I think I’m kinda packed. It’s tough. I have to take work clothes and play clothes. And I have to pack our things for this weekend in an overnight bag so I don’t have to lug the suitcase in and out of the hotel. And since I’m meeting Soliloquy on Saturday, I have to have something nice to wear. And I don’t wear shorts, so I guess I’ll need to pull out my best capris.. she’s stylish ya know…
It’s almost as bad as when I met Jo-Lynne for the first time. I learned alot of lessons from Jo-Lynne that I will take with me through future bloggy meetups for a long time.
As it stands right now, I get to meet 3 bloggers on my little trip… isn’t that cool?
So anywho, I’ve got the clothes packed. I just need a few clean outfits for the kids. I started a list, but I lost it. And I have all these errands to run tomorrow.
Do you think 9 pairs of shoes is too many to take for a 13 day trip?
You’ll pleased to know all of the laundry is done and put away (in the laundry basket in my room).
Ok, so maybe you’re not pleased to know, but I’m pleased that it at least got that far.
My itinerary? We’ll make it to Duncan, SC tomorrow night… and to Birmingham by Saturday night after having fun in Atlanta… and Jackson by lunch time on Sunday. I’m excited.
But tonight? I had dinner at my friend’s house (second time this week because she cooks well) and our other friend was there and they were trying all this makeup on me. I found a new lip color. I wanted to show the BFF and took a funny picture. She has my login for the blog. I’m willing to bet that picture will circulate before too long.
And then I came home and I was packing and folding and folding and packing and searching the house for the match to my favorite brown wedges and I sat down to see if there were any blog posts in my must read’s folder and guess what?
NKOTB is coming to Charlotte. So I called up the friend who feeds me and she wants to go. So guess who’s going to see them again? I say this now… the tickets go on sale on July 18th at 10am, but I’ll be at BlogHer… but, that’s 7am San Fran time so uh, it’s quite possible that I could still get tickets before heading to the confernece. (Sally will think I’m crazy.)
Ok, so… I feel like I’m going to the abyss and won’t have internet access, but I will. But am looking forward to a little break… and I’ve already posted something for Saturday and it’s really cool… that’s why I had to post it. And I might check in from time to time, but I feel confident in the hands that I’ve left you in while I’m gone…
Here’s who will be filling in for me…
Karen @ Simply A Musing
Susanna @ The Wardrobe Miser
Heather @ Age 30 - A Year of Books
Kelsey @ My Sweet Life
Cathy @ Mommy Motivation
Soliloquy @ She Just Had To Say It
Heather @ Not a DIY Life
Becki @ Introverts.net
Lisa B @ simply His
Marsha @ Family Adventures
Lizz @ Yes, and So Is My Heart
that Chick @ Jason. For the Love of God.
Jaime @ Chase N Kids
Kim @ Rainy Day Diamonds
AND….
Remember how I told you about More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss? Well, he left a comment here thanking me for my kind words and somehow we engaged in a conversation of sorts through email, and I might have mentioned that I didn’t want to give away my copy but I wanted to have a giveaway and so he, being AWESOME, is sending me another one so that I can have a giveaway… and in typical Heather fashion, instead of just saying thank you, I had to gush and try to be funny because I’m talking to a real live author… sometimes I wonder about me…
anywho, my point.
I’m giving away a copy of Darin’s book. A brand new one, not one that I read. So…. to enter, guess what you have to do? Leave a comment on ANY of the posts by one of my guest bloggers. Leave a comment every day? You’re entered to win, every day. Seriously. Because I want my guest bloggers to know that you love them too! And make sure that you visit all of them. And say hi. Because we play nice here.
Ok, I’m off like a cheap prom dress… love you, miss you, see you soon… 
Until next time…
No, it’s not the getting there or coming home.
It’s not layovers at the airport (even though we’re driving now)…
it’s the freaking LAUNDRY.
Now…
It’s my fault. I’ll take the blame.
I did all the kids’ laundry before they left. All washed, folded, put away.
But mine?
I didn’t need it last Saturday… so I just pushed that to the side. Clothing my kids was important and a priority.
And I’ve had FOUR days to do my laundry. FOUR. Four days that I could easily pop the clothes in the washer while I work, fold clothes while I’m on conference calls, or while I was watching TV. (Yes, there are distinct benefits to working from home.)
But I didn’t.
And now I’m doing laundry. So that I don’t have to go into the office naked next week. (Well, I do have some new clothes, but… that’s besides the point…)
And what’s worse? I have to do laundry while I’m in Mississippi, twice. Once to wash the clothes they are bringing home from camp and then once again before we leave so they have clean clothes to take to Nana’s and Papaw’s.
I hate laundry.
Until next time…
Sometimes I look at the standards that my kids have set for themselves and wonder if they will always have them.
For example, let’s take time away from home…
Matthew calls regularly to check in, just to say hi, and to tell me what he’s doing. Sam never does unless she needs to ask permission (which, yes, I am grateful that she’s asking permission.)
Matthew goes to the teen center quite often now that he’s old enough. He calls when he arrives and he calls when he leaves because I’ve allowed him the responsibilty to walk the .4 miles door to door. He also calls to tell me how many people have signed up for the pool tournament, what place he came in, that he’s having dinner and what he’s eating. I like it.
Samara? Not so much. I guess she’s just glad to be away from me for some breathing room.
And on the matter of being home on time they are like night and day. 8:00pm for Samara means 8:05 or a phone call at 8:00 begging me to stay out just a little bit longer.
Matthew is very concerned with time. He HATES to be late. It will send him into meltdown mode immediately if I cause him to be late for something.
And the teen center? Totally his currancy right now.
At 1:30, like clockwork, he begins to get his chores done. He’s finished by 2:30 at the latest and that’s when he begins gathering his items to take to the teen center…the secondary cell phone, his wallet, his money for food or activities and puts his shoes on.
He is ready to walk out the door at 2:45 because he knows that the center opens at 3 and in order to secure a spot on the Wii, he needs to be there early. He also knows that it takes exactly 15 minutes to walk there.
The first day I allowed him to walk unaccompanied, he called me when he got there. I asked him how long it took and he said 15 minutes. I told him that he needed to be home at 5.
He called at 4:46. I remember looking at the clock. He walked in the door at 4:55 and I said to him… “Hey Matthew… it only took you 9 minutes to get home.”
And his response blew me over.
“Mom… it takes 15 minutes to get home and I left at 4:47 and I was afraid I would be late so I ran part of the way.”
And so I wonder… will he always be on time and she always late?
I have to guess yes, because I? Am always late. I always have been.
But I so admire those, like Matthew, who are always on time.
Until next time…
My children are leaving for summer camp on Sunday right after church. In preparing (and not on the night before — PROPS for mom!) I’ve come to learn a few things…
Until next time…
Went and got myself involved in WAY too much…
But I have been working on a bunch of stuff for the blog and a new little project which, maybe I’ll tell you about this week… and helping some friends.. and VBS… and oh yeah, did I mention my kids are here ALL. DAY. LONG?
And then there’s this work stuff that I have to get done… and a date… and blog installs… and friends… and animals… (dog sitting this week!)
And, we leave for Mississippi in 8 days.
EIGHT DAYS!
Which means that I need to find someone to watch MY animals, pack, plan itineraries, etc. But before that, I have to get my kids packed for camp… they leave Sunday…
Are you tired just reading about it?
Yeah, me too.
But I can’t complain… I did it to myself… but it’s all so exciting! :D Like really, really exciting! All of it! Even the kids being home, but don’t tell them that I said that… I’ll deny it!
So, I’ve not been around to blogs… and I’ve been lax in emailing back when you leave comments and I’m so very, very sorry….
And you know what else? I never picked a winner for my giveaway (or mailed the prizes from the other) but I promise… they’ll all go in the mail this week…
But the winner of Kisses of Sunshine for Mom is….
Cindi… who has no blog to link to, but I’ve emailed her…
Thanks for sticking around, and for the comments… because I love them…
And all of you…
And now, I sleep…because I’m severly lacking that…
Until next time…
In everything I do, I attempt to be the bigger person. Sometimes that means keeping my mouth shut when I don’t want to. For those of you who know me, that’s not easy.
At. All.
I wasn’t always this way. There was a time that I just said what I wanted to say. I fought insignificant battles just to win. Talk about running around in circles.
But what I’ve learned is that while it’s hard to be the bigger person, to live above reproach, it will always come back to you. Always. Maybe not in the timely manner that you want, but it will.
This softball season, I played with a lot of coaches that were out there to win. If that meant towing the line on a few rules, then that’s what they did. I can assure you that we would’ve won more games had I played my best players in the infield every inning. But because this is an instructional league and made of up players who are as young as 5, I don’t. I followed the rules and I rotated the players every inning. All of my girls played in the infield and all of my girls played in the outfield. Every. single. game.
You see, as competitive as I am, I want to win. I want to win bad. I don’t like to lose.
At. all.
But what I want more than a win, is a fair game.
The regular season ended last Saturday. Today was the eight-year-old tournament. These girls will be moving up next year where it’s not as easy. And the purpose of this tournament? The coaches from next year will be there… because there is drafting. Cracks me up. Drafting. But if there’s one thing that Roanoke County is passionate about, it’s softball… and football… and well, they take pride in their sports. And I love the organizations because of the effort they put into it.
Now, there were four eight year old teams. They combine the girls and I was fortunate enough to have six of my players and four from another team. (Coincidentally, their team beat the crap out of us both times we played them.) And we had about 20 minutes of practice time before the game, together, as a team.
The other coach was a coach who, if he lost any games this season at all, it was very few in number. He was confident. He was diligent in working with his newly formed team and my 10 girls were out there with no direction, and I was just letting them throw.
But, I knew about this coach, the parents knew about this coach, and the girls knew about this coach. They knew because we played them before.
So, I just leveled with the girls. Yes, he had a good team, but now he has new players. They’ve combined just like we have and I believe we can beat the impossible.
And it was hard. The first two innings there were some plays, some fielding that was questionable. There were some base runners that I personally felt should’ve been out, but I didn’t make a big deal out of it. His first base gal preferred to stand ON the bag and my girls couldn’t get there. A few times I said something to the girl but then, I went to the coach. I asked him if he could remind his first base gal if she could not stand on the bag.
I was nice about it. I really was.
And do you what his response was?
“You’re up by 10 runs and you’re worried about that?” Or something to that effect.
I wanted to scream at him and tell him that I didn’t care if we were up or down by 10 runs, that they aren’t allowed to stand in the way of the runner. But I didn’t.
I replied with, “it’s etiquette” and walked away.
It didn’t matter. By that point in time, he knew that he couldn’t win.
We won.
The second game? We at least had an umpire. And we lost. But only by one point. Despite the heat and being tired, my girls gave me their best… which is all I asked for.
In return, we got not only a 2nd place medal but also the security in knowing that we played a fair game.
And that’s worth more than a win any way you look at it.
Until next time…
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets
Would you be surprised to know that I was the kid who always had “talks too much” on the first report card of every year?
I didn’t think so…
Until next time…
Or Emeril… or Julia Childs… or whoever that dude is on Hell’s Kitchen…
I WANT to be, but I fall very short.
I’ve done a few things about it, but I’m still not a good cook.
Yes, I’ve had some successes. Few. And they come when it’s important in my life, like cooking a meal for a guy for the first time, Thanksgiving dinner with church or when you invite Pastor Man for dinner. Of course, all of those times involved MULTIPLE phone calls to the BFF or her husband to seek advice and for them to talk me off the proverbial edge.
And when your son gets on stage and proclaims to the body of his elementary school that you “can’t cook. Period.” you know that you aren’t that great of a cook.
Please know that my mother worked with me in the kitchen. She did her best to set me up for success. I knew how to make the meals that we ate often and she sent me on my way with a cookbook, so that I would know how to make the important things… like her chocolate cake with icing and banana bread. I’ve yet to make either.
And I think part of my problem is my stove…. but I will be remedying that soon. But the last time I talked to you about my stove, it had TWO semi-functional burners and now we’re down to one.
Because I caught the stove on fire AGAIN.
And yes, I said AGAIN. As in more than once I have sent pretty flames up the front of my avacado green stove.
You might remember the great meltdown of 2007 in which I was cooking RICE. Come on people.. rice! It’s not like I was cooking something with the word flambe in the name… it was RICE.
A little except of that post…
That’s me…
That’s me right after the meltdown…
but it was more then melting…there were flames!
(Now, I need to point something out here…I don’t think I have ever produced flames in the kitchen…so this would be a first…)
But here’s what happened….
It was time for lunch… (I thought I would be considerate and eat before I called Yvonne) and so I set out to make my traditional “there’s no left overs” lunch — rice. Rice isn’t hard, ya know? You put it in water and you let cook for 20 minutes (or until all the water is soaked up in the rice — which, hey! is about 20 minutes.) I’m good at this. I make rice ALL THE TIME!!!!! Sometimes I put alfredo sauce on it, sometimes butter, sometimes cheese…. (they say peanut butter is good, but I’ve not tried that).
The point being — this was not a new cooking experience here.
I put in one cup of rice and one cup of water (remember this point — very important) — I sit it on the back left burner and I flip the knob and I walk away. I know that I have 3 minutes before it’s time to go back, stir, turn down to simmer, and wait.
All of a sudden I hear this noise…it sounded like a thud and I thought “that stupid mouse is back” (yes, there is a mouse in the house too) but it wasn’t a thud…it was a WHOOSH….
I turn around and look into the kitchen and I just see smoke.
I walk in the kitchen and that’s when I see the flames. Had they been in someone else’s kitchen I would’ve said they were pretty — but in mine…they were downright scary…
So, I utter a few explicitives (and that bothers me because I’ve REALLY been working on my mouth….) I find a bowl in the sink and I douse the flames…
Guess who turned the wrong burner on? Guess where that empty juice pitcher was?
I grab the pitcher handle and that’s when I realize (because my head feels a little hot) that the pitcher is still on fire…so I throw that in the sink and put it out…
Then I survey the damage…
Open the door, turn on the fan…everyone is okay…just feeling a little on the stupid side…
Many times I set the smoke detector off… at which point, my son, who loves to joke and kid will shout “dinner’s done” before he grabs a dishtowel to fan the smoke away from the squealing box in the living room as I rush around to open doors and windows.
After the meltdown, we went to two burners… until just a few weeks ago when I was making spaghetti… as I’m standing there waiting impatiently for it to finish, flames shoot up. They calm back down and go away and since there was only a minute left of the time, I, like a grade A idiot, put the pan back ON the burner.
In which the pan boils over and even bigger flames shoot up.
And now?
I have one sole burner. But like I said, we’re getting a new stove.
While I can’t cook, I can bake. I just made bread pudding last night for the first time and I deviated from the recipe (which scares me) but I did it.
I am the running joke when it comes to kitchen mishaps… at church, in my family, with my friends, and now at the elementary school… and that’s okay. I’m okay with that.
In fact, should someone feel the need to nominate me for America’s Worst Cook, I would be okay with that too…
But I do try…
That’s something, right?
**************
This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a contest sponsored by the American Egg Board.
***********
Don’t forget! There’s still time left to get in on the Where He Met Me Carnival and Contest… ends at Midnight tonight, but even if you’re not playing along, PLEASE go read these wonderful stories and be blessed… and in honor of my 600th post, I’ve got another contest going on here…
This is my 600th post and what better way to celebrate than by documenting how I apply makeup for the sole purpose of entertainment… and to possibly win a prize.
What I won’t do to win a prize…
But the gals over at Chic Critique are hosting a “blog your face” carnival so if you want to learn a little more about great products and application tips, don’t read my post, but go directly over there… where I’m sure you’ll be greeted by people who are much better at this than I am.
The things I do to make you people laugh…
So here goes…
Here I am fresh out of bed… au natural… and let me tell you something… I put brighter lights in the bathroom and had NO idea that I looked like this in bright lights with no make up on. Now I’m not one to wear makeup all the time, it just so happened that I needed to go my leadership luncheon yesterday and made myself up, and I don’t believe anyone who said I don’t need makeup. Additionally, I feel like I’m a gremlin in that I can’t go out in the light looking like this. I’m either going to have to wear make up all the time now, or I’m going to have to put less bright lights in the bathroom….
Ok, I can promise you, the pictures only get better from here.
The first thing I do is apply this moisturizer… and yes, that’s a Big Lots price tag. I have no reason for using this particular moisteurizer, really. I was at Big Lots, it was there, I could afford it and so I bought it. You might notice the big “3″ that’s listed there. Well, that’s because there’s a series of this particular product. That same day, I bought “1″ and it was a cleanser. I have no idea what “2″ is since they didn’t have it and due to a slight bathroom mishap in which my daughter thought it would be fun to cleanse her face, I no longer have any more of product “1″.
After that, I put on this foundation stuff.
The foundation is Medium Beige from True Minerals. The BFF bought it for me to help me with this make up thing. That brush next to it? It’s called a Kabuki brush and I’m sure the majority of you know that. I found it odd when she told me to go buy a kabuki brush because in my mind, Kabuki is the Japanese steak house that I love to frequent here (when I can afford it). So now, every time I use the kabuki brush, I think about the little chef at the restaurant flipping a piece of shrimp in my mouth and I get hungry. I guess I can attribute any weight gain to the desire to look beautiful.
After applying the foundation, which, I still can’t tell if it does anything for me (or even if it’s the right color) I then have to remove the cat from the sink… because she likes to stare at me while I do this and it freaks me out….
And then I start working on my eyes… which really is my favorite part of my face…
Also, from true minerals, I apply Apricot Frost to my entire lid. Those are all sample sizes from them that the BFF sent in this little kit. It will last me forever and it’s cheap. And that’s the brush I use, because that’s what the BFF told me to use.
And so that’s what it looks like… and yes, I am well aware that I need to trim the bushes that are growing above my eyes.
Now, I used to use eye liner, plain ol’ brown until I got this true minerals stuff. Now, for the liner type look, I use the Khaki eyeshadow and wet my brush before dipping it in the little pod and applying. I’m sure this isn’t in or hip or anything like that, but it will leave a slight dusting of green sparklies on my eye lashes… and green is my color. So this is what I use to make my eyes pop. And I’m an eye person, so popping eyes is a good thing… bug eyes are not.
Then comes the mascara, and I found this mascara after reading about it on Chic Critique.
I read the post, got up from the computer and went in search of mascara in an orange tube because I couldn’t remember what it was called. I found it at the third store that I went to. I’ve been using MAC mascara forever and it sucks but I was too lazy and uneducated to go and buy something else.
And there are the eyes… with the shrubbery up top… but I’m not quite done…
Normally, my lip glosses are all confiscated by Sam the moment she lays eyes on them, except this one. She knows that she will meet her demise if she so much as desires to use this one. Normally, I don’t care, but this little thing of lip stain and gloss (which cracks me up… stain) cost me $16 (5 years ago…lol) at Sephora. I read about it in the ONE issue of Allure that I’ve ever read (I was attempting to learn about what was in and how to be more girly… obviously, it didn’t last…) and I went out and bought it. And I love it. Although, they say you can use the stain on your cheeks too and I just don’t get that. And I tried it once. I looked like one of those people that put their make up while riding in the car and hit a speed bump. So, I stick with putting it on my lips. The gloss is just about gone, so I use a cheapy clear gloss that I picked up somewhere, for I sure next to nothing.
And after all that… which takes about 5 minutes if you’re not stopping to take over 90 pictures to get halfway decent ones to post on your blog…. you get this…
Ah… much better.
**********
Oh, and since this IS my 600th post, let’s celebrate with a giveaway, shall we? Nothing special, just a little something….
I’ll randomly pick one person to win the book “Kisses of Sunshine for Moms”
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and tell me the one beauty product that you can’t live without…
Comments will be open until midnight Wednesday, June 11th and I’ll announce the winner on Thursday…
Until next time…
Alternate Title: The Night I Swung the Vote
This is the post where I called it.
It is the ONLY time that I have ever called it. Ever. Of course, I’ve really only watched 3 seasons faithfully…
I picked Clay, the world picked Ruben.
I picked Blake, the world picked Jordin.
But now?
I picked David Cook…and the world picked David Cook.
This is the post were I made it happen. It’s there, I promise… right after my sappy story about my daughter and my mothering abilities?
Where I wrote “Now I feel bad that I gave her David Cook’s text in number instead of Archie’s”?
See it now?
Good.
I like to think that that’s what made it all worth it.
Let me live in my dream world please.
Because last night?
That’s the first time that I have EVER voted. Ever. But I knew that when Archie won, I was going to want to complain. And I can’t complain if I don’t vote. So I voted.
And it’s a good thing that he won. Had he not, I might never had watched American Idol again. Never mind that I said that last year when Blake didn’t win.
Until next time…
Desperately Seeking WordPress Desperately Seeking Reviews
