100th Post!

Here it is, my 100th post.

Nothing fancy. No giveaway or contest or anything.

I am sorry. I do promise to work on something of that nature later on down the road. 200th post maybe.

So in honor of my 100th post, I decided that I wanted to put on here a list of 100 things that I love. I emphasize things, because I am not going to include the obvious, like my children, family, friends, etc. So here I go, in no particular order whatsoever.

1. Chocolate
2. Bottled water
3. Milk
4. The color red
5. books
6. music
7. sleeping in
8. magazines
9. computers
10. photography
11. shoes
12. purses
13. perfume
14. cologne
15. the color purple
16. clean sheets
17. fresh smelling laundry
18. fat babies
19. kissable lips
20. sunny days
21. spring
22. greeting cards
23. a mans clean-shaven face
24. smell good lotion
25. the beach
26. sand
27. ice cream
28. pizza
29. email
30. blogger
31. naps
32. silence
33. pedicured toes
34. typing
35. the color brown
36. lists
37. tigers
38. home movies
39. long conversations
40. radio
41. loose change
42. snail mail
43. dark hair
44. blue eyes
45. strawberries
46. grapes
47. movie theaters
48. air conditioning
49. long hair
50. rainbows
51. television comedies
52. reality tv
53. crafts
54. black and white photos
55. the color black
56. internet
57. digital cable
58. dvd recorders
59. fresh cut grass
60. boiled crawfish
61. Dr. Pepper
62. picture frames
63. home decor
64. hard wood floors
65. chocolate cake
66. home made cards from my kids
67. flip flops
68. capris
69. jeans
70. shopping
71. digital cameras
72. flat iron
73. VS panties
74. throw blankets
75. cereal
76. cruise control
77. mp3 player/iPods
78. tshirts
79. jewelry
80. fingernail polish
81. restaurants
82. The mall
83. sleeping children
84. solitude
85. back rubs
86. coupons
87. notebooks
88. makeup
89. sweets
90. margaritas
91. horror movies
92. lamps
93. photo albums
94. snuggling
95. hugs
96. homemade bread
97. gumbo
98. flowers
99. travelling
100. reading

So there you have it. I am sure I could probably come up with more, but that is basically it.

Until next time......

My Story (Part Three)

Part One

Part Two


I remember the night like it was yesterday. It was a Friday night and C had just returned from work and we were to have our discussion. I don’t think I have ever been more afraid of anything in my whole life. I just knew that my world was about to fall apart and I was right.

C walked in and I was sitting on the couch and he came over and sat down with me. I knew at that instant that he wasn’t going to say anything that I wanted to hear. His wedding ring was not on his finger and he looked a mess. I instantly started crying. I told him that I knew what he was going to say, because his wedding ring was already gone and what exactly did he want to tell me?
Basically, C wanted to leave for a while and go and stay at his mothers because he was not happy and he (supposedly) had not been for a while. He also told me that if I thought that this had anything to do with S or J, that I was mistaken. Everything that was wrong had to do with he and I and nobody else was involved. I could not believe that and I really wanted to die! I later found out (from C) that even though he made it sound like this was just a trial separation, he always intended for there to be a divorce from the start, and he thought that leading me to believe we could/would reconcile later, would make things a lot smoother for me. Oh, was he ever wrong.

I went through the “How could you?” questions, to “Can we go to therapy?” to “Don’t you love me?” and he didn’t want to hear any of that. In his opinion, ‘therapy can’t fix the problems we have’……’I don’t love you like I should’ and there was nothing I could do or say to change his mind, he was very adamant and I was totally confused.

After about 2 hours of useless conversation, C got some of his things together so that he could leave, which really led me into a tailspin of desperation. I cried. I begged. I was hurt, and confused, betrayed, mortified, helpless, and sick. I can not even begin to think about how I was going to survive this. I thought that everything in the world that I had was gone. My husband, my family, my life….gone, in a matter of minutes.

Finally, after he left, I just laid on the couch and screamed, and cried and yelled …”Why? Why? Why?” How was I going to tell my children (who think their dad hung the moon) that their father moved out and he wasn’t coming back? What would I tell my family, my friends, my neighbors?

After a while I went to bed, very late and I didn’t sleep. Obviously. I was up at 4 AM and I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and dressed and prepared myself to go to my parents house and tell them. I had to talk to someone and I knew that I could not hide this from them. My kids would know soon enough what was going on and I had to let my parents in on it.

When I walked in the door, before I could even get across the room, I busted out crying and I think I scared my mom. When I finally blurted out what was wrong, they both could not believe it and assured me that they thought he would be back after he came to his senses. I was not so sure and I told them that. We talked for a good while and then I left. I felt like a failure telling my own mom and dad that my husband didn’t want me anymore.

When I later explained to my kids that their dad would be gone for a while, they were not really upset, but they were a little confused. I don’t believe the reality of it all set in until much later in time.

As far as I was concerned, this was, by far, the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Ever. I still, to this day, don’t think I did, or ever will, experience anything more horrible.

I fell into a deep depression. I didn’t want to see anyone. I got up in the mornings, took my kids to school and then came home and went straight to bed. I would lay there all day and just cry and mourn for the loss of my marriage. I was helpless and useless. Most of all, I was ashamed. I didn’t want to go out in public, because I believed that anyone who looked at me would just ‘know’. I was so embarrassed.

The very next weekend, C took the kids and went to his moms with them. He never discussed with me what was to go on there, but he told them about their half sister and introduced her to them. I was furious. I had told him that I wanted to be there to answer any question they had and explain to them anything that they didn’t understand. This was only adding salt to my wounds. Then to top that off, they were introduced to S also, and that almost killed me right there. I hated this woman with my whole being. I just can not even begin to explain how much. I know that ‘hate’ is a strong word, but I don’t know anyone who would not have felt the way I did towards her had they walked in my shoes.

Needless to say, at this point, the reason C left me was basically so that he could start a relationship with a woman who he had dated barely a couple of months, over 15 years ago. He knew nothing about her after all this time. Only that she was the mother of his illegitimate child, who was going through a divorce, and who wanted my husband back in her life. How could someone I’ve known for 15 ½ years leave me and be with someone he barely knew at all? I never could figure that out , and I guess that’s for the best, because at times I really didn’t think he knew what he was doing.

This was the same husband who, only 2 years before, renewed his marriage vows to me and had our marriage blessed in the Catholic church. The same man who sat with me, before the priest, and told him he didn’t know how people could divorce and not realize what they were doing to their children. The same husband who was so upset and confused that my best friend left her husband (one of his best friends) because she didn’t love him and wanted out. The same man who vowed to me (twice!) to love me for better or for worse.

I felt like my life was over……but it wasn’t….

(to be continued)

I promise to move onto happier times of my life once I am done with this, but I just felt the need to get all of this out and share, as it is a part of the healing that I so need.

Bittersweet Feelings

This past weekend, my Dad called and asked if I would go by and visit for a little while and he told me that he was going to call my sister to go also.

At first I didn't think much of it, but then I got to thinking and I called her to see what he had said and if she was going. She said yes. She had questioned him, and he said he just wanted us to go by. Nothing more.

I knew there was an ulterior motive.

It will be 8 months on August 5th that my mother passed away. I plan to blog all about that later, but I felt the need to throw in that little tidbit of info.

My Dad wanted to tell us that he had gone out to dinner with a lady friend. I didn't say a word at first.

I was shocked.

Speechless.

Stunned.

I didn't want to be crude or rude and so when he asked how we felt about it, after telling us who she was, I told him it was ok. For me. Not for my mom.

Let me explain.

My mom and dad were married for 40 something years. For the last 15 years or so of their marriage she was sick. Cancer. Among other things.

When she died, I heard stories about how men can not be alone. They usually find someone else before much time goes by and move on with their lives. Not my dad. Or so I thought.

Now, granted, he did explain everything to us. The lady he is 'friends' with now is a neighbor of his and her husband died of cancer about 6 years ago. She is around my dads age and has some daughters around my age. I went to school with two of them. As far as I know, she is really sweet and they both said they were not looking for anything 'serious' but just someone to do things with. I am ok with that. I think.

The reason I feel so bittersweet with this news is that I want my dad to be happy and I don't want him to sit around and be depressed and wither away into nothing. I can barely remember a day in my dads life when I was growing up that he was ever sick. He has always lived a very active life and I would hate to see him throw all of that away. He says that he is not looking to ever get married again and this woman was left very taken care of financially as a widow, so she obviously would not need someone to take care of her in that aspect. Which again, calms my worries. I would hate it if my dad were to be used.

I just feel so bad for my mom. I know she isn't with us anymore. And I know that marriage vows are 'til death do us part' and all that. I just can't get past how she would feel if she 'knew'. I think about it and I'm ok with it all until I think of her feelings. I don't know if this is normal or if I am just plain strange for thinking and feeling this way. I understand that life goes on and all that good stuff, I just feel as though it is a little soon for this.

Maybe it will be good for him to have someone that can relate to what he went through and to be there for him. I only want what's best for him. I love my dad....and I miss my mom.

My Story (Part Two)

If anyone missed Part One check it out here.




This is where things get really crazy, confusing and frustrating for me. I had never in my life thought that I would ever have to deal with anything that was yet to come in my marriage and in my life.

For the most part, I had your ordinary, average marriage. Granted, we didn’t spend a lot of alone time together. And by this I mean, we didn’t have a ‘date night’ or that time away together that you hear many couples talk about. Everywhere we went, we had our girls with us and if an invitation to attend an outing with friends did not include children, then we simply didn’t go. I know now that this was a mistake. However, at the time, I never gave it a second thought.
On the weekends when C didn’t have to work, he’d make plans with his friends to go hunting or camping or 4 wheeler riding. Knowing that I didn’t participate in any of these activities, he’d go without me, most of the time taking the girls with him, leaving me with some much sought after alone time. Still, I saw, nor thought, anything wrong with that. We did our own thing as many couples do.

I envied those who had their nights out with just their spouse and other couples. It was always something I wanted, but I never asked because I believed everything was ok with us. This was simply not the case. We didn’t work on our marriage, we just lived together and existed.
I am not blaming this particular behavior on why my marriage didn’t work. That is not it at all, it’s just something that I realized a little too late. Just as most of our marriage and the things that occurred in it (or not) were realized way too late.

After we returned from our first ever big family vacation, everything seemed fine and it was. Life carried on just as it had before, until one day when C and I got into an argument over something silly. For some reason, we didn’t speak to each other for several days and at this point I was starting to worry. Usually by this time we would make amends and everything was just as it were before the tiff began.

This time, however, it was not to happen. I panicked. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, as days went by and C would not talk to me. He told me that he needed some time and he lead me to believe that he was going to visit his sister who lived about 30 minutes away. I believed him. He did not return home until much later that night and I was already in bed. The next day he said we needed to talk.

After the kids were sleeping, we sat down to talk and he told me that he had gone to meet his daughter that day. (The daughter that he had fathered before we met) I had sensed that it was coming because of some of the comments he had made earlier, and I was glad that he had done it. Although, I was very upset that he had not told me beforehand. I was his wife! I was the one he was supposed to turn to and confide in, but yet he had lied to me and I was bitter, but I stayed composed (much to my amazement, and I believe C’s also).

The way it all unfolded was that he decided, after not much planning on his part, to get in touch with his daughters mother (who I will refer to as S) and ask her permission to meet his daughter( who I will refer to as J), if she were up for it. Little did he know that S was going through a divorce at the time and that J had found out about him at the age of 12 (she was now 15) and had shown no interest whatsoever in meeting or knowing him. His reasons (or so he says) for not telling me about all of this, as it occurred, was because he was not sure that this child of his would even want to see him and if that were to be the case and it all ended there, he did not want to involve me and upset me for nothing. Yeah, right!

I totally supported C in his efforts to become a part of his long lost daughter’s life. I told him that I would love to meet her and that eventually, if things went well between them, that we could sit down and explain to the girls that they had a half sister.
None of this happened at all the way we ( or I) envisioned it.

I was angry and bitter because of his lying to me and what he had done behind my back. I never told him that, but it was very hard for me. A few days went by and C seemed very relieved that I had reacted the way I had and agreed that it was the right thing for him to do. In the mean time, I was checking our cell phone records online and what I saw was very disturbing. There were many calls to and from S. I questioned him about the calls and he said that they needed to discuss things about J. So here I am thinking, this girl doesn’t know you from Adam and you pop up out of nowhere announcing your paternity to her, she decides to be a part of your life and now you have say so in what she is doing and how she behaves? That just didn’t jive for me. At. All.
Needless to say, a couple of days later, we got into an argument and C blew up. He refused to talk to me for days and I was slipping further and further into a depression. I had already begun to lose weight and it was noticeable. I couldn’t take it anymore and I asked him, out of desperation, if he wanted to leave me and he said he didn’t know.

I lost it.

I called my sister, hysterical and updated her on the recent conversation, as she knew what all was going on so far. She offered to keep my girls for the night and I am forever grateful to her for that and everything else she did for me throughout this whole ordeal.

Later that night, when C got off of work, we were to sit down and talk. Once again! I was nervous as hell……..

(to be continued.....)

Did You Know This??

It all started like this:
Friday evening I went over to my friend's house to meet up with her, as we were going to a Premier Jewelry show that one of my other friends was holding.
So we are talking and I tell her. Gosh, I need to quit eating, I am starting to get sorta plump around the middle here, pointing to my waistline. So she says Oh girl, me too, do you know what the teenagers call that? Well, me being very naive to teenage slang and all, I said no. She said, They call that MUFFIN TOP :


I had to laugh!

Now, granted, I don't even begin to look as seriously muffin-y as this picture, it is just to show you what I am talking about.

But seriously! Muffin top?? I find that hysterical.

So now I am going to have to quit eating so I can lose my soon to be top of a muffin tummy :)

A Few Thoughts

It is Saturday and it's 3:30 AM and I am up!

Wide awake!

What is wrong with me??

I couldn't sleep, so I got up to, of course, what else? Come here. Straight to my beloved google reader and straight over to that Secret Is In The Sauce button. Holding my breath, crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that I won the camera.

Darn!

I didn't :(

But that's ok. Good news! In their last week of the contest, the SITS girls will be giving away another cool prize!

An Apple 4G iPod Nano in silver! It plays up to 1,000 songs, 4 hours of video or 3,500 pictures.

Now how awesome is that? If you haven't visited these cool ladies yet, then what are you waiting for? Run over there, read the rules and join in the fun. And while you are there, don't forget to tell them Amy sent you.



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In other news, another bloggy friend of mine, The Pink Potpourri is giving away a lovely picture frame. It's very easy to enter her drawing, so be sure and check her out. She has a very cute blog.

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Ok, so it's way to early in the morning to even think about being up, much less to be blogging, so I am heading back to bed. Hopefully I can sleep! Ugghh!

Fridays Foto Finish Fiesta

I took this last weekend at the zoo. It's a huge marble globe fountain. It spins around on the base and water flows out of it. It's very cool and the kids were just amazed by it.

I'd love to have one in my yard :)

If you would like to participate in Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Finish Fiesta then visit her blog and send in your info to get in on the action.

Have a great weekend!!

My Story (Part One)

I have been contemplating this post for quite a while now. This is very hard for me to write and I am not even sure that many of my readers can relate to this story. The reason being is that most of you are married.

As I have read and browsed through many blogs, I have come to realize that the majority of them are by women who are married, have children and are stay at home moms.

I am in the minority.

I am divorced.

I never wanted to be. I never asked for it. I never saw it coming. It almost killed me.

I have never shared this story with anyone, except for the people near and dear to me. They have lived through all of this with me before, during and after the fact. However, I felt like blogging about it would be some form of therapy for me, and Lord knows I need any help I can get. To this day, I still have issues.

Let me take you back to the early part of the year 1991. I was 21 years old and just as happy and carefree as anyone that age could be. I worked part-time at a local supermarket, had my own car, and still lived with my parents. My weeks consisted of working and going home everyday and going out and partying every weekend.

Up until this point in my life, I had never had a long relationship with any one guy. The longest I had ever dated anyone was 3 months. That was it, and I didn’t even want to think about anything more than that at this point because I had been hurt one too many times before.

Then I met him. I will refer to him as C . At first, I could not stand him. He was younger than me (big mistake to begin with) and he really just irritated me. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, especially not in him. C was a friend of a friend and he knew some guys that I was friends with so it was inevitable that we would meet up every now and again.

After a couple of weeks of seeing C out and about around town, we slowly became friends. He took me and my friend riding in his truck and he blasted his radio for us, showing off his loud speaker system to us and playing it cool. I was starting to feel an attraction to him, but I never thought more of it.

One weekend, a bunch of us went out to a local bar and C came with us. While we were there he asked me to dance, and since I loved to dance, I obliged. He whispered in my ear that he liked me and I ‘fell’ a little more. When we got back to our cars that night, I had a feeling that he wanted to kiss me but I hurriedly drove away, stopping further down the road to talk with him alone. We shared our first kiss and we were both hooked.

It didn’t take long for C and I to become serious and I had my doubts that it would last. Let’s face it, I hadn’t dated anyone longer than 3 months, and I didn’t see it happening with C either. When we got to our one year anniversary, I was amazed at how far we had come together. We were in love and everybody knew it. I thought my life was perfect.

When I met C he was only 18, as I mentioned earlier he was younger than I. A whole 2 years and 10 months to be exact. He had just broken up with a girl and he was on the rebound, no doubt. This girl had not given C a reason as to why she had broken it off, but that reason was she was pregnant. He had no clue, and when he found out, she told him it probably wasn’t his. So he carried on with his life, started a relationship with me and didn’t dwell on it.

Well, later he found out that the child was his, and decided that he wanted nothing to do with the her because of all the drama that his ex girlfriend was causing. He did, however, financially support his daughter, although he had never met her. So our lives went on and I tried to block it out of my mind. Not an easy task. (this is important to the whole story here later on and you’ll see why)

So C and I dated for over 4 years before we got married. November 25, 1995 was the day. It was just a simple wedding, at our home that we had just purchased and only our immediate families attended. Good enough for me.

I always thought that my marriage and my life were great. For the most part, C and I always got along and we rarely fought. We were the best of friends and there was not anything that I wouldn’t do for him. However, his unclaimed daughter haunted me. I thought about it all the time. They lived about 15 minutes from here and his ex girlfriend was also married and to someone who was raising C’s daughter as his own.

C and I had two children together. Two daughters born 3 years and 17 days apart. They made us complete as a married couple and we were a happy family. When my youngest daughter was born, I lost my job at the supermarket that I had been employed at for 11 years. Shortly thereafter, I got a job working part-time as a bank teller. I stayed with this bank for 4 years until C got a great job with benefits and a salary that was unbelievable. The year was 2005. I quit my job so that I could be here for my children and be the stay at home mom I always dreamed of. Life was even better than I thought it could be.

In 2006 we took a big family vacation in the middle of July. This was the biggest trip we had ever taken together and we excitedly talked about making it a yearly tradition, now that we could really afford it. At this point my daughters were 9 and 6 years old.

Little did I know that my life was about to do a 180!

(To be continued....)

And Then I Had A Sibling....

Three years and a couple weeks after I was born, my sister entered the world.

I can honestly say that I remember a lot about the time that she was born. That day my dad had to take me to our neighbors house two doors down to spend the night. I stood at the window and cried as I watched him walk back home. Later that evening, I was fine until it was time to take my shoes off and I cried. The crying never ended, as I was told once I was older. I kept them up all night. I wanted my mommy!

My mommy came home, but she was not alone. I remember sitting on the couch and my parents walking in the door. My Dad took me to the bedroom and lifted me up to see this HUGE baby laying there. In reality, she was not all that big, but to a 3 yr old, she was enormous.

This was always one of my favorite photos because I was being mean....already! I had taken the 3 toys on the side of my head and placed them out of her reach, you can see with her little frown and my little devious smile, that sibling rivalry had already begun.

Here we are in happy times. I am assuming I don't have my gorgeous cat eye glasses on because she was probably yanking them off! I swear my sister still looks EXACTLY like this....too funny.

Again, as most older sisters do, I loved to torture her and piss her off. Looks like I was doing a good job. Looks like my mom got her revenge on me by cutting the top of my head off in the picture. (Look at my shoes! HAHA)

Here we are last Christmas and I am happy to say that we are the best of friends!!

Quirky Me....

I've been tagged by April at Little April Big World . What I am supposed to do is tag some more people, but I am going to cheat and let you decide for yourself if you want to participate.

For the rules, check out April's blog ! Anyway, I have to list 6 unspectacular quirks of mine, so here goes:

1. I love liver! Most people don't like it, but I love it in a gravy. My dad cooks it awesomely well.

2. I am totally addicted to the computer. I could sit here all day, and most days I do.

3. I am a horrible procrastinator! I can't stand when other people do it, but I am very guilty of it myself.

4. I have not held a job outside of my home in over 3 years. I am looking now, though.

5. I am very outspoken when it comes to something I believe in. I will fight to the death in an argument over anything I firmly stand for.

6. My kids are at an age that I wish they were either younger or older. Preferably older, but I hate the tween age years. Too old for some things and not old enough for others.

That's all folks!

The Zoooooo

We had not been to this particular zoo in over a year, so we didn't know that they were under construction. A lot of things had been blocked and roped off, so we didn't get to see quite everything. That didn't bother me too much because of the heat. I wasn't too glad to hear that the tigers were not there. They had moved them to various other zoos around the country until they get some of their construction done. Obviously, the tiger section is going to be the main attraction once everything is done. I can't wait to see what they've done once it's all finished. The tigers are my favorite!

Of course, this is the bear and they had a few of them here and it's always funny to see how they react to the people passing by.
The kids and some other people, feeding the turtles....they had a bunch of them all over right here in this area.
I loved the parrots, especially these red ones (my fave color). I don't like animals behind a fence though, they are hard to take pictures of.
The flamingos. So beautiful. They started all 'squawking' once we had moved on.
I found these giraffes to be so pretty. Most of them that I have seen in zoos usually seem to be scruffy and not too groomed, but these had pretty, smooth coats and looked very healthy.

I thought this sign was so cute!

Baby alligators!

A snake! Yikes!! Not my favorite animal, at all!

This is where we ate lunch, and I thought the sign was cute. The flamingos were right across from here, so I guess that's how it got its name.

This was a little pond, hidden behind some trees, that had a spray of water coming out of it. I had to zoom way in and get between the branches to get this shot.

I will post other random photos at various times just for the fun of it. Like I said before, it was so hot and I was just ready to get out of there, that I didn't take very many good shots.

Amusement Park Fun

We started out Saturday with a movie. The Dark Knight. Batman. Not my thang! At all. Although I did like the Joker....he kept me entertained. I am thinking one of the reasons this movie is doing so well is because of Heath Ledger. I have to say he did do an awesome job as the Joker.

So, with that out of the way, we headed over to Blue Bayou/Dixie Landing. It's a combination water/amusement park. By the time we got there it was a little late to do the water thing, so we headed over to the dry rides.

Now, my youngest daughter is a daredevil and she is not afraid of nuttin'. I mean, there is no ride that she fears and I believe she has ridden them all. She sure didn't get that 'no fear' gene from me!

This is what she rode first~ A roller coaster that pulls you up (backwards on the track) and then lets you go down first, makes 3 loops upside down and then stops upwards on the other side of the ride, until it takes off again, backwards, to do the 3 loops again. Ugghh!

Here she is, along with my boyfriend, all smiles and not scared one bit.
They are slowly being pulled up to the top of the track here, and she still isn't nerved by it. (Her mother was choking down her own vomit as this was going on)
When it was all said and done, she actually finished up with a smile on her face. Again, her mother would have been crying, vomiting, having a stroke at this exact moment, had she dared put her butt on this sort of ride.
This is just ONE of the loops (the first of the 3) that she had to endure (frontwards and backwards, mind you)
So then it was off to watch as my two offspring (yes my other daughter rides some of these death defying concoctions too, but isn't quite the daredevil) risk their stomach contents some more.

My darling baby girl rode this monster!
They all rode this one....I do not like to feel like falling and this definitely looks like you would feel your stomach in your throat!

Now this one is called the hotshot. If you look closely towards the top, those are people and their dangling feet. It sorta teases you by lifting you a ways up from the ground and then suddenly pulls you all the way up to the top and then drops you back down, almost to the bottom and leaves you dangling. Then it pulls you up again and you're left hanging once again. My heart wouldn't be able to take it. Seriously. My baby rode this. My heart still hurts!

Here she is all calm, cool and collected on a much calmer ride. Although you wouldn't get me on this one either. The falling thing, ya know!

Here they all are, dangling in the air, only being held on by some flimsy chain. Again, I won't get on this, but I did. The falling. Oh my! Never again!

As you can tell, I like to watch and just use to excuse of taking pictures not to have to ride anything. I did ride the scrambler. It's on the ground, and it doesn't make me feel like I am falling to my death. :)

Zoo pictures to share later....

Awards and Contests Galore!!

First off, I would like to thank Sherri at KaysvilleMomma for awarding me yet another award. I am really enjoying all of my awards lately. Go ahead and check out her page, she's got some good recipes to share, not to mention her awesome stories about how she came to adopt her beautiful children.

Secondly, if you are all into food, the bloggy world and contests.......what better place to visit than The Secret is in the Sauce: Recipes. I guarantee you will find something scrumptious to eat there....like this : Crockpot Lasagna Mmmmm!! Sounds good doesn't it, and that's only a hint of what's in store for you over there. Oh, and before I forget, their giveaway is $50 Williams Sonoma Gift Card. (I love whoever invented gift cards :p)

While I am at it, again, don't forget to go to The Secret Is In The Sauce and say hello. This week they are giving away a Sony Cyber-shot W150 ($250 value)...8.1 Megapixels, 5x optical zoom and 30m wide-angle lens. Who wouldn't love to win that?? I definitely want dibs on that one.

End of the Weekend

So it's Sunday evening, and I am beat! Isn't the weekend geared for relaxation, rest, catching up on sleep?

Not!

Didn't happen this weekend, that's for sure!

Anyway, as soon as I can get my self cooled off (it's freakin' hot out there people!) and get myself organized (yeah right) I will have pics up of our trip to the amusement park and of the zoo.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. I just wasn't in the picture-taking mood. Probably because of the sun beating down on me at over 100 degree heat indexes two days in a row. That, and the fact that it's hard to take a picture with sunglasses on because you can't see anything in that viewfinder without the natural light.

The girls had a good time though and that is all that matters, and we made it through another busy weekend, so until next time.... :)

Happy Saturday

Good Day People!

Just a quick post. We are about to head out to the movies to see Batman.... then its off to the water/amusement park. Then tomorrow we go to the zoo. Soooo, big plans this weekend, not much computer time, but I wanted to get this in:

The SITStas are having another giveaway next week and it is awesome. I wanted to tell you all about it so you could head over there and enter (except that I am going to win it *sneer*)

It's a CAMERA!!!

Just what I need!!!!

Ok, so anyway, go join, enter, do whatever you need to do, and tell them Amy sent you *wink*

Have a fantabulous Saturday!! :)

Fridays Foto Finish Fiesta

If you want to participate in Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Finish Fiesta all you have to do is visit her and she can hook you up!

Have a great weekend everyone!

This photo was taken last year at an airshow in New Orleans, LA

They Grow So Quickly...

And so did I! Sometimes I can't get over how fast my girls are growing up....it seems just like yesterday they were babies and now they are almost as big as me and I feel as though I should still be their age.





Moving on, I've finished scanning many baby pictures and have gone on to 'little girl' pictures of me.





Before I put up any pictures, I have to explain one thing.





At the age of 2 years old....that's right, 24 months old, I had to get glasses. For some reason, one of the muscles in one of my eyes was very weak, therefore causing my eye to turn in. Choosing the easier option of correcting it by glasses is what my parents decided to do, instead of surgery, which was another option.





Now just from the stories I've been told, it has come to my attention that I did not like to wear these glasses AT ALL! What 2 year old that you know would want some little foreign object dangling off the tip of their nose and hanging on the back of their ears? Not me! So as the story goes, supposedly I would take these same glasses outside, around to the side of the house where piles of leaves lay, and bury them there. My dad would then have to go out there and dig around in the yard until he found them. We always got lots of laughs at this story.





I always loved hearing about how I did that. I do not remember doing it and can only fathom what my little mind was thinking at that time.





I do remember having to be held down on a table in the eye doctors office so that drops could be placed in my eyes. If you asked me, they were trying to kill me and I am still a freak about this procedure now. I can NOT and will NOT tip my head back and put drops in my eyes. I just can't do it.





I wear contacts now. Go figure.





Ok, so here are some pictures. Don't laugh. I mean it. Like your momma always said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." LOL! But I do love the comment love, so just fake it for me........ :p

Would you look at that potbelly?? That was our house and probably the leaves in which I hid those little cat-eye glasses in. :)

My eyes were closed....darn! I have lots of pictures of myself like that over the years. That Christmas tree behind me had seen better days, obviously!

Awww, happy 3rd birthday to me! A couple of weeks later, I had a baby sister to come in and take up all my love and attention......... (to be continued).

Thank you, Thank you very much!

If I were as lucky in the real world as I am in the blog world when it comes to getting an award, I'd be buying lottery tickets galore!

My blog friend Tonya has awarded me this sweet gesture of kindness and I am very thankful!

Now, of course, I have to pass it along, you all know that because here are the rules:

1. The recipient must link back to the award's creator (http://www.thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/)
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids

And so without further ado, here are my picks for this award:

1. Apple Joos ~ Apple is so funny, her blog always makes me smile (or laugh) so she is well-deserving of this one.

2. Lynns Photo Booth~ Lynn has this blog to post her great pictures and she always has something fun and interesting to look at.

3. KellysKorner~ Kelly tells it like it is (which I really like) and she's always got something delish cooking. Plus, she just got a new car, so cute!

4. Little April Big World~ April has some very interesting savings to share, and who can't use some tips on how to save money these days? You can just feel her excitement about her savings.

5. The Zen In You~ Caroline has some very interesting and wonderful posts that make you stop and think about a lot of things in life. I really love to do that often, and she is very inspiring.

I hope everyone enjoys their award :)

Let's Rock!

Turn up your speakers, put your dancin' shoes on and get ready to shake it!

Tena posted a meme yesterday about favorites songs of the summer of 2008. What you do is pick 7 songs that you are really into right now and post them on your blog. She didn't tag me (or anyone) but gave us the choice to do it, so I am doing it. I'm not tagging anyone either. If you choose to play along, then just blog your songs and link back to me and if you don't want to blog it (then you should anyway) you can just leave your song picks in my comments. I love me some comments :)

Another thing I am doing differently.....because I like to be difficult, um, I mean different...is that I am putting the link up to the songs from Youtube, that way you can listen to my songs....

Ok so here we go! I am going to countdown from 7 to 1:

7. Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse I have 3 of their Cd's and I am constantly playing them over and over. If you have not seen these guys live, and you like concerts, then put these guys on your 'groups to see' list. They are awesome! No lie.

6. First Time by Lifehouse Another one of my fave songs by them..... I can't get enuf!!

5. Whatever It Takes by Lifehouse No, I am not obsessed, this is the last one I promise, but this song is awesome. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the lead singer is a cutie patootie! :p

4. In Love With A Girl by Gavin DeGraw Wooooo, this song rocks and I love it! I can't play it loud enough, and any man who professes to be so in love with a girl just melts my heart.

3. Its Not My Time by 3 Doors Down Another Kickass song! I love it, and I can't play it loud enough either, my walls are rattling :p

2. All Summer Long by Kid Rock This song rocks too. I don't really care for Kid Rock, but some of his music is pretty good, this one included.

1. Whats Victoria's Secret? by MY FAVE ROCKSTAR ~ OH MY GOD!! The man is amazing and his new CD will be out on July 29, so RUUUUNN to Amazon.com and pre-order it! You will not be sorry. Check out this performance if you dont' believe me, he is still such a gorgeous man, and he's ALMOST 59 YEARS OLD!!! Unbelievable.

Rock on people!!

I'm Skeered!!

Call me a chicken, but I am scared of lots of things! I don't care, go right ahead and I'll just say "cluck" "cluck".

Yes, I am here today to unveil to you everything, or for the most part, a few of the things, that I am afraid of.

COCKROACHES: Oh. My. God. I would rather face a pack of wolves than a roach. As a child, I could not sleep at night, so afraid that the big bad roach was going to come out of nowhere and get me. My mom used to say that we (my sister, who also shares this phobia with me) would probably not be as afraid of a huge gorilla about to attack. She was probably correct. Those things fly! And they are nasty! And just the sheer thought of them makes me want to gag. Plus, they never die!!! You have to beat the guts out of them (literally) to kill them! Needless to say, I spray my house profusely to keep those things outta here!

MICE: I swear to you, I ain't lyin'.....there was a mouse in this house when my oldest was a baby (not quite a year old). I slept at a nearby hotel until the critter was caught. Thank goodness we haven't seen one since because it's not easy explaining to the hotel clerk that your address is just down the road and you won't sleep there because a critter is lurking.

HEIGHTS: Who is NOT afraid of this? I am ok once I get 'there' but going up and coming down scares the you know what outta me! I can not fathom how people (my children included) can stand the feeling of falling. Those amusement park rides that take you up and then literally throw you downward into a speeding spiral to your near death are just not for me, thanks anyway, I'll watch from the sidelines.

AUTO ACCIDENTS: Again, I believe that this is just paranoia on my part, but I can't get over the fact that having my body slammed into at 70 plus miles per hour with metal and steel would feel very good. That is the reason, dear boyfriend of mine, (who is not reading this)that I suck in my breath and cringe at the slightest weave in the road. Whether it is by you or the other maniac drivers on the road. * I know he's not here to defend himself, but he knows I've called him that and he just laughs, so it's all good*

SOMETHING HAPPENING TO MY CHILDREN: All mothers fear this and when I mean 'something' that goes for anything. I cannot even imagine my kids being hurt, kidnapped, critically ill....the list goes on. Don't even wanna think about it.

VARIOUS CRITTERS: Not only roaches, mice and things of that sort. I hate snakes, bugs of any kind, if they fly, I'm outta here. Things that get around quicker than me or that can hide and decide to show themselves at inopportune moments, causing me to want to wet my pants or scream.....they gotta go!

Ok, so the 'fraidy cat has spoken.........how 'bout you??

And Baby Makes 3....

So I am up to the point of 'back in time' to my entry into the world and I wanted to share more baby pictures!

Now that I am older and can appreciate so much more, I've taken the time to really look hard at these pictures and notice things that may have been over-looked before.

Lets take a trip down memory lane.....

This one, of course, is of me with my mom in our back yard. Over to your left is the house of a dear old lady that used to come over to the fence and visit with us. I don't remember much about her except that she was very sweet and would tell us stories. In the right hand corner of the pic was a fig tree. We would spend hours picking figs (from this particular tree and another one we had across the yard) for my dad to can later on. I love me some canned figs!
The dress that my mom is wearing would be very much in style today. It is funny how I can look at what she wore then and really like it, but the stuff I see myself dressed in in these photos are quite embarassing at times :)


This one was taken at my moms' grandmother's house. She actually raised my mother because her mom died when she was not quite a year old. Check out the old VW bug in the background....that was our car and who would have thought that 30 something years later they would still be such a hot car!




I love the black and white photos, but I don't have many of me. This is one that I found and I am guessing that it was also take at my great grandmothers and that may have been my grandfathers hat on my head.

Another black and white of me..

And now we get to some 'studio' pics of me....wasn't I a huge chunker in this one? I guess I am around a year old here.

This is one of my faves and these next few too.....

Wasn't I just a sexy little thang??? :)

Stay tuned for more of me as a little girl, all grown up from the baby stages.........

Saucy Saturday

Darn! I didn't win this weeks prize over at The Secret Is In The Sauce but I have another chance next week! And so do YOU!!

If you are still on the fence about going over there and checking them out (and why the heck would you be??) Go over there now, comment on their blog and link back to them from yours to get yourself entered. It's that easy and you could win one of 3 $50 Target cards to be given away next weekend. That sounds totally awesome to me!

Don't delay, go there now and enter. And while you are there, tell them Amy sent you :p

Friday Foto!

I am not participating (yet) in that ever popular Fridays Foto Finish Fiesta but I am looking into it.

I am also looking into getting another camera. I am so indecisive, especially with these sort of purchases. That, and the fact that I am trying to get school uniforms, shoes, supplies...etc. started on.... Bleeechhh!!!

Anyway, I do have a camera and I love it. I have a Canon Powershot S3IS. It takes wonderful photos and has been very good to me but I am looking for something a little smaller and easier to handle, but takes great photos just the same, because I am picky like that :p Plus, price-wise, I need something inexpensive. With that being said, I am still shopping around and haven't made up my mind yet. One of these days.........

Anyhow, here is a pic of a creature that I caught finding his snacks in my yard a while back....

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend...... :)

A Meme

I've been tagged again for another 'meme'. Tena over at I Love My Punky Monkeys tagged me, so I wanted to give her a quick shoutout. Hey girl!
For a couple days now (she tagged me earlier in the week) I've thought about what I would do and I am going to break one rule for sure.
I am not going to tag anyone else, but instead, invite you all to share your answers here, if you choose. However, if anyone reading would like to participate and post this on your blog and just link back to me, that would be cool also. I feel that this way, no one feels obligated to do it, and then if you want to 'play' you can. Here are the rules:

1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post, if possible, so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Ok, so my six word (gosh that is hard) memoir would be ........*drumroll*

LIVING EACH DAY AS IT COMES.

I actually came up with a few others, but this one seems to fit me the best. I don't always plan too far into the future, but mostly I just go with the flow and live life day to day.

So there you have it, if you'd like to play along, this is your mission if you choose to accept it, if not, this blog will self destruct in zero point five seconds! :p

In The Beginning....

There was a couple who met at a dance and started dating. They actually went to school together and dated for a while, marrying right after high school graduation. This couple were to become my mom and dad.

I am not sure exactly how long they dated before they married. My mom is gone and my dad doesn't remember squat (and no, he's not that old, but he's a man, so there ya go!). They did marry on June 27, 1964. My mom was only 18 and my dad was 20 years old. Not very many people marry at that age anymore, which in my opinion, is a great thing. The world is just not what it used to be. Here is a picture of my parents when they were dating :

I absolutely love my parents' wedding photo. They both look so good in it and for as old as it is, it's very clear and crisp. When my mom passed away, I wanted to put it into a nice new frame and display it alongside her casket at the funeral home. I've seen this done at many funerals. Lots of photos put up to chronicle the life of the deceased and I think it's a very special tribute to them. However, my Dad did not want me to. I am not sure why and I didn't question him, but he was very adamant not to have it there. We did put up a nice photo that I have of my mom and her 3 granddaughters (my two girls and my sisters') and it was a great way to show them how happy and healthy she once was. Anyway here is there wedding photo:

My mom and dad were married for almost 6 years before I came into the world. That is unusual for that day and age, as most people started having kids very early in age and usually right after they married. (If that was not the whole reason they married in the first place) That reason being, my dad was in the Army and travelled as far as Germany. He was there for over a year while my mom stayed here back in the states. Once he was finally discharged and returned home, I entered the scene:

I was born on January 19, 1970 at 2:40 pm in the afternoon. I weighed in at a whopping 8lbs. 8oz. My mom once jokingly told me that I interrupted General Hospital to make my entrance into the world. I always thought that was funny.

According to what was written in the photo album, I was only 1 day old here. I am not sure if I actually had been brought home that soon, or if I had only actually been home 1 day.

I love this photo of me with my mom! I will treasure it always. She looks so proud to have me and so good after giving birth. If I am not mistaken, I believe my mom suffered from post-partum depression. I am sure back then most people didn't really have that particular name for it, but I do remember my grandmother ( my dads' mom) telling me that she had the 'baby blues'. She said she loved you more than anything, but she had those baby blues. I think I remember my mom mentioning it when I had a slight case of it after giving birth to my oldest daughter.

More to come..........

When Did Kids Become So Smart?

I don't mean this literally. I mean this in the most sarcastic, mean mommy, hellacious sort of way.
It's true. First of all, according to my children, I am the meanest mom in the world.
Sorry Charlie, I don't care where you go or who you talk to in that manner, you will get the same reaction and it ain't just me!
I am the boss here, not you. When you can get a job and pay bills here and clean this house and cook and do chores without being asked, then you can call the shots.
One thing that has really started to annoy me the most about these offspring of mine, and the two that are here for the summer that are not mine, is that they know everything. Yep, you heard me, they know the answer to every question, every problem has a cure, and no matter what I say or do, it's wrong!
So you are telling me that I have lived 27 to 32 years longer than all of you and I know less than you do? About everything? I don't think so!
When I was a child if I had talked back to a parent with a know-it-all attitude I'd now be sporting half of my face over on the side of my head. Seriously.
I am not really sure what the difference in raising children back in the day was compared to today.
I give my children praise for behaving well. They get special treats for good manners, and privileges taken away when they act up. What more is a mom to do?
The fighting, ahhh the fighting. I remember when my younger sister and I were kids we did fight. For the most part it was mainly with words, but we did get violent a time or two. Granted, we played apart a lot and had separate interests and friends.
Maybe that's the answer! I could send them to boarding school. But then again, I hear the spoiled children there are very vicious, I'd be in for a worse scenario when they came back.
I always looked at misbehaved children (before I had my own) and thought.... "Oh, my kids are not going to act like that!" Who was I kidding? Somewhere along the way I've been proved waaayy wrong.

Monday of Memories

I've recently begun scanning some old photos that I took from my dads house. Since my mom passed away I am trying to get most of them scanned to my computer so that I can save them to a disc. She had so many pictures that were not even in albums and just scattered here and there. I gathered up all of the ones that I could find and have been sorting through them....slowly!

I still have a lot of work ahead of me because most of it is very tedious. The photo albums of yesteryear are really a pain in the @$$~ they have those little 'corners' that were glued onto the scrapbook pages and then the photo was inserted into those. With age, most of the photos have become 'not so flexible' so needless to say, they aren't so easy to manage.

Another setback to time that I have found, is when I scanned a few of them, they went into a different folder in my 'old pictures' file on my computer, so having to copy and paste pics, and hunt for them has eaten up some precious time. * Not to mention the fact that I am a terrible procrastinator. * Anyway, finding my away around this Vista Windows Photo Gallery has been an issue, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it.

I've decided that since I am going to have all of these old photos on my computer now, that I would start to blog about everything from when my parents met, married, and had me and my sister, and then move on to more things about me and my life growing up. Granted, I didn't have much of an exciting life, but it was a good one like any other average girl from the 80's.

I came up with the idea of blogging all of this stuff partly from reading lots of blogs out there and just wanting to be able to document it all somehow for my girls when they are older. It will be fun to go through their old photos too, when I get to that point in my life, and scan them and share here. That, however, will take lots of time because I went crazy with the pictures when my oldest daughter was born. Unlike my mom though, I have them all in photo albums and most of them are dated. Most of the pictures I have found of my parents and of my sister and I, is that they don't have dates on them. My Dad even noticed that when I showed him an old one of the two of them together. He could tell me where they were but had no clue when it was taken and said how he wished she had taken more time to write some info on the back.

I will do the best that I can with what I have to work with and look forward to blogging away about things from the 'old' days, like we once referred to them.

For now here is a couple of pictures that I wanted to share.

This is my dad in his Army days. This had to be in the mid to late 60's because I was born in early 1970 and he was in the service the few years before I was born, right after they got married.

This is my mom and I am assuming that this was her engagement photo since it was in one of those dual 8x10 photo frames adjoining their wedding photo, which I will post later with more memories of my mom and dad.

Note: For anyone who doesn't know, my mom passed away this past December of 2007 after a long illness. Needless to say, going through and sorting all of these photos has been very emotional and joyful all at the same time. I am really glad that I have this to look back on and remember her by. We miss her very much.