Thanks Mom!!!!!

I know my mom prays daily for me and my little family. And I know that her prayers There have been specific times in my life that I a "close call" occurs and I KNOW (no doubt in my mind!!!) that the tragic incident was avoided because my mom prayed for me that morning!

The other day I had such an occurrence. I was driving along, singing to the radio, all 3 kids in the car with me. As I'm approaching a light the truck in the lane to my right starts slowing down, which I find odd because the light is green. So I glance ahead to see that the car in front of the truck is at a complete stop. Being the total idiot that I am I spend more time wondering why the car in the lane next to me is stopped at a green light instead of checking to see (a bit too late) that the car directly in front of me is also stopped at the red light. I slam on my breaks but my new shiny red Saturn Outlook is a much bigger and much heavier vehicle that I used to drive and it is not stopping as fast as it should be! I see that I am going to smash into the car unless I do something quick. Luckily (very VERY luckily) there was nobody in the left hand turn lane and I was able to swerve into it and stop just before the intersection. Only then, once I was at a complete stop, did I hear the sirens as the ambulance came speeding through the intersection. No wonder everybody was stopped at the green light.

No now I'm shaking and freaking out at how close I was to smashing my car with my kids in it.(who were all in the back seats sleeping through all this, by the way) And I knew that I was saved that pain and terror because my mom prayed for me that morning that we would be safe.

Thanks mom for keeping us in your prayers!!!!!!

The problem with ready-to-assemble furniture

Tonight I decided to singly handedly assemble Mike's nightstand for him. No biggie. I have assembled quite a few pieces of Ikea furniture on my own. This was not supposed to be a big deal. Just something to keep me busy while he was gone. The kids were asleep and it was the perfect project for me. Plus I was really excited about our bedroom really starting to come together.

But somewhere along the way something went wrong and I turned into this Ikea guy.




I guess as I was trying to talk on the phone and assemble furniture at the same time I managed to get the bottom put on backwards. And then it was downhill from there. Because then I hammered the back onto the front of the nightstand, thus putting little nail holes all over the front. Still, I didn't realize the problem until I completed the LAST step, putting on the door. And then something looked really wrong. On either side of the door was a strip of unfinished wood. Because this was the BACK and those unfinished strips were for the backing to slide into and then be nailed to.

This was a problem. Why hadn't I figured this out 6 steps ago? You know, like before I started pounding in nails like a mad woman?!?!?!

At this point I was looking for a good divorce attorney (one that would make sure the husband got stuck with the now battered nightstand) because I knew I was going to get the "lack of paying attention to detail" speech when the husband got home.

Fortunately, the husband actually laughed about the whole thing. (well, except for when he severely gouged his finger on a nail when trying to pry the backing off the front so it could be re-nailed to the back.)

I'm hoping a little wood putty and a black sharpie will repair the damage I've done. Good thing Lowes is just down the street.

always the wrong shoes

I am constantly yelling at women movie characters for wearing the wrong type of shoes for the job they have to get done. Like have you ever noticed women spies or FBI officers in movies doing chase scenes in high heels? I mean really gals! Heels have their place and all, but in a foot chase? You apparently didn't think that one through too clearly.

So imagine my own chagrin last weekend when I found myself in a wrong shoe dilemma. At the end of the season last summer I found on clearance these really cute black flip-flops with sparkly straps and just a little tiny heel. Super cute, believe me. And I was dying for a chance to try them out.

So last weekend my husband and I went out to dinner with some friends and I decided to give them a try. I thought I'd walk from the car to the restaurant and then from the restaurant to the car. A perfect way to try out new shoes, right?

Well, the first problem was that we went to dinner at the Gateway. That in and of itself was way more walking than I intended to do in my flip-flop heels. But I managed okay. At least we parked in the parking garage that was actually at the same end of Gateway as the restaurant we were eating at.

At this point I thought we'd go home...but no. We decided to check out the new Cheesecake Factory for a little dessert. Well, the wait was 90 minutes. 90 MINUTES!!! At this point I really have to use the little girl's room so we walk over to the mall to find a bathroom. We literally walked from one end of the mall to the other and back again trying to find a bathroom clean enough to use. And I've used some dirty bathrooms in my day, but these bathrooms were out of control! UG!!!! I've seen gas station bathrooms cleaner than some of the ones we encountered at the mall. Plus by this point my feet were really starting to hurt.

And we'd only wasted 40 minutes or so. So we gave up on the Cheesecake Factory and decided to go catch a movie. Upon arriving at the movie theater there was, of course, no parking close to the theater, so again I was walking, in my new shoes, on my sore feet. When was the torture going to end?

But the time the movie ended, having been off my feet for few hours, there was no way I was going to be able to hobble out to the car at the far far end of the parking lot. My feet were rebelling.

So I begged my husband to give me a piggy back ride. Which, magically, he agreed to. So I hop up on his back and suddenly I felt a little juvenile. I said to him, "so do you feel like you're in high school again?" but I let him carry me all the way to the car just the same, because man my feet hurt!

The moral of the story? Tennis shoes are always the way to go.

building a room in a day

the painting is complete, but it needed furniture. Of course it's Ikea. (it's in my budget, okay!)







We've turned a page in our lives. We've moved from hand-me-down newly wed furniture to brand new, ready to assemble furniture. And after spending HOURS putting together Ikea furniture I now dream of someday owning pre-assembled furniture, that is delivered, and hauled up the stairs by dreamy, muscular furniture movers with tight butts.

Abs, Home of the Fat Boy

So, in case you missed it, we were painting today.

Well, let me back up. We started prepping the room for painting last night. But then we went to Bajio and got something to eat and both Mike and I overate so when we got home we had lost all our motivation and just went to bed instead of getting a coat of primer on the walls.

SO, when it was lunchtime today Mike said the goal was to eat enough to keep his blood sugar levels up so he had energy, but not so much that he was full and lethargic. So I ran to Abs (the local burger joint) to grab some food.

Ryan went with me, well actually Ryan drove his nice little red Saab. So we get to the order window and I'm telling Ryan that Mike didn't want any fries or a drink because he was trying to not get the over full feeling. What actually came out was something like this...."Mike doesn't want to feel overstuffed today so he wants to eat light, so all he wants is a Fat Boy."

Ryan just stared at me like I was crazy. (which we all know I am!)

Painting in progress

I'm FINALLY painting my bedroom! It is literally the last room in my house to get painted. And I am so happy that the excitement is palatable! My room has been so blah for so long. Here are some "before" shots from a few months ago.







dull! boring! downright ugly, in fact.

And while these are far from being "after" pictures I'm just so excited that I'm posting "in progress pictures"







And now I must get back to work if I want to go to bed at any point tonight. Because I still have another coat of paint to apply and my new (Ikea) bed to assemble.

After midnight

This was the conversation that took place last night after midnight over a bowl of ice cream. And you know what after midnight means.....it means that everything is suddenly funnier.

Ryan: "You know when I'm standing in the store trying to pick ice cream the english toffee never sounds appealing, but whenever I eat it I find it quite delightful"

Mike: "I really like english toffee"

Me: "Me, too. That's why I bought it."

Mike: "I really like Praline and cream, too. But I don't think it's a very popular flavor."

Me:---staring at him incredulously and then "are you serious? I love praline and cream ice cream, but I never buy it because I was always afraid nobody else liked it."

Ryan: "That's funny"

Me: "You know, I think we are having a magical marriage moment right now"

Ryan: "You should twitter that.

Me: "I think people would read 'having a magical marriage moment' and get he total wrong idea."

Ryan:---looking down intently at his bowl of ice cream feeling a little embarrassed, "especially if you said you were having a magical marriage moment with praline and cream ice cream"


trust me, it was funny after midnight