The Letter

Dearest Hubby,
It is with great and deep regret that I inform you of the going's on in the house today. Your charming son, Kiddo, thought it would be most amusing to lock our poor Kitty in the bathroom this morning. Being the fantastic mother and caregiver that I am, I did not acknowledge Kiddo's whereabouts for some time, as I assumed he was happily playing in his room. He was, but his gleeful squealing was not from active, intelligent play, rather it was being used to drown out our Sweet Kitty's cries from the dark dungeon. In her despair, our Darling Kitty took it upon herself to cling to the only thing she could find in the dampness, your dirty clothes from last night, piled so lovingly on the floor. She shrieked, she cried, she meowed and howled; and then in a last effort to spite us all for not rescuing her in a more timely fashion, she peed on your clothes.

Oh why, why could you not have a blessed hamper for to house the dirties before laundry day? Why must they lie so feebly on the floor in a pile? Oh wait, there is a hamper... Oh then, why, why does your beautiful and thoughtful wife forsake you by forgetting to return the hamper baskets to their rightful place, leaving said hamper useless? Could you not be spared perhaps a closet floor to rest your duds? Oh wait, the closet floor is where they go most of the time anyway.

But never fear Dear Hubby; once discovered I freed Fair Kitty and dashed the smitten clothes fast away to the wash. Ample amounts of detergent and detergent booster thrashed the clothes in a violent effort to release the odorous foe, and your beloved khaki's made it through unscathed. The next load was reserved for your dark shirt, and since no small article shall spin alone, I tossed in stray towels and the wadded up rug from the evil bathroom.

Now I must interject here, this letter placed among the blog sphere was originally intended for my amusement, but lest you be embarrassed, for my penance is coming. In my snarkiness and misplaced anger I was pre-writing this letter in my head, all the while sniff checking the aforementioned shirt for signs of odor. As my internal dialogue crescendo-ed to a humorous peak, I stuck my entire face into the shirt that, from what I can only guess, housed a gigantic cat poo Beloved Kitty deposited in the unchecked bathroom rug.

After several rounds of dry-heaving, I was able to compose myself, dig the remaining poo pellets out of the washer, and restart the load; trying to put the incident behind me. I am pleased to say the second lashing beat out the offenders and your blue shirt is saved.

As for the Cat and I, well our condition is yet to be determined.

I await your return home,
Beloved Wifey
D :)

Grey Matter

Hello friends. I know I have been missing lately. I do not know what to say other than, well, things are a bit stressful right now. I have lots to talk about, but when I sit down to type my thoughts get all jumbled and overshadowed by something that we are waiting for answers on. Unfortunately, whether the answer be yay or nay, it will only bring on more questions. I am trying to remain focused; that no matter what, God has a plan for us and He will take care of us. I was directed to this link this morning through another great blogger where the following spoke directly to me. I hope Pastor Adams doesn't mind me quoting him.

Verse four of John 21 is what caught my attention. It says that as the dawn was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, but none of the disciples knew that it was Jesus. Here they were looking for direction, purpose and provision, and there stood Jesus on the beach where they were headed, yet they didn’t know he was there. Here’s the point: no matter where you are headed, no matter what the circumstances, and no matter whether you recognize him or not, Jesus is already there waiting for you, standing on your beach.

Always watching, always waiting.

Hopefully I will have something new up soon.
Thank you for remaining faithful.
Until,
D :)

Six Weird Things Meme

I was tagged for this meme, by Lane. THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I love choral music. After participating in choirs for over half my life, they are a part of who I am. I get very emotional listening to choir music; even if it is bad.

2. I cry at just about anything. Sad/moving commercials, movies (even animated ones), TV shows, just thinking about crying makes me tear up. (thanks Dad! ;) )

3. I have an insane knack for recognizing faces. Even if I have never met the person, if they catch my attention for any reason at all and I see them again (even years later), I will recognize them and figure out how I know them. I have to copy this one from Lane - because I have a similar trait. I am not always good at figuring out where I've seen someone, but I know for sure that I have. Once, when I was about 20 I saw a guy in Bennigan's that looked familiar. I got up the nerve to talk to him and we finally figured out that he was in the same Kindergarten class as I was 15+ years earlier. He was only there for half the year and it was the last and only time I had seen him.

4. I have a strange connection to large bodies of water. If I haven't been near one in a while, I get edgy until I find one. In college when things got stressful I would drive to the nearest lake and just sit and breathe. It would completely recharge my batteries. I am the happiest when I am near the ocean.

5. Knock on wood… I have never broken a bone.

6. I often have déjà vu; at least once a week and sometimes an incident will be several minutes to an hour long.

I am tagging Carrie, Mollie, Abby, Heather, Jenifer, and Karen for this meme.

Can I please go Back to bed?

Today is just one of those days. I have no clever stories. No anecdotes about Kiddo or Hubby or life in general. Kiddo has been crying and whining since the moment he woke up this morning. He has already been in time out twice and it is only 3:00. I have turned off his beloved Little Einsteins and we sit here in silence except for the incessant fake cry of my red faced, snotty Kiddo. He wanted to watch the episode with the Big Jet and the Little Red Train so I put it on and he wailed. Why? Who knows. I don't think he even knows. I took away his cup earlier. He wanted to drink his water without a lid and refused to stay in the kitchen. I warned him 3 times then the cup had to go. More tears. More sobs, more snot and redness.

He now stands on tip toe looking on to the kitchen counter, picking up one-by-one little black beans that had fallen from a candle dish a couple of nights ago. The dish sits high above our heads on a shelf only accessible by ladder or standing on a dining room chair, and I simply haven't had the energy to put them back since Kiddo's HEB balloon knocked them down the other day. Kiddo picks up a bean, runs to me and says "here Mommy, shu sha duh dis duh one". I'm not sure what that means, but after a couple of times I can't help but smile. Today has been an emotional roller coaster with him.

I hate being mean. I hate having to be a disciplinarian. I want to be the one who is always nice and fun and a comfort; not scary and yelling and punishing. Is he old enough to understand all this yet? Does he know that even though I take things away and make him sit in his time-out chair that I still love him?

The crying is over, his little sandals are back on his feet and he is once again gallivanting around in the back yard in nothing but a pajama top and a diaper. I have already had to scrub dog poo off his bare feet twice today. He ruined a pair of jogging pants this morning running around in our sludge pit of a yard. He refuses to wear clothes today even though it is only 57 degrees out side. It is one of the few sunny days we've had in weeks - I had thought we might go to a park today; perhaps to the store so I can finally return those items that have hung in a bag on my door since the new year. No. Not today. I am already too tired and if we left now he would be a nightmare and we would not get home before Hubby. What the heck am I cooking for dinner?

Ugh, crying again. This time I had to put the dog in time-out because she thinks a tennis ball is hers and keeps hiding it from Kiddo. I tried to get her to drop it, and she decided to play Pit Bull and growl at me. That DOES NOT FLY in my house so she is in her kennel with a cover. I tried to explain to Kiddo that the dog is in time-out and he thinks I am punishing him. Man, I am just trying to protect him - how do I explain that? "Where Ty-wer? Where dee go?" "Wahhhhhhh!" "Ty-wer come ouT!" "Ty-wer no nigh, nigh! Where dee go?" "Wahhhhhh!!!" *sigh* Sometimes I wish he didn't love her so much.

I either need a hunk of chocolate the size of my head or a stiff drink. Since I have neither, a soda and some Hershey's kisses will have to do.

Until,
D :/

Holla Back Boy

I have always been a singer. I'm pretty sure my parents have told me on more than one occasion that I sang before I could talk. My mom can sing very well, as can my grandmother, so it was a pretty good bet I would inherit that ability. I remember as a small child singing all day long. Mom kept the radio on during the day, of course it was always on in the car, and she sang all the time so I did too. Once, several years ago, we found an old tape at my grandmother's house that had a recording of me singing to an old Dolly Parton song. I couldn't have been more than 5 years old. My paternal grandfather nicknamed me Dolly D 'cause I loved Dolly and singing so much. My friends would marvel at how many songs I knew all the lyrics to - and would listen intently to me in the car to make sure I got every word right. It was just what I did; my "thing" I guess.

In grade school I took choir for 7 years. Add to that 2 or 3 years of voice lessons and then in college I majored in Music Education with vocal emphasis. I even did a semester of grad school for a master's degree in Vocal Performance. Suffice it to say I love to sing. I can't say if I am any good, really it's all a matter of opinion, I just pursued it in school because it is what I know, and seemingly it came easy.

I don't sing as much as I once did. If I am being totally honest it really depresses me. I thought I had been given a gift for more than just singing nursery rhymes and abc's. I really always thought I would be singing professionally somewhere, but for right now I guess I am ok with where I am vocally.

Kiddo, on the other hand, has always been a dancer. His first nickname from me was Boogie. I would sing to him as an infant and he would squirm and wiggle and smile - now that I think of it, he danced in utero as well. Hubby and I were at church one morning when I was about 7 months pregnant and the special music had a couple of trumpet solos. When the trumpets would play, Kiddo would squirm and punch and kick and when they stopped he would still as well. It was quite amusing. Anyway, from a very young age I would sing to him and he would dance. He has just recently really started singing - thanks to the Baby/Little Einsteins DVDs we have. He can sing the theme song for Little Einsteins almost word for word! One of his favorite episodes involves one of the character's love for balloons and she sings a song about it. Kiddo often runs around the house singing "I love balloons, I love, I love balloons!". It is so cute because sometimes he will insert the name of something he's playing with. "I love Nemo, I love, I love Nemo! I love Mommy, I love, I love Mommy!" The funny thing is, he has never really sung in the car, much less enjoyed the radio. He always liked it better if I turned the radio down and sang Old MacDonald.

So today we were coming home from the grocery store. I had the radio on and that new Avril Lavigne song came on. What is the name of it..."Keep Holding On"... I think it is from a movie coming out - anyway, Kiddo starts rocking out in his car seat! He's shaking his head and moving his arms and siiiiinnnnnngin'! Except he doesn't know the words so he's singing "Ieeeeeee Loooooove Ballooooooooons!! Ieeeeeee Looooooove Balloooooooons!" :) :) SO CUTE! I am cracking up at him - then the next song comes on. It's Gwen Stefani's "Holla Back Girl"*. He starts rocking out even more, rappin' to the beat and when they got to the bananas part - by the third time Kiddo was spelling B-A-N-A-N-A-S right along with them. Oh my goodness I almost drove off the road I was laughing so hard! I guess I can thank her for teaching my son to spell his first word! I didn't think he could get any cuter, but he really topped it today.

Even funnier, he left the house dressed like this...

Perhaps I do have a future rap star on my hands!

Until,

D :)

*I only put the link to the video because some might find it a bit offensive.

The Remedy

How I Lost 22 Pounds

*Disclaimer* The following information is based strictly on personal experience and should not be taken for medical or weight loss advice. Please consult your doctor before implementing any weight loss regimen.

Ok, now that is out of the way...

Last year I lost 22 pounds. I have never in my life had a weight problem. I have always been skinny, to the point of disgusting my friends - trust me when I say it was not always fun. My senior year in high school, I grew about 2 inches (up to 6 feet tall) and maintained my light weight of 112 pounds. I couldn't help it; I have always eaten like a horse - never dieted or watched calories and still stayed slim (thanks to Dad for his genes). In college I gained the freshman 15 and finally developed a back side and hips. That was a turning point for me. My weight over the next 10 years climbed by about a pound or two a year until I settled out at about 135 pounds. Then I got pregnant. While carrying Kiddo I gained 70 pounds!!!! By the time I had him, I weighed over 200 pounds and had stopped looking at the scale. Of course, we found out when I delivered that I was pre-eclamptic, and most of the weight was water. I lost 40 pounds before I ever left the hospital.

So after Kiddo, for the next year or so, I was weighing in at 156. Though not overweight by any means, it was more than I had ever carried and was causing back problems and self esteem issues. But I was a mom - and as we all know in that first 6 months to a year you pretty much run in survival mode - snagging food when you can, eating on the run or while multitasking four hundred different things, and convenience foods become a life saver. Unfortunately, convenience foods are rarely good for you, and in my case, actually kept my body from getting rid of the extra weight.

It started out innocent enough. I would eat a couple of frozen burritos for lunch. Then I started putting cheese on them, then ranch dressing, then I was eating other things with them, cleaning up after Kiddo when he ate - I became the human garbage disposal. So in January of last year I decided enough was enough and I changed my eating habits. I know I am not an exerciser - so it had to be done with eating healthy and revving up my metabolism. In addition to the no exercise thing, I knew that a traditional diet wouldn't work as well. I am not good with telling myself "no", and if there is no room for "cheating" it would never stick. So I decided I would eat salad every day (that I could stand it) for lunch, change my portions at dinner to include more veggies and less of the other stuff, and then weekends would be free to eat anything I wanted. I began drinking coffee more regularly (a true mommy life saver) and changed my daily lunch to this...

This is actually not a good representation because it is a bit different than my normal salad - but that's ok. I truly believe this is the perfect salad. First off, it is HUGE. That is an 8 cup measuring bowl! I have this salad at lunch and most days I do not even feel hungry by dinner time. Here are the ingredients: I start with about 6 cups of fresh spinach and 2-3 cups of Romaine lettuce. I tear up the spinach and lettuce to bite size and then add about 1/4 c shredded carrots. Next is 1/4-1/3 c of Feta Cheese (very important for protein and flavor) and 1/2 of a medium avocado (the best nutritional food there is). Then I add about 1/2 c shredded chicken. Every week and a half or so I boil a whole chicken in the crock pot and then de-bone and shred for my salads. Very nutritious and tasty. I top the salad with about 10-15 garlic croutons (for some fat and crunch) and about 1 tablespoon of Ranch dressing (again for fat and flavor). All you need is about a tablespoon - just enough to make things kind of sticky when mixed with the avocado and cheese. This salad is VERY good, and after a year of eating it pretty much every day, I still love it. Sometimes I vary it a little - if I want a bit more crunch I'll add some bacon bits. If I am out of chicken I'll put in a whole avocado or even use leftover taco meat from dinner. Sometimes I heat up a couple of Kiddo's chicken nuggets (as in the picture). If I have chopped onion or tomatoes I need to use I'll throw them in as well. But the bulk of the salad stays the same - good, nutritious greens. Try it, I think you'll like it. ;)

Anyway, just changing those couple of things made all the difference in the world. If I hit a plateau along the way, I would up my water intake and actually eat MORE - throwing in a couple of snacks during the day (yogurt covered pretzels, wheat thins and hummus, even a hand full of dry cereal). I think the weekend free for all was important too. First, I never felt deprived because I could eat whatever I wanted and second, eating more on the weekends jump started my metabolism in prep for the next week. The pounds came off steadily 2 at a time for several weeks, the I plateaued for a couple of weeks or so and they would come off again. By August I had dropped 20 pounds and went from a size 8 to a size 4. I have since lost 2 more pounds, then gained about 4 over the holidays. The 4 dropped off quickly once all the holiday treats were gone and I am currently hovering around 134 pounds. Also, I make sure to satisfy the inner beast once a month with my PMS Treat of the Month. :)

So there you have it. My secret. And - NO EXERCISING. Imagine what I could do if I added that in...

Yah, right!

Until,

D :)

Where You Are

I am a terrible friend. Truly, sometimes I do things and I wonder just where my feeble brain ran off to. I was trapped away from home for most of last week and I sat around doing nothing all the days I was there (with the exception of taking some pictures for my best friend and going to a birthday party). I was a bit depressed - being away from Hubby and home, and I focused on the "being stuck" part way more than the "what can I do with the time I have here" part. One of my very best friends literally lives only a couple of miles up the road from Grammy and Happy and it never even occurred to me to give her a call. We could have hung out. We could have at the very least talked on the phone. What the heck is wrong with me?? I sat there all day for a couple of days, reading, watching TV, playing with Kiddo, and all the while I could have been spending quality time with her. It only struck me that I should have called her the night before I left to come home. By then it was too late. Now I feel so bad. I don't know if she reads this blog, but if you do S - I am so sorry. I am a terrible friend. I owe you more than that. Please forgive me.

It has been eating at me all week. I can't keep it in any longer. I hope she is able to forgive me.

More later,
D :)

Innocence Maintained

So I think I know Kiddo pretty well. I mean, we spend just about every waking moment together, and quite a few of the sleeping one's as well. I'm pretty much the only one who feeds him, bathes him, clothes him and in all this I think I know what he likes and dislikes. I have tried feeding him just about everything under the sun (except peanut products) and have kept a running list in my head of the things he will and won't eat. Now, I know kids can be fickle; what they love one day will be strewn aside the next like garbage. And I know that taste is something subject to change on a daily basis as well. But for the most part, Kiddo is pretty consistent. Or so I thought...

So the list of snubbed dishes so far includes things like Lima beans, asparagus, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots and scrambled eggs. These items have been offered time and again, and on occasion when tasted caused instant gagging reflex in my little one. He won't even touch a tomato in any shape or form, unless he mistakes it for a grape! :) Just trust me when I say I was completely confident in telling someone that Kiddo would absolutely not partake in any of these items during a meal.

We were staying with Grammy and Happy last week, as you know. Every morning G & H have a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese mixed in. I am not really a breakfast person (unless you count coffee) and so I often do not participate in the ritual when I am there. Kiddo, at home anyway, tends to not be particularly interested in food until he has been up a while, so I often wait about an hour before I feed him breakfast. But, G & H are early morning folk and so every morning breakfast was ready just as we were opening our eyes. I've been trying to implement a schedule with Kiddo anyway, so the first morning I went ahead and put Kiddo in a chair and set a plate in front of him. Knowing full well he would absolutely not touch the eggs, I dug up some apple sauce and a banana thinking it would help stir his appetite and solve the problem of a fussy baby sitting in front of an untouched plate.

But oh my friends, I truly believe God gives us children to test all that we think we know, to provide us with daily laughter, and yes, to embarrass us by proving us wrong. Kiddo decided to provide all those things at once. After saying something to the effect of, "well he probably won't eat the eggs since he doesn't like them", Kiddo took one look at Grammy enjoying her eggs and scarfed his up like they were chocolate ice cream! As if that wasn't enough, later that day he was offered a carrot. Once again I made mention that he didn't like them and the next thing I knew he was munching on his second! Oy vey!

From now on I am keeping my mouth shut.

Oh yes, on a totally unrelated note - I made my PMS treat of the month. It is a lemon cake with vanilla/lemon custard. OMG! Heavenly! So light, so moist, so very lemon. mmmmmm, I think I'll have another bowl. Sorry the picture doesn't do it justice. But here it is anyway.

Until,

D :)

Absence of Fear

My new friend, Mollie wrote a post the other day about wearing make-up and I guess it got me to thinking. Like her, I rarely leave the house without painting my face to some extent. I'm not sure where I got it from, probably my mother, who, from what I can remember, never went for very long "without her face on". I remember sitting in the bathroom with my mom, watching her draw out her eyes in cat-like fashion with jet black, liquid eye liner. I remember getting excited at Halloween knowing that I too would get to wear that coveted eyeliner (so cold and slimy feeling when applied, by the way) and feel all grown up. I think that is where my love of Halloween comes from. The opportunity to wear lots of make up (including false eyelashes of course!) and not be mistaken for a street walker has always been fun for me. But back to subject, I learned somewhere over the course of growing up that one should always be "presentable" when leaving the house.

I find it somewhat amusing that Mollie's mother related having pride with wearing make up. I mean, my thinking is that if you had pride in your appearance, you wouldn't need it. Covering up what God gave you certainly doesn't show how proud you are of it. Then again, wearing make up is the equivalent to some of being put together, or "dressed" as it were and is a natural part of making oneself ready to face the world.

I remember some years ago sitting in a restaurant with a dear friend, trying to explain why I wore make up every day. She was going through a divorce at the time, was very depressed and her self-esteem was in the toilet. As I was explaining myself, I remember thinking about what I was saying. I was rambling on about how I didn't care about what other people thought of me and I wore make up for myself to make myself feel better, but other people's approval was what made me feel good....even though I didn't care what they thought....you see where this is going awry! The whole time in my head I am screaming at myself to shut up because I was not making any sense and she wasn't buying it anyway - it was a strange conversation to say the least.

But what I feel now is that I need to put myself out there in the best way I can, so I am the most comfortable. I am terribly socially awkward and if I am self conscious about any little thing, be it my clothes or that big zit on my face, I will try to crawl back into my own skin to get out of social interaction. By putting on my "face" before I go out, I ensure at least some comfort that people are not focusing on my flaws.

Of course, there is a wide and varied scale to this - It is very rare that I "fix" my hair. But that is an entirely different subject. My hair is so fine and straight that fixing it often requires a full scale arsenal of products and tools, and the result, though pretty at first, rarely lasts until I get to my destination. Also, I kind of like how my hair looks "Au natural" and therefore don't put too much into it on a daily basis. I do, however, know women that spend hours a day in the powder room fixing and putting themselves together with make up and hair do's, and always look beautiful and their very best. That is great for them, I guess I just don't have that kind of patience or energy. Also, I wear jeans almost every day (*ahem*, every day that I get out of my pajamas). Consider yourself lucky if you've seen me in anything else!

It took me a long time to feel comfortable in my own skin. And now that I am getting older, that skin is starting to look it and I am suddenly faced with discomfort about it again. The self portrait series I am doing has been quite the eye opener (no pun intended). The camera sees far more than I do when I look in the mirror. All I can say is thank goodness for photoshop! ;) Unfortunately, carrying around an 8x10 print of my photoshopped face in portrait is not generally accepted in society - see, this is how I really look! No, really.

I am not sure this post made any more sense than the conversation I had with my friend that day log ago. It is hard to explain why we do things. Motivation is a strange and varied animal. I guess we all want to put our best foot forward, but because every one's expectation of what is the "best foot" is so different, we somehow get lost in our own interpretation. And, throughout the years society changes it's opinion. The region and area in which one lives makes a difference as well. It truly can be confusing. I guess I just do what makes me the most comfortable, and if someone has a problem with it they can say something to me or talk about me behind my back. Either way, in most circumstances, I really wouldn't care. I can only be me.

Until,
D :)

Pieces of You

As promised, here are some pictures. I tried to keep up with the self portrait series, so they are almost all of me. My Handsome Hubby is the guy above. :) :)

In no real particular order...

Driving...

I have to stay here how long?

Trying to blog on Grammy's slow computer... see me waving?

Showcasing the new highlights...

Fun with a hoodie! I changed my eye color in photoshop to match! hee hee!

Me and the boy today. Aww...

Hope you like!
D :)

Down So Long

Hi! I am back. After a few too many emails from my friends asking where the heck I went, I suppose I need to put in a good post! ;)

As most of you know, I was away from home for 5 days trapped at my inlaws house waiting out the ice storm that hit my home town. Grammy and Happy were so good to Kiddo and I, patiently dealing with us (and our laundry) for such a long time. I'm pretty sure it wasn't too much of a chore to have 5 days of Kiddo time though! I thank God every day that I get along with my inlaws so well that something like what happened was not too much of a burden on them (or me). Even though we were all a bit stir crazy in the end, it was still a nice visit. I know many are not so lucky.

For those of you who experience this type of thing often, the ice and snow and cold may not seem like such a big deal. However, in central TX we don't often experience "severe" weather, so the areas that may or may not be affected go into panic mode at the mere mention of something we do not normally face. As I mentioned before, most grocery and big box stores ran out of things like bread and milk, as well as propane and wood, long before anything hit. Then the storm came and, though it was a bit dangerous, it really wasn't all the weather-media hyped it up to be. My home town got hit pretty hard with ice; poor Hubby was basically trapped in the house for 3 days. His office shut down, as did most of the town, and the streets were a mess. I don't care what anyone says, if you get south of Dallas, most Texans know nothing of driving on icy roads. Of course, being the adventure seeker that he is, Hubby ventured forth into our new ice-land in our 4wd vehicle and managed to make me worry all the more being stuck over 150 miles away. Ah well.

At least I was able to go to my best friend's baby girl's first birthday party and I was also able to get some pictures of her. Another added benefit was seeing my backyard mom and partaking in her generosity by letting her cut and color my hair. Yippee! No more roots!

On the way home I was really intrigued by the landscape. The closer I got to home, the more ice was on the road and in the trees. Ahh the trees - so spooky and dead looking with branches all white; heavy, bending and broken from the weight of the ice. Entire trees had toppled and crashed to the ground, shattering like glass and leaving the remnants to mix with the slushy mess left by the cars in passing. In so many places, parallel ruts of churned up earth lined the medians and shoulders of the highways; in some cases property lines were forever changed due to unwelcome travelers plowing their vehicles into fences. It was surreal. In more than one location I saw a cow wandering the side of the road, obviously and escapee from a fence that once was, and enjoying the new vegetation and scenery.

The cows, poor dears, seemed severely confused. If you ever spent a good amount of time on a farm or with someone who spent time on a farm, you learn certain things about cow reading. Farmers and country folk often swear by the position of cows in a pasture being able to tell you if a storm is coming, if it's going to be sunny, or even if it's a good fishing day! I was always told that if all the cows are facing the same direction to watch out for a storm. On my drive home, the highway is lined with pasture after pasture of cows. It seems most of the cows to the right of me called for more storms while the cows on the left thought it would be sunny. hmmmm, I speculate they may both be right...eventually! :)

Suffice it to say, Kiddo and I made it home safely. I was able to have my coffee this morning and sit at my lap top and surf till my heart was content! It was glorious! The ice is now gone, and the town has to suffer the nastiness that comes after with gross roads and dirty cars; debris laden medians and accident reports out the wazoo. Hubby told me the police department was advising citizens to not even bother with reporting traffic accidents when they occurred. People were told to take as much info as possible at the scene and then report the incident sometime at the end of the week! How's that for public service? I guess they all had their hands full.

Thank goodness this only happens once in a while.

I am currently editing photos and should have something for you soon!
Until,
D :)

Coming Home

Hello my friends! Looks like I get to come home today!! The ice is melting and the temps are rising. Please say a prayer for Kiddo's and my safe return. As promised I will have lots of stories ad pictures to share when I return. Stay warm, dry and safe; I'll talk with you soon, D :) Of course, I can't leave without providing some sort of entertainment! Michael Martin Murphey - Wildfire Dolly Parton - Jolene D ;)

Only the Lonely

A couple more.... I can't resist! Roy Orbison - Only the Lonely Barbara Mandrell - If Lovin' You is Wrong (I don't want to be right) Hee hee!! D :)

Hello Darlin'

Hello everyone! I am currently away from home (and my beloved laptop) doing a photo shoot, but wanted to pop in and say hi. Due to the winter storm in my area, I will not be able to get home for a couple more days, and therefore won't be able to post. But, I promise many a picture and story upon my return! Hope you all are well, warm and dry! Much love, D :) Here is some music to keep you occupied (yes, I've been listening to that radio station again!!!) Marty Robbins - El Paso (1960) Conway Twitty - Hello Darlin'

Good Day

Oh Mother Nature - you are showing us your wrath today. We are being bombarded with cold and rain and flooding and nastiness. Starting tomorrow the temps are supposed to drop and the ice is to come. I am not looking forward to that. What's worse is the weather forecasters can't tell us for sure if anything is going to happen, but they are still saying to stock up on staples in case we are iced in for a couple of days. I ran up to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things and you could just taste the panic in the air. People were racing to grab the last of the wood, propane and such - which wouldn't have been so bad were it not for the hoarders. I mean, do you really need 12 gallons of milk for your family of 3?!? And exactly where are you going to keep them???



Hubby and I attempted to get out last night (with Kiddo). We decided to go to dinner (yay gift cards!) and then stop by Old Navy and check out the all wonderful sale they are having. I just have to ask - am I the only one that finds it extremely aggravating to go to a restaurant, wait 30 minutes for a table, only to be brought to said table and then have to stand there waiting another 5 minutes for someone to bring a high chair? I mean, really! I do not understand this at all. They knew we needed it when we asked for a table for two+a high chair. It seems simple enough. I worked in a restaurant in AZ that made sure EVERYTHING was set and ready to go before we brought the people to the table. I loved that. But I digress...



So we eat dinner and went to Old Navy. We scored a ton of clothes for Hubby, Kiddo and I at bargain basement prices! I am so glad. Hubby needed clothes terribly, and now should have enough pants to get him through next year at least. Not one thing was over $9.50, and most of it was under $5. woo hoo!!



Today we attempted to go back and shop some more, but with all the rain and flooding it was more than we wanted to deal with. Kiddo wasn't having any of it and whined the entire time.



Maybe next week when the ice thaws and we emerge from our huddle in front of the fire place, we can venture forth again in search of any remaining bargains.



I am off to give Kiddo a bath; just wanted to check in. Hope you all are warm and happy!



Self portrait for today...
Thank you all for your comments and support! Much love to you all!
D :)

Goodbye Alice In Wonderland

I think I am going to put a hold on the self portraits here for a while. I might keep doing them for the Project 365, but I have a sneaking suspicion you all are getting sick of me. Even though my page views are at an all time high, comments have dropped dramatically!

So, back to the world of regular blogging. I am sorry I have not been my regular chatty self lately. This cough is kicking my back side and I have just felt so...well...spacey lately. Maybe it's because the world stopped that rapid, hang-on-for-you-life spinning it was doing during the holidays; where all I could think about was my next project, baked good, or family member coming to town. Maybe I am just trying to get back to normal, but feeling the emptiness the holidays always leave when they are over. I already miss the music and the "cheer". I miss my excuse to sing.

So for some reason today I have had to strap myself to a chair. If I don't make myself sit, I am sucked into the space that is in front of my refrigerator. I want to eat everything in the house today. Why is that? In all actuality my tummy is a bit troubled today. I totally wrecked my diet yesterday and overindulged in high carb, greasy foods. I just can't tolerate grease the way I used to. Anyway, I still want to eat everything in site; and nothing tastes good. ugh.

I think it might be time for a new PMS treat-of-the-month. Any suggestions? I am leaning toward something lemony/limey/more fruity than chocolate. I don't have any good recipes though. AND - I still have half a bag of butterscotch chips, half a bag of peppermint chips and a whole bag of mint-chocolate chips that I would like to get rid of! Suggestions? Talk to me people! :)

I think Hubby and I are going to try to get out tonight. Have a good one!
Until,
D :)

This Way

Self portrait for today, January 11, 2007

Boy, you all are getting really familiar with my face, huh?! ;)

D :)

Tutti Fruity

Motherhood is so fascinating to me. The ups, the downs, the experts and quacks, the people that tell you your a great mom and then talk about you behind your back; it is all so.....so........amusing. Never in my life have so many strangers offered unsolicited advice and tried to "help" me when they thought things were going awry. Never in my life have I felt so invaded by outsiders and people who, not knowing me AT ALL, feel the need to tell me how to do something. Motherhood is an adventure in finding oneself; learning exactly how strong or how weak you really are; learning precisely how much crap you can put up with before wanting to throw yourself off a bridge; and learning that what you (or anyone for that matter) think is the right and proper way to do something is rarely ever true when tested in real life.

That said, there is a lot that I do as a mother that I would hesitate to tell other moms. I am pretty sure I'm not alone in this. For instance, I allow my son to have a sippy of milk to go to sleep at night. I know, I KNOW. I hear you screaming - bad, bad mommy. You'll rot his teeth, blah, blah, blah. Thing is, you don't live in my house, you don't have to go through the sleep problems we have had so you have no say. Another one - well, if I can't get Kiddo to sit and eat his dinner, I put a few m&ms on the tray or give him a Popsicle. *gasp* dessert before dinner?!?! Yes. The m&ms/Popsicle get him eating. When they are gone, he eats his food. It doesn't really bother me because I know he eats well and 4 m&ms are not going to ruin his appetite.

Here's one that we all do, when we go to the grocery store I make sure to have plenty of snacks on hand. Some moms buy a cookie or doughnut, I bring raisins or puffs or a cereal bar. It gives him something to do and allows me a relatively fuss free shopping experience.

But yesterday was a little different. We had to go to Wal-Mart to exchange a DVD Kiddo got as a gift (we already had one) and so I purchased a Little Einsteins video. Kiddo LOVES Little Einsteins! He was very excited about seeing the new show and he carried his DVD in a bag out to the car. When I was loading everything else in the back, he handed me his bag. "Are you sure you want to put your show back here?" "Yes Mommy." "Ok, but if you put it back here, Mommy can't reach it until we get home." "Ok Mommy." So I put it in the back, strap him in his car seat and off we go to the grocery store. Before we even get out of the parking lot Kiddo starts pointing behind him and saying "What do want?" I say "what do you want?" and he says "What do you want!" I tell him to answer the question, not ask it and he says "Answer Question!" *sigh* So maybe he's not getting this talking thing after all. ;) This "Who's on First" exchange goes on all the way to the store and by the time we pull in he is hysterical. The crying, the sobbing - I am thinking it will all be ok once he sees the behemoth car shopping carts he loves so much. Nope. Not today. I put him in the cart and we wheel into the store with him crying loudly. People are staring, whispering, giving me that "oh you poor thing" look and worse, the "why aren't you doing anything, can't you see he's upset" look - and honestly it didn't bother me. I tuned him out and went about my shopping, trying to get him involved as I normally do. Help me pick out an apple. What color is the apple? Do you want some raisins or puffs? Your drink? The nice man slicing up pineapple steps out from behind his booth, takes off his plastic gloves and skewers a pineapple slice for Kiddo. "Hey there son, want some pineapple?" nope. He looks at me and says "well, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't!" I know he's trying to help, but I didn't ask nor need it and now Kiddo is mad because a stranger talked to him. So I revert to the tried and true - ignore the child. I round the corner of the produce section and the crying stops. The whining begins. What is it? What do you want? Kiddo has fixated on the one thing that will save the shopping trip. The one thing that will make his sad little world right again. He'll hold it, caress it, run cars over it and love it all through the store until I pay for it and it then becomes useless. It is...
.
.
.
.
.
.
a cantaloupe.

Hmm, should I be calling a therapist? ;)
Until,
D :)

Foolish Games

Self portrait for today. I will blog more later.

Goodnight!

D :)

What's Simple is True

This past week has seen some interesting developments in little Kiddo. He is becoming such a big boy, I can't even stand it. His speech has taken off and gone to a whole new level. He will hold a 20 minute, non stop talk-a-thon with himself several times a day! He used to parrot things a lot, but now it is just ridiculous. It is nearly impossible to hold a conversation with him, or anyone else for that matter because he repeats EVERYTHING you say, about a second after you say it. You know how sometimes on a cell phone there is a weird feedback that is your own voice, about 1/2 a second behind when you say something? Know how hard it is to talk when you have that in your ear? Every time I get on the phone with someone, Kiddo goes and gets our other cordless phone and puts it up to his ear. Then he walks around the exact same way I am, using the same hand gestures and expression and repeats everything I say! It drives me insane!! He coughs when I cough, laughs when I laugh, even makes the same faces. I was on the phone with a dear friend of mine and we couldn't even talk because he was so distracting. She was laughing at my "echo" and I couldn't think.


We are also trying to figure out this sleeping thing. I want him to go to bed earlier, but he really only sleeps about 10-12 hours a day. If he has a nap, he is up until 10 or 11 pm before he is ready to go back to bed, sometimes even later. If he doesn't take a nap he will only sometimes go down earlier than 10, but then we deal with a wake up at midnight or later. I think though that the no nap nights work out better. The downside is that from about 6pm on we deal with a major case of the grouchies.


And the grouchies lead to adventures in discipline. Joy. We've been using the "go to your room" technique combined with a time out chair. It seems to be working pretty well most days. A few days ago we had a particularly long round of acting out and punishment and he finally settled down and started playing. He went into his room and emptied out his clothes hamper and came out into the living room with it on his head.
It was pretty cute until he started bumping into things. Fearing he might get really hurt and just getting plain annoyed at having a big canvass Lightning McQueen fall on me every 30 seconds, I abruptly took the hamper away and put it back in his room. Kiddo came up to me and said "Mommy back room!" (Mommy, go back in my room) so I walked in there with him. "Mommy, sit in chair. Mommy not nice. Time out."


*sigh* Well, at least he is getting it.

We are also venturing into the world of potty training. Several times a day now he will ask me to sit him on the potty. Again he will grunt and strain and sometimes get a little tee tee out. As soon as anything comes out he says "Good Job!" and hops off to flush. Yesterday I tried to put a diaper back on him afterward and he refused. "No bopper Mommy. Big Boy." I explained that if he doesn't wear a diaper then he has to tell me when he needs to go and he really seemed to understand. He stayed nakey for about an hour (with me asking him every few minutes if he needed a diaper or to go sit on the potty) and then he asked me for a diaper. It was really strange. I honestly didn't think things would be starting this soon. He doesn't seem to care when he is wet or dirty, so I'm not really sure what the motivation is. I am trying not to encourage or discourage - if he does something we clap and dance and celebrate, but I am not about to pressure him into anything. This is going to be his decision entirely - not mine. (unless of course, he ends up being the only high school senior still in diapers! ;) )

But today we bought him some big boy, Cars underwear just in case!

In keeping with my self portraits, here is yesterday's entry. It's a bit moody/creepy, but I like it. I am currently involved in a picture-a-day project and have started a separate blog just for that. Several other photographers from around the country are participating as well. Please stop by and take a look - there is some amazing talent out there!

Until,

D :)

More Than Words

Not much to say today. I need to go give Kiddo a bath before he collapses. But, I have to show you my daily self portrait.

Ok, so I snagged this shirt from a pushy, rude woman at Target yesterday. She was practically shoving me away from the clearance rack and I grabbed it before she could get to it. I was feeling particularly saucy, so I rubbed it in. "Wow, only a dollar 98?!?! Oh, it's sooooo soft!" :D

I know, I am evil. But isn't it a cute shirt?

Until,

D :)

Little Red Maz-da!

Well my friends, the forces that be have been encouraging me to tell you all something. For about a week, every time I go out, I see many a special car. Not my favorite car in the world, but my favorite car that I've owned.

Almost 3 years into our stay in Arizona, Hubby and I decided we wanted to get a "fun" car. After a lifetime of cars we were given, cars we could afford and cars that we got a good deal on, we thought we might try to find something we really wanted. I had always wanted a convertible, and since we lived in Arizona - what better place to own one! We searched for several weeks and one day I happened upon an Ebay auction for the most beautiful little 1988 Mazda RX7 I'd ever seen. Now, we'd bought small items on Ebay before, but nothing the magnitude of a vehicle. So, as a joke, I emailed the link to Hubby to see what he would do. The car was for sale by a lot across town, so I told him I would go check it out after work. I got off work as soon as I could but got stuck in traffic on the way. I was about 5 miles from the lot, just to look at the car mind you, and Hubby called me on my cell. "Well, I hope it looks as good in person as it does online." he says. Laughing I replied "yah, it's a cute little car, I can't wait to see it." Hubby says "good thing, cause you now own it." :O

He won the auction.

Thank my lucky stars; 5 minutes later I rolled up on this...

Oh Yah! It was mint; absolutely perfect and stunning and showed no wear anywhere. At 15 years old, it had less than 60,000 miles on it.

I have never loved a car more. I have never cried so much over having to sell it a year and a half later. When we found out Kiddo was on his way, we made the decision to let it go. I still regret it.

There is so much I could say about that car, but I need to wrap this up. Tell me about your favorite car. Share your stories. I'm listening. :)

Oh yes, and my self-portrait for the day...

Until,
D :)

For Your Eyes Only

I always thought I had pretty eyes! Self portrait, January 6, 2007.

They do look tired though; and a bit red still. We are better today. Kiddo's affliction seems to be much less serious than mine. I feel like I am going to start coughing up lung here in a minute and he is fine. Hopefully I'll be over this soon.

Well, the latest on the Fry front is that it could be that Kiddo may start potty training soon. He seems to find flushing the toilet fascinating. I won't let him flush unless he does something - so every night before his bath he asks to be set upon the throne. He grunts, he groans, he pushes and strains until I fear he may do damage, then hops off and says "Good Job!" while reaching for the lid. I have to watch him and be ready to snatch him up quick or he'll flush the toilet several times in a row - oy vey my water bill! But night after night nothing comes out (except for a toot or two)- so I'm not quite sure he is actually getting it, you know?

Either way I suppose it is a step in the right direction.

Until,

D :) *cough, hack!*

Am I Blue

We are sick today. Self portrait for January 5, 2007.

Kiddo acquired my cough last night just before bed. Thankfully I had some meds to help him sleep. I was not quite as lucky. The reason my brain felt like mush yesterday is because it was simmering at a warm 101 degrees for most of the day. My fever I believe spiked a bit after I went to bed because not long after I hit the pillow I suddenly was unable to get warm. I had on my pj's, my robe, several blankets and still was trembling with chills. About an hour into my "sleep" I began hallucinating - some crazy dreams came out of that one! The good news is that when my fever broke I had sweat enough to get back to my pre-holidays weight. um. yea.

Surprisingly though, Kiddo and I both awoke to good spirits, and even felt up to a trip to Target (the last couple of illnesses we've acquired I believe have come from Target, so I figure I should give back, right? ;) ). Seriously, we had to pick up some contacts for Hubby so I really had no choice.

When we got back though, we both started dragging; my fever returned and we crashed on the couch together. It is seriously hard to take a picture of oneself while fighting off the heavy arms of a tired, sick induced nap. I had to roll off the couch on to the floor to get my self up and moving again. Kiddo is still asleep, and I am sorry to report that Hubby will not be getting a home cooked meal tonight. I don't think I have it in me. Perhaps I should get him to drive-thru somewhere on his way home - ugh. That sounds dreadful. Maybe it's a cereal kind of night.

Hope you all are healthy -

D :)

16 Going On 17

Ok, this may not make any sense. I am trying to write this as Kiddo is chasing our poor puppy around our house with a kiddy lawn mower - as usual, laughing hysterically each time the dog runs in the kitchen, snatches a mouthful of food and then runs off chewing and choking, gagging down the food she is desperately trying to eat. Hubby is in the living room (right next to the kitchen and dining - where I am) blaring The O.C. on the TV in a last ditch effort to watch the last episodes of the series (sniff - we shall miss thy ridiculousness, O.C.).


I have been trying, trying to collect my thoughts for days. There is a good post in my head somewhere, but for some reason my brain has been little more than a glop of mush, squishing around between my ears. I have, in reality, developed some sort of lung thing - sorry; no other way to describe it than that. There is mucus, coughing - it's not pretty. You'd think I had smoked 3 packs a day for a few years; it even burns when I cough. And the strange thing is, I don't feel bad in any other way. Yes, my back is hurting, but that comes with every growth spurt Kiddo has, and we just went through one recently. Yes, I am tired, but who isn't?


So here I sit, trying desperately to spew forth the inner most musings of my soul, and frankly I just don't have it in me. I promise I will try to find some quiet time soon to reflect and emote and do whatever it is I do, but I didn't want you all to think I had fallen off the planet. I know when my regular blog haunts don't post in a while, I have to say a quick prayer everything is all right.


Today I finally took down the Christmas tree and various holiday decor, but only after taking Kiddo to the neighbors house for a weekly play-date. She just got hard wood floors and they look so nice. It really makes me want to do something with our house - just to spruce it up a bit. I should probably wait until Kiddo is out of the destruction phase before I think about replacing the floors. So what am I looking at here, 15-18 years?? ;)


What with all the light pulling and organizing and cleaning out the decoration boxes; and finally getting rid of the ornaments and stuff that we never put out - I am really, really tired. So, since I look like Heck-Warmed-Over I shall give you my self portrait from today. I am reflecting back on days of yore when I looked a whole heck-of-a-lot better.

In case you were wondering, I was 16 in this photo. That was a LONG time ago.

Until,

D :)

The Words Get in The Way

I have sat down three or four times today to write something and I cannot find the words. I cannot complete a thought. I am drained; wiped, done today. Nothing I had planned happened, nothing I wanted to accomplish, nothing I needed to get done materialized. Hmmm, seems wasted in a way.

Kiddo was, for the most part, fairly pleasant; but decided today would be the day to really tune up the toddler 'tude and knock me on my butt. Today he demanded everything. "OPEN!" "MILK!" "LIGHT!" "PLEASE!!" (at least he said please!) ;)

Anyway, we had a dreary day here, and par for the Texas "winter", my back yard is now a gigantic sludge pit. Kiddo made sure I was aware, and so here is my self portrait for the day...

and just to make sure you see the full impact of his announcement...

Eat your heart out Karrie! :)

*sigh*
D :)

Angel of the Morning

More of memory lane... how about a little Juice with your Jiffy Pop! :)



ETA: She just might make frizzy hair look good! ;)
D :)

Wishily Washily, Washily, Wish

Day 2 of 2007 and I am the proud new owner of my very first NEW dishwasher! I am so excited - darn it though if I didn't wash all the dirty dishes this morning with the old one! There is nothing to wash my friends! The irony.

The installation guys were scheduled to come "between 2 and 4" today. Little did they (or I) know that the reality was they would actually be here FROM 2 to 4. Apparently, having an angled cabinet makes for a difficult installation. My not-so-positive lead handyman let loose a few too many explicatives while trying to get the machine in it's proper place. Then there was an unscheduled, yet required run to the local Home Depot, which at only 5 miles away, apparently was sooooooo far for him to go - and made him lament the fact that he no longer lived in Las Vegas. And after enduring hearing how he should have been a builder, I got an informative lesson on the fact that I need to replace my sink valves because they were soldered in a weird place and could not be turned. And since Mr. Handyman "built the Bellagio" (his exact words) and he's seen thousands of sinks, he knows they should not be that way.


But, in the end I have my new Black Beauty (thank you Mom and Dad!!!), and am looking forward to many loads of dishes to come! Here is my picture of the day with my toy...

HEY! Did you notice I am not in my pj's? Yes, I even took a shower today! :) :)

Oh, and one more thing...

Mmmmmmm. My last dessert hurrah. 2 Crust Apple Pie! Soooo yummy! Want a piece? I have vanilla ice cream to. Hmmm, is this ok for my diet?

Until,

D ;)

Dawn of a New Day

Last night was fairly nice. After a long drive home from the inlaws, we opted out of a last minute invite to go to a friend's house and stayed in for the evening. We were just too beat and I didn't want to go to my dear friend's house and leave just after midnight. I didn't even know if I could stay awake that long anyway. We had an awfully unhealthy meal and played on the computer for a few hours. At 11 or so I took Kiddo into our room to try to get him to go to bed. At about 11:30 I was done so I took him to his room and laid down with him. He and I both fell asleep and I woke up at 12:02 to the sound of fireworks. Thankfully Kiddo slept through the noise, but I had missed the New Year. Oh well. At least it was quiet.


So it's the new year. 2007. It still feels like the "millennium" was so recent. We are already 7 years into this thing! Try as I might, there is just no way to avoid reflecting back on what is past and resolving to do things differently. This year, next year, it doesn't really matter - the truth is that though I always have the best intentions, I am a creature of habit and not really subject to change unless it is forced upon me.

This year I hope to do the following:

1. Keep up on housework (or to be perfectly honest, START doing house work; and not just when someone is coming over!)


2. Organize the house - this involves cleaning out the multitude of stuff we have that hasn't been used or seen the light of day for more than a year. We still have boxes of stuff from our move to AZ that haven't been opened since they were packed and that was over 6 years ago!


3. Remove those unused things and sell in a garage sale (or two) then take all that is left over to the local donation location.


4. Get back on my eating plan and back on track with getting healthy. (this is the only one I think I can actually keep)


5. Spend more quality time with Kiddo and Hubby and less time on the computer (HAHAHA!)


6. Save more money; spend less, blah, blah, blah ;)


7. Be a better friend - and maybe nurture some new relationships and let go of some of the old ones that aren't working anymore


8. Get Kiddo on a schedule and have a regular bed time for him.

Now keep in mind few of these things will actually happen, but at least I am aware something needs to be done. That is the first step, right?

One more thing. I am going to try to take a representative "self portrait" every day. I got the idea from another blogging mommy and thought it would be interesting.

So, here is today. Considering it is 1:30 in the afternoon, this is pretty representative of how my day will be...

Note the oh-so-sexy Christmas pj's and ratty robe. Ahhh, comfort! :) :) :)

ETA: Hubby saw this post and said, "so you're going to post the same picture every day?" :/

Men.

Until,

D :)