Time Flies!

Well, the wedding is fast approaching! We leave 2 weeks from tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time flies. I was looking at some old pictures the other day. I was amazed at how much my kids have changed--how Kylie's features are starting to look more like a young lady instead of a baby girl. She's growing up. Weston looks more like a young man everyday.
Back to the wedding--I am ready for Mexico! I got a taste of the beautiful weather to be experienced down South when today's temperatures were in the mid-70's here today. That just made me want to lay on a beach and sun bathe all the more. Not to mention get married too! That will be such a blast and what a beautiful backdrop for our big day.
Well, it's past my bedtime. My cop is out working though so I can't sleep. I won't rest until he's home next to me!

The Art of Being Vague...or being Condemned.

I read an interesting article tonight and I feel it is most fitting in my life right now. The URL is http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=9351&TrackingID=516311&BannerID=544657&menuid=7>1=26000 and it's called "Dating and the Nosy Neighbors". I empathized a lot with the information in it. It talks about the busybodies, meddlers, and nosy people (such as the Bunco girls that gather together) that seem to find more fascination in someone's life than a soap opera. See, I know what people have said about me. You think your comments don't make it back, but they do. And deep down I think people want their comments to come back so that I will respond, explain, or tell them something. I honestly don't understand the fascination with my life. But I know how to react. Before, I would share and explain, hoping to help someone understand what was going on in my life so that they could understand. But now I realize that's exactly what they want. And I have learned, if you don't give them an explanation, they will create one on their own. These people don't care if their version is true or not. In fact, the more scandalous, the better.
But why do people do this? As the article says, they want to live vicariously through you. They are also the people that know what's best for everyone around them (yet ignore their own homes). They are also bored--drama keeps them going and if their life doesn't have it, surely someone else's does. I was pleased to see that my way of dealing with them is better than my old ways. The article suggests creating some distance--which I have done and am more happy than ever. And it's funny, for some reason the people I thought were close friends never bothered to check on me after that. Funny how when the pipeline of info stops, so does the friendship. Also, it talks about dodging them--it talks about how I don't owe them anything. That was my biggest mistake-I felt like I owed them an explanation. I wanted them to understand me. Now, I realize it wasn't me they were concerned about.
I went to church this morning for the first time in over a year. I even went to my old church, but only because it was held at the Arena--neutral ground. I found such irony in the message and the group of people sitting there. The message was on condemnation. It was ironic how he preached about how God takes away the condemnation with his son's death. But, that room full of people has the most condemning ones in the whole town. The irony comes from how as a church, this group of people should be the first ones to NOT judge, to be a friend, to reach out, to not make assumptions. Yet this very group has condemned me, judged me. And for things I have not done. At the end of the message, our Pastor prayed about how he was happy about, among other things, how the woman who only wants someone to love her unconditionally came today. That woman he prayed about was me.
You may not understand me, I refuse to help you do so at this point. But that doesn't mean I don't deserve to be loved. Unconditionally.

Ticks, Eggs, and Pies

The title sums up my Easter weekend...sounds like a crazy title to some weird reality show, but it was just the Easter weekend. Let me explain...I'll start with the pies. I signed up for desserts for our annual Easter gathering and I decided to give the pie thing a whirl. See, Richie is a coconut cream pie lover and there is a lady at his workplace that makes a mean coconut cream pie. Well, game on baby, because no woman is gonna make my man a pie better than I can. Or so I thought. I decided to take a trial run at the pie thing and made a chocolate pie Friday night. I made the filling from scratch and the meringue too. But no one told me you have to bake the pie crust before you make the pie! So, that's why we practice I guess--so we don't bring a bad pie to the party. However, I worked the kinks out and the coconut pie was all the rave today at dinner. I even decided to step up my game and made a strawberry pie as well which was really yummy too!
Now, to the eggs--that's a no brainer. It's Easter. There's gonna be eggs. However, we had a "big kid" egg hunt and me and my cousins hunted eggs. Looked more like a football game, but we had fun. I haven't ran that hard in a LONG time. I wore this ole body out hunting Easter eggs! :)
Which leads to the ticks. Yes, ticks. Even with an Easter in March that is cold, we still found ticks on us. In fact, between me, Richie, and the kids, we picked 9 ticks off of us! I was laying on the couch napping after we got home and I felt a bite on my neck. I reached back and pulled a tick off of me. Well, I hate ticks. They just creep me out (and for some reason your body feels like they are crawling all over you for hours after you find one)! Then, later I found one on my rear. Which that was probably off of the leaves that went down my drawers when I dove for an egg and fought with my cousin for it on the ground.
Well, it's bedtime. It's back to the routine in the morning since the kids are back in school!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It all started Saturday morning with the nachos. I just wanted a snack during Weston's game--should've been a relatively uneventful time in my life--nachos. However, it wasn't. Let's just put it this way...I created more drama in the bleachers than the players did in the basketball game. We were running late for the basketball game and I really needed a bite to eat since it would be 4 pm before we got to the Amish Farm. I didn't really want to eat an entire meal, so I decided to grab some nachos at the snack bar. I got a big order of nachos with extra cheese and jalapenos--yummy! I sat down and went to take off my fleece jacket. As I started to slip off my jacket, the nachos decided to slip off my lap. Right on the coat of the lady in front of me. Upside down. Talk about embarrassing! The lady was so nice about it. From there, it was all down hill. I had a headache the rest of the day. 4 people didn't show for the Amish Farm dinner, but my parents still had to pay for it. Sunday's shower was a disaster (we'll leave it at that). And today, I get up, get ready for work, and head to the daycare to drop off the kids only to find out they are closed all week! So, I head home, and start making some lunch. The whole bottle of minced onion fell in the soup. I grabbed the tomato sauce can and opened it only to see evaporated milk. What a joy.
So, I think I need to go back to bed and stay there. For awhile. At least til this storm blows over.

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!

First of all, I couldn't resist sharing some more pictures from our beautiful snow day last Friday! Kylie is such a ham and I must say the camera adores her!
Anyway, this has been a trying week. First, we have been trying to get Richie moved in and settled. He doesn't really have a ton of stuff, but it's just been busy trying to shuffle my stuff around, make room for his and get it put away. Even though we've been together for a year, we are adjusting to living together. I have my morning routine, he has his and we have to put them together. With all of that said, I must say that having him move in has been the highlight of the week. I love his company and I am just more at ease now that he's finally here.
Now, the more stressful stuff. Seems that Weston has caught the lying bug for some reason. It's not that he's telling these horrible lies, he is just having trouble telling the truth about common issues. So, it makes it hard to know what's true and what's not. I have tried to stress to him that telling lies will make people not trust him. I know he's stressed right now and I know he's craving attention, but I don't want the lying to get out of control.
Then, my friend is planning a wedding shower for me this weekend and bless her heart--she handmade the invitations and when she mailed them, since they were a little thick, they had to be hand-stamped at the post office instead of running them through the meter. Because of that, the post office delivered the invites (late) and charged everyone 17 cents! So, in order to get invited to my wedding shower, you have to pay 17 cents! She's also been really sick this week, so I know that's the last thing she needed to hear!
Add that to a bunch of little silly mishaps and you have a crazy week! But guess what? It's FRIDAY tomorrow!! YIPPEE!
Well, that's all for tonight--I am gonna head to bed (I hear the Wii so I am gonna get a little game of dodgeball in before bedtime!!).

Happy Birthday to me! I am 30!

30...Yuck. I feel fat. I have no energy. I actually crave naps. At least, I have the symptoms, otherwise I wouldn't really understand the meaning of turning 30. But hey, I have to admit, the day came and went without much hoopla. Which is good and bad. It's good because I didn't have my age rubbed in my face all day long...I was able to get through the day without the drama. Bad though because I was kind of hoping for a party, gathering, etc. Much like the ones I have thrown my Mom, brother, grandpa, ex-husband, boss...the list goes on. I guess when you are the party coordinator, you have to face the fact that your day won't get the same pomp and circumstance as you have given out. I was looking forward to the slideshow of embarrassing pictures, the surprise of family and friends gathered in my honor, the last night of fun and youth. I guess I was looking forward to these things because that's what it takes to swallow the truth--I am now officially old. I am now a part of the real adult crowd. Sure, you're an adult in your 20's, however there's still the sense of youthfulness to your looks, the ability to shop in the junior department, the hanging out with friends, etc that is acceptable in your semi-adult life. The 20's are the bridge, the time of transformation. 30 is just plain 30. You have to face the inevitable-things aren't in the same place (whether you have had kids or not), you can't eat everything on your plate and expect to look great in the sundress. 30 just sounds old...there's nothing sweet about it.
So, this 30 year OLD woman is heading off to bed. She NEEDS her beauty rest now (because these looks don't come natural anymore)!!

The Last Day of Youth!

Well, this is it. The hours are flying by--I am down to my final evening in my 20's. Tomorrow, I am 30. The dreaded day. I always joked that hell would freeze over before I turned 30. Hey, guess what? We got 9.5 inches of snow and our electricity went out for 36 hours and the house was a whopping 45 degrees inside this morning. So, I have to turn 30. Hell froze over! Oh well, I don't really have a choice I guess.
Like I said, we went without power from Friday morning until about 2 hours ago. It was a little stressful to say the least. Why? Because in the process, we are trying to move Richie to my house. His house had power, mine didn't. However, his house had nothing else! We had moved most of his food and started on the furniture. But, we got a lot accomplished today, so I guess you could say this is his first night in his new home!
The kids had a blast Friday with our snow day! We built a snowman and played in the snow. Even Andy (Richie's dog) had a blast! He was a hopping like a bunny through the snow--it was the CUTEST thing!
Well, I am tired, have a headache, and am hungry. Not to mention, I am going to enjoy my last few hours of youth!!

P.S. I finally added some pics of Kylie's competition in a post below....

Let it Snow Baby!!

We've got snow and lots of it! I can't believe it's 3 days until my birthday and we have a ton of snow!! The kids went out and played in it and had a blast.
In other news, Kylie got bit by a dog the other day. It was so frightening! She was scared to death, I was scared to death. It was the pit bull puppy across the street that bit her. The kids had went out to play in the first round of snow and I guess the dog thought that they needed someone to play with. However, he doesn't quite understand the boundaries of playing. He ended up ripping her jacket and bit the back of her thigh. But she's alright, I'm alright and we're going to let the dog live (for now)!!