Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

I’d like a few more players for the Mad Libs game, so if you are interested, go to the post below and leave me a comment.  I’m still waiting on a few people’s answers and then I’ll start posting the stories.  :)

I received a great response about the last game of Mad Libs we played here, soooo, if you missed out on the first one or want to play again, here’s your chance.  I have 19 pages left in my Mad Libs book, so 19 unique and awesome stories for you to hear (and if by chance I get MORE than 19 would be players, I’ll choose some to duplicate…if that were to ever happen).  What you need to do is leave a comment here and I’ll email you a list of words I need from you.  Then you can email me back your list and I’ll post your stories.  It’s easy, it’s funny and it’s a surefire way to get me to blog  For the rules, go to the Mad Libs game here… 

I don’t know if I’m just being completely uninteresting, if I’m not commenting on enough blogs (I know this is true), or if I’m just not writing enough these days and people have forgotten about me, but I’m feeling a little lonely over here in my little corner of bloglandia.  It seems that there’s just a few sweet die hard commenters left to keep me company (waving…”hi guys…glad you still stop in!”), and that’s just because I pay them.  Kidding.

Admittedly, I’ve been feeling a bit of laziness when it comes to blogging…and to a lot of other things.  Except my dishes.  I’ve upped the ante on doing dishes around here since the plague infestation of fruit flies.  And I’m totally on top of updating my Facebook status.  So other than having a bit of OCD when it comes to cleaning my kitchen and stalking people on Facebook, I’ve become a bum.

I have a list of things I’d like to do and projects I’d like to complete.  Want to see it?  It actually exists.  I spend more time updating my list than actually DOING any of it.  A few things have been knocked off the list because the guilt was becoming a little to heavy to carry, lol :)  Like starting to work on my cross-stitch again and we finally wrote to our sponsor child.

I hadn’t worked on my cross-stitch in 2 years.  Okay, you can all stop laughing at me now.  Yes, I am COOL enough to cross-stitch!  I started when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and I was too sick to do anything other than lie around.  It helped me pass the time and I found it very relaxing.  And since I can’t paint or draw it was my way to make beautiful pieces or art.  I saw the first one below hanging in a shop and it was love at first sight.  I bought all the material, floss (thread) and almost $100 worth of metallic thread and beads. I give you

THE KISS (sorry for all the icky lines on it…don’t know why it’s showing up like that).

Here’s a close-up of the face and some of the beadwork.

It had approx. 36,000 stitches in it and took me 4 months to do it.  My dad was so impressed that he offered to pay for the framing because he said it shouldn’t just sit on a shelf somewhere after all that work.

I made another one a few years later from the same line of work.

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Now I’m working on a third one by the same artist.  Here’s what it will look like when it’s finished (except I’m doing it on a really nice lighter beige linen…I didn’t like the pinky orange color of the suggested linen).  I’m almost done.  Right now I’m working on the bottom two green and blue pieces of material and then the beadwork.

THE DREAMER

So now you all know my secret.  I see these hanging in the library I’m going to have one day.  Can’t you just picture it?  Dark wood shelving floor to ceiling with all my books, plush carpets, floor to ceiling windows, huge comfy reading chairs, a fireplace and these pictures hanging around the room.  It will be like something out of a storybook when I’m done.  Sigh.

Oh, and here’s the one I’m going to start once “The Dreamer” is complete.  It’s for Ella until I have a library to hang it in

CINDERELLA

I’ll change the color of the background linen to something more neutral and I would NEVER frame it in gold (ick).  Anyway.

Off to cross-stitch! 

I haven’t posted in almost a week, so I’m going to do something easy.  Here’s my life in the last week and a half as per my Facebook status.  So those of you who are my friend on Facebook…it’s just a recap for you.

November 3

Erin is cleaning. Weird (11:03 a.m.)  Now I recall this morning vividly.  A weird thing happened, I woke up and WANTED to clean.  It happens so rarely that when the drive hits I just go! 

Erin is in a crazy mood (3:07 p.m.)  Not sure what that was all about.  Perhaps I used some cleaning solution that got me a little loopy.  Or it could just be my normal frame of mind.  Who knows, but I do think I danced.  A lot.  Possibly with a mop.  Hmmm… I also got a comment on my blog that day from Kimberly saying that it sounded like I was drunk or lacking sleep.  I blogged about socks and that deemed me loco.  By the way the sock thing is working out for me.

November 4

Erin is never taking her hat off…EVER!!! Oh the $$$ I will save on hair products (9:04 a.m.)  The previous night we had the pleasure of having a lovely dinner at my cousins house and I swiped this hat off my darling Jen (who sells them and lots of other beAutiful  stuff through her business Pink Fusion)…speaking of which, I think I still need to pay for it.  :)  Good thing I’m going to a Pink Fusion party tonight.  I’m bringing hats back…yeah.

Erin still has the hat on. Good hat. Pink Fusion hat. Jen can Hook.You.Up! (5:03 p.m.)  I ended up wearing it until I went to bed that night.  My head was SOOO itchy when I took it off.  And I think it bruised my forehead.  Can that happen, do you think?  It definitely hurt.  I’ve never worn a hat, I don’t think.  At least not for any stretch of time since I always thought I looked dorky in hats.  

Erin is…something I’m sure. Just don’t know what. (10:46 p.m.) Grasping at straws for something interesting to write.  Failing miserably.  Probably should have just gone to bed at that point.  Likely didn’t.  

November 5

Erin is looking forward to washing her hair, lol. Love the hat, but love clean hair more :). (9:02 a.m.)  Don’t think I had washed my hair in 3 days by now, and the combination of wearing a hat for 13 hours and hair product from the day before that made a lovely coiff.  

Erin hopes her new Photoshop book comes quickly. I NEED to know more!!! (10:01 a.m.)  I ordered a book specifically for PhotoShop Elements 7.0 so as to help me get the most of the program.  I have been having so much fun playing around in it though and learning what I can on my own.  Here are a few more things I’ve done recently…

 

Erin has 6 kids for the evening! It’ll be an adventure.  (5:27)  Yes, I am superwoman.  I babysat my cousins 4 kids and had my own 2.  Okay, so it didn’t really take superwoman powers to have them here since they are great kids. 

November 6

Erin is going into hibernation and hiding for the next 5 months until the sun comes out and the weather gets nice. I’ll be here if you need me.  (10:29 a.m.)  It snowed.  ‘Nuf said.

Erin is counting down…20 minutes till the goobers are in bed and then it’s mama’s tv time!! (7:11 p.m.)  The dreary snowy weather kind of set the mood for the day and by 7:00 I was ready for some peace and quiet.  Not to mention it was Thursday.  LOVE Thursday t.v.!

Erin is super excited…just got tickets to see “Twilight!” Edward Cullen, here we come (8:43 p.m.) And then I got pre-sale tickets to go see Twilight on opening weekend and I was in my happy place!

November 7

Erin wonders, is going grocery shopping a smart idea??? (8:05 a.m.)  The snow continued on through the night and we woke up to very, very icy roads, making travel not such a grand idea.  But we needed food.  

Erin thinks we don’t need food THAT bad. Perhaps going back to bed with a book is a better idea :). (8:40 a.m.) Forty minutes later I was not convinced we really needed to eat that day.  I mean, I’ve gained that pesky 5 or 6 pounds back, so really, a snow day locked in the house with absolutely no food was in my favor.

Erin is going to try a persimmon and a pomegranate. Any tips on how to eat either?? (4:44 p.m.)  Obviously the need for nourishment and the thought of being trapped in the house for one second longer with my kids (At this point I hadn’t been out of the house since Tuesday…Mama needed to get out.  NOW!) was a greater pull because I don’t actually keep persimmon and pomegranates in my house as a rule.  I was feeling adventurous.

November 8

Erin is going to make homemade perogies this afternoon. (9:00 a.m.)  First of all, what was I doing up at 9:00 on a Saturday morning???  Heh.  And yes you read that right, I actually made homemade perogies.  Well, if we’re being completely honest, my mom came over and I stood there trying to be useful while she slammed out some awesomeness.  I was pretty much useless.  Although I DO know how to work that spoon full of filling.  Yup.

Erin had a great time with friends. As always. Love my friends (10:43 p.m.)  We had a lovely evening at Louise’s house for a potluck get together.  Comfort food all the way…chicken fingers, popcorn chicken, potato casserole, perogies and sausage, chips, pasta salad.  Not a veggie to be seen, lol : )

November 9

Erin is annoyed by fruit flies!!! They are the bain of my existence these days. (9:45 a.m.)  Yes, we’ve been overrun by the nasty little suckers.  Gah!!

Erin wants a Wii Fit NOW! Trying to find one is ridiculous! Wish me luck that I’ll get one for a decent price on ebay. (5:27 p.m.)  Yes, I got a Wii.  I’ve officially become a gamer, lol.  First the PS2 and SingStar, now a Wii.  Sigh.  My hobbies are getting expensive.  I got it mainly, as my status states, because I want a Wii Fit to exercise this winter.  I’ve stopped jogging because the weather has turned on me and I’m feeling the poundage creep back to the waistline.  

November 10

Erin is looking forward to an evening of fun…perogies, SingStar and Trivial Pursuit!!! (9:08 a.m.)  We had invited company over for the evening.  Fairly self explanatory.

Erin has a hoarse voice from singing all evening!! (11:13 p.m.)  So the perogies were rockin’!  The Trivial Pursuit never happened because we spent 3 hours singing our lungs out with SingStar.  I was so proud of everyone.  Everyone sang.  We had so much fun.  Just imagine how much more fun we’ll have when Abba SingStar comes out in 2 1/2 weeks!!!  YEEEEEEEE!!!!

November 11

Erin is really, really excited to see Jabbawockeez tonight! (9:22 a.m.)  We went to see the Jabbawockeez with our friends Chris and Tara.  The Jabbawockeez were amazing.  The MC for the evening…not so much.  I wanted to string him up by his toenails, along with everyone else in the audience.  He DID.NOT.SHUT.UP!  He just went on and on and on.  “We didn’t pay to hear you talk, buddy!  We came to see dancing.  So unless you want to bust a move, get off the stage!!”  

See, my life is really not very exciting.  And now I’m off to meet with a client about decorating his house for Christmas because his house is for sale and he wants it staged festively.  What a great job!  He doesn’t have any decorations, so I get to go and buy all the stuff and then make it beautiful.  Happy sigh.

Okay, I had a few participants.  I laughed when I read the answers and groaned when I read the ones left by my cousin (a.k.a. Borat…which, consequently, I deleted since they were, ahem, a little riske, albeit funny).

So I will reproduce the story here with each of your answers…good thing that I don’t have hoards of readers who were all dying to leave me comments :)  Otherwise you’d be here for a while.  For the 5 of you who did, here they are (your answers in bold).

*the story is from a Mad Libs book.  I take no credit for it.

Beauty Advice by Svea

If your skin is fuxxy or luscious, you can cure this condition with the following care.  Every morning, before washing your granite, massage it gently with a nail that has been soaked in a toilet full of warm iced tea.  Then mix together some chicken curry and crepes until the mixture becomes delightful.  Pat this onto your gory complexion for five minutes.  Then remove, using a belt and wash your face with snotty water.  Do not omit this peculiar step or your skin will become exciting.  Do this stealthily every day and you will soon be as weird as Joe Fresh.

Awesome, no??  Hee, hee, toilet full of warm iced tea.  Okay, next…

 Beauty Advice by Jen

If your skin is beautiful or loving, you can cure this condition with the following care.  Every morning, before washing your bottle, massage it gently with a chicken that has been soaked in a flower pot full of warm G and T (gin and tonic).  Then mix together some  porridge and cauliflower until the mixture becomes silly.  Pat this onto your jolly complexion for five minutes.  Then remove, using a cellphone and wash your face with worried water.  Do not omit this amused step or your skin will become dangerous.  Do this accidentally every day and you will soon be as elated as Erin.

Ah, that was good, I particularly like the “remove using a cellphone.”

Beauty Advice by Elin

  If your skin is sweet or prickly, you can cure this condition with the following care.  Every morning, before washing your hayloft, massage it gently with a microwave that has been soaked in a suitcase full of warm Pepsi.  Then mix together some pizza and jelly beans until the mixture becomes indented.  Pat this onto your scrumptious complexion for five minutes.  Then remove, using a pan and wash your face with sharp water.  Do not omit this hot (hawt) step or your skin will become rough.  Do this furiously every day and you will soon be as foul as Bar*ak.

Some of you will think that final part is funny, other’s will not.  That’s just the way the words worked…not my creation.  Just sayin’, don’t throw anything at me.  Loved the suitcase full of pepsi! 

Beauty Advice by Elleah

If your skin is funky or smelly, you can cure this condition with the following care.  Every morning, before washing your poop, massage it gently with a flower that has been soaked in a pot full of warm milk.  Then mix together some squash and macaroni until the mixture becomes bouncy.  Pat this onto your slow complexion for five minutes.  Then remove, using an axe and wash your face with ugly water.  Do not omit this curly step or your skin will become confused.  Do this rapidly every day and you will soon be as gorgeous as Josh Groban.

 

*This is in fact, squash and macaroni!  Whether or not it will become bouncy remains to be seen!

 

And, ha, I’ll bet Josh Groban doesn’t wash his poop…

 

Finally,

 

Beauty Advice by Jenn

 

 If your skin is shiny or rough, you can cure this condition with the following care.  Every morning, before washing your kitchen, massage it gently with a doorknob that has been soaked in a vase full of warm Pepto Bismal.  Then mix together some hot dogs and plums until the mixture becomes pretty.  Pat this onto your crooked complexion for five minutes.  Then remove, using a teacher and wash your face with tall water.  Do not omit this heavy step or your skin will become delicious.  Do this carefully every day and you will soon be as slippery as Santa Claus.

 

*When I Googled “slippery Santa” this is what came up…looks good

 

You know, she may be onto something here.  Santa would NEVER get down the chimney if he wasn’t slippery, and I bet if he drank a few of those he wouldn’t care much!

 

There you have it.  Thank you for participating.  Perhaps we’ll do it again, and next time I’m going to give you each your own story.  That will be fun.

…twice this week.  Not ONLY did the U.S. elect their first African American president, I started AND finished my laundry in the same day.  SAME DAY, people!  It’s a miracle.

Let’s play a game, m’kay?  Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!

Perhaps you remember it from your childhood.  I know it was one of my favorites to play when having sleepovers with my friends.  We would spend hours giggling over our crazy answers.

MAD LIBS!!!  LOVE it!!!  So here’s the deal.  I’m going to give you the list of fill-ins I need and I want you to leave me a comment in this post with your answers.  Then tomorrow I will put them together into a funny story for you.  Sounds thrilling, doesn’t it?  I know.

Okay, so before we start some of us need a quick refresher…

• ADJECTIVE: describes something or somebody.  Lumpy, soft, ugly, messy, and short are adjectives.

• ADVERB: tells how something is done.  It modifies a verb and usually ends in “ly.”  Modestly, stupidly, greedily, and carefully are adverbs.

• NOUN: is the name of a person, place or thin.  Sidewalk, umbrella, bridle, bathtub, and nose are nouns.

• VERB: is an action word. Run, pitch, jump, and swim are verbs.

• EXCLAMATION OR SILLY WORD: is any sort of funny sound, gasp, grunt, or outcry.  Wow!  Ouch!  Whomp!  Ick!  Gadzooks! are exclamations and silly words.

Here’s an example:

exclamation: Oi!

adverb: grumpily

noun:  tractor

adjective:  wrinkly

And this would be the finished product (with the fill-ins in bold):

“Oi!” he said grumpily, as he jumped into his convertible tractor and drove off with is wrinkly wife.

And there you have it.  Mad Libs.  So fun.

Okay, now it’s your turn.  Here’s the list of words I need you to give me.  Like I said, read the list and then leave me a comment in the comment section with your list.

I need:

• adjective
• adjective
• noun
• noun
• a container
• a liquid
• a food
• a food
• adjective
• adjective
• noun
• adjective
• adjective
• adjective
• adverb
• adjective
• name of a person

Okay, go.  Make me proud!  Have fun

I’m not sure where they all are, but every time I do laundry I’m left with a plethora (love that word) of socks without their mate.  Mate-less socks drive me nuts.  I realized that a lot of the missing socks were in the drawers waiting for the next load of laundry to produce their better half and they were like two ships sailing in the night.  They would get thrown into the drawer and promptly get lost in the shuffle.

So I devised a new system.  The sock wall of fame.

As I come upon socks that appear lonely and doing life without someone to walk hand in hand, erm, foot in foot with, I hang them up here above my washer.  Then the next time I do laundry, as I find single socks, I escort them to the wall of shame fame…it’s a little like a line up “Ma’am, do you recognize any of these socks?”

If they answer yes, they are happily paired back up.  Sometimes my girls don’t care and like to wear mismatched socks.  But in the long run, we’re all happier if each one finds it’s solemate…ha, ha…it’s serendipity that as I wrote that the song “Soulmate” came on the radio, bwahahahah!!!

“most relationships seem so transitory…” ROFLMAOPMP*

*rolling on the floor laughing my a$$ off peeing my pants

Is there anyone else out there who collects buttons or would want to start a collection or just likes to get fun things in the mail???  Let me know, maybe we can do a button swap. 

Thanks Carol for the GREAT idea

As a child, one of my favorite things to do when I went to my Grandma’s house was to haul out her big jar of buttons.  I would plop myself down in the sunny patch on the floor and watch as the hundreds of exquisite buttons would cascade out of the jar onto the carpet.  Like little priceless treasures, they would glisten in the sunlight and I would spend hours sifting through them.  Sorting them by colors.  Finding the ones that looked the oldest, wondering what story was behind each particular button.  Examining them carefully and exclaiming over how sparkly that one was, or how delicate this one was.  All the different shapes and sizes enthralled me.

A few months back I remembered this jar that I had forgotten about for so many years.  My Grandma passed away last December and for me this jar of buttons holds so many memories of hours spent with my Grandma in her sewing room, while she told me about years gone past, or just letting me chatter about anything my little heart desired.  I asked my mom where the jar had gone to and she said she would investigate for me.  If there is any one thing that I could keep to remember my Grandma by, I think this would be it.

I always keep my buttons that have fallen off clothing or the extras that come attached to the tags, but I’d never thought to put them together in one place.  A special place.  This week I decided to do something with them…collect them.  So I gathered them together and put them in a jar all of their own.  Hopefully one day my grandkids will be sitting with me and sifting through the pile that has been lovingly collected over time.

My dear friend Shelley surprised me this morning with a little gift.

Buttons to help get my collection off to a wonderful start.  Isn’t that a thoughtful gift?  I think it’s one of the most thoughtful little presents I’ve received in a long time.  It made my heart smile.

it’s far too much work to actually go upstairs to use the toilet.  BOTH the girls decided to pee on the floor in the basement.  At the SAME TIME!!!  They are 5 and 3.  Nuf said!!!!! (And I think this warrants a lot of exclamation points)

***maybe this WAS the game…

*Edited to add:  This was in fact the game.  They actually both pulled down their pants to pee on the floor.  I know…darling children.  At least they had the forethought to save mommy some work by pulling their pants down and not getting them wet as well.  Always a bright side.  Thank heavens they are in bed now, because it was THAT kind of day

I’m pretty sure there’s a conspiracy out there.  I have an issue with belts.  Like the kind that keep your pants up.  I decided to go without a belt for the past week because I was trying to be a rebel, alas no one benefited from that.  Thus I am back on the belt bandwagon and once again I’ve been let down (at least my pants haven’t…bwahaha).

You see my issue is that no belt is safe with me.  They all come to an untimely and horrific demise.  Case in point, my last belt, a beauty.  It was punched out with a pretty floral design and interspersed with glittery diamond studs.  Very pretty.  The other day I’m bending over to pick something up when suddenly I feel the comfortable security in the knowledge that my pants will stay up on my bum disappear in the blink of and eye…the sound of a snap.  Yup.  Snapped.  Right in half.  My belt was hanging on either side of my hips in two pieces NOT doing it’s job.  Grrr.  And no, I didn’t have it done up too tight, it had just weakened at one of the places where there was more punched out flower than belt.  Mental note for next time, buy belt with substance!

Last night I purchased another belt.  This one looked sturdy.  “Looked” being the operative word.  I put it on this morning and was pleased with the results.  Pants stayed on while I still looked fashionable (I guess pants sagging below your bum isn’t exactly fashionable either, is it?!).  During one of my many trips to the loo today I heard a pinging sound while doing up my belt.  I look down to investigate and I see a little silver grommet on the floor.  Oh, no you di’int!!!  Oh yes it did!  One of the little hole thingies fell out.  Ack!  I thought I had spent enough $$$ to make it last longer than a few months and for SURE longer than a few hours!  Double Grrr.

Jer told me that I need one made of real leather and not another wussy fashion belt.  Insert whiney voice here “but it doesn’t look pretty!!”  I guess one that is snapped in half doesn’t either.  Sigh.

Am I the only one who has belt issues?

*****

On a not so whiney note, I bought Photoshop Elements 7 on the weekend in hopes that I can work with my pictures from my new camera.  I wanted to learn how to make those pretty photo cards that people hire someone to make for them.  I thought, “I scrapbook, so I should be able to create something that doesn’t look too bad!”  Then I was told that it’s quite complicated.  But I am a determined person and I figured surely there is someone out there that has spent the hours learning how to do this exact thing and put a video tutorial on Youtube or something.  There was.  And it was easier than I’d hoped.  And here is my first attempts at my girls photo cards.  Whaddya think?  (click on them to see them with better detail!)

*****

As a child I was a HUGE fan of playing dress up (obviously still am!) and my girls have inherited that love.  I’ve recently felt bad because there just isn’t much around here that is dress up friendly.  Today while shopping I decided to stock up while there is an abundance of dress up stuff in stores thanks to Halloween.  I went to a Dollarama store…where everything is a dollar and you frequently hear the following…

Customer:  “How much is this?”

Salesperson:  “A dollar!”

Customer:  “Really?!?  How about this?”

Salesperson:  “A dollar”

Customer:  “A dollar!  Wow!  So everything is a dollar?”

Salesperson:  “Yes, ma’am, everything’s a dollar”

Customer:  “Even this?”

Salesperson:  “Even that”

Customer:  “Hmmm…”

I totally did that the first time I went, lol.

So as I was saying I went to the Dollarama and I bought tiaras, gloves with feathers, a clown wig, blinky nose and bow tie, a kitten face mask, purses, headbands, tutus, Hawaiian Leis (is that how you spell that?) all for $15 dollars.  So cheap.  My girls were thrilled and I was wishing that I was a little girl again to play with them.  I have to admit to trying on the tiara and the blinky nose (which consequently no longer blinks…that’s what you get for a dollar when your kids throw things around).

Here are some alternate uses for the non-blinky blinky nose…

Happy Wendnesday all!!

While on our trip to St. Louis a few weeks ago, I was in Target on a recon mission to find my favorite underwear.  I’ve never found them anywhere but Target, so when I’m down in the States I always try and snag a few pairs.

After completing the mission I wandered over to the electronics department to browse through the PS2 games.  To my great delight there was one new Singstar Pop2 on the shelf and I HAD to have it.  I motioned to the young man (who can’t have been more than about 17 or 18 years old) to get him to retrieve the game for me.  He was very helpful and even asked if I would like to pay for my other purchases at the till right there.

I gleefully replied “Absolutely!”

I nonchalantly tossed my pretty, lacy, black undies up on the counter and watched as a distinct look of regret washed over his features.

You know how they always take items of clothing off the store hangers while ringing them through?  WELL (snicker)…my black britches were not only on a hanger, they had those annoying little plastic thingies through the underwear and wrapped around the hanger to secure the slinky skivvies onto it (snort).  He starts fumbling with the underwear trying to take them off the hanger and failing miserably, while I stood by trying to look unaffected (also failing miserably).  After about 3 or 4 minutes of this, I asked if he would like me to, ahem, assist him in this endeavor.

He shoved them toward me very quickly, not meeting my eye and I popped them off the hanger and handed him the tag.  He didn’t even attempt the second pair, much to my dismay

I’m sure I scarred him for life.  YES!!!

My camera is glued to my face a lot recently : )  Since I’ve been putting off getting portraits done of my girls (I never got their 2 and 4 year pics done last year), I thought maybe I would just attempt to do it myself with my nice new expensive camera.  The camera will have paid for itself in about 7 years with the money I’ll save at the portrait studio : )

Anyway, I was so ridiculously thrilled that I got pictures that were in focus (the past week of picture taking has been mostly of sunsets and stills because people just weren’t working so well for me).  The girls cooperated for the most part, although Aidan doesn’t sit still, couldn’t if her life depended on it.  The photoshoot started out just of Aidan because Ella got beautiful pictures done at school, but my dad rescued stole Aidan prematurely.  I was in “the zone” and without a subject, so I nabbed Ella to come sit for me.  She came unwillingly at first, Treehouse being the bigger lure, but it didn’t take more than 2 pictures for her to get into the whole thing and really be a lovely model!

This is just a glimpse of the pictures. You can also view them individually in my Flickr account.

Half an hour ago I sat down in front of my computer to try and come up with something interesting to write about.  I was sitting here staring at the screen and thinking, “Nothing has really happened lately that I feel inspired to blog about.”

And then Aidan managed to get poo all over the bathroom.

{shudders}

That’s all I got.

I feel like I have so much to say and yet can’t find the words to make my thoughts coherent.  I could say that I’ve been absent from my blog because of busyness.  That’s only partly true (Although I find my new obsession with taking pictures does eat up my hours very quickly).

I sit here staring at the blinking cursor and I’m still at a loss for words.  Most of my thoughts and emotions of the last 2 weeks (even the last 6-8 months) have been so private that I’ve been unable to share them other than with my closest friends.  Hence the lack of blogging around here.

It seems that with the advent of fall and my 28th birthday, a season of change has begun in me.  Mostly for the better.  In a season where nature is settling down into hibernation, I feel like I’m coming alive again, in a sense.

I’m excited about the future.  I’m looking forward to the adventure.  I’m terrified of the unknown.  I’m expectant of the blessings I know God has in store for me and my family.  Maybe one day the journey I’ve been on the past few years will be something I can share about.  But for now, it is something I will keep close.

 

My heart overflows and I’m feeling very blessed right now.  With a husband who is beside me, loving me so much.  With friends who are supportive, encouraging and wonderful.  With a camera to finally capture all the beauty I see around me.  With the opportunity to finally travel with my husband to the part of the world that holds my heart captive.  I have a feeling that 28 is going to be a good year : )

***all pictures taken by me***

I’m going to start off by saying I have the best friends EVER!!!  When I so boldly asked them to humor me and dress up in costumes for my esteemed party, I have to admit to being skeptical as to whether most of them would.  Now I knew some of them would, but I had my doubts about others.  Almost every single person dressed up.  And they were fabulous.

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to a few people (if you can’t read the speech bubbles click on the pictures and no racial slurs intended about gangstas, Hutterites or pirates)…

My husband…

I know…no words are necessary.  Hot.

A couple of Hutterites showed up.  Animals, both of them.  For those of you who need interpretation “Papsi and Ravels” is Pepsi and Revels in Hutterite speak and it’s a big joke around here…don’t know why, just is.  The best part were her nude colored stockings with socks and sandals.  If only you could have seen it…

Oh wait, you CAN…

I didn’t realize I was related to a couple of gangstas.  Fo shizzle!  I kept doing a double take because I could hardly recognize them under all that makeup and bling : )

Of course what party is complete without a ninja, Zorro or a beautiful goddess?

A couple of cute pageant contestants showed up…Miss-Understood and Miss-Cellaneous.  Very original!

The party also made me realize that Pirates have a thing for fairies…

Of course the fun got started for real when the Mexican dealer showed up.  Meet my cousin, Rico Sanchez

Umm, excuse him…we don’t do that kind of thing.

He brought along his pixie as well.

Good thing the cops showed up to keep all the gangstas, pirates and dealers in line…

The lovely Louise came as a darling kitty cat…

Here’s a shot of all the girls (I’m the CSI there on the right…that’s the only picture of me that’s any good for now)

and the guys…

And better late than never, the doctor was in the house.

At one point I overheard a disturbing conversation…

Zorro and Mr. Hutterite looked very enthusiastic about the whole party

One of the fairies and the gangsta ho Sheniqua worked the corner…

All in all very interesting and very fun : )  I laughed until my face hurt.  Jer declared that we need to have a costume party every year.  Sounds good to me!

**This picture is dedicated to Val : ) **

This beautiful camera (Nikon D60) was my birthday present from my wonderful husband!  It’s what I asked for, but apparently I didn’t think I was ACTUALLY going to get it because I was still really surprised.  I’m having lots of fun playing with it.  I’ve taken a couple of pictures that I’m happy with.  I’m sure pictures will be even more great once I figure out what all the settings and buttons and dials mean, lol : )

I think clicking on them enlarges them and the detail is better.

These pictures above are of the flowers Jer bought me for my birthday.  Aren’t the colors just stunning?  And the thing that makes me really happy…my new camera actually picks up the colors.  The richness and depth of them.  I LOVE IT!!!  Now I won’t have time to blog because I’m going to be too busy figuring my camera out and playing with it.  : )

I’m working on a post right now about my awesome birthday party…lots of pictures in that one (unfortunately none with my new camera as I only got it AT my party).

Then of course there’s a whole long post or two about my trip.  So much to write so little time.  Okay.  I should probably go get busy on some of it.

***Edited to add…

This is the new camera strap I ordered off Etsy from this shop.

Isn’t it darling?

***Okay, I’ve hopefully fixed the ability to see the video…because what good is SEEING what I’m saying if you can’t view the video?!  If the video still isn’t working, try this link to go to the video on YouTube.***
Linda over at 2nd Cup of Coffee is hosting this carnival so that bloggers everywhere can be seen in their natural habitat…in real life…heard…whatever.  You know what I’m saying.  Now you can SEE what I’m saying.  You can see me saying…stuff.  It really gets quite deep.  I get into thoughts on socks.  Yup.  Socks.  Deep, deep, deep.  Okay, not deep.  Just a slip of the tongue which makes me look quite dense, actually.When I first decided to do this video I was thinking of doing a song and dance.  There was even a cowboy hat involved.  Then I thought perhaps I would learn how to do Origami (Ha!  You probably all did a double take when you read that word, didn’t you?  I know I did when I reread this post, that word just, um, yeah) and do a teaching video (somehow that just seems creepy now…).  But it just never happened (likely a good thing).  Instead, you are stuck with me talking useless drivel.  This is my first attempt at a video blog post and it’s a SAD attempt at best.  I have to apologize for my lack of eye contact and rather crazy facial expressions…although, that’s probably how I look all the time, which makes me a little worried about what the people who know me think about me.  I only say “awkward” 3 or 4 times in the video, so it can’t be TOO bad : )  And whoever said that the camera adds 10 pounds, do you know if it adds poundage to your lips?  Or are my lips really that HUGE?!  Wow!  When I talk they seem to have a life of their own.  I think perhaps I get a double chin because my lips weigh my face down : )  Okay, now you can go and laugh at me.  I give you permission.

_{**disclaimer:  I’m not actually a ditz IRL, just so y’all know.  I was nervous.  Okay.  Go.}

 

My lovely cousin Leesh (Alecia), and I were super excited to be front and center for the Reba and Kelly concert this past Thursday.  We were in the 6th row, which is the best seat I’ve ever had at a concert and it will just never do to have seats anywhere else ever again!  Wow.  It’s so incredible to be so close to the stage that you can actually make eye contact ( I SWEAR they looked at me!) and see every little nuance on their faces and expressions.  It’s awesome.  My camera broke a few days before and so I don’t have any of my own pictures, but Leesh took some and if she sends them to me I’ll post some.

The show started off on the right note with an absolutely fabulous and hilarious act.  Melissa Peterson (Barbara Jean) from the t.v. show “Reba” did her comedy routine to open up the show and I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a very.long.time!!!  I was crying.  My cheeks hurt so much that my face actually froze into a permanent smile for the rest of the evening.  I wish I could find a Youtube video of her opening act, but alas, it seems to not be out there.  You’ll just have to believe me when I say I was doubled over and I couldn’t catch my breath : )

The concert itself was spectacular.  I’ve never been a Reba fan, in that I’ve never really listened to her music since I don’t proclaim to be a country music listener.  After that concert I have a new appreciation for her talent.  Both women are so humble, so amazingly talented and just an absolute joy to watch perform.  They did the whole set as a duet, first singing one of Reba’s songs and then one of Kelly’s.  It was such a unique set up that it made it even more fun to watch.

And then Melissa Peterson came out again to “surprise” Reba.  Seriously, two words…FUN. NY.  If you’ve ever been a fan of the t.v. show, you’ll understand the dynamic between Reba and her.  Reba really plays the annoyed, less than amused part even at the concert, which makes it all the more hilarious.  There is a joke in this clip that you might not understand unless you are from around here.  At around the 53 second mark she talks about being in town auditioning at “Teasers” which is a local strip joint : )

If you look at her closely you can see that she’s wearing a t-shirt with Kelly Clarkson’s face on the front and she uses it in her act.  Towards the end of the skit she is talking to one of the band members (who you can’t see in the frame) and says “if I squint my eyes, you look a little like Antonio Banderas!”  Too funny!

If you have 7 and a half minutes to spare, watch the video.