35 Things

My friend Mer shared this on her blog. I love those things so I decided to play along...instead of emailing to all my friends who really don't care! ;)

35 Odd Things About Me

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? Not really
2. Do you own a gun? Yes
3. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks? grande latte
4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? coffee coffee coffee
5. Do you do pushups? not if I can avoid it. That must be my weakest muscle.
6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? a heart necklace that Rena drew and my mother in law had it made into a necklace.
7. Favorite hobby? tennis
8. Do you have A.D.D? probably
9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? procrastination
10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: I should get the laundry going...is Rena really asleep?...the computer is a horrible thing for procrastinators.
11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. coffee, water, wine, coke
12. Current worry right now? that Ill never get my 'office' organized
13. Current hate right now? politics
14. Favorite place to be? the beach any beach
15. Do you like to travel? not really but I like the final destination usually
16. What color shirt are you wearing? red
17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? no. too cold. give me flannel
18. Can you whistle? of course. I can even use my fingers to whistle
19. Favorite color? blue...no, green...no, blue. Actually I LOVE blue and green together.
20. If you could would you be a pirate? I am a pirate. ;)
21. What song do you sing in the shower? I'm usually too busy shouting orders to sing (don't hit your sister, leave the dog alone, turn that down....)
22. Favorite girl's name? Lauren. But I didn't name any of my girls that.
23. Favorite boy's name? Scott
24. What's in your pocket right now? Don't have pockets. But usually it's a receipt from somewhere or a hair clip
25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? Didn't have any
26. Worst injury? Hmmm. I have lots of them. The worst was probably when I dislocated my knee because it's been a constant source of problems ever since.
27. Do you love where you live? NO
28. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3
29. Who is your loudest friend? If I can't think of anyone, it might be me, right?
30. How many pets do you have? 2 and counting
31. Does someone have a crush on you? I doubt it. Unless you count Riley.
32. What is your Favorite Book? To Kill a Mockingbird
33. What's your favorite candy? mini reese's cups
34. Favorite Sports Team? ECU pirates
35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Damn dog!

If this looked like fun (and it was) do one on your own blog and let me know. Or email me with your answers. I really do love these things.

Recent happenings.

Well the girls had a great time with their Dad at Grandmom and Grandpop's house. They got to go play on the beach sound side

and go to the aquarium. Blair was really good about sending me cellphone pics along the way.

I really missed them but I really enjoyed my freetime. At first I thought I was going to spend the whole time furiously scouring my house until it was spotless. But alas, that didn't happen and I was OK with that. Instead I just spend some quiet, calm time doing a little of this and that. I did clean and do ALOT of laundry. I played alot of tennis and napped some too. I went to the movies with a couple of friends and took myself out for lunch. Once I realized that the house was not going to get scrubbed from top to bottom I made a goal of getting all the toys back together, sorted out, and put out of reach of the children. The don't NEED that many toys at one time and they end up just stringing them all over the house instead of playing with them. My girls would rather be outside playing with their friends than inside playing with puzzles. And because we NEVER have a rainy day, our indoor toys aren't really getting that much real use. So I managed to get that job done. What I really enjoyed most about them being gone was that I got to do things on my time table. I slept when I wanted and ate when I wanted and watch tv when I wanted. Things moved at a much slower calmer pace.

They got home Sunday but I wasn't here! I had to go play a tennis match and I didn't get home until after they did. I was so happy to see them! Even though they had only been gone 4 days they all looked like they had grown to me. And then it was business as usual.

Well the good thing about not having rainy days to play inside is that we have beautiful weather EVERYDAY. Really. The weather is gorgeous right now. Because we've been in a drought for sooooo long it's really changed my thinking about the outdoor activities. Whenever planning an outdoor event, a rain date doesn't even cross my mind. We've also been rewarded with some amazing sunsets.

And beautiful blue skies.

And if you pay close attention to the sky you might see something a little out of the ordinary.

What's that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it's the goodyear blimp. Really.

So this week I've been trying to get ready for a yardsale. I've been cleaning out the twins clothes and some of the toys. What a monumental task this is. It's amazing how many clothes we end up with. And shoes. Good lord. I don't even have that many shoes. And of course I can't get rid of anything until the last person has 'for sure' outgrown it. But now I'm to the point that it has GOT to go! All this clutter is making me a little crazy. So next weekend is the big sale. I'm both dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time. It'll be nice to get a little cash for some of our stuff, but I always feel seriously ripped off. And I LOVE some of these little clothes that I'm selling. It's a good thing I'm not a hoarder or I would keep all of their little clothes. (Stop growing!) It'll be nice to have a little room in the garage again...not that we park in there, but it would be nice to have that option...just in case it rains.

Time for a break!

Just in case you wonder why I might need a break: Exhibit A - 6:29pm

6:30 pm

Mood swings are exhausting. Hers and mine.

On the way home from preschool today we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. The ‘bag boy’ is about 70-some years old…seriously…and he was talking to me while the girls were waiting to get balloons. He made some comment about me being their mother….or grandmother. What! Grandmother! Ok I should have been really pissed, but I knew when my pregnancy was deemed ‘geriatric’ I was doomed. How old am I? 43. My children haven’t even started ‘real’ school. My college roommate (also 43) just sent her youngest to college. I think I need to go take a nap! I definitely need a break.

And I'm going to get one. I think I’m going to nominate my husband for sainthood. ‘Why?’ you ask? Because he’s agreed to take all 3 girls to the beach to see his mother for her birthday. I get to stay home all by myself for 5 whole days. I can’t wait!!! And I miss them already and they haven’t even left. It will only be the second time in their short little lives that I've been away from them. Months ago I got to fly to Boston for the weekend. That was great too but this is going to be even better. I'll actually get to accomplish something here at the house. There's so much to do I don't even know where to start!

And now for something completely different.

This weekend we went to a local animal sanctuary. It's actually kind of sad. I'm sure the animal are well taken care of but how happy can a lion be, cage up all the time? I'm not sure where all these animals came from, some were rescues. They seemed to have one of everythings. Let's see they had an emu,a horse,a variety of monkeys,2 wolves, servals, bobcats, peacocks, lions, tigers, maccaws, donkeys, panthers, elk(I think), ostriches, and a boa that they fed while we were there.

This was not a happy cat, poor thing.

This wolf came up and licked Rachel. The wolves are only 5 months old. Beautiful!

This guy doesn't even look real, but he is.

What are YOU looking at?

The feathers on this thing had a really cool pattern to them.

One of the ostriches was acting kinda funny. We were all noticing it. Too bad none of us spoke ostrich or we would have know that we'd overstayed our welcome and they needed a little privacy!

Yep, they're doing what you think they're doing.

After a lovely weekend spent together as a family, we were rewarded with this beautiful sunset last night. Stunning.

Rachel and Riley turn 3!

So the birthday party went off without a hitch. The bouncy was supposed to be delivered Saturday morning but they called Friday and asked if they could set it up early. Absolutely! I was a little worried that the ‘surprise’ of it might be ruined, but no! They were really excited.



The day of the party we were all ready. Our guest showed up, including a few kids that weren’t invited! Just because they weren’t invited didn’t mean I wasn’t prepared for them. I imagined that I’d have few party crashers. This is the first time I haven’t invited all the neighborhood kids. It was just supposed to be for the little kids but that’s ok. They are all friend. To give you an idea of the make-up of the kids from my house down to the cul-de-sac and back around we have 2-1 year olds, a 2 year old 3-3 year olds, 3-5 year olds a 6 year old, a 7 year old a 9 year old and an 11 year old. That’s a lot of little kids!

So the kids bounced and bounced some more. They left and then came back later to bounce.

We bounced as a family…and that was actually my favorite part. I had tried to take a nap after the first round of party, but it just wasn’t happening. So I went outside where the girls were still at it and Blair had joined them. We weren’t in there for a really long time but it was a lot of fun and the girls were loving it.

Riley and Rachel enjoyed helping make the cupcakes for their party.



And here's the finished product. Cinderella in her carriage. I thought these were the cutest thing! And they were so easy to make. Really, they were.



I'm convinced that this child REALLY was a princess in a past life. Ever since she was little we have said that. When she got old enough to move around she would always find a 'throne' to sit on. And if you've seen lots of pictures of her on here, you are familiar with the ever-present princess dress. (not currently pictured although she does have on a crown.)



I think Ray is casting a spell with her wand.

Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom....

Ok I probably shouldn't be rejoicing quite that much, but I did just drop the girls off for their first day of preschool! And in keeping with their personalities, this is how it went:

-Rachel broke from the crowd and headed inside like she owned the place. She went straight to her classroom from last year and started pushing a stroller around. It took a few minutes to convince her that her classroom was down the hall. Once we turned the corner she left me again and turned left in to the classroom. Her classroom, however is on the right. Finally headed her into the room without a goodbye, hug or kiss. Nothing. Oh well, bye Ray.

-Riley pretty much clammed up. She knew we weren't going into the old class but she was none too happy about going into a new class. However, she sucked it up and stoically walked into her class by herself.

-Rena. Somewhat slow to warm, she wanted to take bunny (aka bud-a) and me into the classroom. She agreed with whatever anyone said to her without actually accomplishing anything that was being asked. Bunny will spend the day waiting for her in the bookbag. I gave her a kiss at the door and headed out. Once she's throught the door she'll be fine. She actually makes friends really easily and the teachers already love her.

So, what I'm I going to do for the next 3 hours? First of all I'll just be enjoying the quiet. Then laundry and general cleaning up. There will be plenty of time for mindless tv and other quiet activities later, but for now I need to get moving on cleaning the downstairs, at least. We have the girls' birthday party coming up this weekend and it's got me a little stressed out. Damn hurricanes. Which way are they going and where are they bringing rain. I've got an outdoor party planned.

A princess party in fact. It's been fun getting this party (sponsored by Disney) together. We're having a big jumpy in the backyard and food. That's pretty much it. If it rains I'm screwed. Not completely. The teacher in me always keeps a few tricks up my sleeve.

These are the cupcakes for the party. Aren't they the cutest damn things you've ever seen!

By the way, I don't know why the pictures look fuzzy. Click on the picture to make it bigger and clearer.