Rest in Peace Officer Philip Davis

Missing in Action

I haven't been here in awhile, not sure if anyone cares, but a lot has been going on the last couple of weeks.  I'll blog more in the next few days when I have more time. 

Happy Anniversary!!

On November 13, 2009, Big Daddy and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  He had a special day and night for me on Saturday and I didn't know until right before we got there.  He took me to Ross Bridge and we spent the afternoon in the Spa getting pampered.  We got a couples massage and then I got a facial.  Both were fantastic.  Mike didn't remember much of the massage, but I did!  It was my first massage and it was everything I thought it would be.

We at dinner at Brock's and I had grilled pasta and he had veal parmigiana and we split some yummy bread pudding.  Then we retired to our room to watch football.  That's all I'm going to say about that!  (wink wink)

The next morning we got checked out, ate breakfast and then did some Chrismtas shopping since the kids weren't with us.  We just about got everything done for the kids.  After our exhausting trip to Target, we had sushi for lunch and then we home.  I picked up the kids and Big Daddy went and worked at an extra job....back to lilfe as we knew it, kids, laundry, grocery shopping.....etc......

I'm looking to foward to the next 10 years with Big Daddy!  And the next, and the next and the next.....

Wordless Wednesday

MJ is the girl in the middle with short hair and glasses and her little crooked bowtie! 

Strobe Lights and Wheelchairs

Courtesy of Rachel

This is my first True Story Tuesday.  I don't know that I've had anything recently TST worthy, but digging back in this ole memory of mine, I remembered something....

My in-laws live in West Bay, Grand Cayman.  Me, Big Daddy and the girls went down there last year right after Christmas and were there New Years Eve.  As you know, Grand Cayman is British and they drive on the left side of the road, totally freaked me out when we first got there. I thought we were going to be in a head on collision. On NYE, we went to dinner right on the water and on our way home, we are buzzing down the road and I see a strobe light coming toward us and oh my goodness, it was a guy in an electric wheelchair doing probably 15 miles an hour coming straight toward us.  As he's getting closer to us, Big Daddy's step dad yelled out...THAT WAS LARRY FLYNT (Hustler Magazine)!!!!!!   He is such a foul human being, but I sure did get a kick out of seeing that idiot with his wheelchair and strobe light!  By no means was I star struck, just thought it was hilarious!  

Thank You Very Much!

To the owners of Wing King who make the yummiest wings EVER that I can't resist when Big Daddy says want me stop by Wing King?  I say yes and I feel like I've gained 20 pounds in the last couple of months....thank you very much!

To the mounds of clean laundry that keep showing up in my living room screaming FOLD ME AND PUT ME UP, why can't you do it yourself?......thank you very much!

To the MVES choir, why can't you do a program in the evenings as opposed to 9:00 a.m. when folks are at work!  Now I have to try to find family members who are veterans and who aren't working to come see my daughter's 3rd grade choir pay tribute to you!  Thank you very much!

To Father Time - seriously I'm about to turn 39 already?  Thank you very much!

To Mr. Attorney General who dismissed our cases and we are having to work our butts off to get the cases instated, THANK YOU VERY MUCH YOU JERK!

You can write your own Thank You Very Much posts and link up at Kmama's house.

WW - What is next on my list to destroy?

BOO!

We had a really fun Halloween and it didn't involve walking around our hilly neighborhood.  For some reason, we don't have a very good neighborhood for trick or treating so Big Daddy and I have resorted to taking the girls to other places.  This year, we were supposed to go to our church's fall festival, but they cancelled becuase the weather was so nasty in the earlier part of the day.  Cold and rainy.  So we decided to go to another local church and they had a HUGE fall festival.  We met another couple there whose boys are each a year older than my girls and they get along so good!!  We always have fun with them.  Here are a couple of snapshots from Halloween....

SE as Bat Girl

MJ is a Vampire

I'm a blooming idiot

Big Daddy is a nasty old man

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween....now on to Thanksgiving (and my 39th birthday!!! EEEKKK)

Miley Cyrus

This past Friday night, Big Daddy and I took MJ to the Miley Cyrus concert in Birmingham.  We have been waiting patiently since June for this concert and trying not to make a huge deal out of it in front of SE.  I just wasn't paying $60 for SE to run up and down the stairs all night to go potty, plus the fact that she HATES loud noises.  So the day finally arrived and I took off half a day to prepare!!!  Here are a few snapshots from the concert. 

We had a blast and I can't wait to take MJ to another concert!!!

Last Couple of Weeks....

I feel like such a slacker!  It's been about two weeks since I've blogged!  We've had a couple of really fun events over the last couple of weeks.  If you are from the South, you know how big college football is here.  We (not including myself) are a bunch of crazy redneck fans who will fight for their team even thought we might not have EVER stepped foot on the campus of our favorite school team!!!  I can say that   I have been on Alabama's campus and I have been on Clemon's campus.  Big Daddy and I went to the Clemson/Wake Forest football game.  It just so happens that Big Daddy works with Clemson's Head Coach's brother!  We went to Coach Swinney's house before the game, and his youngest son, brother, sister in law, and mother all rode to he game with us.  It was pretty cool.  We got to park right at the stadium, walked right in, went and had breakfast with the coaches and their families and new recruits.  Then we toured the coaches' offices and met some coaches and their wives. 

Entrance to the Coaches' Office

Big Daddy sitting behind Coach Swinney's desk!

Next, we made our way downstairs to meeting rooms, etc. and the next thing I knew, we were right in front of the weight room and there were some red shirt freshman in there working out.  THEN, here come some players out of the locker room for pregame warmups.  I asked Big Daddy if I could go in the locker room and he laughed and said no.  I have to remind myself, I'm old enough to most of those boys' momma!  That's a hard one to swallow.  We stayed on the field during pregame warmups and it was so cool!  You know these are big ole boys, but you don't realize just how big they are until you are next to them. 

We had 45 yard line tickets which were AWESOME!!!  Alabama is my home team (ROLL TIDE) and it was hard to cheer on another team, but they aren't in our conference, so that made it a little easier!  After they beat the mess out of Wake Forest (38-3), we were able to attend Coach Swinney's press conference and then attended the taping of the Dabo Swinney Show.  It was all just too cool.  I always love to know what happens "backstage" at different events.  My dream job is to work on the set of a TV show or on the side lines of sporting events, even if I was a coffee go getter, that would be fine with me. 

Press Conference

The Dabo Swinney Show

After all that said and done, we were able to FINALLY meet Coach Swinney, I mean, we had already met his kids, wife and mother. 

Coach Swinney, Big Daddy and Me

After all was said and done, Big Daddy and I rode around campus, tried to find something to eat and finally ate at Ruby Tuesday's, we headed back to our little cabin in the woods and fell asleep on the couch while we were watching our own team on TV.  Just a couple of old farts living it up on a Saturday night!!! 

Wordless Wedneday

Rum Point, Grand Cayman

Menu Plan Monday October 12

Monday - baked tilapia, rice and veggies

Tuesday - Cheesecake Factory - Big Daddy's Birthday

Wednesday - Cabbage Rolls

Thursday - soup and sandwiches

Friday - Sunday - Out of Town

I haven't had to go grocery shopping this week because I have bought enough food at the store the last few weeks, I'm pretty well stocked for a bit!!! 

For more great menus and recipes head on over to I'm An Organizing Junkie!

You Are Missed!!

My dear friend and co-EX-worker, Robin, is missed already!  It was so nice to have her cheery disposition in this office day in and day out.  I would talk to her about anything and she was always there for me.  Robin is cute, funny, caring, devoted to her family and her job (when she was employed here! ), very trustworthy, loyal to her friends, a good singer, loves funky fun music, smart, understanding, SO DARN FUNNY!!!! Has the best giggle in the whole world, very contagious, in a good way, unpredictable, and dependable! I could go on and on about what a great person Robin is.  Today is the first day at work without her here and it's already not the same.  Sara and I are very jealous that she got to sleep in this rainy Monday morning and Ali and I have already talked about how much we miss her.  This place changed when Robin came, it seemed "lighter" when she was here, not so serious.  I'm sure she will read this and I hope she knows how much she is going to be missed and how much we love her!!!!

Dearest V-Snake

Dear Low Down Dirty Snake,

I need to get some things off my chest. I don’t like you at all. You are a snake. Plain and simple. I remember sitting in the church watching you and G-Daddy get married and I cried the entire time. It’s not the fact that G-daddy was marrying someone else after losing G-Mother to cancer, it was the fact that he was marrying YOU! Everything seemed to be okay at first, but then you decided, after spending half of any money he had, you were leaving him. You bought a townhouse and he lived in a townhouse that Uncle-J helped him get. G-daddy is a man of his word and when he said "I do" he meant it and he wasn’t going to divorce you, sadly enough. Then he had knee surgery and here comes Low Down Dirty Snake to the rescue and ya’ll get back together and spent entirely too much money for a house you really couldn’t afford AND financed it for 30 years!! After this, you spend the REST of his hard earned money, money that G-MOTHER saved for him/them and you spent it, plus some. You maxed out all of his credit cards, didn’t make the house payment, but you managed to get your fat self a hot tub and a house full of furniture! You make me want to vomit. After you spent all of his money, you wanted to leave again, so you did and purchased yourself a nice little all brick garden home and he is having to live in an apartment around Section 8 tenants while you live high on the hog, probably plotting to take another man’s hard earned money! Oh but wait, G-daddy wasn’t the first, was he? You are a Low Down Dirty Snake and you will have to answer for this one way or another. I just hope you have taken the hint to stay away from our family. I will say that if given the opportunity, you will get an ear full from me, that’s for sure!!! Betta Watch Yo Back Sista!!

Fun Day!!

Thanks Brandi at My Three Bubs for this fun idea!!!!



Create your own FACEinHOLE

My World

I want to sleep for about a week! This is a typical day for me....up at 5 am, start getting myself ready for work, start getting the kids up around 5:40 am, fuss and fight with them trying to get them going, make sure all school stuff is together. I should actually help MJ do this the night before, but I'm so exhausted, I can't remember do it for some reason. I usually throw in a load of laundry before I leave the house, one of us has to round up the cat, SE pees in her pants sometimes, so we have to change clothes, she's begging for breakfast, snack or drink, we leave the house around 6:25, I drop off MJ at school at 6:33, then I have another 45 minute/17 mile drive to take SE to daycare and then another 30-40 minute drive to work.

Once I'm at work around 8 or so, I finally get breakfast. I rarely take a lunch because I have to leave early for soccer practice. I'm not sure why they have practice at 5 pm, some folks do have to work for living. On soccer days, we get home around 6:30 pm, I immediately cook dinner and get MJ started on homework, while SE is whining and crying because she is hungry and "sirsty." We all eat, I try to do a load of laundry, but I'm not always success in getting it folded and put up, but the clothes are clean nonetheless. The kitchen needs to be cleaned, MJ needs help with homework, SE is destroying the house from one end to the other, they need baths and they need to be in bed at a decent time. I do good to get them in bed by 9 pm every night. By then I'm exhausted and I usually fall asleep on the couch at some point, but I try to be in bed by 10 pm. I know, wah wah wah....I know I'm not the only one who lives like this......I just like to whine!

There are so many things I need and want to do in my house, but can never find the time to do them. I don't know if I need to manage what little time I have better or what. It's all so exhausting! I forget so many things and I don't know what to do to make me remember them. I forgot to turn in MJ's picture money and I feel like a horrible mom because of it. I mean, they do get their picture made twice a year and this picture wasn't that great, by no fault of MJs. I chose get her hair cut the day before and the girl did a crap job and it looked funky. I still feel horrible about not getting the pictures. I still might be able to, I'm going to talk to her about it though.

I'm really trying to be more organized, I've started using coupons like a mad woman and stockpiling our toiletries and cleaning supplies. I've done pretty good so far with that. I'm trying to use my coupons and find the best deals possible out there to save the most amount of money I can save. I've planned all of my meals for the month of October and am currently working November. Things will change some, but not alot.

There's my whine for the day. As I'm sitting here drinking a Mountain Dew and trying to stay away, I'll get back to work for now.

Menu Planning Monday 10/4/09

Since I have been planning meals, my life has gotten a little easier! I think my family enjoys it too.

Monday - Roast, carrots, potatoes

Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday - left over roast

Thursday - pork chops and veggies

Friday - hamburgers

For more meal planning ideas see Menu Planning Monday.

WOW!!!

I CANNOT believe it's already October 1! This year has flown by. I'm so glad summer is over...I'm tired of wearing summer clothes and being hot all the time. The weather we have been having is PERFECT! I ate lunch in a park today and it was nice to see school age kids running around outside enjoying the weather. This is going to be a busy month for us, we have something planned every weekend, but I'm really looking foward to it. Big Daddy is working lots of extra jobs, we are heading to South Carolina one weekend, one Friday night we are going to the Miley Cyrus concer, which, by the way, I can't for!!! Then there's Halloween and the next thing you know, it's going be November! This is, by far, my favorite time of the year, lots of stuff going on and it's fun because it has cooled off outside!

Monday Menu Planning 9/28

This week is a little up in the air, because Big Daddy will be working some extra jobs in the evenings and we have make up soccer games this week, so we'll see!!

Monday - mac & cheese and chicken nuggets for the kids and grilled cheese for me
Tuesday - BLTs (make up soccer game)
Wednesday - Crustless Ham & Cheese Quiche and salad
Thursday - chicken pot pie
Friday - eat out
Saturday - probaby some wings for football game watching
Sunday - fly by the seat of our pants!

For more Menu Plans visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Yummy!!

I found a new recipe here and it was a hit!!! MJ even ate some of it and she is a very picky eater!! I didn't take pictures, it was dug into to quickly!!! Try it out sometime! It was delish!!! Thanks The Frugal Girls for sharing such great recipes!!

Letters of Intent

Dear LPP,

You did not win. I don't like you and I never will, but for the sake of the family, I will be cordial and two-faced. Telling nasty and hurtful lies get you nowhere. Maybe perhaps if you had said these hurtful things to my face, I wouldn't be blogging about it. I will just hit on a few lies/truths.

• I have NEVER sat my fat butt on the couch every night and left my kids to fend for themselves. At the time, all of these things were said, they were ages 2 and 6. I have NEVER made MJ fix her and SE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you had any inkling what you were talking about, you might have found out that they don't even like PB&Js!
• I NEVER came to your place of business and bashed my own husband.
• I DO NOT and HAVE NEVER neglected my kids, how dare you say those things about me. Let's talk about SE coming home from daycare with doo doo caked in her butt crack and her underwear - that's neglect sister!!
• How dare you tell SE's daycare teachers she has a serious medical condition. You aren't a doctor or a nurse, so leave the diagnosing of illnesses to the medical professionals.

There are so many other things I want to say, but I'll save that for if/when you have the nerve to ever confront me.

Dear Co-Worker,

You seriously irriate the stew out of me! We work for the same person, but for some reason, I'm the only one busting my hump every day! I am so tired of you sleeping, staring at your computer all day, you constantly tell our boss you are working on something, but I never hear you making phone calls and "working on it." When another attorney in our office asks for OUR help, you never do your part, you keep the work untouched for so long that someone eventually takes it from you to do themselves. I'm so tired of hearing you hum all day. I had rather listen to fingernails on a chalkboard than your humming. AND, what's up with that rolling cart? I cringe when I hear you pulling that thing down the hall every morning making your way to your desk. What all do you carry around that needs to be brought in on a rolling cart? UGH!!!!