Musical Monologue

Life is crap.

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I really just had no idea what to say. I've had so much happen over the past few months. We lost our baby, Shawn's job was cut back, Abbey started school, and our house flooded. Yeah. My life has been on the sucky side. I must say I've grown quite fond of the Life is crap line of stuff that mocks Life is good. I can relate.
I'm trying to get motivated to get back to into life and come out of my bubble that I've been living in the past few months. Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.

(okay, I was trying to find a life is crap tshirt/logo pic to put here, but my stupid internet isn't working. Maybe later) <----see.....crap

A poem

I found this on the internet last week and it made me feel better, so now I'm sharing it with you.


WHAT MAKES A MOTHER?

Written by Jennifer Wasik
In memory of Zachery Wasik.

I thought of you and closed my eyes
And prayed to God today
I asked "What makes a Mother?"
And I know I heard Him say.

"A Mother has a baby"
This we know is true
"But God can you be a Mother,
When your baby's not with you?"

"Yes, you can," He replied
With confidence in His voice
"I give many women babies,
When they leave is not their choice.

Some I send for a lifetime,
And others for the day.
And some I send to feel your womb,
But there's no need to stay."

"I just don't understand this God
I want my baby to be here."
He took a deep breath and cleared His throat,
And then I saw the tear.

"I wish I could show you,
What your child is doing today.
If you could see your child's smile,
With all the other children and say...

'We go to Earth to learn our lessons,
Of love and life and fear.
My Mommy loved me oh so much,
I got to come straight here.

I feel so lucky to have a Mom,
Who had so much love for me.
I learned my lessons very quickly,
My Mommy set me free.

I miss my Mommy oh so much,
But I visit her every day.
When she goes to sleep,
On her pillow's where I lay

I stroke her hair and kiss her cheek,
And whisper in her ear.
Mommy don't be sad today,
I'm your baby and I'm here.'

"So you see my dear sweet ones,
your children are okay.
Your babies are born here in My home,
And this is where they'll stay.

They'll wait for you with Me,
Until your lesson's through.
And on the day that you come home
they'll be at the gates for you.

So now you see what makes a Mother,
It's the feeling in your heart
it's the love you had so much of
Right from the very start

Though some on earth may not realize,
you are a Mother.
Until their time is done.
They'll be up here with Me one day
and know that you are the best one!"

What ever happened to.....

I was grocery shopping at Ingles today and noticed something odd as a prize from a Frosted Cheerios box....A coupon for a free haircut! What ever happened to the cool toy prizes we used to get as a kid??

Mommy, can I change my name...

Yesterday was a very eventful day. It started as I woke up that morning, soon to be met by horrible thunderstorms and tornado warnings. The scary part was the thunder that would just keep thundering beyond the normal few seconds that had me second guessing if it was actually thunder. Not fun. After all that excitement ended, I went to my moms and put together her new grill, for that I should get a medal. Not because I was nice to put it together, but because it was tough to put together. Finally, after dinner without Shawn (he worked late), Abbey and I went to the gym. I ran my 3.1 miles in the start of my prep for my upcoming 5k that I still haven't signed up for yet. That's today's to do list.
After leaving the gym, Abbey had a dilemma. She has a friend at the gym named Aurora, just like Sleeping Beauty. Abbey was quite upset that she didn't have a Disney princess name and wanted to know why I didn't name her after a Disney princess. She continued to ask which princess she could change her name to and to hurry because she has to tell her friend her new name when we got to the gym the next time. Ugh, I hate deadlines!


One more thing, I googled "Asheville chamber 5k" and my husbands blog came up on the first page! He was excited, how funny is that!

Abbey hearts Sierra!

We are HUGE Survivor addicts. Really. Never miss an episode. Imagine our delight when our 5 year old actually wants to watch it with us! She sat down and watched it one night and immediately started cheering on this 23 year old girl named Sierra. Why? Because Abbey thought her name was beautiful. Every Thursday since then, she loyaly watches with us and cheers Sierra on through the challenges and tribal council. Until tonight. Sierra was voted out. Abbey cried for 5 minutes. Really cried. This is the reason reality tv and 5 year olds don't mix.

Abbey will miss you, Sierra!

Trying to readjust to normal life.

It seems like just yesterday that I was cruising to exotic destinations, no responsibilities, everything I could possibly want at my fingertips...Sigh...It's been so hard readjusting. I'm so disorganized at the moment, and if you know me, you know that is definitely not me. I'm extremely organized. I'm still not unpacked. I just can't get motivated to put the last few things away. Or to do anything for that matter. I miss vacation.

Which moron thought of this dumb idea???

I'm shopping at Target and come across the Nad's wax kit and think, you know, that might be neat to try just once. Maybe I won't even have to shave as often on my cruise. I even found a guinia pig to try it on first, the hubby. Yes, he agreed to let me try it on a small area of chest hair. He didn't flinch and I thought to myself, I gave birth and I'm tougher than the hubby. Time to do the legs. Let me just say, there was not enough liquor in the house for me to do more than about 3 square inches of ONE leg. Enough said.

PS...Shawn now thinks that because he could handle the "waxing trial", he's now capable of handling getting a tattoo. We'll see.

Where has the time gone?

So, I just noticed it has been a month since my last post. It doesn't feel that long, but a lot has happened that has kept me away from the computer. First was Abbey's birthday, which was great. Next, she got sick with pink eye (in both eyes). Boy, that was SOO much fun. Notice the sarcasm. Then, 2 days after finishing her medication, she got sick again! I almost decided to just move into her doctor's office. During this time, Shawn and I booked our cruise, which we leave for on Friday. Yay! Oh, and one of the most exciting (under the cruise) is that we finally got some snow! We got a little over 4 inches last night. Here is a video of Abbey and I sledding down our hill. Fun!!

You know your a Nobody when...

I was reading the Fox News Celebrity post about the new Dancing with the Stars when something struck me as hilarious. Usually when reading the list of names you see mostly B listed celebrities with the occasional famous one (or two) like Jewel and Lil Kim. But this line was hilarious:

*Gilles Marini, who played the neighbor ogled by Kim Cattrall's Samantha in the "Sex and the City film"

You know your a Nobody when you have to explain who you played with great detail...

Yay, me!

I've been really good this week at getting back to my gym routine of 4 times a week. Today's run (4 miles) made #3 and tomorrow will be #4. Go me! Especially since I practically dragged myself to the gym tonight in below zero weather (thanks to the wind). It snowed in Asheville/Madison yesterday, but yet again we barely got a dusting. I'm not even taking the time to put pictures it was so pathetic.
We are getting REALLY excited about our cruise! We got some of our travel docs in the mail today along with our luggage tags. As soon as Abbey's bday party is over, it will be time to plot and plan our trip! It's been a happy day!

Exhausted Rambling.

It's been a busy few days. I've already made the chocolate candy strawberries for Abbey's cake, and I'm now working on her birthday outfit (via iron on strawberry shortcake) that I'm sewing. I'm also embroidering towels for fun and listening to Shawn drill countless holes in the wall to hang my super broom. I guess I also have to now patch about 6 holes in the wall. I finally made it to the gym in the morning (I have been going at night) and with my busy day today, I'm exhausted.

Girly, the turtle

Abbey loved my turtle. So much, in fact, that she wanted a large one just like mine. She even named it before I made it, Girly. She names everything Girly.

In other new, Tad the tadpole has passed on... I think next I'll get a goldfish.

Shawn and I are going on a cruise in March! Yay! We're going to Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel, Mexico. I'm so excited! We're going to see the Mayan ruins! And by ourselves! Yay, couple time!

I've also started knitting again, and have sewn/embroidered a lot this week. I love my sewing machine!

My Sea Turtle

I finally finished my sea turtle, I bought the fabric months ago but just got around to making him. Abbey loves him and is begging for me to make her one as well.

I think I'll name him Seaweed. Now I've got to make him a baby (for Abbey).

Water, Ice, Snow....and other stuff!

So, I've been hibernating inside for the past few days, due to the "snow" (I quote them because it really shouldn't even qualify) and (main reason) extremely freezing temperatures. We got about an inch of snow, just enough for Abbey to play in but not enough to satisfy me. It started last Friday with the temperature only reaching 22 degrees, although colder with the windchill. It was below zero with the wind at night! This caused one of our pipes to freeze on Saturday morning. It also let to the ground shifting and therefore busting our water meter that is in the ground. That was loads of fun. Lucky for us, it was the city's property and they had to fix it. At 10:00 at night. In freezing temperatures. Fun.

I finally got my new sewing machine. I'm so excited because it embroiders on it's own! I'm also in the process of completing a few craft projects that I'll post soon.

That's pretty much all that's going on in my life....

I need a cardboard cookie....

In case you haven't noticed....look up. Not at the ceiling, the top of my blog page. Notice anything different?? That's right, my very own custom designed picture/header thingy. I'm very proud of that (for you web design gurus, don't laugh...). I was actually in the picture, holding Abbey's hand while walking her up the street. My awesome hubby introduced me to the clone tool on Photoshop (my next best bud next to Google) and I proceeded to perfect the picture. I actually spent 2 hours last night perfecting it. (Glows with glee!)

I've got a list of "want to do's" today, starting with watching the Netflix movies that I need to send back. We're also behind of laundry, and I REALLY want to change the bedroom around. I'm NOT leaving the house today. It is freakin' cold! I think the high today is like 32 or something (yesterdays high was 22, low 5--not including windchill!). So, that's pretty much my day. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh, and Shawn says I need a cardboard cookie....;)

STUPID PEOPLE & Birthday Parties

Not to be confused with stupid people AT birthday parties....I'm so glad that I'm in control of my own blog. I have complete authority to NOW approve any comment left from a certain STUPID PERSON who keeps "blog-o-marketing" (I really like that word) my comments. So, there, STUPID PERSON, I win....HAHA. (Now that I got that out of my system).

I let Abbey pick out her birthday plates and napkins/etc today. WOW, I forgot how expensive everything was (of course, I spent half of it on balloons). She always picks the ones that cannot be found at walmart, so I have to go to the expensive party store. Oh, well....You only turn 5 once. Which, by the way, she (on her own) chose Strawberry Shortcake, which is exactly the same as I had for my 5th birthday party.

Don't you hate it when....

....you decide you really want to have , you decide you're going to cook it for dinner.....only to find out you're missing a key ingredient that there is no substitution for? Well, that's what happened to me today. Fortunately for me, I realized this at 2pm, instead of 5. I wanted pancakes. With scrambled eggs. And turkey bacon. Yum!! Only, I didn't have my trusty Bisquick box from which to cook. Lucky for me, I'm best buds with Google. Did you know that most homemade pancake recipes need buttermilk? Don't have that either. I did, however stumble onto http://www.breakfast-and-brunch-recipes.com/easypancakerecipe.html and found a super easy (and healthy) homemade yogurt pancake recipe which had stuff I always have on hand (minus the baking soda, but Google stepped in again and gave me a substitute). So I tried it around 3, just in case I need a back-up plan. Luckily, it's pretty tasty. In fact, I've now added it to my cookbook.

......you see you've got a comment from a newbie to your blog, only to discover it's really like the blog-o-marketers leaving a link to their blog with a reference to something you've never even blogged about (aka snake wine). I find this really irritating. FYI if you're going to link to your own blog, at least take the time to read the post and reference something that I actually typed! He HAS been deleted. =P

....you suffer through all this freezing weather (I know, so do you) and don't even get the reward of a dusting of snow.... Just saying.....

If I had a million dollars....

So I was checking my email while talking to Shawn (who was in another room) when I opened an email.....and screamed "oh, my god"!!! Shawn comes running into the tv room wondering what part of my body I had chopped off. Instead, he finds my drooling over an email update from NKOTB Fan club....apparently, they are going to have a NKOTB Cruise in May. I know, exciting, right!! Well, I guess I'm the only one in my house who thinks so. Shawn says I can go with my girlfriends when we win the millions from the lottery.

On another note, while visiting family over Christmas, I had the chance to read several books I'd been putting off. I finally got the chance to read, "Are you there vodka, it's me, Chelsea" . This book was so funny! It read like a girlfriend sharing her stories with you and I laughed so much! Chelsea Handler is a comedian, who also had Comedy Central's Girls Behaving Badly show, for those who don't know. So, if you haven't read it, add it to your list! It's great!

Karma, baby, Karma

You know, the news IS depressing....wars everywhere, murders, robberies....It really makes you wonder about the world we live in. However, every now and then, karma steps in....

Did you hear about the Somali Pirates? The ones who hijacked an oil tanker for ransom (something like $3 million)? Well, in case you weren't keeping track, they've been hijacking stuff for a while (even tried to hijack a cruise ship!) Anywho, Karma finally stepped in. As the pirates were leaving in a little boat with their millions, the boat overturned and they drowned. With their millions. Karma's a bitch.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479168,00.html

New Years Resolutions

So, I'm a little late with the resolutions (and with a blog post). But lots have happened, including the passing of our beloved teacher, Mr. Fullington. Last night, Jaime and I went to his memorial service at Erwin High (my, how I miss high school, no adult responsibilities, no bills...). It was a wonderful service as it truly encompassed the man. I truly felt like he could be sitting right there, smiling and laughing (and tearing up) with the rest of us. While sitting there, listening to the words of the song, "I'll follow the sun", I came up with another item for my list.


April's New Year Resolutions

1. Add a few of Mr. Fullington's favorites to my song list--I think the best way to remember him is to be able to pass down the love of music (which I already have) to my daughter and future children. Not just listening to the music, but to teach her to know what the lyrics are about. So often, as busy as we get, we sing the words without really LISTENING to the meaning...I'm going to change that.

2. Finish my mosaic turtle (that I've been working on for a year now sporadically)

3. Continue running 5K's and maybe another 8k

4. Get back into my routine of going to the gym 4 days a week (that I've seemed to not do over the holidays)

5. Try to be more patient with things I can't control.

6. De clutter (waayyy to much stuff in the house!)

7. Be more optimistic.


One thing I don't have to put on the list, because I'm already thankful for it, is to have such great friends. Two friends, in particular, that no matter how far apart we live or how busy our lives get.....Have always been there (since like middle school!) and always will be....I'm realizing that our friendship is a rare one, not everyone keeps in touch after high school.....and for that, I'm thankful!

Attention passengers...the Captain has turned on the seatbelt sign...

My daughter takes after me, personality wise, and is always working to perfect her perfectionism. She always wants to be aware of what's going on, much like myself. That being said, our time spent on the airplanes have pretty much become routine.


Stewardess: Please review your emergency manual in the pocket in front of you.


Abbey grabs the emergency manual and begins studying all the pictures (because she can't read). This usually happens for about 10 minutes, and then she goes on to other things, like coloring.

BUT NOT THIS TIME.....

This time, she had a few questions.......

"Why are they opening the door?"
"Are we going to watch someone jump out of the airplane?"

"Are they going to let us go swimming?"

If I'm ever on a plane that's crashing, I'm following my 4 year old!!

I'm being lazy...here's another funny email

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES (That Really Work!)

1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU SLICE.
2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

DAILY THOUGHT:SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.