Home again!

We got home this afternoon and it feels good. The weather was really warm....like 80 degrees and it was nice to come home and have the windows open and such. I gave up on trying to post pictures on my mom's computer. It just wasn't working. So I'm going to have quite a few today. The first is is one that I took today on our drive home. This was what someone wrote on the back of this semi:

I just thought it was a wacky thing to write and had my camera handy.
The next ones are from the St. Patrick's Day parade in the Quad Cities and the Irish Heritage festival.

St. Patty's

We got to my mom's on Friday and had a busy weekend. We took the kids to the Quad Cities on Saturday and Sunday. Once for the parade and once for the Irish heritage festival to watch the Irish dancers. I don't have the proper plug for my camera here to upload my photos so that will have to wait until I get back home but here are a couple that my mom took at the cold-ass parade on Saturday:

I can't get the photos to post at the time so I'll try again later.

We're outa here!

We are off to eastern Iowa to visit my mom for spring break. Kyle gets out of school early tomorrow and we'll be leaving right from there. Rob and my brother are going to paint the master bedroom, bathroom and the kids bathroom while we're gone. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the backyard the other day when it was 80 degrees.

Outside

Ahhhhhhh, warm temperatures. The snow is almost all melted except for the huge mound that was at one point covering our mailbox. The past couple of days have been so great. We've gone on walks, bike rides and just been outside. It's supposed to get a little colder towards the weekend, but still nothing like last week. I even sat outside in the lawn chair and read while Emma played. We have a trail by our house that leads to a pond/marsh area and a tree had fallen over covering the path about 3/4 of the way. So Emma and I just left the stroller in front of the tree and she and I walked the rest of the way. She was loving jumping in the puddles, picking up sticks and throwing them in the water and pretty much just getting messy. Last summer we rode our bikes over to the marsh/lake/pond thing and that was all there was to it, but since then they've added a lookout area with benches and a parking lot. So it's a little more user friendly.

Dragonlance

OK, so I admit it. I am a reader of sci/fi fantasy novels. I have been reading Dragonlance since I was about 15. With over 150 books in the series, it is possible to read them for 2 decades. I am a little embarrassed about the whole "I must go play D&D" (spoken in Conan O'Brien geek speak) nerdishness that is associated with sword and sorcery type books, but I can't help it. I love them. If a book takes place on Earth, I'm just not interested. Middle-Earth, yes...Earth-Earth, no. ;) And being female the stereotype isn't so bad....I still got laid in high school. Guys certainly don't care about what books you read, just that you said yes to their pathetic attempts to "woo" you.
Anyway, my point is that they are making a Dragonlance movie. Something I've been waiting for, for a long time. It's animated, but that's OK. So I was looking at the official movie site today and holy hell if they haven't got Lex Luther (Michael Rosenbaum) and Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) doing two of the main character voices. Oh and Zena, warrior princess (Lucy Lawless) doing another. I guess I should reserve judgement until I've seen it, but none of these people would have even crossed my mind for those roles.
Sorry, I'm sure this means nothing to anyone who has never read these books, but I was really quite surprised and felt like bringing it up.

http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/

A tag

I don't normally get into that kind of thing, but the blond chick tagged me and I guess....since I don't have anything else pressing to talk about, that I'll comply:

Five Reasons Why I Blog

1. I like to toot my own horn
2. I like to write
3. I like to make people laugh
4. I like sharing pictures/stories about my kids
5. I like knowing that people who don't even like me still care about what I have to say. ;)

Money

I fucking hate money shit. Especially since I'm the one who does all of our book keeping/finances. So if anything is awry it's my fault. I yearn to blame things on others. ;) We got our taxes back a few weeks ago and I'm totally anal about not having bills, so we paid off everything. Then, the bill for our car insurance came in yesterday. Shit! We pay every six months so it's a pretty large bill and I completely forgot about it. Now we are scrambling because on top of it all, Rob has been dead at work and not getting his 40 hours in per week. Ugh, one thing on top of another....I hate that. Anyway, so today I go to the bank to deposit a couple of cleaning checks and the chick tells me I'm overdrawn by $.71 and that I'll have a $26 finance charge because of it. ARRRGGG!!! Apparently a check that I'd written to Kyle's school on December 19th was posted today. Of course, I forgot all about it as it's been over 3 months since I wrote it, and I immediately started yelling at the bank girl that there must be a 90 period or something for checks that hadn't been cashed, etc. And then she referred to me as "ma'am" and told me that checks had 6 months to be cashed.
So there I sat in the bank drive up wondering how I was going juggle things around after this, pissed that the bank girl thinks I'm old enough to be a "ma'am" and really pissed that I had no one to blame my money issues on but myself.
I fucking hate money shit.

Star Jones

I haven't thought about her in quite a while, as why would I?....but I ran across this picture of her on the internet today:

Can anyone say "Gehehe-ross". What is up with the long boobs? Did she not look at herself in the mirror before leaving the house? Those things start at her neck and end.....I can only imagine, where no boobs had ever gone before. I never thought I'd say it, but she looked so much better when she was a fat ass.

Ugh, more winter

So I'm tired of it already. More snow, more being trapped in my house. Kyle missed the first 2 days of school this week because of his strep throat. Then he went back on Wed. for a regular day, and yesterday they let school out early because of weather. Today they had off for teacher in service but that got cancelled too. Rob was supposed to have "snippety-snip" surgery today which got postponed and Emma was supposed to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa. So here we sit, bored, waiting for our satellite go go out again, getting tired of each other's company. We would have never survived back in the pioneer days. Our poorly constructed wagon would have never made it across the "mighty Mississip" and we all would have drown. We were born in the correct era, I think. ;)
Being cooped up did give me a chance to finish up some of my winter/snow scrapbook pages. It is good that I got them out of the way because now the thought of looking at snow makes me gag. Supposedly by next week we'll be in the 40's. I am so ready for spring!

Fever induced ramblings

I took Kyle to the doctor today and as it turns out, he has strep. He is on amoxicillan now and is sleeping. His fever spiked at around 103 degrees on Saturday night. He came into our room crying and told me that he had to throw up. I took him in the bathroom and sure enough, he puked. I took his temp and told him he could lay in my bed as long as he didn't puke in it. He laid down and I laid next to him. Rob went down to the couch. I had just fallen asleep when I awoke to have this crazy ass conversation:


Kyle: Kevin? (my nephew)
Kyle: Kevin?!
Me: Honey, it's Mommy, lay down
Kyle: Hi
Me: Hi, lay down and go to sleep
(a few minutes pass and I start to fall asleep again)
Kyle: (yelling in my face) You are invincible!!!!
Me: Jesus, Kyle! Shhhhhhh, lay down and go to sleep
Kyle: (still yelling)You are invincible!
Me: Kyle, hush. You are going to wake up your sister.
Kyle:(grabbing my arm and shaking it) Rrrrrroar, Grrrrrrr, Rrrrroar!
Me: SHHHHHHHHHHH! Stop that and lay down.
(another few minutes go by)
Kyle: (crying) Mommy?
Me: What, baby?
Kyle: If we go on a field trip, I don't want to go on any scary rides, ok?
Me: Ok honey, now lay down and go to sleep.


Of course the next morning he remembered none of it and thought it was hilarious when I relayed the story.

Lately

Today has some wacky weather in store for us. Freezing rain and snow, etc. Kyle's last basketball game is today followed by his end of season party. He stayed overnight with Grandma and Grandpa last night and they brought him back this morning with a cough and a fever. Those old people can't be trusted! ;) So now I'm hoping they will cancel his game because of weather because he can't play anyway and will miss his party. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. I've been checking the hot line number, but so far things are still a "go".
We recently found out that Emma got in to a new preschool in Ankeny for next year. We really have liked her preschool in Des Moines, but since she'll be going 3 days a week and that would be a lot of driving/killing time for me. Plus the Ankeny preschool is over $30 less per month for tuition. It will be nice to just drop her off and come home, too. We went and had a look around a couple of weeks ago and she just made herself at home. I know she'll miss her old friends, but hopefully some of the Ankeny preschool kids will be ones that she'll go to kindergarten with. She is pretty easy going as far as change is concerned so I think she'll be alright.
I went cropping last night with a couple of friends and although I was freezing my ass off all night, I did get everything done that I brought. I had a coupon too, so I got to do some shopping as well. Here are some pictures of finished pages. Valentine's party and Emma at tap dance:

Can't dead people just be buried already?!!!!

COLUMBIA, S.C. Anna Nicole Smith isn't the only dead celebrity who hasn't been buried. James Brown remains above ground, almost two months after he died of heart failure.

A dispute over Brown's estate and burial delayed a decision on the Godfather of Soul's final resting place.

But while a medical examiner says Smith's body is decomposing rapidly, a funeral director says Brown is looking good.

Experts say the reason for the difference is the conditions of the bodies. Brown was embalmed within a few hours of his death. Smith's body was refrigerated more than a week before being embalmed. Refrigeration creates moisture that contributes to decay.

Sloths!

Another funny SNL digital short:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LAZgcC3jgo

Taco Johns

So you know how when you go to Taco John's they take your order and then write your name down on the receipt to call later when your food is ready? I've done that kind of thing there and at other places a million times, so with a name like "Trish" they always think I said "Chris", so I always say "Trish, T-R-I-S-H". Every time I say that and usually it's fine. Well, yesterday I did that at Taco John's and as I'm waiting to hear my name, the manager lady yells out "Trash?". I walk over and say "Did you just call me 'Trash'?" She laughs all embarrassed and says "he wrote it" pointing to the guy who took my order. So there I was, staring at her with a "well you are the stupid bitch who said it out loud as if anyone really has the name Trash", look on my face. So she says she's really sorry and gives me a free potato oles coupon. The moral of the story is....being called "Trash" by Taco John's employees is worth roughly $2.

Valentine's Party

We had our Mom's group Valentine's party this past Sat. The kids had a great time. Kyle said his favorite part was playing Bingo. Go figure. ;) They decorated cookies, passed out Valentines, made treat bags and ate like little piggies. What's not to love? Here are some pictures:

M&M's

Our family as M&M's....I'm sure you can tell who is who:










www.becomeanmm.com

Ribbons and bows

I had recently begun attempting to make hair bows for Emma. I'd bought a bunch and thought "certainly I can do this myself". So I set out to do that and realized I have some sort of mental handicap when it comes to tying a bow. I could not figure it out! I tried over and over and it just wasn't right. So I went on Ebay and paid this chick $1.50 to send me step by step directions. It must have worked because I started making some. I took some old, nondescript bows and jazzed them up and made a few from scratch. I like to match Emma's hair bows to her clothes so this is going to be a fun new hobby. And it wasn't nearly as hard as I was making it for myself.

It's been awhile...

Almost a week since I've updated.....shame on me! Let's see, what's been going on? This weekend my mom came to visit. We took the kids to see "Arthur and the Invisibles" and it was a cute movie. Both kids liked it. It's been so damn cold lately that it's torture to even go outside. Kyle had a basketball game on Sat. and my mom got to see him play. Last night Emma had tap dance. Still no clue as to who is the "post its" person, but I'm still holding out hope that I'll figure it out. Then today Rob took the day off. We got our taxes done and he had a couple of doctor's appointments. We're getting a good refund, but not as much as I was hoping. No new laptop....awwwww :( Rob did have his consult with the urologist about his vasectomy. In only a few short weeks he'll be shootin' blanks! The look on his face was priceless when the doctor was describing the procedure. Of course, I was all smiles because it sounded like a drop in the bucket compared to all the child birthing/pregnancy/miscarriage stuff I had to endure. So I say "here are my husband's vas deferens...do your worst!"
I took some pictures of Emma while she was at tap, so here they are:

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my 35th birthday. Sigh. I did get some nice gifts though. Some cool scrapbook stuff, a new bag, a cd I'd been wanting, etc. Also, Kyle made me the cutest/most hilarious damn card:


The "S is for sarcastic" part is my favorite. Does he know me or what?!
I had some friends over this past weekend for a day of scrapbooking and I wound up getting 17 pages done. Some long overdue things, like fall and football. Oh and some Christmas. Here are some of them:

Wojo

Wojo from Barney Miller (aka Max Gail) is on Days of Our Lives now. And not even a regular role, just a guest starring role. That is a major career slide, Woj.

Do you like good music.....do you like to dance?

Lately I've been going through a Billy Idol phase. Back in the day I LOVED Billy Idol. I had albums, posters all over the place and pretty much worshipped at the altar of the Idol. So to this day I still think it rocks. Anyway, my point is, I have found that it is physically impossible to sing along without doing the Billy Idol lip sneer. You know the one I mean:

I've made a conscious effort to not do it and pretty soon I'll find myself doing it again. It's a lost cause. I surrender to the power of the Idol! ;)

Post Its

Get this.....last night I took Emma to tap dance class. I dropped her off and as I was getting into my car I noticed the car next to me had a bunch of "post it" notes all over the rear passenger side window. I thought it was odd, so I looked a little closer. It was the window with the infant car seat. So I went around to the other side to see what the hell was on those post it notes that were "for baby's eyes only". Take a guess....that's right....inspirational messages. To a fucking baby. An illiterate, probably sleeping most of the car ride, couldn't give a shit less anyway, baby. "You are special" "You are loved" "God made you perfect" "You are the light of my life" Holy shit I was gagging. The unfortunate part was that there were too many classes going on to pinpoint whose car it was. Hopefully I'll figure it out because I've got to get a look at this nut job.

Half office/half scrap room

We decided to turn half of the office into a scrap space for me....and sometimes Emma. ;) So we bought some shelves and rearranged and here is the finished product:

Sledding

It warmed up enough today to take the kids sledding and snowboarding. We got kind of spoiled in Ames because across from our house was a huge hill to sled on and here it took some driving around to find a place that was adequate. The hill wasn't as big as we were used to, but this kids still had some fun.