{last blog of 07}

I just want to wish everyone a very happy and blessed New Year's, keep safe and stay off the road. We should heed my own advise, we are headed to Orlando around 5:30 for New Year's with my family. Keep us in your thoughts. more blogging in '08!!!!!!!!! happy happy joy joy!!!

{it had to be done}

It had to be done, it just had to. I know most people sit in their warm and cozy homes continuing to enjoy their holiday decor, eating their turkey leftovers, sipping their hot cider with their presents adorning the base of their Christmas tree. Not this chick! By the day after Christmas, I was ready to say hasta la vista baby!! Don't get me wrong I am no grinch! I love my home all decorated at Christmas, I spent a lot of time decorating, especially this year. It was really pretty and very Christmas-y in every room. But by this weekend I felt like I wanted everything back to "normal". I was tired of picking ornaments up and putting them back on the tree that the "the boys" AKA the dogs had knocked off the tree about a zillion times and vaccuuming and straightening the tree skirts on the trees and vaccuuming the pine needles. So, I wrangled the troops (Lex was not so apt to be a helpful little goose, I know some of you find this shocking!) and we spent the day packing it all away and as of this exact moment, it is completely and totally normal again in this house. There is no cozy Christmas decor. I am already starting to miss it.............. nah!! Just kidding!!

{"Q" Time}

Quality time with our favorite "Q" crew was on tap for this AM! The Q's were headed back to Virginia from a week of the Land of Mouse. Yes, they braved a week of Disney for Christmas. Some said they were insane! They may now agree, they're being checked into an insane asylumn as soon as they return to the "tax me state". (Just kidding!!) It was so great to see them, they jumped off the highway and had brunch with us at our local Cracker Barrel and we had a really good time and very unrushed. We had fun reminiscing about the week that our two families vacationed in the Land of Mouse together, before they moved to California and we had a blast, even though poor Karen was sick the whole week. I miss having Karen and the boys right down the street like we did in Virginia, it was the closest thing to having family "right around the corner" that I have had since being married. Enjoy the pix of this crazy crew of Q's and Mo's. On a more serious note: a friend of ours that is the same age as Lex, Amanda, had a heart transplant when she was 3 years old and has been relatively healthy with the occassional issue that happens with immune suppressed transplant patients. She is now a teen, but was admitted to CHKD hospital and has been diagnosed with a disorder that has basically been caused by her anti-rejection & immune suppressent medication. She has been running a fever for several weeks and has a inflamed spleen and swollen lymph nodes in many places in her body. The only way to counteract this is to lower the dosage of her anti-rejection & immune suppresent meds which is a balancing act, but it has to be done and it is something that has to be done for the rest of her life. I ask for prayer for Amanda and her family as the doctors try to heal her and figure out how to best proceed and keep her healthy. Thank you...........

{compatibility}

my day started off with another tune from the the movie "Home Alone" screaming in my head when my alarm didn't go off for me to get up for work. You know the tune, the one where the whole family realizes that they overslept and they are running around like crazy packing and throwing everything into the van outside. It was like a deja vu from the day that I flew out of here to go to Virginia, I heard the same music in my" head,". Other than that it was a pretty average work day. For this evening, we spent a fun family evening eating pizza and playing games at our neighbors house. The adults played a game called "compatibility", to be honest, i thought this was going to be a lot of pressure. I really wanted to look like Mark and I were on the same "wave length" because we are already so opposite to most people. I just didn't want to play this game and walk out saying, we should get a divorce......what were we thinking getting married, we have nothing in common. I am happy to report that according to the game, we think a lot alike. Imagine that, 17 years of marriage not down the toilet and HE thinks like ME.

{Its a 2-Fer!!}

The gift of the card is quite a wonderful gift if you like that sort of thing and I am the kind of girl that no doubt like's that sort of thing. When you give the gift of the card, it becomes a 2-fer, not only do you get the gift that comes attached with the card, but you get a day out at the mall with your best gal pal, which I love!!! And today was that day!! A day where I got up early, got my cute clothes (non-working), my cowboy boots, my new purse, then hit the Starbucks on the way down to Jax's big, beautiful and shiny mall for a day for dwindling away our gift cards. My card at MAC went bye-bye within about a half an hour or so, but with a lot of help and instruction from the staff.....I LOVE that place!!!! (I put lipstick on around 10AM and it is still on, feels good, and I think I am still lookin' pretty SEXY!, so take that Justin Timberlake!) Our time in Victoria's Secret was a bit more challenging, my friend was looking for some really comfy (not flannel, we live in Florgia!) jommies and the selection was a little slim. But in the end it was all good. She burned thru that gift card so fast, I think I saw flames! And as they say, all good things must come to an end, I am now home and back to the grind of dinner and laundry and a little blogging............... welcome to my world!! wink! wink!

{the LOOT, the LITTER, the LIFE}

Christmas is over!! While we enjoyed our day of looting the Christmas tree, gorging ourselves on banana bread, chocolate, turkey, and mashed potatoes, playing with all of our goodies, and cooking our little hearts out yesterday, today is a day of recovery and a day of relaxation. POD: (plan of the day) nothing!! well, maybe hit the Lowe's for ornament storage containers and then straight home. As far as the Christmas loot: the kids made out like bandits, Lex mostly got clothes, Action got DS games and their joint big present was a WII guitar Hero III game which I am presently regretting, I might add. I, on the other hand, am going to MAC to buy some much needed make-up. I have recently decided that I wanted to start wearing that particular brand of make-up because I think that they have what I need for my little "dark circle" issue. Mark got golfing crap and clothes. I have included some pictures of some of my favorite things that I love about Christmas and one of my least favorite.... clean-up, the litter, the wrapping, the boxes, the plastic, the little plastic thingies that I always wonder if we need or not need, the directions written in 3 different languages that I find here and there and everywhere. Best part, our garbage doesn't come until Friday (that is my brand of sarcasm), our can is full to the rim and we have all of this Christmas litter and none of it fits. What to do?? At least we aren't in the "tax me state" anymore, they will at least take whatever is curbside here in ho-bunk. My biggest stress of the day, which coffee to brew, the flavored (my personal fav) or should I make my darling husband happy and brew the boring Folgers crap even though he is still snoozing and probably will be until noon time, hmmmm... its gonna be a great day, this is THE LIFE! I hope that all of you are planning a day of absolutely positively "nothing". Enjoy!!

{Merry Christmas!!}

Wishing everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Enjoy your time with your families and the warmth of your homes. God bless, Darleen and the rest of my motley crew.

{Feliz Navidad}

I cannot believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve, it has been the fastest Christmas season on record for me. I have still not done or even began to accomplish most of what I wanted to do this season. There are cookies that I love that never got baked, presents that never got made (this is a biggie for me), family traditions that I have worked hard to establish that got skipped and a lot of things that we did, while I enjoyed them was so hard because I have been so exhausted thru most of them. Our double duty party on Saturday at my peachy pal, Lisa's house, went very well. The day started off with a kids party and that was a lot of fun. I have to tell you about a game that the kids played (I don't have any pics unfortunately!!)...the kids put vaseline on their faces and then put their faces in a bowl of cotton balls (get the picture here, guys??), and the team with the most cotton balls stuck to their face wins! How fun is that?? Then there was an adult party at night, oooh la la!! That was a lot of fun too. I decided it was actually, Feliz Navidad instead of Merry Christmas because everyone brought a mexican dish or something or other to share. We brought the old standby, Cal Q's Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas which we absolutely love, but one of our neighbor's brought homemade sangria which was really really good!!! We played "dirty santa" with the gift that we brought and a mean game of Guesstures which turned out to be a lot of FUN! I am noticing as I type this that the word of the post is FUN, I'm thinking that I could get more creative, but to be honest, it was fun and I am too tired to care. So, just know that we had a fun time this weekend. Today, we hit the new Chipmunk movie which was a hoot, it wasn't fun, it was a hoot!! My parents came up from Orlando for Christmas and we thought that we would all enjoy the movie and it was definitely worth the dinero. Well, good night folks, i've got to get up early and work and then lots of plans, Merry Christmas to all of you and God Bless

{Rome Wasn't Built In A Day}

maybe Rome wasn't, but our little gingerbread house most certainly was. Mark and Action knocked out this Hansel and Gretel wicked witch's dream home in just a few hours with quite a bit of hard work and a pretty intense decision making process. You would have thought that that Action was building Rome because every "major" decision had to be accepted and include Mark's Okay. They really did have a great time, the boys sat at the bar building this peice of extraordinary edible artwork while Lex and I made some Raspberry Thumbprint cookies that are to die for (they are dnksmommy's recipe) and I just love them. They truly are scrumpdilicious !! She made them for my cookie exchange last year and I hid them from the kids because I decided that they were just too good for kids, they just don't appreciate cookies that good. This year I decided to make my own and not be so greedy, isn't that nice of me? I can be a good sharer, I watched Barney with my kids. Anyway, i hope that you enjoy the pictures and your weekend is full of relaxation and celebration. (p.s. that's our Coopie with a little bit of flour on his head, he is such a cutie pie, i love that bassadore!)

{Tired Tootsies}

tonight my blogging is at a minimum. I have just gotten into bed, its 11:30PM and I have spent a total of about 5 minutes at home today. We headed out to the mall to try, or should I say attempt, to finish up some Christmas shopping tonight and we didn't get home until about an hour ago and I had to make grocery lists for Mark to go get after he gets off of work tomorrow so that we can bake some cookies tomorrow night and begin our weekend of activities that won't allow any shopping time. I have a 7AM breakfast with the bank in the morning and I am going to have to go running to finish up Mark's Christmas during lunch. It has never been like this at Christmas, it seems like it has snuck up so fast and we just haven't gotten to relax very much this year, its been a lot of "have to's". Anyway, my tootsies are killing me after wearing my work shoes all day (but I will say they were super cute one's!! black and white with a little black patent strap across the top and a big silver buckle, in case you were wondering!!) and at the mall and I can barely keep my eyes open. Also, to my fellow blogger buds, I am sorry that I haven't had a chance to commiserate with you on YOUR blogs (even my new Georgia blogger), I will catch up, I promise. Miss you and talk to you soon.

{Digi DE-structors!}

Alright, this post comes with a WARNING label for anyone out there who might be offended, those at risk: Digi scrapbookers, you know who you are....unfortunately, one of you is one of my nearest and dearest. BUT, it has to be said, it just has to be said. I have been living in scrapbooking denial for quite some time now and I have decided to come out and take the subject at hand and fight the good fight for all of my fellow scrapbookers. I will be a warrior and am prepared to get out there and blog about it, and rant on the message boards about it (I am prepared to be kicked off and have some things said to me). As I have mentioned in a previous post, where I am working when it gets slow we can get on the internet. I am not an online "cruiser" so to speak, but today it was dead and I thought that I would check out some online scrapbooking galleries and get some inspiration and look at the craft that I so dearly miss and haven't been able to get my grubby little hands on since my whirlwind trip to Virginia. And I started perusing the pages and what did my wondering eyes did appear??I saw tons and tons of scrapbook pages and almost all of them on most of these websites that are just downloaded pages by scrapbookers like you and me are all digi pages. To be honest, I have nothing against it, knock yourself out. I, personally, think it misses the whole point, but that is just my personal opinion. BUT what is getting me is that talking with scrapbook store owners, they are going under and fast. They think its the Michael's, the Hobby Lobby's, the internet sales, they are dillusional!! It is the digi scrapper's. They will be the one's that take the paper selections, the stickers, the rub-on's, the chip-board's, everything that is glittery, stickely, and sacred to us scrapbookers that hold the art of cutting and pasting and getting together to "crop til we drop" out of OUR hands because there won't be enough of us "tried and true" to support our habit. Scrapbooking will become a digi craft, not a hands on craft. What is our future ladies? Paper packs and crappy selections, Enjoy!! And send a thank you note to your favoritge digi scrapper, no offense Tracey (you know I love you!!)

{my chili dog}

I just want to take a few moments and brag about my hunka hunka chili dog of a man!! My little Markie Poo is so sweet, today I had to bring chili to work for a kind of "chili cook off" which was for fun, but things were busy last night and he is the "chili master". He stayed up and made the chili and then he put chili in the crock pot , then he waited for the chili to simmer, then he waited for the chili to cool enough to put in the fridge for me to take to work the next day. And the chili was awesome which was no surprise to me. There were several customers who taste tested the chili's (there were 3 of them to choose from) and my little Markie Poo Chili dog won a few of the votes! I will say that I had to admit that I was tempted to take credit for the chili myself, but I had to finally admit that I didn't actually cook it up myself. I love my chili dog!!

{no elevator music, please?}

hey, at least I said please.......... I am going to confess a little something about myself that most of you probably don't know, but some of you might suspect. First of all, I hate elevator music (no, duh!) and since I have been working, I have been listening to 8 hours a day of "oh my gosh, mind numbing, la la la elevator music". Back to my "dirty little secret", when I listen to music in my "grocery getter, mom mobile", I blast it. I blast it to the top of the chart. I love it!! Truthfully, I am afraid that one day I may blow the speakers out in the van one day. I love to rock out to it, I listen to 80's music, I listen to Pop, I listen to whatever I am in the mood for, but I love to listen to it loud. My kids get mad at me and make me turn it down. Anyway, after listening to elevator music all day long today, just getting in my van and blasting my radio to "Tattoo" by Jordan Sparks all the way home just got me in the best mood and gave me the boost of energy I needed to not crash and burn completely when I got home. It was the highlight of my day, I love my radio. So, next time if you get in the van with me and the radio is turned up, you know my secret and I can no longer blame it on the kids. Rock on!!!!

{Girlz R Kewl}

Its been another great day!! I had promised Lex a little get together with the "girls" because we had the Halloween party with the "usual suspects" and the cookie decorating party yesterday and she wanted something girlie and fun for Christmas. I threw together some fun stuff that I picked up from the bakery at my new favorite spot, Publix!! Nothing fancy, mini cupcakes and little mini canoli's, cocoa chex mix (Action's personal favorite), and something that my MIL has got all of us hooked on and I am going to possibly blame the extra pounds that I have incurred the last few months on this particular item...........................crab dip, the best stinken crab dip that you have ever eaten, my MIL got us hooked on while vacationing in Hilton Head. She got it at the local Publix and we have found it here and it is addictive. We buy it in the "reduced fat" version, but if you sit there and eat the entire containter, I don't think that it really matters. It goes great with the baked pita chips, those are super yummy too. Hence, I digress, about the girly girls. ............they came over 2ish, played Dance Dance Revolution on the PS2, we did a little White Elephant (which nobody stole, see they're nice girls, aren't they??), they snacked, and they even decorated a few of the leftover Christmas tree cookies from Action's party yesterday and it almost broke out into a icing fight until I informed them that the green food coloring would stain their Abercrombie duds. That put an end real quick. There was a lot of "myspace" picture taking. Mark calls is the "constipated, I just farted, or am trying to fart" face. Anyway, its the "kewl" thing for the myspace pics these days. I am sure that 10 years or less, they will look back and say, "what were we thinking????", and then they watched a movie. Anyway, that is the deal of the day, take it or leave. BUT it was a blast, now the grind begins tomorrow. I am feeling a bit more confident because on Friday night, Markie and I did get a little more Christmas shopping done and in the process, I was able to pick up a few more work clothes. This past week I was peice milling it the week thru and was feeling yucky all week. But I have a lot on my plate this week, but I am feeling much rejuvinated so its all good!!!

{the usual suspects}

Today has been fantastic!! I had a great night's sleep last night, which I haven't had in a week .What do you get when you get a bunch of 10 year olds, green icing, Christmas tree cookies, an assortment of sprinkles, glitter gel icing, mini M&M's? Isn't it obvious?? A cookie decorating party! We had planned this party quite awhile ago, before my work hysteria and chaos, for Action and the neighborhood "usual suspects" a little cookie decorating party. I had originally planned on making the cookies myself and doing different shapes, etc. But in light of my current "situation", I decided to hit the corner Publix and picked up a ton of their pre-made Christmas sugar cookies that were shaped into Christmas trees and made for decorating and then some canned icing and decorating "accoutrement's". We had nine kids over and they did some great cookies, they were beautiful and we had such a great time. Some went a little overboard on the sugar sprinkles, we won't mention any names on that one. Lisa was a big help and she made some snack stuff and she, Markie, and her husband and I all just sat around and chatted with Christmas music in the background and the kids went out to play. And even better, we now have some yummy & fun plans for Christmas eve that I am super excited about. AND, yes, folks, it gets even better, its like Christsmas is coming early, we are planning a nice, relaxing evening at home. Stress free, we are just planning an evening with "A Christmas Story" tonight, which is our favorite Christmas movie of all time........you'll shoot your eye out!! I can hardly wait to see the pink bunny jommies!! Ralphieeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{www.mysocalledlife.com}

this is going to be a quick post, i am just checking in, but i think that if i write too much i will become a huge whiner because i am just sssssooooo tired and i right now just hate my life. So, i am going to leave it at that, but i decided to take a few minutes and say hi to everyone and that i really miss getting on here and blogging my little heart out, but i have a life now and i don't have time for such silliness, it seems. dinner, homework, vaccuuming, laundry and everything else in between has to be done. So, I am off like a dirty shirt. Talk to you later. hugs & kisses

{Bringin' Home the Bacon}

Bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never ever let him forget he's the man. Who wrote that crap??? I know who wrote that crap, a man!! A man that doesn't wear hose, a man that doesn't have to put uncomfortable shoes on in order to "bring home the bacon", a man that doesn't have to deal with children who don't "have anything to wear" or their ride to school bailed on them or they don't like what is available for breakfast and a man whose hair isn't frizzing as they try to straighten it and they don't become a raging maniac trying to get a cup of coffee and not be late at the same time. That, my friend, is who wrote that ridiculous song who back in the 80's, I believe came with a commercial for some kind of perfume and I remember thinking at the time, that's what I want to be, a power house career woman, super Mom, and fabulous wife. After my first day on the job, I am realizing that there is no such thing. There is no way that that woman actually exists. Something has to give. I have worked over the past few years, but I was able to get my Monsters off to school, Mark was out the door, I could even do a quick clean up of the house, throw in a load of laundry before scooting out the door. Everyone trying to get ready and out the door at the same time is crazy!! Then coming home at 5:30PM to chaos and mess, incomplete homework when all I want to do is go sit in a dark room in the pitch black and pretend to not be home. I am thinking that this is temporary, my part time 2 days a week job is only a few weeks away. Then it will be a cake walk, right???

{Ain't No Charlie Brown}

We finally put up the 'ol Christmas tree (the family one that is). We went out to one of the only 2 tree lots located here in ho-bunk in 6 feet of snow freezing our tooshies off (yeah, you all know that I'm kidding about that, but it was a little nippy here!!) and after much ado, found the perfect tree and it was a big-un! We always get a real tree, not that we have anything against the fake one's (they are just lovely), but I love the smell of the pine in the house. I used the term "was a big-un" and not that it is not still a pretty big tree, but after all of the trimming to make it all even (they all were a little bottom heavy and our's was no exception) it seems to have shrunk a bit. But it doesn't come close to a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I remember growing up and my little friend a few doors down always got the Charlie Brown Christmas tree and I think it was actually because they felt sorry for it (or her Dad was just cheap, I'm not sure which) and then she would tease me and I would have to sing a little song , "Little Greenie 3 Feet Tall". It was tradition. Tonight we celebrated a tradition I have past on from my family, my Mom always used to make some cookies or banana bread and do some festive snacks and egg nog while we decorated the tree. I have passed that down to my kids and they actually look forward to it. This year, however, I let the children invite a friend to help and while that worked out just fine for the girl, not so much for the boy and his high energy new pal. His pal wasn't quite so interested in the decorating and more interested in the chocolate candy dish on the table and Mark and I started to realize that this kid might not want to be eating quite so much sugar. The kid then informs us that he isn't really allowed to eat sugar. Mark and I looked at each other and for all intensive purposes the chocolate is hidden in an undisclosed location. But we did really enjoy getting the old ornaments out (Mark even has some from his childhood) and the kids have ornaments from every year for the most part and a few that they made (we joked that these were "back of the tree ornaments" and some of you know how that joke got started). I just recently got a super cute ornament from my good friend, Karen, and while it is absolutely adorable, I have no idea what made her think of me. I have attached a picture my newest, latest,and greatest "Grumpy Til I Get my Coffee" ornament. I'm really thinking that maybe she got my present mixed up with Lorrie's. I love my tree, it doesn't have a theme, it isn't very fancy, but its ours and it is everything that reminds us of family.......................

{Reason for the Season}

Alright, I started out enjoying a perfectly good day and then I read a little blog of 2 of my peeps (http://www.dnksmommy.blogspot.com/) and it really got me thinking and not that I haven't always agreed with them , but it really made me angry that people/businesses are saying "happy holidays" instead of Merry Christmas. This country has gotten so PC, we seem to be pleasing the minority of people at the expense of the majority, it is out of control and WE need to make some changes. How to do that is the question, gripping about it won't change anything. Finding Christ centered decorations is slim to none amongst the Santa's and snowmen, reindeer and wreaths. It is so easy for all of us to get caught up in the excitement of the presents and cookies and surprises that come along with the season that every year the birth of Christ just gets pushed farther and farther into the back of our minds and we find ourselves saying to our kids, "oh yeah, by the way kids, Christmas is about the birth of Christ too" just so that we can say that we didn't forget about the real reason and we don't feel like crappy parents. What kind of parents are we becoming? What are we teaching the future generations? I think that Jesus wants us to have a good time, he loves to see us graciously and unselfishly giving presents and finding joy in it. He wants us to gather and have fellowship and spend time and having bonding moments and create special memories with family and friends. I believe that He wishes all of those things for us because He loves us, but I also think that it hurts Him to see how we have so easily forgotten the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, we have come to his Party and haven't acknowledged Him. We have literally taken an imaginary character (Santa) and put him on this pedestal and for all intensive purposes, he is idolized. Not in the sense that he is worshiped, but we have such tunnel vision that we have forgotten what is real and true. My blogging peeps have said that it makes them angry that Christ is being taken out of Christmas, that those that don't want to acknowledge Him still want to celebrate Christmas (and still call it that). I say that we, as Christians, have to accept some personal responsibility for what has happened in this country. We let it happen, we didn't fight back when it started to happen, we didn't demand that Merry Christmas continue, we didn't make a bigger deal about the birth of Christ, we didn't show up in huge droves at the movie about the birth of Christ last year (but I guarantee that we all went to the latest and greatest Santa movie and this year who is running out to buy the DVD about the birth of Christ? No, we are buying Santa Claus 3 and Christmas with the Kranks), we aren't showing the world that we are out there and we aren't going to take it. What do we do to show the world that we are angry Americans that want to take Christmas back? We are now talking amongst ourselves, we are blogging about it, we are correcting the Wal Mart employee with a Merry Christmas instead of returning a Happy Holiday. Boy, we ARE rebels!!

{i <3 chocolate}

I am lovin' the chocolate!! Not the real ooey gooey, fattening, chocolate you sillies!! Well, you know that I love that too!!! BUT, I am referring to the new Dell Chocolate Laptop that we got, its actually listed in the Dell description as the color as Espresso, but I am a rebel and I think that it looks more like chocolate and it just sounds yummier!! We got the Dell as a very generous early Christmas present from my in-laws. I spent the day doing my online shopping (since my shopping time just got chopped in half), while catching up on all of my "stories", and I will admit to eating a few Hershey cherry filled with a little bit of to die for goodness kisses in leiu of lunch, and hanging in my jommies pretty much all day while i was lovin' the new point free/guilt free chocolate in my life. Now, the only guilt that I have is that I have been very unproductive in every other aspect of my day and I have to get off of my butt and do something physically productive. Oh, by the way, how hip am I? Did you see how I did my heart in the title of my post? All the cool kids are doing it!

{Peeps & Planes}

My whirlwind trip to Virginia is over, its sad, but true. I had a blast, and it was non-stop fun with my peeps! I have included some pictures of all of us at the store during the Christmas sale and a few others. One of them is of "T" and I with our Santa hats, one is a silly picture that got taken while we were trying to get ready for our "serious" shot. We are all more ourselves in that one. Most of you know that I call my cropping buds, my peeps. Its something that "T" got me saying way back when. While cropping with not enough sleep, probably way way too little sleep, all of the peeps decided that they wanted to have a group name. So, we became the Gangsta Scrappers, what were we thinkin'? I am known as Scrappy D and I have a shirt to prove it. But I still affectionately refer to this group of ladies as my peeps. So, when I write about them, please do not think about those mushy little marshmallow duckies that you get, but probably don't actually eat at Easter. They are much more than that! Any-who, my last day was spent cropping with most of them @ the store (I felt slighted this trip due to the lack of not seeing Jen & Tracey very much, any guilt setting in? ) which was a lot of fun, but I had a bit of nervousness thruout the day due to the weather, it was extremely windy, which I quizzed poor Jules (her hubby is a pilot) about the conditions which I might be thrown into flying out. She suggested a shot before boarding the plane, good suggestion Jules, I actually had a little margarita before climbing aboard the puddle jumper that was not much bigger than my Mini-Van!! This plane was smaller than the one that I flew to Virginia on which I wasn't sure was possible! It was rough for a bit, but as you can see I survived and the passenger next to me didn't need a rain coat. I arrived at midnight and got home around 1:30AM, but I am home and while the house is in perfect condition thanks to my phenomenal hubby, my vision of catching up on my TIVO'd "stories" and eating bon bons (which is what I normally do!) has gone awry because the pantry is bare and I have to go into the bank today because they would like to offer me a job!! Wish me luck!!! P.S. Thank to Karen JO, "T", and Collin for everything, you guys totally rock!!

{Holy Cannelloni Batman!}

Holy Cannelloni Batman, it has been the craziest 2 days!!! I feel like every time I get on and blog I have a story of drama & insanity to tell lately, but this one is going to take the cake! Okay, here's the deal squeal, my plan was to leave my house yesterday @ 5AM to make my 7AM flight to Virginia because I have to drive to Jax to fly out, I did not wake up until 5:19AM because the alarm didn't go off!! yes, that's right, I did not get up until I was supposed to be half way to Jax. So, I went to the airport driving 85MPH with no make-up, no deodorant, no shower, (but I did brush my teeth!). And everyone knows that I look like quite the "catch", but without make-up I look like I have been in a bar room brawl and that is due to the inherited dark circles under my eyes which I got from my Dad. My question is out of all of the inherited traits why did I have to get his dark circles and extremely dry skin, why not get the kick butt metabolism? (My Dad could eat McDonald's 3 times a day and probably not hardly gain a pound!) Anyway, back to my harrowing misadventure of trying to make my 7AM flight, in a panic of trying to figure out where to park and shuttle to the airport, I just pulled over to one of the many park & ride spots I saw on the side of the road (yeah, I have no idea where I have parked the car, who knows! What I am going to do at 11PM on Monday when I arrive back in Jax, I have no idea). I thought that I was going to have to plead with the curbside check- in guy because I couldn't find my cash to check my bags (there was a $2 per bag fee), but as I was preparing for my "make-up less, woe is me, I don't have time to stand in line story", I found my rolled up stash of dough. I arrived to get on the plane just as they were loading zone 1-3, just enough time to run into the bathroom to at least get some make-up on!! My next stop was Charlotte where I was faced with the fact that I was going to have to board a "puddle" jumper, its a good thing that the weather was good or I might be typing this from a hotel room in Charlotte North Carolina. After arriving here in Virginia, I have been going non-stop with lunch with Collin, a crop til ya drop until midnight with the girls and Karen Jo & I even hit an Awful Waffle after midnight last night for "breakfast and a show". That is another story for another day. Then, I spent a very nostalgic day working up at the store doing make & take's and seeing a lot of the customers, working & hanging with "T" and a bunch of my friends all wearing reindeer ears or silly Santa Ho Hats, taking pictures, eating cake, selling as much scrap crap as possible. And now its late and I am completely exhausted, but loving every minute of it.