Christmas, Cancer, and the New Year

Oh I have been a straight up blog slacker! I'd like to do as my cousin did and blame Facebook. I can also blame my mother who went into the emergency room a month ago with a kidney stone, and in a matter of days she was having emergency surgery to remove a tumor from her bladder....which was cancer. For the record no offense to anyone who might know him, her surgeon was an ASSclown!!! Who drops the C bomb on ones family like it's no big deal and then walks out of the room with no clarification??? Which is what he did right after the surgery that was suppose to take 2 hours and took 5 instead. So she was in the hospital way too long and then from there went to Shroder Manor a nursing home so she could continue her recovery. She came home on Christmas Eve.

Funny little thing happened when I went to pick my mom up. I was loading her stuff into my trunk. I went to step up on the curb, and didn't quite lift my foot enough, and tripped and fell directly on my face....face did not hit the pavement since ones instinct is to put out arms so the palms of my hands is what hit the pavement....but not for long cause I jumped right up. I was down long enough for the caroling Geri's to catch a glimps of me on the ground, which I'm sure was enjoyable. OUCH!

We had a good Christmas. My cousins house on Christmas Eve was wierd since this is the first christmas without Rachel. There was just an underlying sadness, but it was good to be with family. The Christmas cards were light this year, didn't get as many as I have in the past.

This past year I feel like I did a whole lot of stuff, and didn't really do anything as good as I could have. As in I was spreading myself way too thin. I hope in the coming year to find one thing to volunteer for and do it well. I really want to find something God wants me to do, and to give it my all.....cause lets be real I got some skills in something, and I'm sure God can use those skills somewhere. (something other than scouts....just a hint God....just saying I don't think that's it.....)

Cute kids from my christmas Party. Patiently waiting to open their presents.

Another more disasterous attempt at a Gingerbread House. The kids were tired, and I was tired and slap happy maybe a bit tipsy as well. A more serious attempt will be made next year!
Thank You Santa for arming my child, and my husband with Nerf ammo. No animal, stuffed or live is safe in our home.

And I present to you a Christmas Princess!

Fun with Sugar

This here is photo's from our Gingerbread House making adventure. Not a whole lot of planning went into this. We are proud of our structure, however we have some stiff professional looking competition, and we are going to require sympathy votes to win. So all of you blog viewers need to go to IKEA starting Monday and vote for our house....the one with the blue roof....the one that may appear to be falling down. We win a pizza party for our department....CUSTOMER SERVICE....and the best part recognition. Thanks for all your votes we'll need it....oh and buy some furniture while you are there.


1. Builders, 2. Customer Service, 3. Delapidated structure, 4. Pretty sure we were drunk!, 5. People who didn't make the cut...and got eaten, 6. The couch looked good until we saw the competition!, 7. Adding more goo, 8. DSCN0060, 9. DSCN0059, 10. Seriously we were wasted, 11. Hee...., 12. Nice touch, 13. Store manager.., 14. We rock, 15. What we had to work with, 16. DSCN0044, 17. DSCN0045, 18. DSCN0047, 19. Stuff from Bistro...this ain't ours!, 20. Competition

First Video

Ok got a new camera, and I recorded this video, of my precious angel!

It gets a little scary at the end so be prepared. I had to delete the funny funny IKEA video because I couldn't take it off of autoplay and it was annoying me.

What up People?

One must use the turkey picture when we are just days away from the big day. I think this picture will now be a thanksgiving tradition. This year it got transformed into facebook flair. And now that it's on the blog it can be swiped and used all over the internet. Remember who the artist is when he is famous!

Geez, I've not posted in sometime now. I am sure a lot has happened since the last I posted. Obama was elected, not because I voted for him but because apparently a lot of people were closet Obama fans?? We'll see what the next 4 year brings. It's kind of cool that an African American is going to be president, show there is hope for the world and we can change. Now if he "F's" things up then I'll say I told ya so!!

Dude I am straight up reading books.....that's right I said BOOKS. I finished that one book I was reading about that dude from Korn, it wasn't too bad, but then I read The Shack.....holy crap, that book was the bomb. Life changing kind of book that everyone should read. And if you've been knowing me for sometime you know since the birth of my child I've not been much of a reader. I only recently started again for fear of Alzheimers and my brain turning to mush. Just before I was done with The Shack, I picked up Twilight, mainly because the world was talking about it and saw the amount of pages in that thing and knew it would end up on the shelf amongst all my other pretty books that are just for show. However I started it a week ago, and I'm already 250 pages in, no lie. There is something intriguing about high school kids and vampires??? I mean seriously everytime I pick it up it sucks me in. And I think geez where is this going surely at some point I'm going to lose interest and stop reading like I always do. So far that hasn't happened. We'll see if I make it through all 4 books. I need to go read now. Happy Thanksgiving!

Glad that's over.....

Seriously this whole election process has been a total blast. I could do without the political commercials, and the political junkmail (seriously people save a tree!), oh and the political phone calls....geez, seriously 8 out of 10 messages, is that necessary??

Heres somethings I loved.....

The fun back and forth I had with some of my coworkers. The best of all was my african american friend. We were texting each other all night last night as the results were coming it. I love how she respected my position and where I was coming from and I respected her and through it all we still love each other. I love sharing in racial humor with people who know me well enough that I don't and never will see color. She had fun with me today, and gave me a picture of a Donkey that said Democrat, and told me to color it, I put a big red circle around it with a line through it.

Something else that was fun, trying to explain to Perry why I vote the way I did....AKA....brainwashing your child. I used the halloween candy analogy, which he totally got. Told him he'd have to share his candy with the kids, who didn't necessarily want to go trick or treating. To which he carried it over to his toys and his money. And he even went so far as to say "I don't mind sharing with my family and friends, or even people I know might need it, but I don't have enough stuff to share with everybody. " I am all about helping out the poor, but we all know that's not what ends up happening.

Something not so fun...the Abortion issue and the War. I'm not comfortable with what may go down with those two issues. Ultimately God is in control.
History was made and it was pretty cool to watch. Little bit mad at Oprah but whatever, I was mad at her before the election. It's just an election, don't be mad at me when ya'll are standing in line for medical care, just sayin.....love you all regardless of how you voted.

2 More Weeks....

So I've not been involved in the politcal craziness other than attending the McCain/Palin Rally a month ago, and being informed enough to know where I stand. But no matter which side of the fence you are on this is a super cool time to be alive. It could just be my age and to be able to see where our country has come from and where we are right now.

Just the possibility that a women could have been president. And now the very real possibility that a women just might be vice President, is amazing. The fact that it wasn't too long ago that a women wasn't even allowed to vote. Not to mention the idea that an African American could be president, that also is way cool!! They too weren't even allowed to vote not too long ago. Say what you want about whomever, the whole process is interesting to watch. I just hope my candidate wins, I am doing some serious praying about that, I'm slightly scared of it going the other way, and if it does, I am sure God has a reason, and we'll all be ok.

Why I'm Voting Republican!

It really doesn't take much more than this to impress me or get my vote.

No Seriously, I'm not playin' God is Awesome!!!

Ok so I've been praying everyday for God to not allow anything to steal the joy I feel from my after prom buzz. So maybe if I just keep posting stuff about it until the next time we get to do it again, I will never ever lose that joy.


Seriously people, my junior prom, the one where I got fixed up with some hoodlum that was friends with my neighbors, and God forbid I go to prom without a date. Dude drank beer (gasp, I was a good christian girl for real people) in the car all the way there, didn't even offer me any.....such the gentleman! Yeah this prom, a bajillion times better. Then there was my senior prom, and the boy I had a major crush on, although we were just friends, asked me to prom, "if we both weren't attached at the time." Then he got attached to a girl he knew he'd get a booty call from.....cause it wasn't going to be me. Then another one of my guy friends said he'd go with me and we'd have a blast, yeah that boy decided he'd rather spend his money on golf clubs......I've never let him live that one down, I've even told his wife that one!!! He's not changed apparently. So I ended up going stag, and had a blast!!! But not near as much fun as I did at this Prom no way not even close!!!!

Get some tissues before you watch this one!


So big shout out to Harmony, for once again making me cry in church, lets be real folks I've been a hot mess since prom ended. Most importantly thanks to Harmony for sharing her dream and allowing us to be a part of making it a reality. That night was a night I will never forget!!!

Overwhelmed by God

So I'm out here experiencing life. Just living like I always do. Being completely crazy busy, and pretty sure I can not fit another thing in my life. Being the wife of a scouter and a scouter myself to some degree leaves little room for much anything else.

Well then there was this little thing some peeps of mine started talking about. Pretty much non-stop they talked about this....Prom.....a to do they began planning at the beginning of the year, possibly before. Not just any prom, a Prom for special needs adults. This is when I heard the needle on the record scratch. Why? Well because I do have gifts in some areas of life. Special needs folks is not one of my gifts. Think of me as a horrible person if you will but it gets better I promise. Plain and simple I don't like unpredictable. I like to have some idea of what's going to happen next. With special needs folks you don't get that luxury. Ok whatever I got issues. Plus I had a cousin with special needs growing up and, he scared the crap out of me on more than one occasion, one of which was when he tried to drown me....so I got issues. So then the peeps, talk, and talk, and talk about prom. And when my church does things, they can't do anything small, so therefor they need help when they do things because it requires half a city of volunteers to pull things off. So I jump on board making it clear I should not be in direct contact with any special needs folks since I don't have those skills. So I help sort dress's, that was safe and fun. Oh and don't worry a thousand dress's at least were donated. Well then I had to be involved in the actual event. Again with the half a city needed to volunteer, so I sign up for Volunteer check in.....volunteers are not the ones with special needs, again I'm safe. Well then 800 special needs folks show'd up, expecting 600, I was officially out numbered....therefor was forced to interact with them.

This lady kept talking about her parents were looking down from heaven and smiling.
Soooooo......I'm here to tell you, not only did I survive, it's quite possible I'm a changed person. I don't see me volunteering at a group home anytime soon, however, I am certain the next time I see a special needs person at the grocery store or at church, I won't look away as if I don't see them in hopes that someone else will speak to them, I may say "Hi..." possibly even more then that, I will probably ask them how they are doing, what's their name......or what they did last night.

Having the good fortune to have attended the Vineyard for over 18 years I've experienced more than my fair share of HG moments. This by far was the absolute best. Everytime I even allow myself to think about how happy these people were just doing something most people get to experience in their lifetimes, often more than once, I cry. When Dave mentioned that we truly lived out this verse......"Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." ~Matthew 14:12-14 Seriously I fell the heck apart. That is it! We did exactly that, and it was the most amazing thing I've been involved in, thanks friends for nudging me to be involved. This was no luncheon my friends this was a full on Banquet!

Everyone walked the redcarpet, complete with paparrazzi.

I recruited some of my peeps to help out. Layni and Ashton went and helped folks pick out dress's the weekend before.

ETA: Go Here and fast forward to 53.28, and here how the prom went. You're sure to cry.

Cub Scout MADNESS

Ok so they say....(not sure who they are, but I'm sure they're experts) that those people who are the busiest make the best most organized leaders. Hello Sarah Palin, future Vice President. Oh and Hello Jodi, future cub scout leader BURN OUT. Not sure who it was that told me it would be a good idea for me to not only be the committee chair (my fulltime volunteer job, in charge of doing all that other stuff no one else is doing), do school night (apparently part of the committee chairs job), Cub-O-Ree sign ups, (I said yes to that too???), oh and then throw in Peterloon sign ups....ok did I mention all of this stuff happens ALL AT THE SAME DAMN TIME. Thank goodness Cyndi's doing Spookeree sign ups. And if you see "they" you know those experts, let them know I get what they are saying, but I'd like to know if they have any advice or leads on how one goes about cloning themselves, them being experts and all that would be some helpful info!

Who Turned off The Lights???

Mother Nature that's who! It's safe to say 48 hours is way too damn long to be without power. My hair can officially not be pretty without a blow dryer. Preferably I need a blow dryer and a flat iron but can make due with just the blow dryer. For those 48 hours I had neither. The good news is IKEA was kind enough to hook us up with official IKEA west chester hats a few weeks ago so I was able to hide away the fly away nonsense that is my hair if left to air dry.

So Sunday afternoon, Ron was out of town participating in Woodbadge, don't ask people you would not even begin to understand. Lets just say the man is in leadership heaven, and it's good he's found his niche in life. So while he's camping out with other woodbadgers (it's an actual name trust me on this one) P and I are enjoying lunch after church at Steak and Shake. It was slightly more windy than usual but nothing crazy yet. We had to Costco to purchase large quantities of frozen veggies, and our must have gallon and a half of organic milk. We inevitably ended up with other things that we had to have. We head to the car to fill the trunk with our buy in bulk goodness, as I step my foot into the parking lot, not only is it much more windy than usual it is pick you body up off the ground windy....what the heck is going on? Clearly it's the end of the world. Perry freaked the heck out by the wind that was trying to blow him away gets in the car with the quickness, as I am attempting to get the crap in the trunk, as I am putting the stuff int he truck closes on me....as in half my body was inside the truck....um....did anyone get this on tape? Kid completely oblivious to the fact that the person who gave him life has just been crushed by the trunk.....not to worry I got it off me, thank God I'm meatier than your average middle aged women. And proceeded with the task at hand, getting the crap in the trunk and me in the car before I lost my lovely life. I get in only to witness a girl (teenager with mother) who had a plastic bag of something possibly bell peppers, she was holding tight to the plastic bag and within seconds whatever was in it blew directly out of the bag and vanished...gone...she still had the bag, whatever was in it was now gone!

We had no trouble getting home but when we got there, it was a sea of distruction. I had to clear the driveway of ginormous tree limbs to get in the driveway. And when we got inside there was no power.....keep in mind I have a trunk full of frozen bulk happiness. We suffered through with no power for 24 hours heading into day 2 we took our food to moms who still had power. We didn't lose much. She cooked anything that appeared to be thawed, so it was all good and we have a ton of leftovers for our lunches the next few days. The goodness is that during BLACKOUT CINCINNATI 2008, IKEA remained open even though we were on partial power provided by a generator. So even if you couldn't watch TV at your home you could go to IKEA and buy a sofa. And they made some pretty decent sales with no power. And I got a lot of work done since I was hidden away at a different desk since my computer wasn't working and no one could find me. Woohoo to now power it was fun, but I'm glad to be back to business as usual.

I SAID CRAZY!

The previous blog, that was only a glimpse of things to come. Dooce, always says not to talk about work on your blog, however it's completely unavoidable since PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!

Raise your hand if you know where I work.....ok most....
Raise your hand if you know YOU GOTTA BUILD THAT SHIT.....yep all of you.
Someone neglected to tell the women who ended up on my phone on Tuesday evening. Somehow, no offense people, she thought because she was in a wheel chair her furniture once she set it up for home delivery, those flatpacked boxes would arrive at her home, as built pieces of furniture. WHAT? As in she was holding the delivery guy hostage at her house because he brought her boxes of flatpacked furniture as she requested. As in dude was unable to leave because she was yelling at him and me (I was on the phone).

Couple helpful tips. If you require a wheel chair, I'd suggest not coming to my place of employment unless you are going in to buy a skillet and then leave. Or if you have a willing servant to push you around the entire time. Don't come if you think that, the couch you see in the showroom will arrive at your home looking just like that, cause it doesn't. You gotta put that shit together. As in put the legs on, and put the cover on. It's called, You do a little, we do a little and together we save alot. If you want assembled furniture to arrive at your house, go to value city and be in debt for the rest of your life. PSA......ends here....don't make me bring it up again!

My life is Crazy

Plain and simple. It's the beginning of the school year. IKEA is coming out of the tail end of their busy season, my first to experience this and seriously people it was CRAZY. I was all over the place for the nonsense, but it was a good organized (somewhat) crazy. Our job has suffered since we were helping with the madness we couldn't address the madness that was going on behind the scenes, as in crazy angry people ringing our phones off the hook and we weren't there because we were dealing with in your face kind of craziness. So now we are dealing with the aftermath of lunatics who've been waiting for hardware for 2 weeks, it's all good people we'll get you your screws! So since I am unable to articulate an intelligent sentence and I am gearing up to recruit some Cub Scouts (go me)hopefully all of which will have super parents who are ready to carry a pack for 4 years, cause this white girls flying the coup in February....don't even ask me to stay, I'm out!....ok so the articulate an intelligent sentence part, yeah that ain't happening. So what I have for you is this......
CAUSE PUNK ROCK RULES!

I have to give Ron credit for finding these boys but all of their songs are awesome!

Nobama!

Thanks to my friend Ginger for finding this. It's nice to have all the nonsense accumulated into one video. I hate politics, hate it. I hate having to formulate an educated response as to why I vote. I'd just assume to get on with the business of living, and not think about it. But alas one has to make a decision.


Well it's perfectly clear. Ok Ok Ok....promise not another word on politics until after the first of the year promise.

MAMA MIA....

Saw Mama Mia with Cyndi last night. What a fabulous movie! Who knew what an impact ABBA music has made on my life. I could remember hearing these songs as a kid growing up, and often who would be singing them sometimes it was my babysitter, kinda fun. It was such a great movie. Except Colin Ferth being gay, wierd, wasn't necessary but whatever, his character was still great. All the characters were wonderful and the singing was great!


I might need to download the soundtrack when Ron's not looking!

My Baby's in 5th Grade

This handsome boy is a big time 5th Grader. I am happy to report I did not cry. I think I did enough crying last year to hold me a few years. Refer to the archives if you've forgotten. We survived, and he was blessed with awesome teachers. He's also been blessed with a great teacher this year. I really have a good feeling about this year. I hooked him up with special transportation so he's not riding the bus with Junior High kids. I remember Junior High and he's too little for that nonsense. No short bus jokes....cause it definately was the short bus, which gave me a giggle as I walked back home. I was extremely happy when I saw the 6th grader walk to their bus stop to take the regular bus, um the girls had boobies.....ewwww....yeah stay away from my baby. They didn't even say "hi" to Perry so whatever, he's got his own ride!

Cardboard Testimony

What would your cardboard testimony be?

Holy Crap it's 2am!!!

Why on earth am I still up and it's 2am? Well I'll tell ya, my child is in my bed and he now weighs 67 lbs. He was so much easier when he weighed only 52 lbs oh say 3 months ago. So I got sucked into the Facebook ebis, "oh look there friends with so and so, wonder what they're up to?" And then it spirals out of control.

Ok so Cub Scouts has officially started, someone remind me on a daily basis that it's for the kid, it's for the kid, it's for the kid. Right thanks for that. School is creeping up on us with Open house on Tuesday. Then officially starting on thursday, with an earlier start time........I HATE MORNINGS..........Art Class starts in a few weeks. Good news we're skipping basketball this year. Maybe we'll try tennis?? That's a one on one sport with no buzzer unless he goes pro, which by that time he could get over his buzzer issues. We'll see do 11 year olds play tennis?

Have I mentioned that so far Perry's been blessed with teachers who care enough to keep in touch and email me and tell me to keep in touch and let them know how Perry's doing......Future teachers have a lot to live up to. No pressure.
Ok I'll go to bed now.....after moving the large child in my bed, UGH!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention, POISON IVY IS STRAIGHT FROM HELL......

I have spent most of my 39 years running around in the woods. I was a girl scout. I am now what one would call a Scouter (cub scout volunteer) I have never in my life caught poison ivy, every. I know I've been in contact with in on more than one occasion, and never caught it. We camped last weekend, and the precious children we had with us Ben and Perry decided that burning poison ivy would be fun, dragging branches infested with poison ivy would also be fun, we all know what it looks like 3 leaves red stem, hello we're cub scouts. Although we were on a leasurely camping trip which apparently cub scouts rules do not apply one should throw caution to the wind, act crazy and not inspect what your children are throwing on the fire. Or what you yourself are breaking up and throwing on the fire Ben: "hey Jodi why is the inside of this branch red?" Knowledgeable grown up reading book (ME): "I don't know, that's wierd...." Get's tossed in the fire.





Here is what Perry looked like on Sunday after the camping trip, some redness on the nose, eye was slightly puffy. That was it.








Here is what my homeboy looked like the next day. (this was a week ago) Yeah we called the doctor immediately. He prescibed some steroids that cleared it up pretty quickly, along with lotion, and benedryl to make it stop itching.



Oh but wait it get's better. I was covered in what I thought was bug bites we all were. Then my bug bites began to multiply, and look wierd....bonus the mama has the poison as well. So investigated on Webmd. Poison Ivy may appear to be spreading, it does not spread off of it's own rash. You only can get it from direct contact with the plant oils. So if someone touches the plant then touches you soon there after. Or if you clothing touches it and the oils are on the clothes you can catch it that way. You can not catch it from the rash itself. (so quit looking at me like I got the plague.) I don't have it near as bad as Perry or Ben (his is all over his stomach....) I have a spot on my arm, some on my neck, and a few small spots on my other arm. So the bad news is it can take up to 15 days to show up???? WHAAAAA...it's only been a week people. Good news is they can't call me to cover Smaland, parents dropping their kids off for free childcare, don't believe you when you say it can't be caught from the rash itself, so it's best to stay away!

MIA sorry....

Ok I am sure in the history of this blog, August hits and all hell breaks loose. On top of the madness that is August, I now have a job that is busier in August than a Christmas time. True story. The new Catalogue....."drops".....in August, and all the sudden folks are like.....IKEA, a fun place to take 1000 of your friends and shop all on the same day. So not only is it crazy busy, at random times, like at 3pm on a Tuesday or something, but theres a whole lot of crap wrong with stuff people buy, I am sure it's not anything unusual considering the volumes of crap they are selling our case load isn't that outrageous it's just folks in my department are way too accessable and highly trained in all areas so we are pulled to do anything and everything in all areas of the store. Therefor we end up not tending to angry customers with busted up furniture which makes them more angry and that's when it's so so so much more fun for everyone involved.

Oh, but wait theres more....school starts in a week, so wheres the dang bus card thing? I requested special transportation so P doesn't have to ride the bus with thugs that are 3 times his size. And he's not on a bus that makes several stops at other schools before it arrives where he's suppose to get off. I can just see him in that instance ending up at the high school or something........ Hopefully they don't mess that up.....Oh but wait theres more. Cub Scouts...oh cub scouts gotta love some cub scouts, crazy non-volunteering cub scouts.....God bless the folks who do volunteer, but good heavens we are tired and burned out and need some folks to help out so if that's you, help a sister out would ya! So with all that going down at once how about we not think about it and just renew out love for Jars of Clay, shall we?

Discover Jars of Clay!

Yes before there was Switchfoot love there was Jars of Clay love. Sorry to say, I just might like Jars of Clay more, they have a sweeter more worshipful sound. However, Switchfoot is definately hotter.....and those boys know how to rock out at a concert.

Ok ok, calm down people I'll represent for both. Geez, how's Deezer not going to have switchfoot? Haters!

Colors that make me happy

This is for Stacie.....

The rest will come later. It won't be anything overly exciting or inspirational but it makes me happy!

Best Day Ever.....

If you have been reading my blog for some time now, you pretty much know that Stampaway is the highlight of my summer! Love it! I may never use the stamps I purchase, but the smell of rubber, and the possibilities it all brings, just brings me great joy! I always come away inspired and ready to conquire a multitude of art project that all involve, ink, rubber, paint, embossing powder, and the possibility of catching something on fire. I always haul in my lute spread it out, sniff the new rubber that now needs to be mounted and catalogued, and then begin to make plans for my stuff! Heres to hoping that this year I actually do great things with my l lute and not find it in the same bag it came in just before stampaway next year.

You will see in the picture above my lute from this year. I didn't buy as much rubber as I usually do, as you can see the only random rubber pieces are on the left and then the sheet on the right....which are cute little christmas stick people called inklings.....oh I got big holiday plans for those little guys. In the center you will notice some chick tracts, this was a total impulse buy, I already have a collection of these from when I was in high school. I knew exactly where that collection was, but the fact that they were being sold at a rubber stamp convention in an assortment pack made me need to buy them, and in the event I had duplicates I could use them in some sort of altered artwork, possibly mail art. (yep I had them all....) These tracts now crack me up, they always have a "turn or burn" message, which I'm sure is what some folks need, but I think the majority of folks want to feel loved, and not be told they might burn in a firey pit called HELL! Oh.....sorry read one too many from my collection......Oh and yes that is a stripedy sock monkey purchased at Carmens Veranda, along with the plastic screaming Mini.....you squeeze her and she screams REALLY LOUDLY....I'm taking her to work when someone calls and is freaking out about their furniture that is likely made out of sawdust, cardboard and glue. Ok, Ok, Ok what is the recipe for BEST DAY EVER?

Awaken at aproximately 7am

Depart home alone with approximately 50 premade ATC's, a small amount of cash with the Visa back up.

Stop at Starbucks, Grande Cinamon Dolche please!

Recieve phone call from Julie, wondering if I was in line yet? Thank you technology...no need to wonder when I get there if Julie is here yet.

Find Julie...set down Latte.....begin trading.....trade half.....Connie arrives, I'm officially tired of ATC trading, why'd I make so many?

Finally we get in......we agree to head to the top floor first....good thing cause that's where all the good stuff was. We spent 3 hours on the top floor and nearly all of our money. Met up with Jennifer, Jana and crew....ooo'd and aaaah'd over the over abundance of Owl stamps....resisted the owls and went for some cute birdies instead.

After 3 hours on the top floor, and rubbing booties with way too many ladies with large butts, I wasn't sure I could do the bottom floor. Caught up with Stacie on our way downstairs...got all chatty....then headed to the bottom floor.

Ran through in record time....we were out of money and out of steam....and lets be real folks Connie's a nursing mother she was losing something else if you know what I mean!

Ran through the bottom floor in record time....again tired and hungry.

Julie went home to help the teenager get new jeans. Connie and I headed to Lu Lu's, and split a plate of noodles.....(heaven)....

I head home access the damage I did to my wallet, stayed well within my means.

Head to Kenwood Mall (why?). Didn't intend to buy anything just window shop.

Went to Dewey's for dinner.....MMMMMMMM.....favorite food round 2. Then came home.

What a fabulous day.

On a side note....I am not a big Reds fan, at all so how do I end up going to the game twice within a few weeks for free?? Because it's the only way I'd go that's why.....

SUPER FAN!!!!!!

A Great Day for Blogging

It is 8/8/08 so that's pretty stinkin cool. Heres why, 8 is my favorite number. Yep sure is, people go through their list of "what's you favorite?" When they get to number I say 8, always have. Not because the amount, not because of anything except for the way it looks. Apparently from what they say on the web, and you know anything that's on the web is FACT....it's a lucky number.

So I snagged this sweet picture from Flickr, cause no good blogpost is complete without a picture. Just so you know if I read you blog and you go for more than a paragraph without a picture, um you lost me. Just saying. I call that too wordy. Keepin it real here folks! Ok 2 days off Ashton's here and we're gonna go kick it. How you might ask? By going to my work, (yeah the place that is my day off from) and picking up heavenly cookies for my BFF and her roadtrip. Oh and a storage device for P's stuffed toys. Wish me luck, and send up some words that the folks who got their catalogue have not made their way to the land of plenty of inexpensive furniture.

Random Summer Fun 08

We had a fun week. If it wasn't enough that I got to see a Beth Moore Simulcast this past weekend, which was so so good for my soul. We had a fun weekend on top of that. Perry hung out with Ben 3 days in a row which made them both quite happy. Perry had fun at Maddie's birthday party. He was 1 of 2 boys. Connor kind of stayed clear of the girls or was shooting them with a super soaker, Perry just hung out and played with them. Oh and his world became complete when WALL E arrived in the mail today at Geegaws. This was kept a secret from me by everyone so Perry could surprise me. I have to say WALL E is my favorite Pixar movie so far. Perry agrees.

Need for Speed

So we purchased an external hard drive almost a month ago. Ron's fear of most things electronic leaves the task of moving stuff to it to me....."hello free-time".....So I've been dragging my feet since I know that moving 9 days worth of music and podcasts to the external hard-drive would in fact take hours out of my life. WHICH IT DID.....to ensure proper moving of all files and to not lose any of our precious music, a check and re-check had to be done. I am happy to report everyting itunes related is now on the external hard-drive, and I feel the need to lock it in a safe or something. I'll definately feel that way when I move the pictures there....yikes.

Glad to see everyone enjoyed the mail-art fun! I must repeat the banana was not real.....it was plastic people. Oh and don't worry if you responded to the previous mail art e-mail there will be something 3 dimensional landing in you mailbox soon, remember the free time....not a whole lot of that going around, besides Guitar Hero must get played!

Spent some time with my friend Connie the other night, we made some ATC's for Stampaway. She was in much need of some adult interaction, a 2 year old and a newborn, oh and the 6 year old, all girls....and the husband was out of town for a week....yikes she was quite desperate for some grown-up time. I'm happy to report she's in better spirits, and looking forward to Stampaway!!! As I am, love the smell of fresh cut rubber.....mmmmmm.....

Produce Mail???

That's right people, that's exactly what happened I put a Banana directily in the mail after I decorated it with STOLEN banana stickers. I had some help in this quest. Ok so they weren't necessarily stolen. It doesn't say anywhere that you actually have to purchase banana's to get the stickers.....besides who needs 4 stickers on one bunch of banana's anyways??? No one, so whoever purchased banana's on the Friday or the Monday a few weeks ago, may have been shorted a few stickers. Do common folk even appreciate the funny stickers anyways? Mail artists like myself however....see them as a challenge and subsequently ART! Oh and the helpers.....my BFF Layni and Fam, she got about 12 stickers during her weekly visit to her grocery establishment, and I went to the same place a few days later and got about 12 more. Don't give away the place since I am in the process of investigating them for a Cub Scout fundraiser, they may find me untrustworthy if they knew I was part of the banana sticker bandits. Oh by the way it ain't real....it's one of my favorite things.....plastic food!!! Ok time to panic, Cub Scout planning meeting was this evening which means time to buy school supplies for Cincykids and my own kid and that also means SUMMERS ALMOST OVER and my tan has faded.......OH my heavens which means it's almost Christmas!!!!! I'm so over being a grown up!

WALL-E

P and I saw this last week. I actually didn't fall asleep, which is a first for me since I always fall asleep during a movie at home and in the theater. It's really cute and has a great message for kids and grown ups.





WALL-E reminds me a lot of Perry. Who would be content in this world to build towers out of garbage and collect random objects. WALL-E is also afraid of unpredictable loud noises.

Why God?

This falls under the catagory of, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to question God, and hopefully he doesn't mind if I'm just mad at him right now. Katie Reider (see link on right) passed away this morning. See full story here. (warning read while listening to her beautiful voice and you are guarenteed to fall the heck apart.) Just as it just didn't seem fair that Rachel was taken so soon, it just doesn't seem fair that Katie was taken too soon. She had done way more living than Rachel and had 2 babies. Not to mention truly blessed by God with a beautiful voice, and extremely talented. Story from the local paper.


The very first time I heard Katie sing was at church. The Vineyard was recording it's very first worship CD, and she wrote and sang a song on it. It was also my recording debut (I was in the audience.....you can hear me I swear...) for some reason I think they called it the "grape jam" not sure why probably because VCC is wierd. I remember I e-mailed Dave, he was then associate pastor or worship leader then, and asked him who she was cause her voice was amazing and that song was the coolest I'd ever heard. He said she was a young girl who came a very talented family, and don't be surprised if she did great things some day. I think that may have been 1994 or 1995? A few years later she and her dad performed as part of a play at church, he acting as a crazy lounge singer (again my church is crazy) and she singing the most amazing version of silent night I had ever heard.

She made a name for herself locally in the 10 years that followed. She has a huge fan base in Cincinnati and Columbus, along with little pockets of people all over the US, and 4 albums can be found on Itunes. She had an amazing voice I own a lot of her songs, and was amazing to see live I saw her only twice in concert once with her brother Robbie. When she became sick I started following her story and linking others. I was certain she'd pull through, I'm sure she gave it all she had. It just stinks for the Reider family......Katie's mom Gaile just passed away almost a year ago. I will be praying for her family, as most of them have had an impact on my whole life. Her dad Rob I watched on the Bob Braun show with my dad when I was a kid. Katie and her beautiful music. Gaile speaking at womens events at church helped me grow spiritually. Robbie the best worship leader in the whole world......worship music helped me grow more than anything else. Amazing family....they don't deserve so much tragedy. Sorry God maybe I'll find a way not to be mad tomorrow but right now....still mad!

I've lost my Mind.....literally

Ok so my weekends activities included going to dinner and my former boss's house in Indiana with a couple of my co-workers. It was lovely and we had a good time talking about how wack many of my co-workers are. Sorry folks if you actually read my blog, which I don't think you do, but the majority of you are straight crazy. So while at said grill-out/dinner to-do, I was telling a story about some of my previous employment. And couldn't remember when this employment was, as in COULD NOT REMEMBER YEAR, TIMEFRAME, NOTHING.....it was a little scary. So yesterday we went to another grill-out, this one was with the fam, at a previous co-workers house (Kings Island Peeps for those who know my life) and again we were doing a little bit of "remember when" and there was a lot of people whose names I couldn't remember......Decided on the way home....sweet Jesus, I must be dying. Seriously people, I have a mind like a steel trap, I remember faces, names, people I may have briefly ran into in 10th grade and spoke two words to. I'll see someone like that at the grocery store and I'll be like that's so and so and they used to do such and such.....for real.

So it's now time for what I'd like to call Operation Brain Stretch! AKA Sexton's Read! Perry's reading a chapter book about WALL-E, so far he's completed 3 pages...not bad for one day. Ron's reading some book about Zombie Wars....stimulating I'm sure. And I'm reading a book about......ready........HOW KORN FOUND JESUS.....that's right you heard me. It was either that or a book by Fannie Flagg, which I've read a few of her books back in the day. Ron wanted me to get a book he would read. He said he might read this one, so there ya go.

So as part of the Korn tribute I offer you a list of some of my favorite Korn tunes, for you listening enjoyment. Be patient with Shoots and Ladders cause it's got some wicked bagpipes at the beginning that are awesome....but then he kicks up midway through....by far my favorite!


SeeqPod - Playable Search
My brother will be so proud!
Oh and we must never forget.....

If you listen to none of the Korn tunes you must listen to that one, with Amy Lee freakin amazing!

Summer Fun....

I never did say anything about Perry and Daddy's adventures at Summer Camp. Let me post one picture to entice you to return tomorrow cause I gotta take off to work!

Precious child. Sorry I wasn't there. Well maybe just sorry I wasn't there during the day for the fun, except for the part about climbing cardiac hill to go swimming, or the part about the food that is less than desirable. More about camp later!

Grouchy People.....GEEZ!

Ok so heres the thing, the more challenging my job becomes the more I love it, don't know why but it's true. Management can be completely jacked up on many different levels, I can end up on register for 3 hours, but I still love the challenge of my work. Maybe it's because there was so much about Life insurance that was way way way too challenging and I didn't understand half the crap I did, now I have control over a lot of stuff, and understand completely 100% of what I do, strange how that can make a difference. And for the most part I can make the most unhappy customer happy and satified, doesn't take much. A few people are like oh this place is so jacked they'll be closed in a year......bahaha....NOT..I see the inner circle of this crazy nonsense you call IKEA. IKEA has brand recognition, people will travel for hours to shop at IKEA, and buy a muffin tin with the IKEA logo on it. You can piss off 100 people, but you have 200 more that don't care what it is if it says IKEA they will buy it and spend a lot of money to do so. So heres what I say to my grouchy co-workers.......SHUT UP.....already, I'm having fun!

I'm saying that now, but the changes that are coming in the next month, I may change my mind. Lets just say theres a good possibility some crazy personalities are about to colide and it may not be very pretty. I intend to hang in there but I suspect there a a good number of folks who will not hang in there. Stay tuned!

Lets be real folks, in the infinite words of my homegirl Kristi, my life is straight busted. Or more importantly the admin. area of your beloved IKEA is busted! It's feeling the ripple effect of Leesa's departure, see blog below because apparently you people either forgot to pray or God needs her elsewhere. I'm so over that....just get shit figured out and leave me alone so I can make happy formerly pissed off customers! So on with bigger and happier things. Looking forward to the Beth Moore simulcast....go here and click on Beth Moore if you are interested. (then e-mail me and tell me you are going cause as of now I'm going by myself, no pressure) It's worth every penny, I've been before, as well have done 3 of her bible studies and in 2 days your life will be changed, she's amazing!

Beth Moore Live- Check that out for more details.

Up for a Challenge?

Ok I have some three dimensional items I'd like to challenge the postal system with. Oh you better believe a little something will be showing up in Mrs. Moo Mail's mail box, but I got 3 others that need to get some art too. So heres the rules. To accept this challenge you have to:

1. Enjoy something funky showing up in your mailbox
2. Be willing to challenge the postal system yourself
3. Be able to take a picture of the item upon arrival and e-mail me a photo

Any takers? If so e-mail me your address. Yoda0419@gmail.com

Unleashed....

Good Lord.....to say the Holy Spirit was unleashed at SOS would be the understatement of the Summer!!! This was my 3rd year serving on the prayer team.....ok need I remind you that my blog is all about being honest. Which could very well mean a little bit of a background story. I've been a Christian for 30 years, over these many I've seen a lot of stuff, and there are a lot of come to Jesus stories. I went to Ichthus many years as a teenager and they'd always do an altar call at least one of the nights. Then I went to Ichthus as a grown up, and was a youth leader.....Altar Call night came, and I was moved by the number of kids who went forward, until one of the kids in my group said...."most people just go forward for the free stuff....." DO WHAT? The thought had never occured to me, I was scarred. And now I've scarred many of you. I do believe in that moment I became suspicious of every rotten teenager I encountered, and decided teenagers were not my gift. So that was like 12 or 13 years ago.......I stayed away from teenagers for 10 years, I think I needed to mature a little and grow spiritually myself. 3 years ago I volunteered for the first time for SOS, I joined the prayer team for one night. I figured I don't really have to like teenagers to pray for them, if anything I can make a difference by praying for them. So I jumped in, and fought through my sinicalness, and did just fine. Not to mention had a blast and decided I'd go for every night the next year. So the next year I did one night of security and the rest prayer, slowly my fear of teenagers began to dimenish. Now this year, seems I've learned how to hear Gods voice, and how to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit better than I ever have before. Either that or the power of the Holy Spirit was super powerful this year....which it could be both. Seriously the HG shows up year after year.....this year....it was off the hook. Kids were praying for the gift of healing and immediately using it, I'm for real, we saw it happen. I was way more comfortable praying for folks this year and watching to see what was happening. I love that the Vineyard (Karin Maney-trains most everyone how to pray) teaches us that it's ok to ask while praying what they are feeling....or to share tentitively what we feel God is saying. It's so awesome to get and give feedback! Seriously I can't wait till next year, and if you have a teenager plan now. If you sign up in March you get a discount. Check out the Art and Faith blog link on the right. For a photographers perspective, and Stacie's first SOS. Oh and check out the Vineyard website for video of todays service which was an awesome recap of SOS great video footage. Just click on this weeks message.

In other news I got my wig busted. All the gay men at work love it so that means I must look fabulous (well only one gay man...but whatever)
Here's the before and after. Picture #1 is at the Mugrages 50th Anniversary party with Weezer who also has a fabulous new haircut. She is always making crazy faces for pictures....but I look good.....kind of....Picture #2 is my best attempt at putting your arm out and taking a self portrait after many hours working at IKEA. Excuse the blemish, and the multiple chins.....I am far more fabulous in person! Oh and picture #1 I am sporting a grown up frilly shirt....as in not a t-shirt which is what I usually wear but a non-t-shirt sort of shirt with ruffles and poofy sleeves....I know...I was looking like a girl everyone was shocked. It's not everyday folks are still together after 50 years, had to represent.
While we are on the subject of life and fabulous people....best transition really.....my fabulous boss Leesa is quitting IKEA....taking a job at Honda, I'm sure it's better....or not....how could it be IKEA is awesome. It's possibly management screwed up and didn't treat her right or something, I didn't ask for the details cause honestly I like not knowing. However if you are the praying type.....how about you pray they offer her loads of money to stay or something.....we have about 6 days to keep her there so get to praying people. She's the best boss I've ever had, and IKEA is stupid for letting her go. Everyone she's in charge of is pretty much super sad and frustrated she's leaving, she is definately NOT replaceable. There are some changes in life that are just no fun, and if we could make them not happen we'd go to great length......so pray people!

Did you say Dancing Cows?

That's right people...it's time for SOS. Oh and this year 820 smelly teenagers, add in 1500 volunteers, and you got yourself some straight up nasty bathrooms. God bless the VCC custodial staff, cause teenagers are gross! Gross however they live in this F'd up world so God definately needs to pour out some blessings on them. But before he did that Family Force 5 show'd up and got things started in a super loud and off the hook way......had never heard them, had heard of them cause I know a few teenagers so their name got thrown around in a few conversations. They rolled up on stage and I was like HOLD UP, these boys got some talent. Loud talent.....whole lot of screaming....but talented, and I loved it, made me shake my booty! Oh and they had some dancing cows! Which was amazing and went right along with the cow theme Stacie started for the summer!


That's just a sampling, I stuck it out for an hour of that craziness....yeah I'll need that to be my next full album download!
Tonight the Holy Spirit show'd up in a huge way and I was blessed and blown away at my lack of fear to pray for folks and just allow the HG to speak through me, I prayed for a lot of kids tonight. Send up some words that God will continue to use me, and my peeps to love on some kids till Friday!

Tidbits of my Life.....

So as expected IKEA cut hours. Shouldn't last long since the new catalogue comes out in late July I believe. So I'm going to enjoy the time off since it is summer and not complain. However, I am broke people so if you want me to do anything....which you should cause I ain't working so I can kick it with my peeps. Try and make sure it's free fun then you won't feel guilty for not paying my way. Just sayin!

Super important fact of the day. I SCORED 100% ON "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT" ON GUITAR HERO. This is big news people....why you might asks? Because my homeslice Connie, who just had a baby the other day (place image here).....by the way...has been playing GH2 for longer than me, scores usually 98 or 99 on every song she plays has yet to get 100%. I am rarely if ever an over achiever...if anything I am usually an under achiever....not this time people it's on now!

Cute quote of the week: As said by my 11 year old to his Daddy while mommy was at work. "Daddy, I know why you love Mama so much.......because she's so beautiful!"

Ok I'm losing sunlite....I'll say something important tomorrow.

Moo Mail!

About a month ago, Stacie gave a shout out to some peeps in regards to a mail art challenge. She collected address's for anyone who cared to partake in this activity. Stacie and I took a Mail Art class a few years ago where we sent and recieved all sorts of fun art via the mail. It was fun to recieve 3 dimensional art pieces from all over the world, some from England and Austrailia. So I took the challenge and prepared a flipflop, and threw it in the post.

Well she may have had to rack her brain to top that one, but oh my friends she did! I present to you what arrived in my mailbox Saturday Morning. That's right I think a plastic cow with decoupage fabric on it, lipstick, eyelashes and a NOSE RING, completely tops a flip flop! Now it's on.....I have something in mind but feel free to e-mail me any ideas you might have.

Kudo's to Stacie who was a big chicken last time to mail a wooden letter and put it in an envelope. Moomail came with no covering....just as is....it's all about pushing the postal system to it's limits one plastic object at a time!

Inducing Panic one bottle of water at a time.....

So I was hangin out at my favorite scrappin website, seeing what folks are up to. One of my peeps sends a shout out about smart plastic. So now come the PSA via me.....Apparently according the Matt on the today show, his experts stated any plastic with a #7 on it is pretty much unsafe to use EVER???? Oh and super smart people who know this stuff created this useful document. So then I've been freaking the heck out because I get attached to things that make me happy. And this bottle makes me happy. It's pink (a dark pink) looks red in the picture. It has the life is good guy on it, and it has a cool pink spash guard so that I don't end up with a face full of water everytime I drink. I use it almost everyday for tea or water. So after I saw the segment and read the documents I went and ran to my faithful friend that happens to be a water bottle. Only to find it has the dreaded #7 on the bottom. Which Mr. Waterbottle expert stated you should never use anything with #7. That's just great, no wonder I can't remember shit, and have hormone issues (don't even ask people you don't want to go there) I'm poluting my body daily with poly-something-or-other. Then I found this document, and the panic was over. Oh and the people at Nalgene, have it plastered right on their home page. Apparently Matt stirred up quite the commotion! My question is this.....Who do we believe? We have to trust educated people cause we can't all be that dang smart to know what chemicals are where. And obviously Nalgene is going to dispute it since they want you to buy their bottles. How do I get involved in these things anyways. I need to isolate myself.....heading to the basement to play guitar hero and pretend none of this happened. The hormone issues must be from some other chemical I'm polluting my body with, I'll let you know when I find out what that is. Probably has something to do with toothpaste or laundry detergent.....

Sorry....so dang Busy...

Oh my gosh, I'm busy. I'm busy with work, camping, birthday party, end of school, preparing everyone for summer camp. Just before summer camp is SOS which I am working at the whole week, and can't wait. I wish every teenager I knew would go to SOS, it's such a great experience for the kids, like no other. Ok off to work, promise to update more often, as time allows.

Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz and Colbey Calet, should hook up, or maybe they have and I juSt don't know it. This the latest full album I'd like to buy. So if you owe me a gift...this here album on the itunes would be SWEET!

The one where Dave Ramsey gets thrown under the bus.....

Sorry Dave. Not sure what happened after taking Financial Peace. We were good for many months, even paid off a student loan we were chiseling away at for over 10 years. Then we got a little extra cash flow from Mr. IRS, and all the sudden we lose our damn minds. Budgets are for smart people, apparently neither Ron or I are smart. I'm sure if you are a regular reader you've determined that considering my poor grammer and bad spelling. Ha! Not so smart, but a really quick wit! So for mothers day, after much pleading, and researching I talked the man into Guitar Hero III, because I was in a former life a Rocker chic.
I am quite good at easy songs so far, I tried moving on to Medium level, and when you add a 4th key all hell breaks lose! So I'll stick to 3 keys for a little while longer. Seriously though we either need a bigger TV or we need to put it up higher, because no one looks good with their chin to their chest playing guitar! So because of my guitar playing buzz, I unintentionally washed and dried my cellphone. Honestly am I the only one whose ever done this? I hear folks drop them in the toilet all the time.....ewwww.....but that's probably a quick wet...in out sort of thing (I hope). Apparently several gallons of water flushing through it and then a quick spin in the dryer for an hour isn't exactly the best thing for your cellphone. So headed to the phone store for a accessment of the damage...it was toast....sims card erased, and I lost all my peeps....NOOOOOO.... in this day and age, that's where everyone is, if they ain't there they don't exist. So if you are a peep of mine, and you've not sent me your digits and care to ever hear from me again. E-mail me your digits or you are lost forever. So I upgraded to a blackberry (hello Mr. IRS). Was a bit afraid to tell the man who I knew wouldn't be happy considering it was twice as much as I needed to spend, however theres a sweet rebate of $100 bones after 90 days. Predictably he was real mad...even hung up on me...yelled...was annoyed, but knew he'd lose eventually and began to research the phone I got.....SHOCK...it was a wise purchase. No one can resist cool and affordable technology, so the man had to have one for himself and scored one for an early fathers day gift. Oh and he had to get the better one, with a flash, and has video capabilities.....WHATEVER!

Go find this....

So Ashton and I planted a letterbox for Pack 969. Someone has actually found it and logged in on the letterboxing website. Very cool. Now you people GO FIND IT!

Now for the Hard Stuff

Tomorrow begins the 2 day grieving process. I've been coping fairly well, trying not to think about any of it. I created a very cool card to help with the coping process.

Gone too Soon!!!!!

Warning this blog post could suck....royally....but newsflash life sucks royally sometimes. So I've dealt with some sucky funerals in my day. Grandparents are the closest death I've dealt with, and the childhood friend I lost to suicide that was the suckiest of all. But a family members child....this could potentially suck, and suck bad! My cousin (technically 2nd cousin) Rachel lost her life in a car accident last night, I can't continue to skirt around it sorry. My attempt to busy myself with a busy Saturday to try and control my grief has now come to a screeching hault and I am faced with the reality that a beautiful 15 year old girl is no longer with us.

So I am preparing myself for a fairly crappy week. I'm not sure how it could not be.

What I did to get my mind off things today?

We had a busy busy Saturday on tap. We went and participated in the Clean Sweep....cleaning up the Miami River banks. I had mentally prepared myself that this could potentially be yucky since often this river can be rather stinky, and where we were going was near the sewage treatment plant, that to me just sounds stinky. Good news no funk smell at all. It was actually a beautiful day. And bonus, they must have had a crew of volunteers yesterday because we didn't score that much trash. I mean a stove, a fridge, an old rusty washtub and some remains of a rusted out car, and a few tires were our big finds. Oh Oh Oh, the best of all was when one of our Tiger cubs emerged from the woods with a shopping cart basket. So stinkin cute. 10 year olds rarely want to cooperate when I'd like to get a cool photo of them in the storm sewer. Thought it'd be a cool shot of all of them peeking out of the concrete circle. However no one cared to listen to me. I am fairly certain they see me as Perry's annoying mom who is always taking pictures. Like here this is a cool photo Ron caught....and then theres one of the little mud mongers red gloved hand in the shot. Right if I had photo shop I could chop his hand off as if it was never there and I am sure some software on here could do that. However if they would just care about my desire to get a decent shot this would not happen. They are precious angels who have fun together....but um they are 10 and they are dirty and they smell bad. Today required 2 showers.....2 showers for a reluctent 10 year old is no fun for anyone. So in observance of the fact my weeks going to suck....I shall end the day by consuming a banquet dinner (the suckiest of all meals) at 11:15 at night because I did not have time to eat dinner tonight.

No stink smelly 10 year olds were required for this cool shot I got.

Please pray for my family as we head into a week of mourning. Pray for my cousin Monica as she grieves the loss of her baby. My dad's side of the family is a close knit bunch, and this kind of death is going to be hard on everyone. Hug you kids a whole lot tighter tonight, and consider waiting on letting them drive.

Video Share...

OMG....this is dang funny! I love Natalie Portman!

What I'd call Perfection.....

SWITCHFOOT LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and getting lost in the woods with my favorite teenager! Well it wasn't out intentions to get lost in the woods, or be frightened by the unsuspecting man who came up behind us.

We scared the poor man with our screams more than he scared us. It was so funny! It was not our intentions to leave the cellphone in the car. Our plan was to plant the letterbox and head back to the car. So there was no reason to bring the bottle of water with us, it was a short hike. Then the trail we had never traveled before beckoned us, seriously how long could it be. It said at the beginning of the trail, some kind of loop which usually means you end up back where you started. We missed the part that it was 1.5 miles, and we weren't completely sure it was a loop??? Because we are both ding bats (me a grown up one), and neither of us have a good sense of direction. Thank Goodness for the compass on my watch, except I didn't know what direction we should be heading in. Hee Hee....Needless to say 1 mile into it, we weren't sure we would ever see our car again, and then we spied the thorny tree near the letterbox we planted, we had indeed made a full circle. Woohoo.....next time we might want to take some water....maybe a snack. We plan to explore the part we missed next week, which means we'll be lost again!

Don't Ask....

Because I have no idea why on earth I am blogging. Spent the weekend camping with the Cub Scouts. Volunteering is hard hard hard work. I am not the greatest volunteer, I'll admit that. But you can see why folks don't volunteer, you often feel under appreciated. I see folks who put themselves out there ALOT, and get burnt out and bitter. Told myself on Friday I wasn't going to do that, and that I wouldn't beat myself up if folks didn't like or appreciate what we had planned. Regardless, when you look at the pictures of those cute little 10 year olds (and under) and see how dirty they are and exhausted from playing so hard, all the hard work is worth it. The fact that my body hurts from running around in the woods and climbing a steep hill more than once to go in the creek..........I think that's worth it too. With that I think I might go pass out right about now.

But not until I share a few photo's from this weekend. All the boys in our den had these boots to run around in the creek with. Talk about dirty boy cuteness!

Joey brought his dogs out on Saturday! Talk about sweet and cute! And they were good for puppies too. I am now going to go pass out.

Overwhelmed

I don't know if it's my worklife trickling over into my homelife (honestly that's never happened) or if it's just that time to be completely overwhelmed. Work is crazy busy. I think since it's now been open a month, the fact that a lot of people have no clue what the heck they are doing it catching up to my department and we are feeling the heat. For the most part people are super nice and super patient. But then there are the few who expect you to give them so much to compensate for our screw up. Or the people who really don't have a problem yet want to create a problem so they can get free stuff....come on as if we don't smell you coming! So that's work, and because of work and wierd retail nonsense hours, my house is a "hot mess"! And I've been slacking in my committee chair duties because I can't be at anything cause I am always working when the world is living their lives. So I found this song by David Crowder, and if I close my eyes and just listen, God makes me feel so much better. He knows my needs and rarely gives me more than I can handle. He does however enjoy stretching my limit a little bit more all the time.

I'm dumber Now.....

Ok guilty pleasure. If you can even call it a pleasure. I'd like to refer to it as mindless TV viewing. I am happy to admit I didn't watch this seasons Rock of Love from the very beginning. Therefor not a whole lot of time was wasted on becoming dumber. It did not take many episodes though. I couldn't stop watching, because I had to see if he chose the dumbest bimbo I've ever seen on TV. Seems super mean and wrong. But holy crap 5 min. of watching her the nicest person would feel the same way. I will say if I ever am super sad because a hot rock star dumped me, I will say the same thing she said. "OMG...I want to totally roll up in a ball and eat a lot of ice cream...." BRILLIANT!
So will I waste time on watching the reunion show, and see one of last seasons girls beat up the bimbo that was booted this season. Man might be hard to pass up!

Mother Nature Wins....

OK need I remind you that discussing the weather on ones blog is unacceptable and well....lame...except when you are super happy it's warm out, and then Ohio decides to have (as Joe at church so gracefully put it) a second winter?? You know what that's just mean! So we had hiking plans. And because I am hardcore if I have hiking plans and it snows we hike anyways cause what did I say.....I HAVE HIKING PLANS.....people know this about me. So it rained Friday night more soggy yuckiness, and our plans were for Saturday, hiking without the kid, to create clues for our letterboxing adventure in a few weeks for the Cub Scouts. So we unloaded the kid at Geegaws, and off we went, camelbacks for of ice water, notebook, GPS, and 3 layers of clothing. Seriously it was the nicest, most peaceful hike we've had pretty much ever. We weren't all super romantic and dorky because we were kidless, we walked at our own pace, taking in everything on a trail we'd never been on before. It was lovely. We even discovered an abandoned old cemetery in the middle of the woods. I inherited that from my mom, the fascination of old cemeteries full of dead strangers. It's fun to read the old gravestones. Speaking of beautiful strangers, I found more abandoned strangers at the Antique Mall. I wish I had loads of money so I could buy up all the old photos. It makes me so sad to find scrapbooks full of old photos being sold for money in antique stores. If that's where my scrapbooks end up, I will come back and haunt my family!
Ron and I aren't all that in to antiques. We like a few random items, but we aren't one to purchase furniture or decorate with antiques. We like to score lucky little things like an old Cub Scout handbook, or vintage Cartoon glass's. My friend Abby and her brothers collect cartoon glass's. I was told long ago I could play along with them but never really went hunting till yesterday when it was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I didn't want to jump right in and go with Looney Toons glass's which is mostly what they collect. Instead I went with "Camp Snoopy", sold at McDonalds in the 70's. They were $3 a glass and I scored 2. I was told by Abby part of the fun is to make sure you spend less than $10 a glass. Ok, game on!