Yesterday

Well yesterdays "PLAN" was to clean the whole house and have it all spic n' span for Mom's arrival on Wednesday, since I have to work today. I did clean, and I even cleaned the oven, and got some comforters washed that I have been wanting to do. BUT... the house is already a disaster again. Damn kids. Even Jessi's room, that she and her friends worked so hard on getting clean and organized (and even did a little painting), will need another run thru before we head to the airport at 2pm tomorrow to pick Mom up! That's ok... I work much better under pressure ;)

Baseball and a haircut

LOVING the nice weather this weekend!! We got the house and yard all cleaned up this morning and then Holli came over to meet the family. Holli is going to be spending some time with the kids this summer while Rick and I are at work. The kids LOVED her and are really looking forward to a summer of fun. They both hate camp, so finding someone who will spend a couple days a week taking them to fun places was the perfect solution, she even said Jessi could bring along a friend if she wanted to!

Sean starts baseball after vacation, so we went out and got him all the stuff he needed (a haircut being need #1!)... and some fishing stuff... and Rick a new weight bench since his bit the dust.

No big plans for the rest of the day. I have tomorrow off for 'Patriot's Day' (it's a New England thing), then I work on Tuesday, and then I am off til the next Wednesday... LOVES IT!!!!!!!!!!!

We have TONS of cleaning and stuff to do before Mom arrives on Wednesday...

So NATURALLY we spent half the day at the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race ;)

Oh my... I am a blog slacker!

I don't even have any pics to post because I am a photo slacker too! Ok... I HAD to find some pics... couldn't go picless... that's just wrong. So here is my desk. Mikayla faking. And some SMoke on the Water ;)

This week has been a busy one! I have been trying to get stuff done around the house, including getting estimates to FINALLY have our lot graded and all prettied up... thanks to George W's (unsuccessful) attempt at paying us all off to like him. Thanks George. It's going to cost quite a bit to have it done, but it's going to be FANTASTIC when it's done! AND... it's going to fix all of our basement issues, so Jessi can resume day-dreaming about having her rock band stage down there ;) Both Rick and I had dreams about our 'perfect yard' the night we got the estimate!

Today will be another busy one. But good busy because I have the day all to myself! The kids are going to B and Grampa's after school. So after work I am going to do a little shopping, and then heading over to Dyan's house in Orono for book club. And no... I did not finish the honky joy luck book. It was a TOTAL snoozer. Kinda like this blog post................

Parrrrrrrrrrrrrrtaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!

The party was great! I was a little worried pre-party because usually Nicole takes over and runs things for me... and I REALLY like that!! But she is in Texas having fun in the sun... so I had to make-do without her. Jessi and Mikayla were a HUGE help! They made up all the goodie bags, set the table, and helped wrangle all if Sean's little friends :) There were about 256 parties going on there that day and it was CRAZINESS, but fortunately we had the last 2 lanes, so we weren't right in the middle of it all. I can't BELIEVE how many toys Sean got. He's probably going to be bummed at Christmas now...lol!! I had thought about asking people not to bring gifts, but everyone thought that was a bad idea. He has so much though, it's ridiculous. This week certainly will have a 'go around the house collecting toys for kids that don't have toys' mission!

My camera died mid way through the party, so I had to steal the batteries out of my flash, so I couldn't use flash anymore and that was kind of a bummer, but that'll learn me for not having extra batteries with me all the time!!

Marshmallow guns pretty much rock!

I don't know where my Mom found them, but she pretty much sealed up Sean's 'greatest birthday gift' award this year when a big box of 4 Marshmallow guns and LOTS of bags of mini marshmallows arrived in the mail :)

My birthday boy and guitar hero graduate

Today I looked in my rearview mirror...

and saw two beautiful 12 year old girls sitting quietly with tears streaming down their faces and letters of rejection in their hands. They spent the past 3 days from after-school until dinnertime running drills, throwing, catching and hitting balls, all with the hopes that they would make the team. They didn't.

What do you say?? 'Oh well... you figured you weren't going to make it anyway since there were no many trying out.' 'Suck it up, you'll be fine.' 'Better luck next year?' I feel like the way I handle this will chart the course of her life. Like if I say the wrong thing, she won't ever try out for a sport again. Like she'll give up, decide she is just 'not athletic and sucks at sports,' like I did when I didn't make the few teams I tried out for in middle school... and we all know how I spent my high school years instead of athletics... and we all know how physically fit I ended up. What a completely helpless feeling of wanting to march right over to the school, barge in and say "WTH!!??? You'll put my freakin' kid... and her friends... on the team now, or I'm gonna have to kick some ass!!" But obviously I can't do that. All I can do is listen to the girls, and plan them a little 'pity party' for Friday night.

ham

ham

Audio Help (hām) Pronunciation Key n. The thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a hog. A cut of meat from the thigh of a hog. The back of the knee. The back of the thigh. hams The buttocks. A performer who overacts or exaggerates. A licensed amateur radio operator. v. hammed, ham·ming, hams v. intr. To overact. v. tr. To exaggerate or overdo (a dramatic role, for example). [Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm. N., senses 6 and 7, possibly from ham-fatter, a poor or amateurish actor.]

If you are a delicate flower... skip this post cuz there is gonna be a LOT OF SWEARING!!!!!!!

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!! I FUCKING HATE OUR FUCKING BASEMENT!!! Today was SUPPOSED to be a nice day with friends, photos, and BBQing. INSTEAD we woke up to five fucking inches of water in our stupid ass basement because the stupid bitch of a sump pump died overnight. Actually.... fuck even blaming the sump pump.... let's get right fucking to it. We didn't know that the hell we were doing when we built this stupid house and fucked everything all up. If we had HIRED someone to do the groundwork and foundation, surely they would have made sure that the drainage was done properly. But at the time, all I fucking cared about was cabinets and countertops and getting it fucking FINISHED so that we could get out of that nasty ass apartment.

the water would have sucked no matter what... but it sucks even MORE because the basement is a FUCKING WARZONE of a disaster. Because yet again.... Who cares if we have stairs out the bilco to the outside as long as we have a really cool KITCHEN ISLAND, RIGHT!!??? So junk and crap and shit we don't need and "where-should-I-put-this-I-don't-know-put-it-in-the-basement" and construction materials are EVERYWHERE... and now they are FLOATING everywhere... soon to be fucking MOLDING everywhere!!!!

What really burns my butt is that I have called FIVE contractors over the past couple weeks to come and properly grade our yard and NONE have shown up when they said they were going to. (Not that it would have been done yet, but STILL!) I have also called a couple carpenters to come give estimates on building the stairs down there. I was ON IT!!! WHY NOW!!!?? I didn't NEED a FUCKING REMINDER from the Basement Flood God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am DONE fucking being lazy about the shit that needs to get done around here. No more Mrs. Fun Lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oopsie

I crashed today. Just a little ;)

I ran to the dollar tree on my lunch break to get Sean's party invitation's that HAVE to go out tomorrow since I have slacked so long. The place was packed (which I should have thought of, since it's the first week of the month and that's payweek for much of the Dollar Tree's client el ...yeah that sounds snotty, but you know it's true.) There were 2 registers open with at least 10 people in each line. I stood in line for awhile, then realized there was no way I was going to get out of there before my lunch break ended. So I left. The car beside me had parked REALLY close to me, so I was watching it as I pulled out to keep from hitting it... the BANG!! Another car was pulling out on the other side of the lane and we crashed car butts ;) My taillight got cracked a bit and the spare tire cover on her RAV 4 got cracked. So no biggie, and totally my dumb, stupid fault.

Figures the one time I am actually NOT on the phone or playing with my mp3 player is when I crash.

For B

who has been begging me for a couple weeks to have Sean make a birthday wish list :) ...and anyone else who isn't sure what 6 year old boys like....

Party Details... Sunday April 13th, Bangor/Brewer Bowling Lanes (Sean's Choice!) 12pm

A good day.

Today has been a very nice day. The kids and I took the day off as I scheduled all of their annual doctor and dentist check-ups for today. We started off at the dentist. No cavities, but Sean does have a filling that came out and needs to be replaced (which I think is dumb in a baby tooth.... but I guess that's why I don't have a degree in dentistry.) Then we went to Walmart to get some stuff... including some LEGOS, as both kids have been begging for some for ages. I bought the starter set and was dissappointed to see that there are about 5 legos in there, for $15 bucks! Ridiculous!!! They have been playing with them ALL DAY though! We will definitely need to get some more of those, and a certain little boy just happens to have a birthday coming up in 10 days ;)

We also went out to lunch at Panda Garden. Out FAVORITE Chinese place because it's not that same old crap that every chinese place has (and probably all buy frozen from the same huge chinese warehouse in Jersey) ...it's fresh, real, and DELISH!!

I also moved Jessi's fish tank downstairs to the kitchen today. She is not a very good caretaker, and was down to 1 fish. She also doesn't spend very much time in her room since we got the den. I need to put some different stuff in it, since it's designed to match Jessi's room, but I kinda like watching the fish swim around while I cook dinner!

Oh yeah... and in that new red planter on the windowsill I am going to attempt to grow chives and thyme :)

I LOVE having an extra day off. I get SO much more done around here! I think I need a 4 day a week job!! ....or a housekeeper ;)

So face painting is NOT his idea of a good time.

From Tiger Sean to EMO Sean in about 5 minutes ;)
















Rick let the cat out of the bag that I am sick... again. I probably wouldn't have even admitted it on here because I have been sick so much this winter that it's freakin embarrassing! This time it really feels more like an allergy kind of thing though. On Friday I took a Benadryl from someone at work and it KNOCKED ME OUT! I was loopy for the last hour of work and when I went home, I went to bed at 430 and slept all night til the next day!! No more Benadryl for this girlie!

Saturday morning, I sat in the den wallowing in self-pity and phlegm. I got sick of that after awhile and agreed to suck it up, take some Mucinex (the BEST stuff EVER!), and take the kids, and friends of course, to the YWCA Spring Fair (which I HATE and swore I wouldn't go to this year even after Rick got free tickets, What can I say, I 'm a sucker.) I didn't even bother to bring my camera because I wasn't feelin' it. We were there forEVER!! It was wristband evening, so the kids could ride all they wanted to and they took FULL advantage. We were there so long that I noticed we'd still be there when Nicole's daughter, Sophie was going to be preforming, so we decided to stay and watch her. It was a VERY cute performance which you can see some pics of over on Nicole's Blog.

Today pretty much rocked!! Nicole took me out to lunch for my birthday and gave me some kick ass presents, including a hand made necklace that I COMPLETELY {HEART} and was secretly (and not-so-secretly) hoping that she was going to give me because she is a FANTASTIC jewelry maker!! A skill I will never possess ;) After lunch we did a kid-free little shopping, which is a rarity these days, since we are both so busy. I stocked right up at the Yankee Candle store, they have some GREAT new scents this season!

On the way home from shopping... the Mucinex wore off... and now I feel like a mouth-breather and like my eyeballs are going to pop out. So enough bloggy bloggy.

Hope you all had a great weekend too!!

Hot tip of the day: Seagulls are MORE than willing to pose for the camera if you offer french fries in return :)

Fluorescent lighting sucks.

Today is the 'DASH Fair' Woo hoo. I am working our booth from 12-230 and then I am helping clean up. I'm also bringing my camera to catch the "highlights." (lol) I HEAR it's really fun and everyone that's going seems to be pretty excited about it, but I think maybe they have been working in the office so long that their brains have turned to office mush. My time will come too, I'm sure ;-) My day at home with Sean the other day caused me to have a whole spectrum of emotions. One minute I was loving being at home again and missing just 'being home' with no schedule, no constant ringing phone, and no dress code. The next minute I was way bored and wondering what was going on at the office. I also threw some anxiety into the mix worrying about my PTO (paid time off.. Which I have FIVE WEEKS of, so keep that in mind as you continue to read this rant....lol) time being 'wasted' and not having any left for the summer and being trapped in the office all summer long with no windows... No sunlight... Freezing in the air conditioning... And sobbing quietly at my desk because I can't wake up in the morning and on a whim decide to take the kids to the coast. Hey, I never claimed NOT to be a drama queen, right??



P.S. I know you are all probably PRETTY BUMMED that I have no more Jonas Brothers videos to post... but if you are REALLY Jonsin' for some Jonas... Here you go ;)

It was a little wierd when Sean didn't eat any easter candy this morning.

But I thought he was just tired.

Then it was a little weird at the family brunch/egg hunt when Sean just wanted to sit on my lap with his head resting on my shoulder or sit alone in the den.

But again... he SAID he was just tired and I believed him.

THEN... the puking began around 4pm and it was pretty clear that he was NOT just tired. Fortunately for all.. he hadn't eaten anything all day, if you get my drift. He fell asleep after that and stayed asleep... and is still asleep.

(Please let this be something he keeps to himself... and feels better tomorrow.)

On a funnier note...

While we were at brunch... the kids left their easter baskets in the den. One on the loveseat and one on the floor. The dogs don't EVER get into stuff like that (not to say they are angels... obviously if we left a bowl of ice cream on the floor, it would be quickly gobbled up!), so we didn't give it a second thought. BUT......... when we got home there were 4 empty Lindt White truffle wrappers on the floor in the den. Cooper took ONLY the white truffles out of the baskets, ignoring the jelly beans... mini snickers... Godiva squares, and open boxes of peeps. He then somehow managed to unwrap them and eat them. It's kind of a joke how the kids have such extravagant tastes in candy... but apparently it's just part of being a member of the Jordan Family :-)

Happy Easter!

All the eggs are found and the kids are playing their new DS games. It's kind of a tradition for the Easter Bunny to bring a DS game for each kid and some candy. (In this round anyway... we still have another hunt at B and Grampa's easter brunch... and I think they are doing it outside... UGH! It's freakin' COLD out!!!!!!)

I had a great time at my b;day party last night and I LOVE my presents!! Everyone got me stuff that is just PERFECT!! I got lots of Fiestaware stuff this year and I LOVE that!! Julie even went to an antique store and got me an old Fiestaware vase. She told me they have lots of neat Fiestaware stuff there and I am going to have to check that out! How many more times can I say 'Fiestaware' in this one blog...lol? Fiestaware Fiestaware Fiestaware Fiestaware Fiestaware Tim and Kristie got me a FIESTAWARE serving bowl and a book light! I have been DYING for a new book light since mine broke YEARS ago. Rick has been dying for me to have one as well since it pisses him off when I come in and turn on the light to read ;) We never made it to the ice cream cake since we were all stuffed from Artichoke dip and chips... and mudslides :-D Works for me though, since that means I still have a whole DQ cake in my freezer ;) ;)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!



.....and because Easter is kinda boring.....

LOL... This one is even cuter cuz you can hear Jessi in the background saying, "OH... MY... GOD!!!!!!!!!"

Tonight is my birthday party :) I bought stuff to make mudslides... WOO HOOO!! I haven't done that in ages because it's expensive to buy the kaluha AND baileys AND vodka.. and I am cheap ;) The house is a FREAKING DISASTER because we have been so busy lately and cleaning has not been very high on the priority list, so I have a LOT to do today!

We watched "The Mist" last night. It was ...um... 'something.' It is my favorite Stephen King short story EVER, so I HAD to see the movie even though it looked like it could be a bit on the cheesy side. It was an ok movie... but the short story ended abruptly with no real resolution. That always drove me crazy... I hate that! BUT... I would take that over the way they ended the movie ANY DAY!!

I can't BELIEVE Easter is tomorrow!! Karyn and I had to run to Target on our lunch break yesterday to get stuff for baskets since it creeped up on her as well. Those damn Jonas Brother's can be VERY distracting!! ;) ;)

Because there is no other way to describe it ;)

If you can make it to the end you can see Jessi's excited face... in addition to her screaming voice ;)




We had a GREAT TIME!! I would go see that concert again in a heartbeat. Those Jonas Brothers (and/or their puppet masters ;) ) put on one great show and watching the girls COMPLETELY FREAK OUT was a RIOT!! The opening, Rooney, was really good too... totally heading over to Rhapsody to add them to my mp3 player!

I didn't bring my camera in, but I was bummed because I totally could have... they didn't search bags or anything and everyone there had cameras. But I did drive the girls plenty crazy with my camera before the show ;)

For a Sunday... we've been pretty busy!!

After a little AM veggin' the kids and Rick went off to the Sportman's show, and I headed off to meet Nicole at the gym. We skipped the machines today and went for the free weights. I am ALREADY sore, so I can't imagine what I'll feel like in the morning!! We had a great time though... there was only 1 other older couple there and the woman laughed and told us that we were having WAY too much fun :-D After the gym, we went to Subway for lunch.

When I got home, the yard was FULL of birds! Blue Jays, Robins, Cardinals, Chickadees, Doves, and even a big woodpecker! Of course they all flew away when I ran in the house to grab my camera. Stupid birds.

After giving up on the birds, Jessi's friend Mikayla came over to make T-Shirts for the concert on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Rick got a little overzealous with the laundry and the shirts were in the washing machine, so while we waited for the shirts the kids helped me coat my "Lephracaun Balls" (hee hee... oreo balls with a little green sugar sprinkled on top) for the pot luck at work tomorrow. Then we went to the pool for a swim.

When we got back from swimming, the shirts were dry and ready to be painted!

The girls are SUPER excited about the concert... the SOLD OUT concert, I might add!! It should be fun! I've even got the Jonas Brothers music all loaded up on my Zen so that I'll be able to sing along ;)

So I have a little reading to do

A few weeks ago I was invited to join a "book club." I use air quotes because at my first meeting a few weeks ago, only one of us had actually READ the book that was chosen ;) So instead of a book discussion group, it was more of a 'life' discussion group ...with yummy food and wine, of course ;) The group was started a few years ago (I think) by one of my friend's from work, Dyan, because she knew a lot of women our age who were stay-at-home-moms, or new to the area, or just didn't know that many people and she thought it would be nice to get everyone together. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!) For the next meeting we are reading "The Friday Night Knitting Club" ...though my working title for it is 'Joy Luck Club for Honkeys and Crackers' ;)

I mentioned to Dyan that I had nothing good to read. So she said she had a ton of books and she'd bring me something. I figured she'd bring me A book. I cracked right up when I came in and saw the HUGE stack of books on her desk (they are not all pictured here because I had already read some of them, and some of them I knew I would never read.)... I cracked up even more as we went through them, and she told me about each one and her first sentence for almost every book was "I didn't finish that one, but...." Yeah I know... you kinda had to be there. I just couldn't believe how many she had gotten 3/4's of the way through and then didn't finish... I mean if a book sucks... you can't get THAT far... and if you DO get that far... how can you not just finish it up and find out what happens!?

So right now I am reading the joy luck honkey book... not sure what's on deck yet, but I have PLENTY to choose from!

A little slacky... I know

...and I know how some people hate excuses BUT....

It's been very busy week (that included the afternoon of shopping HELL with Picky Jessi and Whiny Sean for a new outfit for Jessi' dance tonight) ... AND... I just CANNOT wrap myself around the time change!! I have to DRAG my ass outta bed in the morning, and I barely made it through Lost last night (which was actually the latest I have stayed up all week!

I also haven't felt like working out at ALL... but I have have still managed to get to the gym a couple times this week. I am sorta motivated because I have lost a pound a week since I started really making an effort to get exercise. But that also can be quite discouraging at times because while yes, I have lost 5 pounds... It sometimes feels like I've taken 5 steps in a walk around the whole world, ya know??

WOO HOO!!!

My SWEET SWEET husband let me have my birthday present when it arrived yesterday from Amazon.com. LOOOOOOVES IT!!!!

Jessi snapped all the photos... our little session then turned into a lesson on aperture and how to use aperture creatively ;) She has always talked about wanting to be a photographer, but after she watched this video... she REALLLLLLLLLLY wants to be a photographer. I wish I had learned how to shoot a manual camera at 12 years old!

Sunday.

...and sorry Mom... I checked, but you can't make the slideshows slower. I was TOTALLY GOING TO!!

So we are a house full of invalids... again.

I could the nasty cold/flu-ish thing that is going around and I am not happy about it. I was just freakin' sick a couple weeks ago! Sean has a little cold too, but not too bad. Rick is way sick and even called in sick to work today, and he NEVER does that!! I think Sean and I are catching every thing that comes around because we were home for all those years and now we are out amongst all the germs. What makes me think this is the fact that Jessi has not caught ANY of these things... cuz she has been out in germland for 12 years!

This morning I messed with the blog a bit, updated my links, changed my banner. I kinda half-assed the banner and I'm not entirely thrilled with it, oh well.

I have an appointment at 10am to go get my new Mp3 jack installed in my car! I am SO EXCITED to get this and get my new mp3 player that I just happen to know that my wonderful husband ordered for me the other day ;) ;) And I'm SURE that aforementioned wonderful husband will let me have it as soon as it comes and not make me wait until my birthday.... RIGHT!!!!?????

DUDE.... I SUCK! ;-)

...and that's ok with me!

I recently submitted this photo for critique. It was after I sent it for critique that I too began to look at it with a 'critic's eye' (Plus I had it set as my wallpaper on my computer at work... so I had a LOT of time to stare at it.) On my own I noticed the 'noise' ...and the dust spots. (I REALLY need to clean my sensor, but I lost the little blower thingy that I bought and refuse to buy another one, I just have to FIND that damn thing!) The critic also said "I suggest trying a different angle so the bright sun isn’t so blinding." I don't really agree with that because I like the way the sun is, and I like that ray of sun that shines down through the needles.

I have learned more from criticism than I have from any books or websites. It can be hard to swallow at first. My very first 'real' criticism was back when I had my Fuji camera and posted that photo ----->on my flickr page from an abrasive European photographer guy who said about this photo... "Flat lighting. Uninteresting." I was like, "WTF Asshole!!?? Who asked ya!?" Then... being who I am... I decided I'd show him!! So I took a new photo <----, paying LOTS of attention to the light, shadows and composition. And the European dude praised my photo... and was glad to take some of the credit ;) Moral of the story... EMBRACE CRITICISM!!! It's one of the greatest learning tools out there! Oh yeah... here's my critique! And yes... I AM crossing my fingers for ONE more day of frost so that I can get out there and give it another try!

And the European dude? Well.... he ended up getting driven out of the flickr group for his frequent abrasive comments and before he left, he reminded everyone about my photo, his comment and how much his comment helped me. Here is his flickr page... I just noticed that he too traded in his Fuji for a Pentax k100d :)

OMG....Rhapsody.com..... OMG.... OMG....

What took me so long!!?? I joined it awhile ago and listened to a little music, but I didn't really "get it." But I get it now. OH DO I GET IT NOW!! I haven't even watched TV tonight because I am like a fat kid in a candy store... except I am a fat lady... and I am adding music to my library instead of candy in my pockets!! Basically... you pay 14.99 a month and you have access to pretty much every CD EVER... yes... E.V.E.R. It even works with your Mp3 player... (most mp3 players, I don't think it will work with Zunes or Ipods because they have proprietary software). As long as you have the subscription, you have the tuneage.

It looks like this... (click for bigger)
Part of my birthday present is a HOLE!! YES... a HOLE!! My car didn't come with an mp3 jack as part of the stereo, so on Saturday I have an appointment to have one put in and I can't WAIT to have that... and an mp3 player (see amazon wish list people... hint hint LOL!!!) and listen to all my new tunes and all my comedy stuff! LOVES LOVES LOVES IT!!!!!!

FYI to all those who call me....

Vonage finally gone bye bye.