Feeling the Love

Look who loves me twice as much as she loves you. (Or maybe more if you didn't even get one)

Don't think I'm not hanging them both up. Should I do it like this:

Or this:

A Christmas Miracle

In March of 2007, a couple of my sisters and I took a cruise to "beautiful Encinada, Mexico". (It's a quote, not my quote, but still a quote.) While we were on our shopping tour of "beautiful Encinada, Mexico" I came across this fireproof Gucci purse. Pretty sure it is the real deal.

That was almost 3 years ago, and since then I've bought other knock-off purses, but never actually used them. I have no idea where they are, and when I did know, I was too lazy to transfer all my Sonic and WalMart receipts into a new purse. As you can clearly see, the genuine leather is starting to peel away from the cloth handle making my real, fireproof Gucci purse look a little dumpy.
I've been talking about getting a new purse for the last couple months, but I'm all talk. I talk a lot, to a lot of people, and shockingly some of those people actually listen to me. My friend Anissa brought me over this beauty as a Chrismas present.

It's way bigger! Plus, it was filled with these treats.

There is no way anyone will ever be able to top this gift! Thanks Anissa!

Time for some editing

Dwight and I went out last night. I gave the kids my usual lecture about the rules while I am gone. I am really good at the lectures. I went out in the garage to find my shoes, and then came back in to put them on. I guess the kids thought when I went into the garage I left, because when I came back in Calvin jumped up real quick from where he had Howie pinned down on the ground. Howie was crying with his hands over his face and Calvin had something hidden behind his back. All I had to do was give Calvin my "look". (You should all learn this.) He showed me the Cookie monster stamp he had been hiding from me. Poor Howie got Stamped. Doesn't he look so super sad?

Can you believe I thought my kids would just sit on the couch with a blanket, quietly watching tv the whole time I was gone? (Cuz that was what I told them to do in my lecture) Looks like I need to rewrite a few chapters of my parenting book.

Reviewing Reviews

About a year and a half ago, Dwight bought me this fancy laser jet printer. I'd show you a picture, but you can just trust me, it's awesome. But you know what's not awesome? Buying new ink for it. I went to the regular IRL store to get a new black cartridge and it was $85. Too rich for my blood. I figured I'd go online and search out a cheaper option. I found a place through Amazon that sold it for $37...a significant difference. I decided I better look at the reviews first. There were 6 of them. 5 of the reviews gave a 1 star and they were angry, misspelled 1 star reviews. Then there was that lone 5 star review written by John C. Bendheim. It was just a bit too properly written. I clicked on the button to read other reviews written by John C. Bendheim. I suggest you do it too. This guy is quite the online shopper. He has a daughter named Susie who tried the homeopathic calendula cream and loved it. Even though I counted at least 5 dvd purchases, he still wrote in a 5 star review for the purchase of Scenes from a sexual nature, "I don't usually buy DVD's".

I especially loved his review of the Popeye dvd he bought, "Popeye soothes the spirit by getting out of jams in a simple and quick way. While it would be better that he didn't punch his enemies, at least everyone is alive and well each time he eats gets his dietary fiber, calcium and folic acid. The technical quality of the DVD is fine."

Looks to me like I can no longer trust the opinions of complete strangers on the internet. What is this world coming to?

Screws

It is FREEZING here!!! We got up Monday morning and go out to the car to take the kids to school, and my new tire had a flat. Seems someone ran over a giant screw. Dwight had already left for work (seems to happen every time I have a flat tire) so I was on my own. Dwight suggested I just keep the kids home from school...rude. I decided to teach Calvin how to change a flat instead. What a man.

The kids finally got to school at about 10:30. Then today at about 10:30 I got a call from the school to come pick up my kids. The power was out and they couldn't heat the building. "All students MUST be evacuated" <---you'd think it was a bomb threat. Put a jacket on already. That's two days of schedule ruining.

Old Friends who really aren't old because they're my same age

I went to this baby shower last week that I wasn't invited too. I ran into one of my favorite blog stalkers. She made such a big deal about my pathetic blog. It was just like the paparazzi. Now I know how Lady Gaga feels.

Look how nice I was to let her take a picture with me. I let her do it one other time.

She looks exactly the same as she did nearly 20 years ago, she's even still with the same guy. Me and Edward broke up. It was on account of his big head. I'm like shallow Hal.

You're right, WalGreens never disapoints!

Look-a-Like

Howie says he's grandpa for Halloween.

Deer Oh Dear

There comes a time in every boys life when becomes a man. There are a few different things that can make this happen. In Bailey's case, it involved a gun.
Over the summer, my dad got an idea to put Bailey in a hunter's education course. He also took Bailey target shooting several times. Today was the first day of hunting season. Last night Dwight, my dad and Bailey packed up the truck and went out for Bailey's first hunting trip. I figured they'd be gone until late tonight, and come home empty handed. (Maybe it was just me hoping) But, at about 9:00 this morning I got a call from Bailey telling me he got his deer and they were heading home. He got one on his first shot. He didn't actually kill it with that one shot, and the deer was crying, which made Bailey cry, and grandpa had to come in and finish it up. By the time he got home, he was pretty proud.
Look at my sweet little boy posing next to his first kill. So precious.

Dwight was asking where he should hang it up and as a joke I told him there was a hook on the front porch. You can't hear it, but I'm totally screaming in the background, "I was joking, take it down!!"


I'm pretty sure this is against the CC&R's.


Bailey getting in one more pose before it gets cut up into cute little Bambi bits.


He shot it right through the butt.

Dwight watched a YouTube video on how to cut it up. Mmmm delicious, right?

He got every bit of it. Just like the indians, we're not wasting a bit.

This is also the view from my kitchen window right now.
Calvin's wanting to make a necklace out of this. The skin is drying out on the grass waiting to be made into a belt.
I have to say, I'm a little grossed out in my house. I for sure will not be hanging out in the backyard for awhile.

It's all the rage

What's all the rage, you ask? Posts about aprons, duh. It's my second one. I got this beauty in the mail this week. If you don't know how I got it, then you must be Amish.

Since I already had one for the kitchen, I thought I should put this new one somewhere else.



Doesn't it work out well here.? It reminds Dwight of that one time I cooked. What a turn on.

Sombody has a lot of time on their hands..

And it isn't me. I had some extra time on Sunday, but I used it to bake this cake. I had some extra time on Monday, but I used to decorate this cake. I had some extra time on Wednesday, but I used it calling all my friends and emailing all my friends and texting all my friends to come vote for my cake. Then someone changed some rules around, and now I have no extra time left to continue this pursuit. Fortunately, not only am I talented in the cake decorating area, and in the getting friends to vote for me area, but now I am lucky in the apron acquiring area as well.

Isn't it fantastic?!?!

I especially love the Mockingjay in there. It just looks so real.

So thank you to all who helped me out by voting. I know you did so with your heart. I will wear my apron with pride. And everytime I do, I will be thinking of all of you.

I'm a visionary

I went with the boys and my mom to see the new Harry Potter movie. The ending was sad, until this popped into my head.

Flashbacks of how funny I thought I was with this post came back to me and it took all I had to suppress the laughter. Poor Dumbledore...

I liked the movie BTW. Ron is way groovy! Plenty of close-ups. And Harry's a bad kisser. I wonder how many times they had to re-shoot just to get what they got. I'll definitely watch it again when they show it on TBS!

Remember me?

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amy, and I am a recovering unmotivated blogger. If it makes you feel any better, blogging hasn't been the only thing I am unmotivated about lately. I could give you a 2-3 month recap of what's been going on, but I'm still recovering. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you could care less. So let's just stick with what has been consuming our house right now. Dwight has been way into running. He started back in February, training for a half marathon. He ran his first in April, and has done one every month since. He is building up for a full marathon in January. It's our anniversary month, and there is a race in Arizona he wants us to run together. He'll do the full and I'll do the half. <--according to his plans... If I can ever get myself to just start trying to run and train, I will go for it.
A few weeks ago he signed up the whole family to run in a race. He ran a 10k, the boys ran a 6k, and me, Howie and Ella ran a mile. Here's us before the fun began.

As our mile race started, us three were off to a great start. For at least the first 50 feet, anyway, then the drama began. Howie was a real sissy, and kept saying things like, "I can't take it anymore!" or "running is for girlths!" I kept trying to get him to keep going to the half mile mark. Then I finally gave him a break and put him on my back for the second half. It only took us 16 minutes!
This kid came in first place out of all boys 19 and under.

He won a gift card to a sports store. He was pretty pleased with himself. Bailey came in second.
The boys liked to so much, Dwight signed them all up for another race yesterday. Dwight ran the half marathon and the boys both ran the 5 k.

Here they are before the race started.

Here's Bailey getting ready to start his race. He looks so little.

The race ended at the Hawk's stadium. Howie did an awesome job cheering for all the racers as they came in.

Bailey was pretty wiped after he finished, and fell asleep waiting for Dwight to be done.
Just a good picture I took.
So finally Dwight came in. He has been running faster and faster with each race. This one he came in about 5 minutes faster than his last. He was man enough to let me take this picture of him.

See the resemblance?

The boys wanted to stay for the awards, in case they won anything this time. I didn't really want to, since I had been there already for about 4 hours and there were so many people racing, I wasn't thinking they would win anything. I was wrong. Bailey came in second and Calvin came in third. They both got medals this time. Dwight's prize was a new shirt and some band-aids I went and got for him at Wal*Mart, so people wouldn't stare at his nipples.

I think they're taking a break for August, but have a race planned in McCall for September.

Here's the Proof

This was Jenny. Mom thought it was Sara...
Here's my proof.
Jenny on the swing set, note her groovy one piece tank top short outfit. It was once mine.

Here's Jenny later that day wearing the same groovyness. (That's Erin and her classic mullet)

Here is Sara on the swing set. She is wearing a highwater dress.

And, Sara later in the kitchen wearing her same dress.

Jenny and Sara, don't you feel bad that your own mother didn't recognize you?

Hanging out

I've been busy packing and going through all our junk trying to decide what is worth taking into our new house. So far I'm finding there's not much I want to take with me. I keep getting side tracked with a GIANT box of slides I took from my mom's house. A lot of them are faded and scratched, like this beauty.

After a good 20 minutes of rescanning and adjusting of all kinds of buttons I didn't know what I was adjusting, I finally got this crystal clear image. It took me another 20 minutes to figure out who this was. From top left to right, it is Becky, Tom, a Tuttle, Chad Cooper, Cathe Cooper, Me (behind the giant LHOTP bonnet), Erin, another Tuttle, and Cristin (Cooper) Carter.


Even with all the fun I'm having packing and scanning, this is what I wish I was doing.

Anyone recognize this blogger?

Don't you just want to run your fingers through that hair? I bet you'd find a few tasty snacks.
I've scanned in about 30 slides, out of a box of about 3000. But, I'll be sure to post all the good ones.

Who do you love more Ella? Mom or Dad?

Have you ever gotten a gift that made you so happy you cried? Have you ever given a gift that made someone so happy they cried? Ella has been asking for a dog since...she could. We tried to tide her over with chickens. They made too much noise and we were worried our neighbors would get mad, so we gave them to my BIL. Then, Dwight got her a hamster. I still can't get myself to look at that thing. Anyone who has ever had a conversation with Ella, knows about her hamster John. But, even with her total dedication to John, she still begs for a dog. Bailey is allergic, so we'd need a hypoallergenic dog, and I don't like big dogs. I was walking into WalMart tonight, on the phone with Jespy, when I saw some people standing out front selling shiatsu's. They were actually poodle-shiatsu mix. Both small and hypoallergenic. I couldn't resist. I bought it and brought it home to surprise Ella. I yelled out to her in my "you're busted" yell. She came running, and when she saw the dog she asked, "is that for me". I told her yes, and she burst into sobs. I don't think I've ever made any kid happier. For sure she loves me more now. Here she is with Jane, who she tried to name Shyla, but I told her it was groovy, so she changed it to Jane. Sorry if any of you have a kid named Shyla, but it's groovy. Jane is the runt of her family. I have total confidence in Ella taking care of this dog on her own. Is that niave of me? The things I do for my kids.......

My Inheritance

Sometimes cleaning the garage can pay off. I found these slides in a box Dwight marked, "Amy's Inheritance". There were also a couple diaries (not mine) that I'm thinking would be good for the next book club. And there was a pretty good stack of funeral announcements from people I never knew had even been born. (Those went into the DI box.)

This is my Grandma Bailey with my mom, brother Tom, sister Becky and newly born sister Erin. For some reason, it is a rare thing to find a baby picture of Erin. Maybe they are all in slides.

This is my grandma Cordil, my brother Tom, my sister Becky and me. Grandma looks like she may have had to lift with her legs when she picked me up. And it's a good thing I'm wearing a cloth diaper. I bet if it were a disposable one, it would have exploded by now with all that foamy stuff.

This was a slide of me and my brother Tom. Just chillin' on the front porch in Long Beach. That's what people in So. Cal. used to do back then. Ahh, those were the days.

Safety

We're are finally warming up a bit around here and the bikes are coming out. I talked to the kids reminding them of the always wear your helmet rule. Every time I go out to check on them, they have a helmet on, but Calvin just can't seem to figure out to put it on right.

It's backwards every time.

Think it will still protect his head even when it's backwards?