On the road and guest blogging

I am on the road for work so this will be brief since I am to give a presentation in about an hour and a half.

As you may know I am headed out for a weeks vacation starting Aug 11th, and since all of my bloggy friends are some of the most creative, funny and good story tellers I know, I was wondering if any of you would be interested in guest blogging? Drop me a line and let me know if you are interested. I am looking for 5 bloggers for Mon-Fri. Or if you want the whole week or a few days that will work too!

Ok, back to work, keep your fingers crossed I don't fall on my face or screw up while giving my speech!!

Wordless Wednesday - Let Birthday Week Begin!!!

Tuesday Toot

So over the weekend my husband and I cleaned out the garage, I thought I had better pictures to show just how much we had done. These are OK but I don't think that truly depict the hard work. So there is my Tuesday Toot! Now go Toot your own horn!!!!

Here is my ham of a husband before we got started, He tought I was looning to take before and after pictures. Blog Baby, I told him. To whihc he rolled his eyes. Like the shirt?

These are before the cleaning began, it is important to tell you that we have a 3 car garage but only 2 were ever able to be in there at one time!

After !

I can now put 3 cars in the garage!

Things seems to be a bit more orderly then they were.

I was also able to clear out the Closet in the basement where are mud room is!!!!!

So the weekend was nothing spectacular.....

Friday started with Dan and a bunch of the guys having poker at our house till nearly 3am. Thankfully neither the kids or I were disturbed by the game play. I will say hubby did his best to clean up after everyone left, however I still stepped in dry sticking beer in the kitchen the next morning.

Saturday was a work day we totally gutted the garage and we are now finally about to park 3 cars in our 3 car garage, I will post pictures tomorrow in my Tuesday Toot!

Saturday night I took my mom out for dinner for her birthday, I left feeling worse then I arrived which seems to be the case more and more these days. I arrived at her house with a bouquet of flowers and her gift, she also had my birthday gift sine my birthday is Sunday and she knew she wouldn't see me because my goddaughters baptism is the same day. She opened her gift and within 30 seconds after opening it said, she wished the gift card ($275) had been from somewhere else because they have better prices on electronics, which was the reason for me giving her the gift card so she could get what she wanted. I was irked but that is typical of my mom. Mom had decided on Friday that she wanted to go to Macaroni Grill for dinner I called ahead for a 6:45 sitting. So we arrive at 6:45 I am having trouble finding a space so I ask her to go in and let them know we were here so we wouldn't lose our spot. That was mistake number one! When I walked in the place was a mad house and there was my mom with the hostess giving her an earful that we had a reservation and she demanded to be seated and speak to a manager. I of course was mortified because clearly the place was packed and they were doing the best that they could. I asked her to please stop being so indignant but she just couldn't let it go. We were seated by 7pm so it was only a 15 min wait vs. the 45 min others who had walked in without a reservation were waiting. We sat down at the table the server asked how long the wait was and I said not bad, mom of course piped up oh I wouldn't say that. At this point I really just wanted to get up and leave because my evening was ruined by her shitty attitude. I stayed and got through it but I can't say that I enjoyed myself.

Sunday was a whole lot of nothing in our house, the kids and I cleaned out the playroom and organized it so it looked a bit neater and it would be easier to find things. Other then that I had a run to Costco and was napping on my sofa at 5pm...ah that is what weekends are all about!!! Below are some before and afters of the playroom, the kiddos were good sports about the clean up.

Before













After
















After





















After
So this week I am headed out of town on business I will be in Springfield IL Wednesday and Thursday to give a presentation, I hate speaking in public but I better get used to it since I will be doing it a lot more in the future. If any of my regular readers are near that area let me know and maybe we can meet up.

So that is the weekend in a nutshell what fun and exciting things did the rest of you do???

Friday Hodge Podge

Hi everyone!!

So did you miss the Friday Hodge Podge? I can honestly say I did, I have a ton to talk about so please indulge me!

Big Thanks to all of you who sent kind words as I suffered my mini melt down. I can happily say I am through it and I now feel obligated to fill you in on everything that has been going on.

As you know I had a mammogram done for the first time earlier this month, I will admit I was a bit nervous about having my boob (a large C small D) smashed in vice gripes for some random stranger to see, but I did it and it wasn’t all that bad, piece of cake actually. I walked away from the exam happy that I was being proactive with my health and fully expected nothing to come of the exam. That happiness with my actions was shattered early last week. I received a call informing me that I needed to come back and undergo a comprehensive mammogram due to some abnormalities found in my right breast. That call is one I hope none of you ever receive. It was of course unexpected not to mention handled poor by the healthcare professional who took my normal mid morning work routine and turned it upside down while also leaving me feeling as though I would throw up at any given moment. I panicked, I wasn’t sure who to call what to do I sat at my desk frozen. This was my first ever mammogram and it had come back with questions that needed to be answered. My husband was a rock, he got me an appointment to see “the best” radiologist for my comprehensive screening which was yesterday afternoon. I am happy to tell you that all is fine; I nearly crushed the girl who came to give me my results.

So while I did have all the things going on that I bloged about, I also had this looming over my head. I have weathered the storm and I am still happy that I deceived to have the mammogram done even if it provided me one hell of a scare. So to those of you out there that haven’t gone, please go, if there is something there catch it early. If you get a false positive, it’s ok, better then not being tested at all.

Now on to other topics.


BlogHer- I say this with all the love I can, you biotches look like you had a great time and I am bummed that I was not a part of it. Maybe I will pull myself out of my social cocoon and come next year. However there is something really intimidating to me about being in a room full of people who I know are far better bloggers than I will ever be.

Birthdays- My mom is going to be 65 next Tuesday, part of me can’t believe that she will be 65 because she really doesn’t look it, not to mention that it just sounds weird to say my mom is 65, that means social security and Medicare she isn’t really old enough for those things in my eyes. Yet she is, because I her only child will be 36 just 5 short days after she turns 65. I have never really dwelled on age, that’s a lie I had a pity party for myself when I turned 30 because no one made a huge deal about it and there I was with my 5 month old first born thinking this sucks (turning 30 that is) , I was a bit of a diva about that birthday. Yet other then turning 30, age has never really bothered me, but for some reason this year it is paramount in my mind. 36…. How the hell did I become 36!!!!

Chicken pox update- all seems to be good at the house on the chicken pox front, I think we dodged a huge bullet on that score. I remember when I was a kid I got them all over and it seemed all I did was sit in oatmeal bath’s. Luckily this was mild to say the least and Lauren never showed a spot. She has been exposed now twice and nothing so I think we are out of the woods.

House projects- I have 2 projects that I want to get done this weekend. Tonight while the hubby and the boys play poker at my house I will dig into my bedroom closet to give it a good cleaning. The second project will be the garage, which I have a feeling I will be doing alone if poker ends up being a late night, nonetheless it will be getting done. I will be sure to post before and after pictures.

Awards- You guys Rock! I have received 3 awards in the last week, what have I done to deserve those??? I will post about those early next week.

That’s in on The Daily Grind front; I hope you all have a great weekend. Don’t forget you can still ask me personal questions that I will answer in my weekly Hodge Podge blog.

Good Mail

A while back I signed up for something called Good Mail, Elaine over at
The Miss Elaine-ous Life introduced me to it.

The general idea is that you are part of a group that shares home addresses and birth dates so you can send each other mail. At any time one of the girls may send you a little "Good Mail" nothing huge just a little card, a pack of gum or Mc D's Gift certificates!!! It's just a little something that says "Hey thinking about you and wanted to brighten your day!"

I have received 3 good mail packages recently, 2 in the last couple of weeks when they were really needed!

Take a look!

Thanks Jody!!!

Debbie You Rock!

So if you want to participate in Good Mail drop Jody's Blog to let her know and she will get you all hooked up!

I needed a break.......

So this picture was taken the Tuesday night before we left can you tell by the look on my face that i needed a break??

I really didn't know just how much a needed a break till I took one, and I must say things can change for the better in a short period of time. First, I missed you all very much, I realized just how much all of you have become a part of my life.

Good things happened while I was away, I received the raise I had been hoping for, my daughter is now sprouting new front teeth, hubby and I had some great quality time together to talk about family and what our goals and aspirations are both as a couple and as individuals, and there were many many other things which I won't bore you with.

During my so called break I also became more aware that I tend to stress too much about life...... I know some of you are thinking "SHOCKER!!! I could have told you that" See I have this need to do everything perfect, if I commit myself to a job then I see it the whole way through, like this blog.... I committed myself to it and I have been pretty darn good up until a week ago. It hit me while I was taking a break that I don't have to be all things to all people all the time. This blog was to be an outlet for me, a place to write my thoughts and feelings and have a diary of sorts for later in life. It has been all of that and more, I have found great friendships and advice but somewhere along the way I felt I had to be the best (which I know I am far far from) and blogging was starting to lose some of it's original luster. So forgive me in the coming weeks if I don't post everyday, it isn't for lack of things to say I assure you; it is more lack of time then anything else. Also the realazation that I am never going to have the Perfect Blog!

So forgive me if I don't post comments for the posts written the past 5 or so days, I will mark all as read and start fresh today.

My break started out a bit rocky, Wednesday about 2 ours after I arrived at work I received a call from my husband saying Jackson had chicken pox or so he thought, So I rushed home took him to the Doctor who was not ready to call it chicken pox but it had all the classic symptoms yet not the full blown rash which I have been told is sometimes common when a child have been vaccinated. Sowe were told to wait and watch, we watched Jackson closely the following 24 hours and nothing more happened so he must have had some viral thing.

Thursday we headed to NY we only made it to Scranton, PA since we left after work, we spent the night in a hotel and drove the last 2 hours to NY Friday am. Lauren was so happy to see us, man I swear she changed a ton the 6 days she was gone. Her front teeth started to come in and she seems so much more grown up. We spent the morning just hanging out at Nana and Pop Pops then headed to a family friends farm to look at all the crazy animals they have llamas, lemurs, pot belly pigs, turtles, mini horses, you name it we saw it. The kids had a blast! Saturday afternoon we had a mini birthday celebration for me since my birthday is in a couple of weeks (Aug 3rd) and most of Dan's family was there on Saturday then my hubby and I headed to a Tony Bennett concert, I know it sounds crazy but it was great! We sat on the lawn at dusk and listened to old music. Afterward we caught up with some of my husbands old classmates who were in town as well. It was funny to see Dan with all his old high school buddies. Sunday we headed up to Albany to see Dan's sister for a few hours then headed further north to Brant Lake, NY to see our old au pair Abby, who is working at a summer camp up there. After visiting with her for a couple of hours we started the voyage home! We only made it as far as Harrisburg, PA before we both said it was time to pull over and resume driving the morning. Thank goodness for Hilton points! We were able to stay both nights free based on the points we have from our collective business travel. We finally returned home on Monday where we ran errands and got ready for the week.

I have a ton of pictures but I have yet to get them started so as soon as I have a moment I will post some pictures of the weekend.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and I will talk to all of you as the week progresses. Thanks for your love and warm wishes it is great to know that I have such amazingly cool blog friends, if ever any of you are in the DC area you must be sure to look me up and I will do the same!

Wordless Wednesday

Ah cake!

I'm outta here!!!!

I am going to be MIA for the next 4 days, I am going up to NY with the family to see my baby girl who has been there for a week with her grandparents but I am staying for some much needed R&R. Things seem to be getting better but I think a few days may just be what the Dr. ordered. So I will be back hopefully with stories to share. Have a great weekend and I will be in touch with all of you soon.

Tidy moms this post isn't for you!!

Elaine at The Miss Elaine-ous Life encouraged me to participate in the Dirty Baby Carnival over at Boys Rule My Life . So here goes you might reconize this as my Wordless Wednesday post from last week! My daughter was covered head to toe for dinner one night when hubby was left in charge! The second is when I let my kids play in a mud hole!

Wordless Wednesday... even the hubby is in on it!

Ok so this isn't so wordless!!!So we went to the baseball game the other night and the lady in front of me was sporting a fashion Faux Paux, I had to share. Yes that is my husbands finger pointing at her! Has she not heard of a strapless bra??

Tuesday Toot

I think I am finally starting to get a Green Thumb!!! I was never much for planting bulbs and things but this year I tried and I am liking the results!

I'm back ...kinda

First I must send my apologies for not posted my Friday Hodge podge as well as not being very good at leaving comments at other blogs. My funk still exists but I think I am starting to deal with circumstances a bit better.

This weekend flew by, but what's new, Friday I was able to get home a little early, so I hung out with the kids and unwound with a glass of wine. Dan went to play softball so once the kids were in bed it was my time. However I didn't have much of it because I fell asleep at 9pm. Guess my body needed some rest.

Saturday I had a haircut at 9:30am then went on to Costco to do a little needed shopping, once home I put the kids in the spa (it was turned down) and hung out on the deck sunning while they played. We went to the Nationals game with an Army buddy of Dan's and his daughter. My kids had a blast and Lauren even got a ball. She didn't catch it but the usher did and gave it to her. Lucky little devil! It was a late night but a lot of fun. We were all exhausted and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Sunday I made sure I put the finishing touches on packing Lauren's stuff or her weekend with Dan's parents for the week in NY. I must say it hit me while packing that she has really grown up in the last year and it seems to have passed by in a blink.

Since Dan was driving a little over half way to meet his parents and drop off Lauren we thought it would be best to let Jackson stay with me for the day but we did give him a choice. He said he wanted to stay however when he saw his sister about to go he had a bit of a temper tantrum and now wanted to go. We said no because we really didn't think it was a great idea as it would mean 10 hours in the car. However Lauren piped up that it was not late for Jackson to change his mind because they hadn't left yet. She had a point and Jackson got to go. They didn't get home till well after 10pm. Lauren called about 9:30 sounding very sad but I am sure she will be just fine.

I was able to take a 3 hour nap, clean out my pantry and organized it, took a bath; I can't tell you the last time I did that without kids around. I was able to watch a bit of TV and then headed to bed once the boys got home!

All in all the kind of weekend I needed! Hope your weekend was fun and relaxing let me know what you were up too!

Funky Town

Ok it is official! I am certifiably in a funk! How I got there I am not sure and how I get out of it seems to be even more of a mystery. So if you will please be my therapist for a few minutes and listen to me ramble.

I have no desire to do anything, all I want is for it to be my time for vacation, yet the prospect of hanging on till my vacation (Aug 9th) seems like torture. I have so many random thoughts going on in my brain. Here are some of the things that are weighing heavy on my mind.

My boss has been out of the office nearly 3 weeks sick , I truly admire this guy and I had the unfortunate task of telling someone in Sr. management that he was out. I think he wanted to keep things quite thinking he would be back soon but I was asked a direct question and couldn’t very well lie. I have not shared with anyone what the issues are with him but still I feel I have somehow broken his trust. Before it was know tht he was out he was in touch with me, since I have heard next to nothing. I send him updates since I know he is reading email and I get little to no response from him, others don’t really get a lot either but still it makes me wonder is he upset with me? Oh and yes I am picking up some of the slack.

Add to his being out that I was lead to believe that I was to get a raise which we thought would be effective July 1st which I have not heard a word about. I have been paid since July 1st and there was not a penny more in my check. To complicate matters more I was approached by someone who has the ear of sr. management about being the grand poobah of my area and another. Let me rephrase I was told that I was going to be suggested to be the grand poobah. This news sent me into a tail spin because most of the folks…hell all of them are my Sr.(age wise) and most certainly would not be pleased with my appointment to said position. Also I am not sure that I am 100% qualified to take on that role, yet I don’t know that I should turn it down if offered. Which then gets me thinking if the suggestion is put forth and accepted why the hell have I not gotten my small raise that has been pending for over 2 months? Something doesn’t add up.

Moving on to family, I feel as though I ache for a 3rd child, in theory it seems easy enough. Then I start to really ponder, the late nights, the terrible 2’s, the days off from work, the financial worries, the fact that I am 7 years older now then when I had my first, I thought of rocking the boat so to speak. I keep saying to myself in time, or when Dan retires, or when I get a big raise. All of which may never come then I will be left with this regret that I didn’t go for it, yet I don’t want to regret havinga 3rd because of the things I just described.

Finally, ground hog day, everyday is like ground hog day and if it isn’t ground hog day it is something that keeps me and the rest of the family from relaxing weddings, family get togethers, business meetings, etc. My weekend last weekend was glorious; I loved not having to be anywhere and not having to do anything. I think for me it was a wake up call that I need a break, I need a vacation. Yet I question myself if that is really the answer.

My husband knows there is something up because he keeps asking me if I am ok, I say yes I just have a lot on my mind. I have shared with him all that is on my mind but I can’t say that any solutions have been put forth. I am sure this is just a busy time, or rough patch, or whatever you want to call it and it too will soon pass, but it feels yucky. I feel like my head is swirling and I don’t know when to turn!

I have rambled her with little regard for content or grammar or spelling for that matter, I just needed to release.

BTW if you have tagged me in the last few weeks and I have not responded it is because I have forgotten please email the tag link and I will participate!

Wordless Wednesday...When dad is in charge!

Blog Bling

Thanks Kristen!


Thanks Courtney!!!


Thanks Wendy!



Thanks Stephanie!!

Vacation or Staycation??

I took a staycation, seems to be the new en vouge thing to do now that gas prices have gone through the roof, at least so I am told

I will admit that part of me was a bit bummed that we were not going anywhere since we had a 3 day weekend; however, the other part of me was happy to have a whole weekend without anything that “had” to be done or having to be anywhere at a set time.

I realized during my staycation that I don’t get to spend a lot of time in my own home enjoying it. While watching TV Saturday night it came to me that my husband and I work uber hard to have nice things such as our house yet we really don’t take the time to enjoy it. For instance we have a 50in TV in our family room the primary users? The kids…..they use it to watch their shows in the morning and before bed and Dan and I may watch the news or some Sunday morning shows. Wrong answer I thought. I could list a few dozen examples like that in my house.

So I made a decision this weekend, I like my house and I need to spend more time enjoying it. One out of town vacation a year is enough time out of the house (that doesn’t mean we won’t have some weekend getaway's here and there) but a vacation at home can be just as relaxing and even downright productive.

Now before you scold me for staying in the house all weekend let me be clear that we did get out and do things such as, all day at the pool on the 4th, blueberry and cherry picking at a local farm on Saturday and Sunday we played in the yard and got some chores done. I can say with confidence that the best part was the berry picking; we had a picnic in the back of our sequoia rode a tractor and picked 8lbs of berries. Take a look doesn’t it look like fun?? So how was your 4th? What did you and your family do this long weekend?

It's the 4th of July!!!!

I am taking a litte break to enjoy the family!

So from my family to yours have a happy and safe 4th of July!!!

It's an awards ceremony!!!!!!

I am overdue in passing on awards that have been given to me. I do apologize!

So here goes

Wendy @ The Adventures of Mom Lady Gave me this Groovy award !

I have not been able to get in touch with Wendy recently, I think it is because someone not so nice hacked into her blogger account however I miss her and hope to see her back soon. I want to share this award with the following folks.

Stephanie (love her name!!!) @ A little bit of Sugar and a whole lotta of spice this mom is cool and the next time I come to Houston to see family I am so linking up with her. Her blog is very cool and she has an adorable little girl go check her out.

Tranny Head @ Law school sucks and so do lawyers – I must say I am addicted to her blog, it makes me laugh and makes me look at things a bit differently sometimes.

April @ Thoughts in my tumultuous brain -April is like having an old high school chum, I love to hear about her life with Big D and she is just a really sweet person.

Lilah @ Keeping up with the Poltzs- I could give her this award because she simply has an adorable son that she calls chicken which I think is so cute, but I also give this award for being a friends and some I look forward to checking up on in the blog world.

And Stephanie @ A little bit of Sugar and a whole lotta of spice hooked a girl up with this lovely award.

And there are rules that go with this award so here they are...
1. Chose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Show these rules.

OK so here are my five


Dawn@ thoughts from the broken road- I love that she is such a sports fan because I am too and it is great to go to her blog and get the sports scoop, I also think that if I were a Floridian she and I would be friends, however she may feel differently. Oh I should also mention that she will post verses to songs which is great for me because half the time I figure out I was singing the wrong words to a song!

Leah @ Laughing Leah loves Lilles- OK try saying that blog title 5 times fast! She is a sweetheart and she always has such great comments on my blog posts not to mention she has some pretty stinkin’ cute kids!

Nap Warden @ The chronicles of a SAHM – I think I secretly want to be Nap warden! Shh don’t tell her she will think I am stalking her. Really it is so cool to hear about city life and she inspires me with her posts about her running journey. So if ever I am in the city I totally have to meet her!

Michelle @ Honest and Truly Personally I don’t think her blog gets the exposure that it should. I love the way she writes and some of her comments to me are exactly what I would say if I were reading my blog! So I guess in a way I feel like we have a lot in common. So go check her out I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Krystyn- @ Really are you serious???- I stumbled upon her blog after she won a giveaway I was hosting; I have been hooked ever since.

Wordless Wednesday...call the fashion police

Since a few have asked; yes this was from the wedding I posted about on Monday! She was melting in that dress!

Mammograms .....who me????

So today I had my first mammogram!! Yes, it hurt but only for a few seconds and even though I thought I would be embarrassed about standing half naked in from of a machine it really wasn't all that bad, but really is anything really all that bad after giving birth. So for those of you who don't get regular mammos get going it isn't that bad and it could just say a life....yours!!!

BTW I am still in shock that I am old enough to have a mammo, wasn't it just yesterday I was 20??