hate to admit how much of a different it really makes.  Cause it does...and I hate that because it makes something so expensive so necessary.

Daddy is looking at lighting and backgrounds systems that we can both use.  Funny how this is never how we intended to end up...a still and video photographer living under one roof**smiley face**

Ok, well that's enough from this end...  I just felt like we had SUCH A BLAH WEEKEND!!  MULLIGAN!!!!!

How The Universe Can Piss You Off And Then Show You How Lucky You Are In One Fell Swoop...

I got to work today and it was going to be a great day... I didn't wear my watch today and I wore it yesterday and yesterday was a great day.  I thought to myself, stupidly, "Today's gonna suck cause I didn't wear my watch..."...

...I get a call from a co worker that just so happened to be later than usual this morning, the LAST person to get in the parking lot until people started lunch hours around 11am...

CW: Hey you probably know this already but your RR Tire is FLAT...

ME: What?!?  What do you mean FLAT?!?!

CW: OH! Sorry, I mean, F-L-A-T...  Hanging off the rim, no bueno flat.  You might want to come down here.

ME: (looking at the piles and piles of work on my desk and NOW worrying about my car resting on the rim and the fact that I just bought new tires 6 months ago and the CFO is leaving and I'm doing checks today instead of tomorrow and he's leaving in 30 minutes...29 minutes...28 minutes and oh my god OH MY GOD!!)  Uhm, yeah, I can't... I'll be down soon...

I powered through two days worth of work in 2 hours this morning so the CFO could leave early and be out tomorrow, which is generally the day I run the vendor checks.  I got it DONE... BOOM!!!

I ask my co-worker if she could watch the phones for a sec while I mosey on down to my car...

It was totally fucked off, and I wanted to cry, and vomit, and hug my Purple People Eater all at once...  I go into the warehouse, I have a friend out there.  It's DEAD out there today (actually NOT a good thing but good for ME at the time)... Ask mi amigo if he can help me out a second... "Of course!" Take him to my car and show him the tire, we get the jack and the tire iron out of the car, I was initially going to take the tire off the car, leave it jacked, go with SOMEONE and get the tire fixed and bring the tire back to put on the car...  I didn't have a donut on my car.  My car didn't come with one...and My father in law got me one that was used and it went bad real fast and it never got replaced. 

Mi Amigo finds a donut spare in my trunk...??????

...The last time something happened to my tires and I didn't handle it 100% myself, we were staying with my in-laws...  I was working, Choni was working and there was only Thing 1...  I took Choni's car, he took his dad's car, and Felipe kept MY car...he had Fridays off and wasn't working anyways... He put that there.  He put that donut spare there for me, cause he knew I wouldn't do it and he knew his son wouldn't do it and he knew I would need it...he knew WE would need it... He put that there for me.. a present to be had a later date, lest we knew he wouldn't be able to linger and help with these little chores any longer...

....

...

..
.

I couldn't even handle that.  I completely broke down at work...

I got my shit together, I took and "early" lunch to get my car business handled cause Amigo checked my spare, it was low.  He took it over to the RV place behind us and had it blown up some so I could go 2 miles to the tire chain in town where I got my tires... same chain, different store.  A patch job later, and I'm good to go.  AFTER the dude at the counter told me that hey would be replacing the tire cause there were razor blades wedged into it and it would cost me 10 bucks because I already had a warranty on the tires... this would replace the warranty with a new warranty on the new tire and there is a disposal fee...so I say, 10. 

I decided to venture and I went to JBox for breakfast... like I used to when me n Choni was in college n stuffs...

It was kinda nice... ish...  spent most of the time doing a play by play on my morning with Choni, JJ, and eating my sausage croissant combo...  NOT really how I wanted to spend my lunch hour but I got in a walk so I guess it sort of washes out...riiiight?!?  Right!  Okay... I get back to the place, just as I was about to make a dent in my book that I am neglecting because I'm all grown up 'n shit I get called up to take care of my business...  No charge, just a patch.. Jesus-pleasus...  I got my final paperwork and got the HELL outta there...

Came back to work to find out some stupid shit popped off while I was gone, but no biggie, it's all fine.  Also, found out a guy isn't here, that is detrimental to be getting a certain spreadsheet done in 45 minutes instead of 4-5hours...  and no one knew he'd be gone starting YESTERDAY and will be back Monday...  Uhm.. okay...

The Piles on my desk that I got rid of this morning were replaced with new piles.. but I couldn't get mad... cause how lucky I am really.

I am lucky, cause I work for a place that let me up and leave and take care of personal business in the middle of the damn morning...

I work for a place with cool people that help out a chick who is SWAMPED and doesn't have TIME to change the tire (let alone the will)... 

I didn't have to pay for a new tire, or a deductible on a new tire...

That shit went sideways AFTER I parked at work and NOT while I had my family in the car...

...And I had a Father In Law who, even now, is STILL watching over us...

And it's because of all that, I just ate my spaghetti lunch for "dinner" cause I am also going to get our taxed done after work and I won't be home in time to sit down to dinner with my hunnies... but I get to have some later, so there's that...

...And speaking of cake, anybody else come home to a freshly baked cake yesterday? Hands? Anyone?  No?? Just me?... Ok then...

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer...

I have no idea what to do with this...

She's doing exactly what you think she is doing...

Plié...using Noni's end table as a Barre...

I got a girlie girl supreme...  Tutus and dresses and barrettes that cover her entire head like a crown are my life for the FIRST time in my whole life.  Thing 1 was not this way.  She patronized her grandmother with the fufu dresses, the gloves, the ruffle socks, the ribbons in the hair with every color in them coordinating with her exact ensemble...

But YOU had to do it... YOU had to ask her if she wanted it, if she wanted to wear the fufu... and usually she said no..It became one of those things where she would say, "But that's what I wear at grandma's, that's not for home."

Damn...

That doesn't mean, though, that this Tomboy doesn't have a few tricks up her sleeves... I have a way that we can have our cake and eat it too... Thing 2 likes frilly dresses and grabs them with gusto to get dressed in the morning...Like this...

Oy vey...how was I supposed to leave this today?  It's not easy, I tell ya.

I can't believe I actually found a cute little ruffly tutu legging combo thing in the clearance rack at Target for $6...  HAD to get that for my girlie girl... Thing 1... well, she's 8 1/2 going on 30... so she's fine with her Kindle books. 

My baby is not a baby, I have a toddler.  NO matter how we slice it, she's a big girl now...  She has her specificities with things, she's not much for words, but that doesn't mean she's not paying attention to everything you're doing at any given time.  Because SHE IS!  I have slowly started the move from silicone sippy cups to hard plastic sippy and with everything else so far she is making the change like a trooper...maybe I"M not the one ready for her to leave the crib behind, but I love the replacement crib I got her and she loves it, too.  There are some things that will need to go on in the not too distant future as far as making a large bedroom fit for two girls of such different ages... but not right this very second.  I'm enjoying this stage, drinking in the last drink before I quit cold turkey in the morning, so to speak.

Last baby, and we're done... No mas bebes... and it's sad.  It is, even the mister said it was sad...but then he gets all logical on me and rational about how there are so many firsts we have to look forward to and that's what she be focusing on...damn him... and his perfectly reasonable logic.

We are still toting a stroller everywhere, because I would rather push a stroller than pull a toddler.  She gets plenty of running around time in the backyard these days.  Especially with this bullshit, crazy ass weather... I'm already considering bathing suits for these two.

We'll be dusting off and pulling out the ol' potty trainer soon too...but I think we'll wait a little while longer before that trauma begins... Not gonna lie... I'll probably bawl my eyes out when I pull the last diaper out of the diaper box...  good thing those bad boys are so absorbent...

You Can't Take It With You...

It's a new year and with that, a new budget, and with that, new worry and stress...

But one of my new mantra's for this year is "You Can't Take It With You"...

That can be a dangerous line of thinking for some people, but the way that I keep the belts tight around my house...THAT can be just as dangerous...

I love my best friends, they're exactly the people that a person needs to keep their head on straight.  They BOTH asked me"Why are you being SUCH a tight wad? What are you saving for?"

And they're both right, nothing really.  Retirement, but now I have a 401k and after one year of rolling on it, I'm ready to bump up my percentage and the fact that I was able to save what I was able to save last year speaks volumes for our spending habits and our ability to save money while still entertaining ourselves and feeding and clothing...

That being said, I am very excited about our upcoming vacation... weekend off really, but for us it'll be a full blown vacation.  We don't do this, ever...  It takes me back to the days when we were together, not married, but living together...and it's been stronger lately due SOLELY to the fact that we recently repainted our bathroom.  You may or may not know, but you know when you get into a new apartment and they repaint and there's the new paint smell, covering the OLD apartment smell, but there's that new paint smell for awhile?  And it takes forever for the scents in your future to kill it?  Yeah, it smells like that in my bedroom right now.  And it's pretty wonderful.  Takes me back to a place that was wonderful...when everything was SO NEW and SO EXCITING...  our first cable bill was something to dine out on, seriously... getting our first decorations for our first holidays together... so exciting...and that spring clean air is back with a vengeance.  It also doesn't help that we are experiencing more like a spring with the weather.  Winter is no more, and our brains are fried due to it.  Because seriously, we are NOT happy with the warm.  We want rain, we want cold... there's a drought a looming..and it's really ominous for us right now... 

We are so not there anymore, though...w e are not apartment hopping, we are home owners... we are not car shopping...we are car bought and paid for... so really, what ARE we saving for if nothing more than just things for our house and things for the cars and what not?  so I am trying not to be so down on myself when I need to make a 100 dollar trip to walmart because in reality it's been a while since I had gone and everything just so happened to run out at the same time.  Or like this weekend, when I realized I am in fact getting older and getting on my hands and knees and cleaning the bathroom floor is no longer a realistic way to clean.  Sponge mop time, time to go to walmart... or tartget... or wherehaveyou...  so there's that...  and ma's bday and then it's our anniversary and then it's mothers day, and father's day and his bday and thing 1's bday...and on and on and on...so I'm not trying to freak out too much because I keep forgetting we did the thing we were planning to do with our money and we're really good at keeping it in the bank...so when I go to get my hair trimmed this Saturday, I shouldn't feel bad about spending that money...  I'm not taking food off the table, or clothes off the backs.  We left the heater on for a full 24 hours and where I would usually be FTFO, I literally didn't give not TWO shits... and I was pretty happy about that. I was happy I was able to NOT give TWO shits...that mop I bought? it broke, as me if I care right now?  Not really, I'm going to put in for a manufacturer return and all that dumb shit, but I'm still not bummed that I won't see a red cent for 6-8 weeks if they decide to refund me... It's inconvenient, but no one's gonna miss that $8.48 right this second.

Weird to be here at this point in life, though.  Not gonna lie...

I took my mum to breakfast for her bday... and I paid the bill...and I walked away... cause you can't take it with you...and I had to go to the store for peppers, and I got her flowers...from the super market...  cause you can't take it with you...And those 10 Tulips made her SO happy... and that was worth every penny.  I'm going to get my hair cut, go to Target and get a better mop and I'm getting Marysu a tutu in every color cause she's a twirler...and we'll still be eating and saving and driving on gas we'll be able to buy...

Did you ever know anyone from the Depression?  Old people, grandparents, whatever they are to you that lived through it and never got over it? Never got over the need to hoard because they knew in a way that no one else knew that at any second you could lose the opportunity to buy more or have more?  I had that type of upbringing, so to speak, so I'm a McScrooger as a result...but we live within our means and that allows us certain liberties...  But people have no idea that absolute MindFuck that happens to me everytime I have to get something for the house and I didn't "plan" on it... dumb, I know this.  I didn't say I was sane... EVER...  so there...

And I can't wait for our vacation ;)  And so expels the crazy...

The Kennedy Chronicles: The Golden Era of MTV Through Rose Colored Glasses

Generally as a rule of thumb I do not ask for books for presents... usually it gets screwed up somehow and I don't like to be disappointed and I make another general rule to not be...so I don't set myself up for it by telling people to get me books...or music.. Even with a list people somehow get it wrong...  And the mister KNOWS this... He has the same rules.  Christmas can be a pain the ass, gift giving in general that is.  Mostly it's to do with wanting to get someone EXACTLY what they want, EXACTLY how they want it because you love them and want to make them happy.  Therefore, shopping with PICTURES of shit on my phone so as to get the right gift takes the piss out of gift giving, surprises, and the occasion in general. 

I am so happy to be with someone that feels the confidence in throwing that caution to the wind and get me books... It's pretty amazing looking at yourself through someone else's eyes.. I loved opening those books, realizing what they were, and realizing that based on the person he sees when he sees me, he thought that these were great choices...He was absolutely right!  So right in fact, I have to tell you bout how good the Kennedy book was...and no... Not JFK Kennedy... Lisa Kennedy Montgomery of MTV. 

One day, in 1997 I turned on MTV, saw Carson Daly's mugging poser face...and I turned the channel for once and for all.  I was done.  I felt it, I felt a disturbance in the force.  I wasn't one of these drooling, mindless, MTV-ites that only ever watched what was channel 34 on my parents JC Penney console special.  My older sister had it on, I preferred movie channels.  But that doesn't mean I didn't caught up in some of the hoopla.  I remember where I was when I first saw certain videos and what I was doing when m y sister and her best friends (who were irish-twins) were playing phone tag. 

"Oh my gawd, call me when you see the video come on!"

"Ok, but YOU call ME if YOU see the video come on!"

"Like totally!"

"Totally, ok!"

...this happened summer of '90 when Bryan Adams was burning up the airwaves with his hot and steamy Robin Hood song... And Christian Slater was in the movie, and he had one scene that made it into the video...and THAT was enough for the above conversation to take place.  Plus it was THE skating rink couples song of the summer.

Anyways, so that was my exposure and that was why I had it.  When I got to 8th grade, I had curly, kinky, frizzy, Irish Gypsy hair...and thanks to FUCKING ALICIA SILVERSTONE it was so not "in" that year... bitch.

I also had a realization that I would forever been entombed in 4 eyes mode so I started to have the fun with the glasses that big sis was having since our Ma worked at an eye dr's office and got KILLER deals on frames... like, Free.99 and shit.

Hence, the Kennedy look started and I didn't even realize I was doing it, and sis looked the same... so when I got the High School I was her mini-me...and the Kennedy moniker was passed down to include me. 

That all being said: I have always felt a weird connection to Kennedy.  I mentioned ONCE or TWICE that people called me and sis Kennedy in HS, and my hubby took that and ran with it to get me this book that rocked my world.  It was everything I wanted to know about what I also believe to be the Hay Day of MTV and just the way I wanted to know it!  People were reviewing this book and bitching about the grammar... dude, really?  This isn't an English Paper and it's written in the way that she speaks, I felt more like she was speaking to me than I was reading some paper.  Structure for sure has a time and place. I get it... but still, I am not sitting there and making notes, I'm sorry.  I was more interested in the non-penetrative steamy session she had with Dave Navarro... Jesus pleasus... it was a great book and what I really enjoyed the most was how I came around to it, through Choni... just made me love him more, like I couldn't anyways, you know?  What really makes it MORE awesome, is that he doesn't read... He reads articles, and he reads the internets... he's not a book reader.  I feel like that helps us fit better because I'm not as avid a magazine reader as he is...Fangoria and Spin used to be my bread and butter and then I got a Rolling Stone subscription and we were hooked on that for a spell..but between us the one that read the MOST and remembered it was him.  Good thing too, there were some good articles I all but forgot.  Now I'm about to start Empire of the Sun because there is something bout that movie that makes him think of me and my dad's family when he watches it...and I get it too... I really do...and I used to watch that movie when it was on Showtime ALL summer long with my sis...  Now it's found new life and new reason and I'm about to dive into the book!! 

I've read SO MANY books that were movies later, I know what to expect, I know not to disappoint myself, I know that JG Ballard was working on the film with Spielburg and that sometimes things aren't aesthetically pleasing and that's what filmmaking is all about, artistic liberties.  I'm ready, bring me to WWII Shanghai, Jim...

And On The 13th Day...

Good Monday... Good Morning... however you prefer... I prefer whichever way works the best!

We have had quite a beginning of the year...And all in good ways!  One of my cousins on my dad's side, which is a very small side, they're the Rhode Island of families, recently moved two towns away from me if you're counting from my house.  SAME town if you're counting from work.  Yay!!  I get to see her more!  She  moved in with her mum, my Pop's little sister, and I might get to see her more too.  She's a Hermit Crab.  Not just a Hermit, a Hermit CRAB...  She's rad and we love her, but she can be a bit of a crabapple.  4 years in the same town as my work and I have yet to see her due to that fact.  Saw her twice, once at a wedding in Pismo Beach of all places and once at my baby shower for Thing 2.  That was a surprise!!!  It was the best surprise of the day, really.  She took Pop's death really hard and she's one of those people that doesn't want to be reminded of the negative, even if it means staying away from the negative's children.  Hopefully a trend to be changing in the not too distant future... I'm leaning towards Saturday! 

I am still rolling with the changes, REO Speedwagon style, as to having a child born in January...  Atleast it's at the polar end of Christmas and New Years, but still...January.  I have decided to make it less stress and I am now not including the month of January in my yearly budget.  January is a free for all...The "year" will start with my January 31st check, not with my December 31st check as previous years sans Thing 2.  Once I decided on that, my whole outlook on this month was A-Number 1-100%-OK.  Yay!  Nothing extravagant for her bday this year.  Just an intimate family party with some cake, some pizza.  You know, health food.  I'm excited though just the same because it means we have managed to keep the tiny human safe and sound for two whole years.  It's as much a celebration of the day of her birth as it is of every day since... I am a proud mama of this little one and of our family as a whole!  Yay us!

We got our W-2's at work today...You know what that means...the tax man waits for no one...  I get to start my orange tri-cut folder of 2013 tax info.  My tax lady loves me for this, by the way... she LOVES me for this.  I have two more W-2's, the mortgage company info for the house, the bank statement year ends and my 401k stuff to throw in and we're getting our taxes done! YAY!  I know, shut up, I like YAY... it works for me right now. 

I have the taxes all tangled up already and I'm fine with the outcome so far.  I am VERY fine with the fact that the lens that was suggested to me by my lil cuz is coming down in price as we speak.  I love the Amazon Wish List, it's one of my favourite things.  Then there's the whole Flash debacle.  I have been putting off getting a flash for my DSLR since I bought my very FIRST one.  I have a flash for a SLR, and I LOVE it... nothing special, but it's fancy enough for me.  I am not a true dyed in the wool photog, though... so I am not comfortable using the 35mm that was once my gpa's anymore...So it's time to walk away from the past and make the push into the new millennia...14 years after it started, but still...shut up.  I am DYING to get the lens and flash because now that the prices have dropped SO significantly I feel super justified in the purchases.  Then there's the struts for our civic, still need to do that...  we are getting our new phones, and now there is a new deal through TMobile that I am wondering if we should check out.  Getting these phones is going to be just as if not more harrowing than getting our house.  But that's how I roll and that is one of the reasons my hunny loves me!

Wednesday I have taken a personal day to stay within the vicinity of my home and await the arrival of my Pop's elder sister to come into town from several states away with my Uncle and their RV... I LOVE that I get to see them too!  I have gotten to see her a lot I'd say... for someone that lives STATES away.  I LOVE seeing the side of the family that completes my puzzle.  That's what Choners says.  He kinda gets where I fit in with Ma's family...but when we're around Pop's family it's like a game show buzzer going off in his head and it's lovely.

Another reason for us to write off January as a loss, other than Thing 2's bday, this year my favorite bookstore in town is closing it's doors.  They couldn't brave the slow paced sMall that they reside in and have to make a decision.  I have been a patron of the store since day one and will miss them so.  They had GREAT discounts when there were discounts, and it's even better with 75% off the lowest price.  I got THREE bags of books for $24.  And there's something in there for ALL of us!  It was so bittersweet...  So many empty stores in our sMall.  Atleast during Halloween they put one of those atrocious Costume City things in there and it beefs up the traffic something wonderful... I loved how artificially busy it was Saturday with the closing sale. People came out of the woodwork.  Aaahh, small towns...

We still don't know what we're doing for the Big 10...  and we also made another financial decision.  To cancel our New York trip next year so I can get LASIK... I am just about Legally Blind and I am a candidate and Ma works in Optometry and can get me a deal...but with the things we have going on this year, I would really like to get my eyes done next year.  I almost bit the bullet and did it this year, but it would cut too heavily into our, lets say, profit margin...Still not sure how to incorporate photos into the blog to make it interesting... so I'm considering that heavily and hopefully that will improve with the new upgrades to ol' Betsy.  Other than that, everything's good.  Rolling along at work... I need to get in for a trim, keeping the short 'do... 

First Pic...

Having fun with the 'do...

These are my wascally wabbits...

 

And one of them will be two :*(

 

 

Two days....

Two Years!!!

 

and always with the squishy face!!

On The 6th Day...

Not only would I NEVER believe it was January, I would never believe it was winter, I would never believe that 2013 was only 6 days away...

I would swear that it was, in itself, a WHOLE YEAR away.

Recap:

Christmas was wonderful...  minus the SICK... the ungodly sick that we all experienced... starting with the Wee One and working it's horrid way up...  Daddy took the longest to recover, but alas, it happened and we were staring The New Year straight in the face.  We had our usual NYE.  Kids in bed early because the big one tries to stay up and can't, Martinelli's chillin until the ball drops and BOOM...  a good time for all :)

***took a break and came back the next morning, started the post at 4:30pm on 1/6/14... wrapping it up morning of 1/07***

 It was a modest Christmas this year, and I think it was better for it.  Thing 1 got games and Hello Kitty stuff and Thing 2 got her first trike.  I got some bad ass books that I can't WAIT to read, because I gotta say...  as much as I wanted to go back to the Stephen King Library at home and re-read, I AM refreshed that after 13 years together, the Mister is still providing new and exciting literature!  I can't be upset at that... like, at all.  I had some nice time off with the family, even though we were sick up to our eyeballs and I still have a lingering cold/allergy thing going on... but hey, it didn't stop us from the important thing; spending time together.

My lil sis's 13th birthday celebration extraordinaire was just a dinner at her favorite (right now) restaurant, yummy food and I got to spend a whole HALF of the dinner with her because Thing 2 didn't get her naps in and that was the end of that. 

Speaking of sleepy Thing 2...  she got a new bed.  Courtesy of a recall and that she BROKE her bed due to the problem of the recall before I could address the issue... plus that crib is SUPER old anyways.  I promised I would order the new one after the New Year... January 2nd, I ordered that bad ass bitch and it already came to the house!!  It came to the house yesterday and when I got home last night daddy had it all put together!  Then he spouted off about extra pieces...those would be for the Toddler bed conversion.  I can't believe the deal I got, I was so excited...  I felt awesome about the purchase because we were UP on our budget this year!!! WTF?!?!  I know !!!  It was exactly the amount of the bed and well, who can have a new bed without new bedding??  Nobody!!  That's HOO!  Hehe... yep, owl bedding.. it happened...  It's super cute, it's girly without drowning in pink and I LOVE it, and I found a good deal on the set...so the bedding + the bed = our "profit" from our budget.  I was so excited.  I couldn't believe it.  Nothing like starting the year on a total up note right?

Other than the plans I made for our tax return, there really aren't any HUGE decisions on the horizon, which means something unexpected is probably going to happen.  So super saving McScrooger time is back in effect immediately.  I might need a hair trim, other than that though, not really planning on anything for myself.  I can't WAIT to get that tax return though.  Not gonna lie.  I have my lens to look forward to, the car needs struts (that's a duh with the miles on it and how old it is and that I haven't done them before), we're getting new phones!!!, and we are doing something super extra special for our 10 year wedding anniversary!!!  I wanted to do something special and surprise the mister, I feel he really deserves a surprise...but then I started thinking and the thinking got out of hand and then there was a WHOLE list of things to choose from!!  I didn't know which one would be best, I wouldn't want to get back from the trip and say," Oh you liked that?  Yeah, well, it was between this, and this...and this and this and this and this..." and I wouldn't want him to sit there and think that there was a better possibility out there and I picked whatever it was I picked and why did I do that and OMG OMGOMG!!!...  so I brought him in on it...and it was so freaking cute too... so now we are mulling over three major possibilities, but I DO believe it's swinging one way..  A weekend Disneyland Resort getaway with a two park hopper :)  We haven't done Disneyland in FOREVER!!!  And NO...we are not taking the kids...and NO ... I do NOT feel badly about that decision...  AT ALL.  We already promised ourselves we would take them when Thing 2 is older.  That makes the most sense...  We took Thing 1 when she was 2 and some months...it was magical.  Thing 2...is not magical.  So, I say... we wait to take the kiddos...  But then again, I don't know that we're doing that... we'll see.  We have... uhm... three months or something like that to figure it out.. Less than that actually...  two months to cell phones, three months to anniversary.

Also, the first time we'll be away from both kids for time to ourselves EVER...  We've not done this before.  We've been there for the kids...and I think that this particular event calls for some Mommy/Daddy time, don't you?  Me too!! 

There's THAT....

It doesn't feel like the 7th day of January today... Yesterday didn't feel like the 6th day... and today doesn't feel like the 7th... It.just.doesn't.  It's SUPER hot here.  The rest of the country is experiencing this Polar Vortex thingy... Not here... Not us... Of course.  I wanted it to be damned COLD!  I wanted the cold, I wanted to see snow this year and we were well on our way with the coldest autumn in our history and record breaking lows in November...but alas... no... dammit.  And it doesn't look like we're going to see any cold ever... I don't see where we are... Unless the Spring stays cold... which would be nice.

My tape player in my car died again, which brings the question...do you replace the radio on a 12 year old car with 217k on it?  Even if it runs like new?  Yeah, we'll be pondering that for sure.

Crafting a lot already...  getting down the list of Christmas gifts... uhm..yeah... 

I feel this is the catch up necessary to bring us to the New Year.  I am excited about this year, last year wasn't great.  It by far was not the worst... but...it was... underwhelming.  New year, new rules... new rules to have a great year!  Thing 2 turns 2 and I think it's going to be a small affair due to the fact that I don't want to start the year off with no saving ;)  And she's 2.. come on... she still wasn't all that into Christmas... we had to open her gifts for her, mostly and then she just wanted us to get on with the opening of the actual gift itself.  She had no concept that there was MORE... so... with her bday... we're going small this year.  Maybe something next year, but even so, probably NOT.  And you know what sucks, this year would be great for us to finally host a party at our house even in the winter... it's NOT COLD!  Oh well...  Still loving my short-ass hair cut... LOVE.IT.  Ok, well, I think that's all the damage I can do for now.  Also, we now have Netflix... we have internet and we have Netflix.  We are no longer cavemen... write that down...

When in Doubt, Back To The Drawing Board...

I have been saying that ALOT lately...

Back to the drawing board...and of course, I say it in my head in the fashion of Wyle E. Coyote... Cause it's funny...

I got a book from my Guria for my birthday...and with that book (cause she knows me) was another book... blank pages of an unwritten confession..so she says... and she's not wrong.  I miss it.  I do.  I miss my daily entries... and I told myself, I would return to them when I was ready. My hiatus is nearly to an end.  My carpel tunnel, however...is not...thank Jebus for wrist supports...

I almost gave into a version of myself that takes up about 4% real estate of my brain...  that version of myself thinks that they can take a Smash journal and use it over a nice long span of time...  when in reality, the MOST of my brain would probably finish that damn thing in a week...  or less...  less is more likely...

Fuck me... even typing hurts now...and since I can't win...I'm just going to go back to writing...

After being in Michaels and seeing all those beautiful journals in all their various allowance glory... I realized something...I had it down... I had it down to my personality already.  I didn't need glitz, and tabs, and stickers, (well maybe stickers) and labels and shit... basically a scrapbook...  I don't like scrapbooks... I find myself taking them too seriously...and then they don't get finished...or they DO get finished, but then they mean as much to me as that paper I wrote three hours before it was due, receiving a mediocrely deserved A- in the process...

I was crocheting yet ANOTHER late entry into my Christmas list of giving, dug deep to fish a pencil out of my awesome Owl Tote Ma got me as a early Christmas-present-just-cause-I-got-a-killer-ass-deal-at-Old-navy kind of thing...  I found the pencil..inside the awesome, blue embossed covered journal my Guria got me for my bday..still empty...and it didn't bother me that it was empty before...but it bothered me today...and just today I had all these things come up... with seeing the Smash journals at Hobby Lobby and then again at Michael's...had a chat about my bajillion journals at the foot of my closet...and then finding something I hadn't seen in 5 months... probably because I subconsciously hid it so I wouldn't feel it's eyes boring into the back of my skull...  So, since typing kills me anyways, and I think maybe some of my inspriations I had when I started doing this might come back to me in the process...I think it's time to end my hiatus from the journaling. It's too coincidental, don't you think?  I think so too... 

Speaking of back to the drawing board...I think I finally found a liquid homemade laundry soap that goes well with cold water recipe for us to try.  We are both on board with the experiment, and with a half bottle of brand soap to go, it's time to fish or cut bait... or insert your own decision making analogy here... 

On the list of DIY's...  No Poo...yes I know... I'm gonna try it.  I have a need for head n shoulders and I'm wondering if I perpetuate the need because of all the crap in the shampoo and conditioner ... so I'm gonna try the homemade stuff and see what happens.  It's winter, it's the perfect time to try it because I can wear hats during the Dirty Thirty Day trial period that I have been reassured is going to happen.  I have organic coconut oil at hand for dryness...  I'm excited to try this.  if it works for me and I can get it down to a science, I will be introducing it to Choners and the Things...  yay!!  Got to see my bestie from Sin City today and not for long enough... *sad face*...  but she'll never move back here and I'll NEVER EVER move my ass there...  so it's one of those things that I gotta get over... and I'm over it. Doesn't mean I can't be sad about it once it awhile, right? Right!  Christmas countdown is underweigh and for the slimness of the giving and receiving, it's gonna be an awesome Christmas. I can already feel it being one mostly of the reason of the season and less about the commercializing of the season...  wa-hoo. 

In a nutshell...feeling very "back to the drawing board"...but ... in the BEST way possible.  Super uber refreshing way possible...even Fallon and Timberlake are taking it back to the drawing board. I must be on to something... Next obsession on my list... my new camera lens.. My lil cuz is amazing and I'm DYING to get my lens. I might even get a flash...  with a dome diffuser...  but that's...another story...

♪Oh The Weather Outside Is Weather...♪

I have been crafting up a storm and the man has been baking cookies fresh for Thing 1's lunches... peanut butter oatmeal. Yum!  Cookies make the house warm and it smells like the holidays already!  Generally I am ALL about making room for Thanksgiving so it doesn't feel like the redheaded stepchild of the holiday season, but this year man, it just seems like we need the OOMPH into Christmas.  Luckily for me, I have never had decorations for Thanksgiving and the stores decided to lump Halloween and Thanksgiving together this year.  Amazingly enough, I now have Thanksgiving décor due to the storewide "fall" clearances that did the lumping together! Haha!

 Ma and her man are doing well...we like him.  He might be around for Thanksgiving... hope so... he's fun.  It's going to be a small Thanksgiving this year, much like Christmas.  I'm just glad I finished shopping already.  I get to sit back and enjoy now.  Generally, what we do is take the Friday after Thanksgiving to decorate like so many people I'm sure do.  This year, I'm jumping the gun...and get this...at the request of Choners...he is usually VERY adamant about giving Turkey Day it's due.  Well, this year, he wants his cake and he's going to eat it too... Next Monday, whether the big one goes to day care or not, we are doing our Christmas décor.  It's something to pass the time and we might have Knott's plans on Saturday... but until that is certain I don't want to make any plans in stone.  So I say, the general idea will be to get out the Christmas awesomeness for Monday... and if Thing 1 goes, she will come home to a winter wonderland in the house :)  Also, I am planning on lights outside this year! Shhh, don't tell Mister... 

This weekend is family weekend, we're gonna see a lot of his family :)  I say his family, but they're really OUR family...It's funny, I just wanted to specify WHICH side of the family, mine or his...  I could say The Brown side...  But really, that doesn't help... us Irish have been known to have the fever.  So both sides are relatively brown.. hehehe...

Tuesday is Christmas pictures... I have been saying, I want to make more image heavy posts, but I haven't yet.  I think because I don't plan them THAT far ahead... so it's hard to do.  Also, I love my camera.  I love it SO much I'm afraid to leave the house with it...  I know.. shut up...  I got a filter for it to protect the lens so perhaps I would feel better about letting it bang around my back pack...  wrapped in a scarf...  and maybe a sweater.

Next years tax return already has a portion dedicated to my new lens.  My cousin Ace is in "the business" and he helped me out HUGE on shopping around for my next lens purchase... And the more Choni is working on his film project the more I think he will probably want to use the Nikon for projects...  A new lens wouldn't hurt!  Ace said that my camera body and specs are great, I should be getting great results when I put the new lens on ...next year...

I am LOVING the weather...cold. I love cold.  Snuggles, soup, hot cocoa, coffee NOT for my morning commute... aaaahhhh... Blankets on the couches... I LOVE blankets...  kid snuggles...  and when the decorations go up...the soft warm glow of the tree...  oh yeah... that's the stuff....

Today is my last work day of November and I start my staycation... Thing 1 asked if I had any time off that overlapped HER time off...so I made some... cause sometimes, you just have to.  I hope this allergy/cold thing goes away... Maybe with a little help from my friends Alka Seltzer and Nyquil... 

Too bad there's not a way to make people leave comments... I want comments...

I'm Better at Stalking...

I have been keeping up with READING the blogs I follow... reciprocation has been more difficult...
This is what happens to US when the economy tanks and slowly comes back on line...and by slowly, I mean I don't think that there is an instrument that can measure the slowness... THAT's how slow...

I can be so busy I work through lunch one day, and the next day I can be completely dead and begging for work to do... I always have work to do, it's like home...when in doubt, clean.  Here it's the same basic principle... You just need to know what and where to clean.  Know that, and there will always be something to do.  Such is life, eh?  Yup, I think so, too. 

The past two months have been unreal busy...just as I said.  It's amazing, because the time I feel I have the most to say I am unable to say anything because I am sitting here with visions of V-Tech toys dancing through my head...  not really... My Christmas shopping is finished.  Just two things to pick up when they arrive at the store and I'm DONE.  Because Christmas is thin this year. 

I can't believe how quick it came up on us, and I say that every year, but I really mean it this year.  And I'll really mean it next year, and ten years from now.  I swear... I totally swear.. like... totally.

I have the dreaded second birthday coming up of Thing 2...and not just any second birthday, the last second birthday I will throw...so do I throw one? do I do something at home in the backyard?  Do I say "Hey Clan, who wants to meet us at (insert pizza place with games here) on such a day at such a time?" and see who shows up?  I have NO friggin clue... Not a single damned one... dammit...

So instead of freaking out about it, I'm just gonna leave it alone for now.  I have too many things.  My weekends are filling up fast and I am increasingly ecstatic about the fact I found the planner I did when I did.  Otherwise I'd have post it notes where plans should be and that would be a disaster... mentally more than anything else, but still...It would be there...bahaha...

Everyone's doing really well...Thing 1 is bringing us to a place where just when we think maybe she's not doing as well in school as we once thought, BOOM... nope, we get the great behavior report followed up by the awesome AR testing report and we put those worries to beddy-bye...

Thing 2... Jesus pleezus...  She's crazy.  I mean it, she's NUTS... she just runs around the house with her little blahblahblah language and talks to you like she's just having herself a conversation you never knew you were in the middle of.  Then there's the whole breaking the crib thing...she broke the crib...she is SO not ready for a bed yet, not even a toddler bed...she would be crawling up into Thing 1's bed and head butting her to instigate a playtime at midnight....so we are totally NOT doing this bed training thing yet...that being said, we are need of a new crib.  So I have my eye out on one that's atleast half what I paid for this one new...I don't need the mattress, just the crib...it's not safe for her to have it the way it is now and it really freaks me out...  no matter how many zip ties or nails or screws you use, there's always that mom gut thing that makes you think, FUCK THIS, I NEED A NEW ONE... and that mom gut is applied to so many things... I don't mess with the mom gut.

Speaking of mom guts, mine is pretty much gone ;)  I am down 10 pounds and I have another 10 before I get to where I was before thing 1 was a twinkle in our eyes...another 10 pounds after that and I'll be perfecto...right at the place I need to be period.the end.  So that's a nice sentiment.  And now my rings fall off....shit.

And to celebrate my awesome personal triumph, I cut my hair off...  pixie cuts are huge right now, and no it's never been my way to follow the herd (baaaa n shit) but my hurr... oy vay.

I highlighted it...fine...it was great...fine...I stopped the affordability on it...had to stop...fine...so I did...  and then I had bleached ends...meh.  I covered them with wash-out brown...fine...worked for a little while but it's still crunchy feeling... meh.

Stop the color, stop the bleach and the crunchy... cut the hair. Done... looks freakin sweet and I can't believe I didn't talk myself into this sooner.  As much as I feel that having long hair is something I owe the "bad hair" community, I am sorry all you thin stringy hair'd folk...but long hair thick hair is NOT awesome...Looks great, I'm not denying that fact... but it sucks to have it on your head, on your shoulders and then there's that whole "I Don't Like Things Hanging Off My Body" syndrome... haven't heard of it yet? really?  It's new...  I have it...with a vengeance.

Until they make a pill for that, I will not have a purse, a child, a scarf, hair, bags, whatnot hanging off my body at anytime.  This is why I don't let my kids pull on my person, I carry a backpack not a purse and why if I am carrying bags from the car to the house...of who am I kidding...if I can help it I NEVER CARRY BAGS FROM THE CAR TO THE HOUSE! Carpel tunnel and IDLTHOMB syndrome are why.

<END RANT>

<NEW RANT>

Unless I'm missing some mystical, cosmic, universal message...me n the significant other are awesome fantasticness... Ever have those friends that were like, in marital distress... and people were like, "Oh shit, are they gonna make it?"  Yeah, I had those too... friends...family... whoever...  Well, we haven't had that. Ever.  I just realized that the other day when I recently heard of a split.  Knew the couple fairly well... and BOOM... split.  It was a surprise to her, too, turns out.  Pretty sad when I think of it.  Made me think of me n Choners... and I came to that conclusion.  I don't know, makes me pretty proud to think of that.  I mean, no I don't have a BA in bullshit from FU...  but I take pride in my family...my marriage...Which is probably why we are in the 13th year of couple-dom and nearing the 11th anniversary of our engagement, and the 10th anniversary of marriage is next April...
I was thinking that we should do something special and when I mentioned it to the mister and said, We should do something for our anniversary next year (which we NEVER EVER do)" and he nods...and then he thinks...and then he says "Why next year?  What's so special about next year?"  And when I tell him it'll be TEN whole years...oh the look on his face...so adorable I could have just died....

I still look at that face and see the baby face I met when I was 19...  I was 22 (going on 23) when we got married.  I know plenty of people who were married younger than that...but ask me how many of them are STILL married??  Go ahead...ASK ME...  not much...

Not that I want to turn this into a bragging session, but I'll tell you what...My foot still hurts, I found out I have TMJ and the mouthguard is too expensive to buy right now so I go to bed with Motrin every other night...My allergies have been taking this opportunity of our weird weather to SHIT all over me and make me miserable and the TMJ is now causing tension headaches and tension in my neck and shoulders comes and goes... I am doing little exercises at my desk all day to curb this. My dentist basically told me my teeth are just BAD and if I want to continue eating food that I need to brush and floss after every meal and use a special rinse that helps decrease the dry mouth I have as a direct result of taking antihistamines which I cannot function without.

My point is this...  I take the things that are awesome and going RAD and focus on them 100% because there is enough SHIT to balance them out...Trust & believe...It's NOT ALL wine and roses...but when I sit back after doing shit ton of crap work and think about going home to my hunnies...  it makes things better... and it makes things better because my mister makes ME better... being a good mom to the kiddos makes me want to be a better person...and then sometimes kids are just assholes... They just are...and I think sometimes what you need to do is realize that, walk away, and pick up somewhere fresh in the morning.. That's what works for us so far! 

Yay!  Basically, balance.  Everything is... balanced... There's good to outweigh the bad and sometimes, the opposite is true.  To wrap it up (as if that's at all possible with me) my foot hurts, my jaw hurts, my mouth forever tastes of toothpaste and flavored floss and my husband is all kinds of MAD awesomeness...and I think I'll keep the kids, too.  Aloha.