Until next year...

Day Thirty - A Confession

First though, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief because it's the last day of the thirty-day torture called NaBloPoMo and I get to take a break from struggling to think of something to post.
Now, onto the juicy stuff. Okay, so I'm not the most confident person, which carries over into my relationship with A. He dated a particular (local) girl for more than four years and every now and then I run into her around town. We both sort of act like we don't know each other when that happens and my heart races and I sneak peeks at her to see if she's having a better hair day, secretly hoping she's put on some weight. Well, today, I knew she would be at a certain place at a certain time in my building. So, I came up with a reason to be there then and I spent a little extra time on my makeup this morning and I picked out clothes that looked like a grown, married woman would wear that looked good on me. I only feel a tinge guilty for doing it because I know it makes her uncomfortable, but I can't help it. Something in me wants to make sure, at every opportunity, that she knows I won and he's all mine. I'm like a dog marking his territory.

Day Twenty-Nine

Found this video from Ali's blog. This video is such a great chronicle of this woman's life. I've mentioned on here that I scrapbook. I know a lot of people think it's just sticking pictures on a piece of paper in an album, but for me, scrapbooking is about so much more than that. It's about documenting my life and the lives of the people I hold dear. It's about reminding myself that I have an awesome life and remembering the good times. It's also about finding a way to deal with the bad, although pages like that don't usually make it into an album out on the shelf for everyone to look through. Ali Edwards has coined the phrase 'Life Artist' and I have decided that's what I am.

Day Twenty-Eight - #27

First person to guess what the significance of the second number in the title is wins a handmade greeting card (birthday, Christmas, whatever) designed by yours truly.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 184 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Found this over on the Littleton's blog.

Day Twenty-Seven

I talked about dog-sitting for my co-worker and keeping her Schnoodle, Annie. Here's a picture of the lil' sweetie for everyone to ooh and ahh over. Isn't she a cutie?
I tried my best to persuade a certain someone to give me one of her sisters for Christmas, but it didn't work. *insert pouty lip and sad eyes*

Day Twenty-Six - Sorry

I was under the weather yesterday with what feels like strep throat and was running a mild fever, so please forgive me.

Day Twenty-Five - Tis' the Season

The countdown begins. Christmas music on the radio. Wrapping paper strewn about the living room. Plans to get the tree & decorations out of the attic and up tomorrow after church.
Lil' Annie is sleeping behind me on the couch and must be dreaming, because she's making little noises and twitching ever couple minutes. It's about time for me to be doing the same (the sleeping, not the twitching).

Day Twenty-Four - Black Friday

Hours of sleep given up: 3
Number of hairs lost: 0
Number of items stores were out of before we got there (within an hour of sales beginning): 2
Hours spent waiting in lines to check out: about 2.5
Excitement on Wesley's face Christmas morning: better be priceless :)

Day Twenty-Three - aka Turkey Day

*Yawn* The tryptophan is kicking in and my brain is slowing down. It must be moving at a snail's pace since I have decided to brave the maniac shoppers in the morning for a $50 portable DVD player. Wesley better appreciate it, because there's a chance I could lose an eye or maybe some hair for that thing. Seriously, I've never gotten up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday (never heard it called that until this year) to catch the early bird deals. I'm hoping it's worth it. I've scouted out a little bling-bling for myself that I otherwise wouldn't get, so that could possibly even the score. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and were equally annoyed with their odd, but endearing relatives.

Day Twenty-Two

Today's post is brought to you by the number twenty-two and the letter S. Know a word that starts with S? Well, there's a breed of dog called a Schnoodle (not recognized by the AKC) that is apparently growing in popularity. I didn't even know they existed until today. One of my co-workers made an impulse buy when we were out to lunch and purchased one for herself. She's traveling for the holiday so I and one of our other co-workers have been commissioned/coerced, however you want to say it, into sharing the duties of dog-sitting for her. I don't think I want to give her back.

Day Twenty-One

Don't know if I'll have time to post tonight so I'll just give you a picture to look at. This was from a day in October when Wesley was on fall break. I took the day off and we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins, then ate lunch at Wesley's favorite place, Old McDonalds as he calls it, and just had a grand time with each other.

Day Twenty - A Good Excuse

I know, I know, I missed yesterday. But, I have a good one this time. I had class last night, so I had planned on posting after I got home. So, I watched a little tv and worked on some Christmas presents and about the time I got ready to post, the power went out. It wasn't storming so I'm not sure what caused the outtage. I went and found a flashlight and tidied up the living room waiting for it to come back on. After about forty minutes, I decided I didn't want to wait any longer and went to bed. And guess what, the power came back on about the time that I was crawling under the warm, heavy quilt on my bed. So, I got up and turned off all the lights that were on when the power went out and did what any self-respecting human would do in a house that is about 55 degrees because the power has been out for almost an hour...I crawled into bed and said, forget about it, I'll post in the morning. Don't blame me, blame modern conveniences for spoiling me.

Day Nineteen - Batman Returns

When the alarm goes off this morning, Anthony protests that he's too tired to get up for church. I had stayed up late last night working on a scrapbook, so I don't put up much of a fight. So, we go back to sleep and doze on and off between Wesley coming in to ask for breakfast or jump on top of us wanting to wrestle. Finally, Anthony gets up to go work on the brakes on his 65' Rambler. I stay in bed and go back to sleep. Then, I guess about an hour later, he comes back in and walks around to the side of the bed I'm facing and whispers, "Wake up." I open one eye and look up at him, which he takes as a sign I'm awake. He launches into an update on how the brake work is coming - he's found yet another problem with them. I look up at him, face scrunched up, and say, "Did you wake me up just to tell me that?" He says, "No, I woke you up so you could see Wesley," and nods toward the other side of the bed where Wesley is playing a racing game on the playstation which is hooked up to the tv in our bedroom. I roll over and see Wesley in the cape & belt from his Batman costume (from last Halloween) and his red pajama pants with no shirt, deep in concentration trying to beat his opponents on Gran Tourismo. He's so cute when he plays video games because he not only pushes the buttons to steer; he also moves the controller back & forth through the air as if that will affect anything. I wish I had taken a picture so you could see how funny he looked. He's not one of those kids who likes to play dress-up a lot either, which makes it even funnier (at least to me). You'll have to settle for a picture of him from last year in full costume & just use your imagination from there.

Day Eighteen

The pumpkin situation has sort of been taken care of. The boy (see Delinquent Children - Day 15) decided to drop kick it this afternoon as we were on our way to the car...to go to a wedding shower for my SIL, aaaaand we were already running late. So now, pumpkin goo is splattered all over the front step and out into the yard, and I had to wipe it off his shoe with a wet wipe before we left. Yum!

Day Seventeen: Sick Kitty Update

Ace is much better. Thanks for the well wishes for him. He's back to being his lazy ol' self again.

Day Sixteen

I think it's time to throw away the jack o' lantern now that it's face is collapsing in on itself.

Short post tonight since I left my power cord at work and despise using our dinosaur of a desktop at home. It's older than Wesley!

Day Fifteen - Delinquent Children

I have a normal, unruly five-year-old lil' boy who has lately been getting into his fair share of trouble at school. Today, he got suspended from the bus for three days. You might be thinking he has, say, punched another kid or maybe shot spit-wads at the bus driver. Oh, no! His offense?...crawling around under his seat with two other little boys (he happened to be the only one lucky enough to get caught). Yes, I have to leave work at 2:00 the next three days to sit in a car line for ten minutes, pick him up, drive the less than two miles to his daycare, drop him off and go back to work for a couple more hours, which will mean I either have to work late or take work home with me to make up for the 30-45 mins. it will take to do this each day. Is that not ridiculous!? Excuse me for my ranting. I usually don't air dirty laundry on the internet, but I am just fed up with this school system and he's only been in it for three months. This is not the first thing, just the latest in a long list of other absurd policies/rules we have to go by. This is his second offense on the bus (first offense is a visit to the principal's office - second is three-day suspension from the bus). His first?...touching a boy (not hitting, not rough-housing, not in any kind of unfriendly or lewd way, just touching him) and not keeping his bottom firmly planted in his seat at all times (Hello! He's five). Am I just overreacting, or do the punishments not exactly fit the crimes? I rode the bus all thirteen years of K-12 and way worse things than touching someone or crawling under the seats happened with no consequences besides the bus driver yelling at you. Don't get me wrong. I understand the necessity of the rules and the reasons behind them, and have talked to Wesley so he understands why they have the rules they have, but this suspension is not a punishment for him (regardless of the fact that it's completely unnecessary), it's a punishment for me. He would like nothing more than for me to pick him up EVERYDAY. So, thank you, school system, for rewarding my son for behavior you want to punish. Thanks a lot!
Okay, rant over, you can now go back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Day Fourteen - Mommy Wars

I hesitate to even bring this up, because it ususally sends women on either side into heated arguments, but I'm curious what other women (moms or not) think about this. I read an old article on MSN about the ongoing debate of whether moms should go back to work or stay home after baby. You can read the article here. I'll go ahead and tell you my opinion...
First off, some background. I'm a working mom. I had Wesley during Christmas break between my first and second semesters of undergraduate and went back to school (and started a part-time job) when he was four weeks old (my mom stayed with me for the first couple weeks back at school until he could go to daycare at six weeks). If I had more options, I wouldn't have chosen to do it the way I did. But, I didn't. I did the best with what I had. I don't feel like Wesley is permanently scarred from going to daycare full-time since he was a baby. But, with my next child, I want to be able to stay home with them at least part-time, probably while I work from home. Quitting my job is just not an option for us.
So, now you know where I come from. My opinion on this whole thing is that every woman (and her husband) should decide what's best for their family. If staying home, taking care of your child would drive you over the deep end (not that you don't love your child, but the day in, day out care of children and likely all of the household chores that would fall on you can get to you) and you are satisfied by staying in the work force, by all means, return to work and find capable, caring people to take care of your child while you're there. If you are financially able (all of the women this article is talking about are) and you WANT to be the one who cares for your child, by all means, quit your job and stay home to take care of him/her. I don't agree with Ms. Hirshman that the trend of women quitting jobs to take care of their kids in an injustice. She has the audacity to say, in effect, that most of these "priveleged educated women" have not chosen to stay home because they enjoy caring for their children. She implies that they have made that choice based on a lie they've been fed by society that to be good mothers, you have to stay home or because they have found fighting for a "new, more just society" to be too hard. She says herself that these are all well-educated, accomplished women. And, what I think she's saying is that staying home is a waste of their talents, that they have a responsibility, a duty to stay in the workforce and pull their own weight to make things more equitable for women. In her opinion (talking about elite women in high-paying jobs), "Staying home should not be considered a choice." Isn't that the same as the line they fed our mothers & grandmothers, that working outside the home was not an option? A woman's place was inside the home. Now, apparently, a woman's place is in the workforce.
I know this might rub a few people the wrong way, but I'm interested to hear what other women & men think. You don't have to, but if you don't mind, when you comment on this, would you tell me what choice you would make/have made for yourself.

Day Thirteen

Today, on my blog, 5 random things.
1. Happy Birthday to my Daddy!
2. The view from my kitchen window this weekend...
3. I'm operating on three hours of sleep. Why, you ask. Well, because I had a test in my class tonight, and I'm a master procrastinator. I don't play around at procrastination. No, I waste an entire three day weekend doing nothing all that productive, not even cracking my Economics textbook until about 10:30 pm on Sunday night (which, incidentally, is my normal bedtime). Then, I drink caffeine and surf blogs for about thirty minutes before I finally start studying. I do that for about three hours before going to bed, where I lay awake for about an hour because the caffeine is still in my system.
4. I really want Mario to win Dancing with the Stars, although I think Emmit deserves it more.
5. I used to absolutely abhor the color pink...now it makes up approximately half of the new clothes I buy. Not sure what happened there.

Day Twelve - Ode to Ace

We have a very odd kitty. Ace is the cuddliest cat I've ever met. I found him & his brother on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere one night this summer. We found someone to adopt his brother, and Anthony finally gave in to keeping him after Wesley named him.
This is him playing in the pool table. If we don't close our bedroom door at night, he'll jump on the bed and walk around on our pillows at our head, all over our bodies and finally lay down on my chest with his fur tickling my nose. He'll lay there for all of 2.2 seconds before he'll almost violently rub his head against my hand trying to make me pet him. We can't get any sleep with him in there.

He usually won't let me use my laptop either, because he crawls all over my lap and tries to lay down on the keyboard. He's sick right now with a cold (yes, my cat has a cold). He's been sneezing for the past day. So, I thought I would post some pictures of him to share the cuteness with the world in the hopes that it might make him feel better to be a famous kitty :)

Day Eleven

I suppose I'm effectively disqualified for not posting yesterday. But, since I didn't sign up for the prizes, I'm going to keep posting. I signed up to make myself write more, so I'm just going to keep plugging along with a post a day. Funny thing is, I don't even have a good excuse. I slept in yesterday, made some cookies for breakfast, washed some laundry, went grocery shopping, took a nap, made dinner & watched a couple movies with Anthony. Just realized a few minutes ago that I forgot to post. Oh well. Can't say I didn't try.

Day Ten

Anthony & I just back from the late showing of the movie, Stranger Than Fiction, starring Will Farrell. Anthony said it was better than he thought it would be, and I have to agree. With a movie starring Will Farrell, you expect lots of crude humor, but there was very little of that. In fact, I'm sitting here trying to remember if there was any and I can't bring to mind any instances of it. It was a rather sweet movie and would have been a pleasant movie-going experience had it not been for the person sitting a couple rows down text messaging on her cell phone, it's bright light distracting me everytime she opened it, and for the two guys sitting directly behind me who had probably seen a few too many Will Farrell shows/movies, because they kept guffawing at every little thing that was the least bit funny. I found myself not laughing at some of the funny moments in the movie simply because the guys behind me were laughing so obnoxiously that all I wanted to do was get up, turn around and say, "Excuse me, but could you please tone it down a notch or two?! I'm trying to watch a movie here." I probably should have said something rather than sitting there fuming everytime they got louder and louder and louder. In moments like these, I sort of step outside myself and wonder, "How did I become such a grandma?"

Day Nine

Finally got my book, personally autographed by Mighty Girl herself. No. 18 in the book is titled Spill Everything and says, "Catalog the contents of a space that isn't ordinarily open to the public." I'm picking my purse...
Let's see...here's some:
keys
a cell phone
couple of pens
sunglasses
a checkbook
Then there's:
the notebook with Wesley's scribbles covering it (a dead giveaway that I'm a parent)
the planner that I forget to use (but feel better for having)
uh, some chewing gum
Kleenex
a nail file
Tylenol
feminine products
a hair band
chapstick
my Clinique lipstick in Tenderheart (about the only makeup item I buy at a dept. store)
a calculator
a scan card to get in Wesley's daycare
There's my staff ID for work, which comes in handy much too often since I apparently still look like a college student. I take great pleasure in whipping it out to show the lady in the traffic office that I am, in fact, entitled to a coveted staff parking sticker, thank-you-very-much.
Then there's:
various insurance cards
debit card
credit card
very little cash (burns a hole in my pocket if I have any)
some of those McDonald's Monopoly stickers for a free small soft drink. I went to Mickey D's nearly once a day for the month of October and all I won was some stinkin' fries and small soft drinks. I was really keeping my fingers crossed for that 5 mil. and I don't even really like eating there.
Here's a few sticky notes with things like the next lens I want to buy, reminders to catch up on paperwork at home, a quote or two
a bill for the payment on Anthony's Buell motorcycle.
Oh, here's one of my business cards that I have yet to have a reason to give to anyone. My job is mostly that of a bookeeper and the only people who need to call me already have my number. But, they make me feel important since I've never had a business card before.
Here's a business card for a consultant at our local small business development center where I went to talk to someone about starting my own business.
My favorite thing in here is a little notebook I picked up at Target a few months ago. It has sections for an Agenda & To Do list that I'm filling up with quotes and wish lists.
Some things on my wish list...the book Spilling Open by Sabrina Ward Harrison
a rotary cutter (for scrapbooking)
the Eucalyptus Spearmint shampoo that they discontinued from Bath & Body Works (oh, looks like they brought it back - yay for me).
Okay, I'm putting myself to sleep here so I'm going to bid you farewell and go crash.
ETA: I messed around with my blog template today to add the Flickr badge up there and seem to have screwed something up because it won't scroll down to the bottom of the page anymore. If anyone knows how to fix it or is at least willing to help me figure it out, puuhhhllease email me. I'm new to all this stuff and am trying real hard to get things the way I want them on here.

Day (8) Eight - Dorky Family Photos

Entirely off the subject of my post...why do they use the number and the word for the number in official documents (like in my title)? I've always wondered that.
Now, onto the subject of my post. We have made it a tradition to take a family photo every fall to put in our Christmas cards to friends and family. I despise the photos where everyone is wearing their Sunday best, all lined up with the kids behind the seated parents, with one of them laying their hand on Dad's shoulder and the fake smiles plastered on their faces. In an effort to avoid that type of picture, I tried some playful things with our pictures this year (Yes, I did dress us all in green sweaters...yes, I know that's almost as bad as the formal family photos). This was one of the results...
Go ahead, snicker/point finger at screen & laugh out loud, I can't hear you. I'm fully aware of how dorky it is. What cracks me up even more than the dorkiness factor is that Wesley has this clueless look on his face like, "Why did she make me stand here behind this stupid tree? I don't know when the camera is going to stop blinking like that. Am I supposed to smile?" While Anthony & have those goofy grins on. Okay, so enough making fun of us. Maybe I'll post the one I'm actually using after Christmas. Don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who might get a Christmas card.

Day Seven

For some reason I was confused about the triplets' birthday and thought it was today instead of yesterday. In typical Mindy fashion, I'm a day late and a dollar short. So, Happy 1 year & 1 day to Kynsie, Braylen & Kyan. It's amazing to see how much they have grown in the past year. In honor of their birthday I borrowed a couple pictures from their parents' blog to post here.
















Here they are at five days old snuggled together in their isolette... (from left: Braylen, Kyan & Kynsie)















And here are their one-year pictures (from left: Braylen, Kynsie & Kyan).

Day Six

It's a Monday. Monday's are never my favorite day of the week. Today wasn't that bad, actually. But, it was long because on Mondays, I get up at 6 am and get the day started, drop Wesley off at school, go to work, work 8 hours, go straight to class, where my teacher lectures until his entire 3 hrs. 35 mins. are up and get home around 9 pm. So, needless to say, I am tired.
All I really want to say is this, if you are able and haven't already, you need to get out and vote. Regardless of whether you are conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, you should make your voice heard. Some people are so turned off by politics these days that they decide to just stay out of it. But, your vote still has a great deal of power and you should most definitely exercise your right to cast it tomorrow.

Mmmm...

That's me sighing out of happiness. My wonderful hubby drove straight through from Vegas and got home a day early. If you could see me, you would probably laugh at the goofy grin from ear to ear. I was texting him while I was sitting in church waiting for the service to get started (oh, don't start, I was too late for Sunday School so I sat in the sanctuary for about 30 mins.) to find out where he was. He said he would be home at 3:30 this afternoon. The first thought was, "Woohoo!" and that's what I responded with. The second thought was, "Oh crap! I haven't got the house cleaned yet." Don't ask me why, but every time Anthony is gone I clean the house like a madwoman right before he gets back. I don't know why I have the urge. Maybe I have some old-fashioned notion about being a "good wife" and having the house sparkling clean when I welcome him back home. I ran out of time today so there are still dirty dishes sitting in the oven (we don't have a dishwasher), but don't tell my husband. :)
I look forward to when Anthony gets back, not only because I've missed him like crazy, but also because he is more talkative for those first few days than he usually is in the period of a normal week. I married a man of few words (it's true what they say about women marrying men like their dads and men marrying women like their moms), but when he comes back from a trip he's just bursting with all the neat things he's seen and done; everything from seeing the band Aerosmith or the racecar driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. walking around SEMA (the show he was at), to the go-cart racing that requires a firesuit & helmet among other things. My favorite from this trip was the story about his interview with the host of a show for the Discovery Channel who kept mispronouncing his last name on tape. My husband is a movie star...well, kinda.

Número Cuatro

[Insert comment about not knowing what to write about.] [Think for a few minutes.] [Insert long paragraph about some subject you hope other people might identify with.] [End with witty comment about posting again tomorrow in the hopes that people will come back to read again.]

It could be a long week...

I just checked USPS for an update on when my book will get here. It left California yesterday and will take 2-9 days to get here. Let's hope it's closer to two than nine.
For those of you who are reading and don't know much about me, I'm in my early twenties (by early, I mean middle, of course). I'm just beginning to feel somewhat like an adult. Nevermind that I've been a mother for nearly six years, am working on my second degree, have more than one car payment, a mortgage, a retirement fund, and miscellaneous other "grown-up" things. What has made me start feeling old? Besides the fact that I'm developing arthritis in my knees (thanks, Dad's side of the family) and can now make pretty accurate predictions about when it will rain thanks to my deteriorating joints? Well, it's the fact that more of the people I know and socialize with than not are either married, parents or both. It seems like this has happened overnight. Like bam, all the people I graduated high school with are married and expecting their second child. I know it didn't really happen that way, but I don't live where I grew up anymore, and although I pass through there a couple times a month, I'm not up on the gossip (it's a VERY small town so everybody knows everybody else's business). But, I catch up on it when I go to the annual bonfire that one of my best friends from high school and early college organizes. We used to just hang out around the fire and eat whatever food people had remembered to bring, break a few laws by riding four wheelers on properties marked "no trespassing" and do other normal teenage things (yes, I'm from the South and I've rode ATV's for fun). But, this time, there were more wives in the group, which meant there was hamburgers (with cheese & the usual lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, etc.), plates, dessert, drinks for everyone, napkins even. After eating, we all sat around the fire reminiscing and boring the outsiders (i.e. the ones who didn't go to our h.s. or were a different year in school than us) with stories about the crazy/stupid things we did. I left everyone still sitting there around 11:00 to make the drive back home and was thinking on the way home, "Man, we have all gotten old. When did that happen?" Sitting here right now at the late, late hour of 8:3o, I would like nothing more than to crawl in bed, but out of stubbornness (and a commitment to a post a day), I'm going to hang in there until at least ten or so. Now that's I've posted something resembling writing, I'm going to put my brain in neutral and zone out in front of the tv for a while. See you tomorrow internet.

More Halloween fun

Here's Wesley again (as "Mr. Incredible") and me (as "Wesley's Mom"). I think I make a really good Wesley's mom. Don't you agree? Pardon the quality...I didn't get any of the both of us with my camera so this is a scan of the picture the church gave us (they put on Fall Fest every Halloween with lots of games, hayrides, dunking booth, etc. and lots of candy for the kiddos).

Can you tell I already don't know what to write about? Looks like it's going to be a long 30 days. All I can really think about lately is how very much I miss my husband and want for him to be home (he's on a business trip to Vegas, lucky guy). Most of the women I talk to about him being gone for business regularly have been married a lot longer than us and think the reason I miss him so much is just that we're still newlyweds, and I guess in some way, we are. But, when they say that, what I want to respond with is this, "I hope and pray that I feel the same in ten, twenty years when he is gone from me for a week at a time as I do now. I hope I still feel like a huge part of me is somewhere in Nevada and that I ache for him to be safe and sound at home with me. I hope I still have to sleep with pillows on both sides of me when he's gone just so I can get to sleep." I would never say those things out loud to them because it implies things about their marriage that might hurt them. I know somewhere inside them they want to have the same kind of fulfilling marriage that I want to have, but at some point along the way they gave up on a dynamic relationship and settled for something a little more ho-hum and a little more "realistic." I certainly don't judge them for their marriage, because if there's one thing I've learned over the past two years, it's that marriage is a LOT of work, no matter how prepared you are for it, no matter how well you know your spouse or how much you adore him/her, no matter what, it requires an enormous effort from both people to go beyond just working to flourishing. Well, I suppose I just went from having nothing to say, to having something to say...see you again tomorrow, same place but likely not the same time.

Happy Halloween a day late

Wesley was Mr. Incredible this year. His criteria for picking out a costume was that it had to have "muscles." In the last few years he's pretty much gone through all the superheroes; Spiderman, Batman and now Mr. Incredible. I guess he still has Superman left. When I picked him up from daycare yesterday he was already strung out on sugar and ready to go straight to trick-or-treating. On the way to the restaurant for supper he asked what I was going to be for Halloween. Me: "Wesley's mom." Wesley: "You can't go as that." "What, is that not good enough?" "No. What will you wear?" "What I have on." "(said with a laugh) You can't do that." "Oh well, I guess I won't go as anything then if I can't go as your mom."

Warming up...

In preparation for November (see post below), I'm going to do a little warm-up in the next few days and try to post three or four times before the challenge starts.
If you haven't wandered over to Sunny & Brandon's blog in a while, click on over and look at their little cuties (soon to be one year old). Here's a picture I stole from their most recent post... If you don't think these are some of the most adorable children, you probably need to go see your optometrist. Happy Thursday (especially for us Grey's Anatomy fans - tonight we get a double dose).

Challenge accepted

Mighty Girl posted a challenge she heard about over at Fussy for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). I'm taking the challenge although I might fail horribly at it. Since that is my fear, I'm hoping that my recent purchase of Maggie Mason's (aka Mighty Girl) book, No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog, will help me out with some inspiration for the 30 posts I just committed to. So, my faithful readers, all two of you, if I fail to post on a day in November, please remind me, gently or not-so-gently, to get my butt in gear and post something.

POTW...rock 'n' roll boy

Okay, so I have a really good excuse for not posting last week. Our dog, Molly, got hit by a car and died. We only had her for a little over a year, but she found her way into all our hearts and is dearly missed. I caught myself looking out the back window for her as I folded clothes this afternoon. I know what we are dealing with is not nearly so hard as losing a human family member, but it's still difficult. Wesley and I both have shed our fair share of tears in the last few days.
On a happier note, we want to say Congratulations to Jody & Heather on their recent marriage. For those of you who don't know already, Jody is Wesley's father. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them to post on here.
What I do have a picture of is a very cool lil dude who either wants to grow up to be a "rockstar" or a "policeman." Seriously, if you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll say a policeman, but every now and then he'll volunteer out of the blue that he wants to be a rockstar. The rockstar always cracks me up. Of course, I think he can be anything he wants to be. I was trying to get a good picture of him the other day to use instead of his school picture to give to family (he always has his fake smile on in those) - didn't get a good one for that purpose but did get some little gems like these...
I'm jealous of his shoes...want me some just like em' but can't find them anywhere

















rock on lil' buddy
















showing off his shoes...

a t-shirt he picked out because it was "cool" - I agree

Personality Quiz

Found this personality quiz over on Haley's blog... Like Haley, I'm not real sure this describes me, but it's nice to know I would have been a good veterinarian :)

You Are An ISFP

The Artist You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now). You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children. Simply put, you enjoy bueaty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life. Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs. You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer.

What's Your Personality Type?

POTW...babysitting

Anthony & I kept our niece & nephew, Trinity (2 1/2 years) & Landon (almost 2 mos.), over Labor Day weekend so my brother & Jennifer could move from Illinois to Tennessee (yay!) and Anthony got a crash course in just how much work newborns can be. Here's a couple pictures of them... I've been having troubles with my photo editing software - everytime I save edits, it mysteriously messes up the color and makes skin tones look all orangey, so until I get it fixed, all my pictures will have to be in b&w.

POTW...random photo

Nothing exciting to post...just plugging along with school & work & trips to car shows (for Anthony). This is a photo I snapped when Wes was messing around with our kitten being silly. He looked out the window for a second with this serious expression on his face and I captured it. If you know Wesley, he's not a "serious" child. I wouldn't want it to be any other way, though. I've become really sentimental in the last few weeks about how fast he is growing up. It's all too true what people saw to new parents all the time, "Cherish them while they're babies. The next time you turn around they'll be starting kindergarten." So, for all you new (& old parents out there...and to myself), remember to really be in the moment with your children...hear what it is they're saying, study their expressions and their mannerisms so you won't be sitting at their high school graduation thinking, "Where did the my little boy/girl go? I can't believe this is already here." So, that's my philosophical moment for the day (if you can even call it that). Happy Thursday to all you faithful POTW readers :)

Our crazy little family...

Our friend, Justin, took this picture of us on Saturday at my friend, Darren's wedding. You can see Wesley running off through the flower bed behind us. Darren & Jessica's wedding was so beautiful! I, of course, got teary-eyed during the wedding. I hadn't seen Darren since he & Jessica started dating so I had never seen them together. It was obvious by the look in their eyes how very much they loved each other. This probably comes as no surprise to anyone, but I LOVE weddings...not just any wedding, well, okay, any wedding...but I really love the weddings of people I know and love. So, anyways, I had a good time on my birthday (Sat.) even though we didn't do much besides go to the wedding in Dover and the reception. Anthony was a good sport about it. Even Wesley did pretty good, although he never did get up the courage to go dance on the dance floor with the other kids (Anthony did actually dance with me :) -- not with the kids). I saw several people I haven't seen in a while, and Anthony even saw a few people he knew that weren't acquaintences of mine. We saw this couple that got married on the same day as us in another church in Martin and that were on the same flight to Florida for their honeymoon as us. Okay....so this has turned into a very long post about absolutely nothing and now it's my bedtime. Until next week...

POTW...First Day of Kindergarten

Well, today was Wesley's first day. Don't worry, I didn't cry. I started to and it really took some self-control to not do it, but Anthony was with me so that made it better. Wesley was all dressed up in new clothes from head to toe and raring to go this morning. We took a few pictures in front of the house before we left. Anthony wanted me to leave him in front of the school with all the other kids that had already gotten off the bus or been dropped off, but I wouldn't. So, we walked him to his classroom where two of his classmates were already there, Kelton (a boy he went to daycare with) and another little boy. We helped him find the peg for his backpack. He took out his folder like he was supposed to. His teacher showed him where to put his lunch money, and he put his folder in the bin where it's supposed to go (Ms. Debbie will put notes and things in there each day for us to look at and help him with...which reminds me, I haven't looked to see what's in there for today........I'm back...he has a sweet note from his teacher about some of the things he did. He got a smiley face for the day [which means he did good - that's her behavior system - straight means not so great & sad face obviously means he had a bad day]). She said he was "a good listener....[and] a bit wiggly during rest time..." That's my Wesley....wiggly.
I'm sure he got tired of mine and Anthony's questions this afternoon when we picked him up. We probably sounded like detectives grilling a suspect..."and then what did you do? Did you like that? What was next?" He sounded like he had a big time. I asked him just now what he thought of his first day of kindergarten and he said, "I thought...um...if we was going outside to play & it's being a long time until we go out and play....it's just fun, okay?" You can see where my precious five-year-old boy's priorities are?! :)

POTW...PreK graduation

Wesley's daycare, Christian Wee Learn, always has a little program for the kids leaving the preschool part of it and going to kindergarten. They had that for Wesley's class on Sunday night at church (the daycare is run by the church). They sing lots of cute songs and recite the pledge of allegiance, the days of the week and the months of the year, then get a little certificate and go eat some cake and drink punch with their friends and family. Both mine and Anthony's parents came and Wesley's dad, so we had quite a crowd there. This picture is of Wesley (in the middle) with his friends, Dalton (left) and Joshua (right). Joshua and Wesley have been in the same class since they were 6 weeks old and their birthdays are less than a week apart. They have become like brothers, they're either hugging each other around the neck or their trying to beat each other up. Luckily for their kindergarten teachers, they will not be in the same kindergarten class.
Oh, and I almost forgot...Wesley got voted "Mr. PreK" in the PreK class superlatives. Imagine that? :)

POTW...

Some more pictures of Trinity & Wesley from the weekend she stayed with us. The motorcycle pictures are of the bike Anthony had for all of 2.2 weeks (or something like that) before he traded it in for a Buell (made by Harley Davidson). (I played with the contrast on the motorcyle pictures so that's why they look like that -- and I guess I should mention that Anthony took the pictures of the motorcycle).

POTW & Wonderful News!!!

I was having some issues with my photo editing software so I didn't get to post this on Wednesday when I typed it.
I am now the proud aunt of another nephew. Woohoo! Landon DeWayne was born Friday, July 14th at 10:44 pm, weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz. & 18" long. We had driven up to Illinois after work and were there when he was born. We all got to go into the room and see him (the hospital was more lenient about visitors than I've ever seen - not the greatest thing for newborns, but I made sure Wesley and I scrubbed before we got close to the baby) and I got to hold him before we left. We also got to visit with Anthony's Dad, his wife and her daughter on Saturday in MS and on Sunday in Jackson. We also drove to Dover on the way back Sat. to pick up my niece, Trinity, because I wanted her to stay with us for a little while. My mom is keeping her for a week or so for Eric & Jennifer to get settled in with Landon. I took Trinity back to my mom and Wesley to Jody on Monday. Needless to say, my car needs a rest and so do I. But, I had the best time keeping Trinity and got really attached to the little booger. I wish so much that they lived closer. She just melts my heart when she says, "Mimi," her pronunciation of Mindy or, "Wuv you." So, anyways, back to the news....there's more. I found out yesterday that I will be promoted from my current position as a secretary to Business Manager (effective August 1st). Woohoo for me! I've known this was a possibility and that with all the responsibilities I've taken on at work in the last year that I would be getting a promotion, I just didn't know how much of one until yesterday. Comes with a nice raise to and that certainly doesn't hurt :) Without futher ado, here are a couple pics of Landon. The first one is of Wesley & Trinity watching cartoons in the waiting room while Jennifer was in labor. The second one is when Trinity saw her little brother for the first time. And, the last one is of Landon with his mommy.

POTW...I guess we can keep him

Our downfall was letting Wesley see him and get attached. Within a day or so of them meeting Wesley had named him Ace. His brother has a loving home with one of my co-workers and his two boys. Anthony got attached because of the all white whiskers on a black cat. I got attached just because he's so darn cute. Meet the newest member of our family. For those counting, we have one dog, two cats, and three and a half humans...(just kidding - seeing in you're paying attention). ETA: I guess I should explain how got him in the first place. I was driving home from my in-laws with their chihuahua(sp?), Buffy, in the car b/c we were dog-sitting for them and trying to keep Buffy from crawling all over me when I round a curve and see two black kittens on the right edge of the road a split second before I nearly hit one. I was so sure I had hit one that I stopped and turned around. I got out and called for them (I was nearly in tears at this point). I pick them both up and look them over by the light of my headlights. At this point I still think I might have hit one, but neither are bleeding, they're very tame and out in the middle of nowhere, so I decide to take them home for the night and then see if I can find homes. People drop unwanted pets off all the time in that area, which makes me angry. Anyways, long story short, Anthony didn't want to keep any of them because we already have enough pets, but he finally gave up the, "I guess we can keep him," last night. So, that's the rest of the story.

POTW...fireworks

Hope you all had a fun & relaxing fourth of July. The three of us watched fireworks at Paris Landing (Wesley with his dad) and Anthony & I ate dinner with Sunny & Brandon Hall, Sunny's parents, Russ & Diane Hammonds, and, of course, the triplets. Yes, that's right, I got to see the babies again and you would not believe how much they've changed in two months. The first thing I noticed was how thick their hair had gotten and the fact that they had necks (sounds funny, I know, but at 6 mos. their head just kind of sat on their shoulders). I had such a good time playing with them. They got me soaked playing in their little plastic pool on the back porch - which they love.
Without futher ado, here are the pictures of the week -- fireworks from last night...
If you've ever tried taking pictures of fireworks, you know just how hard it is to get any good shots. I got about 10 or 15 decent ones from about 80 shots. Good thing I'm digitial now! :)

POTW...

This is my older brother, Eric, with his family. I went up to visit him in Illinois on Sat. and to go to a baby shower for Jennifer. Their little boy, Landon, is due at the end of July. Trinity, my only niece, is truly a mess. She turned two in March and has started jabbering up a storm. They are planning on moving to middle Tennessee next spring, and I'm very excited about it. I don't get to see them more than a handful of times each year and I feel like I'm missing out on being an aunt. I'm hoping my mom won't be able to watch Trinity for a week after Landon is born like she planned so I can keep her instead.

Photo Tuesday again...

Happy Anniversary to me and Anthony (about 2 months early)! Anthony has been wanting to get bikes for a while so we can all three ride together. Wesley is itching to ride somewhere other than the stretch of sidewalk directly in front of our house, and it would just be fun to be able to ride around Sharon. So, upon my suggestion that instead of going away for the weekend for our anniversary like we did last year, maybe we should buy each other a bike, he decided we shouldn't wait until August, that we should buy them now so we could enjoy the summer weather and get a little exercise (we both are in bad need of that). We headed over to Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon, picked out our bikes, came home and took a ride around the block before we went to a little get-together with our Sunday School class. Anthony's is the one in the foreground with the red seat and mine is the one with the pink lettering (of course). I just snapped some shots on Sat. when Anthony was taking all the tags and stickers off and didn't get an overall shot of them, but they're bikes so you get the idea. And, I kind of like this shot anyways...looks like the bikes are intertwined, like mine and Anthony's lives (I know, how cheesy is that??? - give me a little break. It's about two hours past my bed time.) Anyways, so far, we've gotten up early and rode about two to two and a half miles two out of the last three mornings. I'll let you know if we're still doing it by the end of the summer.

Another annoying quiz...

Well, not really annoying, just another quiz. I'm usually not one to take all those quizzes people email you (although I used to be, back in h.s. and early college when I wasn't aware of how much free time I really had - now I have too many things that need to be taken care of to take quizzes).
Saw this one on Karen Russell's blog, My Life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good) and copied it. Thanks, Karen, for providing goof-off material for my lunch hour :)

I am: learning to cherish the little things in life & stop sweating the small stuff.
I want: to be skinny again & to have more babies (in the future).
I have: plans for this afternoon to take Wesley to the movie Cars…his second time seeing it, my first.
I wish: life didn’t feel so much like a balancing act.
I hate: it when my days starts off in a funk because it’s so hard to get it going in a good direction after that.
I miss: my friends who have moved away…I’m not so great at long-distance friendships.
I hear: nothing…everyone’s gone to lunch.
I wonder: when I’ll actually feel like an adult – at 23, I still don’t.
I regret: not trying harder at things…classes, relationships, work, etc.
I am not: outgoing.
I dance: at home when no one else is there to laugh at me…except myself.
I sing: in the car all the time, usually when I’m alone so I can blast the radio.
I cry: when I’m really mad, at weddings, during sad movies…
I am not always: confident in myself…I fake it a lot.
I make with my hands: lot of things for the people I love – quilts, cards, scrapbooks – I’m very ‘handy’ (and also not good at telling jokes that aren’t cheesy) : )
I write: in my journal sometimes (used to be better about that) – used to also write creatively for fun.
I confuse: people when I give directions, just ask Anthony.
I need: to be loved & appreciated.
I should: go on more trips to places I want to experience.
I start: way too many things for one human to actually finish (see “I make with my hands”).
I finish: most of the stuff that I start. It’s sometimes late (either by my own deadline or someone else’s), but it does eventually get finished.

Feel free to copy and paste on your blog with your own answers.

Picture of the week...

This is a picture from last night at the T-ball awards (where they give out the trophies and take a team picture). The little boy with Wesley is Logan, one of Wesley's friends from daycare. Aren't they cute in their little jersey's? : )

Happy Tuesday!

Picture of the Week

This is my sister-in-law Lynsey and her boyfriend, who recently became her fiance, Jordan. Congratulations you two!

Picture of the week...

Anthony and I had a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend. One of the fun things we did was go to a car show in Big Sandy with some of his friends from work. It was so hot and humid, but we still had a good time and I got a few cool shots of the cars. If you're into classic cars/hot rods, you may recognize some of the ones in these shots...I can only identify the Mustangs :)





































In this last one, you can see (from L to R) Anthony, Rick Legens & Chris Legens (two of the guys he works with and good friends of his) and of course me taking the pictures. We laughed when we saw this picture because the three of them look like midgets, especially compared to the people on the left.
Happy Thursday!

Picture of the week numero tres

Got home last night and realized I forgot to bring home my laptop so I could post a picture, so here's today's and yesterday's...













The first one is Braden and Jace Brawner, Anthony's brother and his son, at the carnival last Saturday. Isn't Jace cute? He's a sweet baby.
The second one is of Wesley on the carousel. That's Mary Ann and Jace in the background. Jace was loving the carousel until it started moving and then he DID NOT like it. I'm sure it scared him when it all of a sudden started moving. In fact, I think this is only the first or maybe the second time Wesley has ridden on a carousel without me there beside him. One time he got on one by himself and started crying once it moved. The guy operating it had to stop and let me on. Happy Thursday! Maybe tomorrow I'll have something other than carnival pictures.