Crazy?

Yup.  I'm doing it.  Saints to Sinners -- check it out.  500 miles of road biking, 300 degree temperatures, great friends and a big fat sunburn.  Can't wait!

www.mygiveawaytoday.com is giving away one free entrance fee.  I'm going to win!!!

Dear Lowes:

Next time I ask for you to mix up a batch of that pretty blue paint,  I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't send me home with pretty purple paint.  Next time I come to your store for the third time in an attempt to get a batch of that pretty blue paint, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't give me some lame excuse about how sample size paint colors don't necessarily convert to gallon size paint colors.  Ummm, why give me a sample if I can't get it in a bigger bucket?  Just a thought. 

Oh, and next time I bring my third batch of paint home that was customly tinted to match the pretty blue paint, please don't send me home with a bucket of slightly less but still kind of purple paint.

As much as I'd love to return to your store to make another attempt at the lovely blue sample you gave me, seeing as how you've already been so much help, I am fresh out of time.  You've left me no choice but to slap on the pretty blue-but not really color and hate you for the rest of my life.

Thanks,
Me

p.s.  I get my new wood floors tomorrow that will hopefully look fabulous with my pretty blue but mostly purple paint!

Manic

Today was all over the place.  I went to bed too late last night.  Ran too hard.  Woke up too early.  Forgot to ice.  Can feel a cold coming on ...sigh.  Maybe I should change manic to maniac.  I'm pretty sure that's what I was today. 

-Let's start off with this little guy.  I love Jack.  I think he's darling.  I don't love that he pinches, pulls hair, torments and destroys and makes me want to pinch, pull hair, torment and destroy.  He drives me crazy!  Yet, he still manages to look cute while doing it.  MADDENING!!

Today I had had enough.  And then he decided to take a nap..... a two hour nap.  I was happy again and decided to keep him.

- My kitchen blinds are clean.  This makes me happy.

- A bunch of laundry got done today.  This makes me happy.  But then I just saw all the full baskets that need to be put away.  The worst part of laundry is putting away.  Uggh.  Not so happy.

-  This pile of yarn is a sweater that I'm knitting for Ella.  I was two rows away from being completely finished and then realized there was a mistake.  With very little irritation (strangely), I frogged half the sweater (not kidding when I say half) to fix my mistake.  About 10 rows back into it I realized I didn't fix the mistake, frogged it back to the fixing point and threw it across the room.  Very frustrated and on the verge of tears, Bono announced himself on the radio and I remembered that we (Bono and myself) have a date on June 3rd.  Sweater forgotten, I sang myself into happiness

- Jack woke up so I made some bread.  Bread soothes me.  Weird, I know.

-I tripped on the stairs while holding a basket of laundry. I cursed and then decided the only reason I tripped was because the stairs are dirty and nasty and not good for anything but causing problems.  Then I remembered that we are ripping out the dirty, nasty stairs and putting in more wood.  My clean wood stairs can not come soon enough.  Happy, again.

- I've had a headache for 4 days.  The only reason this makes me happy is because it gives me an excuse to drink more coke.   Coke does not = headache.  Coke = happiness.

-  This little bundle of goodness usually gets in trouble around 5:00.  This is during dinner preparation, Jack's melt-down period, and when I'm completely out of patience.  Today was no exception.  She screamed, threw some punches and spent some time in her room. Luckily, rage turned into sadness.  Check out the previous post to experience some of Ella's heartbreak.

- I am going to bed at 9:30 tonight.  This makes me happy.

Songs of Sorrow

People vent their frustrations in a lot of different ways.  When Ella gets worked up I usually want to cut my ears off, but sometimes Ella delights us with some entertainment.  I just wish I would have caught the part about how she hates chicken and that Jack is not a nice brother.

ELLA #1

ELLA#2

This Love

I've got to say it.

There are items you buy. Regularly. Items that you really like.  And then one day you open one of these items and it's not the same.  You know the expression, don't fix something that's not broken?  Well, don't already!  Who makes the decision to change something, to screw something up?  Who says, I don't think these should taste like yumminess anymore.  I think crap is the better way to go? Who's in charge here?!

Sweetheart Candies.  Have you tried them this year?  These things have been selling for millions of years and all of a sudden they change how they taste?   Oh dear.  What is happening to this world?


1.  I LOVE York Peppermint Patties.  Something that has stayed the same for millions of years.

2.  I LOVE when my kids don't fight.

3.  I LOVE when I don't have to carpool.

4.  I LOVE when Gator lets me have my way.

5.  I LOVE that my 10 year anniversary is coming up and once again, we don't have any plans.  Boooo.

6.  I LOVE a good book.

7.  I LOVE that Madonna was in my dream last night.

8.  I LOVE that I've been able to reconnect with friends through blogging.

9.  I LOVE good hair days.  Today is not one of them.

10.  I LOVE throwing things away.

11.  I LOVE sweaty people at the gym who smell like mildew.  

12.  I LOVE that we're actually getting a tax return.

13.  I LOVE that this post has taken me 45 minutes to write because my internet keeps going down. Boooo!

14.  I LOVE Allison's sugar cookies!  Holy smokes, they were amazing!  This weekend, I will be attempting to recreate the divineness .... although I'm sure they won't be nearly as delicious!

LOVE on the Rocks

Not feeling so loving today.  This will be a tough one.  Early-out school schedule = grumpy kids & grumpy mom. 

1.  I LOVE a beautiful blue sky.

2.  I LOVE that this week is almost over.

3.  I LOVE when Jack says the words spooky and squirrels. Preferably in the same sentence. 

4.  I LOVE that Ella says revy  instead of very.  Like, "she doesn't do cartwheels revy good."  I should work on this, I know.

5.  I LOVE Calamity Jane

6.  I LOVE when I think to ask for prescriptions ahead of time.

7.  I LOVE that I sold my bar stools within a half an hour of posting them.

8.  I LOVE that Gator gets up with Jack in the morning.

9.  I LOVE that I got a triathlon reminder in my email.  Makes me think of summer!

10.  I LOVE that it's almost time for Girl Scout cookies.

11.  I LOVE that I actually have a vacation planned for the summer.

12.  I LOVE that this week is almost over ... wait, did I already say that?

13.  I LOVE that I'm not putting a YouTube video on this post!

A Big Hunk of LOVE

1.  I LOVE chips and salsa.  I will never, ever, turn them down!

2.  I LOVE having flowers in my home ... I LOVE when I don't have to buy them myself.

3.    I LOVE when Jack says his prayers.

4.  I LOVE nap time.  If it were my nap time I'd LOVE it even more.

5.  I LOVE it when people come and clean my house for me.  Oh, wait.  That never happens.

6.  I LOVE when Ella lets me dance and sing and thinks I'm awesome.  Oh, wait.  That doesn't happen either.

7.  I LOVE Walmart.  Actually, I hate it.  But today, I LOVE it.

8.  I LOVE when Gator thinks I'm funny.  Believe it or not, this isn't as easy as it used to be.


9.  I LOVE when you're running, and you're exhausted, and the perfect song comes on a gives you a boost.  Axl sure saved my butt this morning.

10.  I LOVE that I remembered to wash my favorite pants yesterday so I can loaf around in them today!  I don't love that I'll have to change my loaf-around pants before YW tonight.  Boooo!

11.  I LOVE music ... especially when it applies to my blog posts (seriously, what is it with me and YouTube lately?)!

 

LOVE

There are a lot of things I don't love.  As much as I try to be a half-full kind of gal, it's not really the way I roll.  It's February, which brings to mind a few of those not-so-loved, previously mentioned, items.   But I'm changing my tune -- at least for the next 14 (umm, 13?) days.

1.  I LOVE storage.  It's amazing what a set of shelves can do for a girl!  My father-in-law is building us shelves to line the entire back section of our garage.  He started installing them today.  I am so thrilled about this!  The storage is going to be fabulous and the crap is going to be gone.  The white trash look we've had going on for a little while has not been my favorite.

2.  I LOVE when dinner is made before 2:00 pm.

3.  I LOVE a nice, cold, Diet Dr. Pepper at lunch time. 

4.  I LOVE this.  Don't roll your eyes -- just appreciate the art for what it is. (My favorite section is :52 - 1:08.  I dare you not to smile!)

5.  I LOVE that I didn't get get up and go to the gym this morning and my kids slept until 7:30.

6.  I LOVE Buddy the Elf.

Going Global

In the last two weeks I have had blog visitors from Brazil, Tunisia, Italy, Ukraine, Romania, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Finland--some of these more than once and all have spent at least 30 seconds looking at my blog.

I have visitors from all over the great United States.

I average 42 visits a day.

This week I have had 163 visits.

Today alone, 24.

Here is the important part to this -- I may think I am cool but I KNOW I am not THAT cool.

This blog doesn't have enough substance to have global friends. I am not popular enough to know anyone outside a 10 mile radius. For every post I do, I'm lucky if I get 3 comments. 24 people have looked at my blog today and I hope to get 3 comments!! So, in the wise words of El Guapo, what I'm basically trying to say is,

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU????"

I think having a private blog is lame. Oh, I get why people do it but let's face it, blogs get forgotten when they're private. I'm also not sure my dad could figure out how to set up a login ...I'd like to avoid this.

So, let's play a game. If you read this, leave a comment -- give me a little reassurance of who's actually looking at this blog! If we've burned the villages and pruned the hedges together, let's reminisce! If you live in Rome, let's be friends because I'd like to come and visit. If I don't know you, introduce yourself! If you live in South Carolina, do you happen to live near the beach and can we also be friends? If you are Mr. Tunisia and you are have pictures of my kids on your wall, give a shout out so I can delete this blog immediately. If you are stalking my blog because you knew me back when, FESS UP!!

I've played this game before -- back when I felt a little more safe and happy in blog land. My mystery Belgium visitor has me not feeling so safe and happy. Help me out, would ya?

Hope for Haiti

If any of you happened to be sitting in front of your TV on Friday night, chances are good that you caught the Hope for Haiti telethon. Two hours and a box of tissues later, my heart just ached. My favorite performance of the evening: Justin Timberlake, Matt Morris and Charlie Sexton. Amazing.

song #2

I need a happy song today. Infections in my body don't make me happy and unfortunately, it seems that I have a couple.

This song makes me happy. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me. Hope you are all infection and grumpy free!

And the card attached would say ...

Today is day 6 of this ridiculous cold. The kind where you think your sinuses might explode any minute, when you cough so hard you almost throw-up and you don't get a single ounce of sleep. Yes, I am on day 6. Day 6 is when the tears start coming because I'm feeling so sorry for myself and I think I'm never, ever going to feel good again.

I have amazing friends. And why do I love my friends?

- Immediate Facebook responses to my whining. I love when people respond.

- S. called and asked if she could do carpool for me. S. has spent the last two days dealing with her chemo crap but she asked anyway.

- V. switched playgroup with me without a single hesitation. I know she wanted to hesitate. This was glorious for me because a.) I hate having playgroup at my house and b.) I have another week to get my house back in order. Of course, this is all assuming that I might actually get better in the next week.

-J. brought over freshly baked, warm bread with a ribbon tied around it. I love bread and I love ribbons. It was absolutely divine.

-A. and J. (a different J.) came to my house with Cafe Rio and a Diet DP the size of my vacuum. A. even crawled out her driver window twice (picture Dukes of Hazard) to make sure I had everything. Heaven!

This all happened before noon today. I am feeling very thankful.

Uhhh.... not quite.

Now, bronze this, put it in my entry and I would be very happy.

p.s. Does anyone else think that Kate from Plus 8 might be one of the most ridiculous people ever? I have never seen that show, but that lady never goes away!

.

Confession

I've always wanted to be in a band. Really. With cheering fans and sweaty guitarists. This must stem from my need for attention.

Does anyone want to join my band? I can rock a slide whistle like you've never seen!

Song #1

Since I'm slowly starting into my training, I've decided that every week I'm going to find a great running song. Music makes all the difference in my exercising ability. I probably won't share all of my finds with you ...or maybe I will ... but today, I'm going to. Please share your faves as well -- I could use some ideas!

This song makes me happy. It is not new to the world and it is not new to my ipod. I took a break from it for a while but I've put back into the rotation.

Hope this makes your day happy!