Signs of Spring.

Girls on swings.

Short sleeves.

Sprouting tulips.

Bare Feet.

Sun streaming through the trees.

Bald Heads.

Bald heads? How’d that get in there? Oh yes, I remember. Shawn’s spring haircut.

In my last post I had a picture of Shawn playing basketball with my nephew, Alex. When I first uploaded the picture, I noticed something weird about my husband, but I thought maybe it was the lighting. Then last night when he was standing in the kitchen, I noticed it again. The top of his head is going bald. In. A. Circle. In other words, if we don’t take action soon, he’ll be sporting the haircut on the far right here:

I knew this was inevitable, because, well…my father-in-law has that same hair style. When we were eating supper tonight, I broke the news to the girls, that Daddy was going to have the same haircut as Grandpa Tom. They didn’t take it well, their mouths actually dropped open.

Honestly, when I pointed it out to Shawn last night, he didn’t take it well either. It probably didn’t help that I asked him if he knew “how much time we had?” I guess we’re not going to wait around to find out. If you’ll excuse me now, I have a head to shave.

OCD, Nerd Herds, and Long Island Iced Teas.

Happy Sunday everyone!  I have to make this fast, because I think if Shawn finds out I’m blogging, he’s going to be pissed.  For the past 2 days he keeps saying over and over “We have so much to do.  We just don’t have enough time.  We need more time.”  Whatever dude.  I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Here is this week’s edition of “Getting to Know You.”  If you want to play along click over to Mann Land 5, and link up!  This week’s questions were submitted by Ian from The Daily Dose of Reality.  You should definitely head over and check him out, but don’t be afraid of his picture or buttons, they’re not for real.

1.  Why did you start blogging?

Honestly, I had stalked blogs for a long time, but when my cousin Hillary started blogging, then I had to.  We’ve spent our whole lives copying each other, it’s just how we roll.

2.  Who’s the one blog friend you would want to meet most “in real life?”

Wow, I can think of several!  To start with, I want to meet Jen from “The Tale of Two Coins.”  Jen has an amazing story, and she is such a strong and inspirational woman.  She actually lives in Michigan, so we are planning on meeting, hopefully sometime soon!  I would honestly love to meet all of my bloggy friends, but I’m going to pick just one more, and that’s "Semi-Slacker Mom."  She always has crazy shenanigans going on with her kids, and if she weren’t blond, I would swear we were sisters separated at birth!

3.  Why are you always concerned with losing that “extra 10 pounds” when chances are your husband tells you that you look just fine the way you are? 

Well, because my husband’s opinion doesn’t count.  Just kidding.  Well, kind of.  Honestly, I’m not trying to lose weight, but when I was it was mainly because I didn’t like the way it made me feel, inside and out.  When I could feel my ass moving when I walked or my belly rolling over my jeans when I sat down I found it disgusting.  I also feel like being active and healthy sets a better example for my daughter’s.

4.  What’s the one thing you wish guys could understand about you?

Hmm…  Well, I wish my husband in particular, could understand OCD.  I know he gets really frustrated with me about some of the things I do, but seriously, there’s nothing I can do about it!

5.  Tattoos.  How many do you have and how many are visible when you wear your “everyday” clothes?

I have 2.  One is a butterfly on my right hip area.  It was only about the size of a quarter to begin with, but after 2 kids and too much tanning, it is basically gone.  The other one is on the inside of my right foot.  It’s the Chinese symbol for “Mother.”  I love this tattoo, and you can definitely see it if I’m wearing shorts/skirt/capris. 

6.  What was the best year of your life and why?

I had to think about this one.  I would have to say the year I turned 21.  Obviously I turned 21 (Hello, Margaritas!), I graduated from college, that summer I met Shawn, and that Christmas I got engaged. 

7.  Name three things you would do if you were a man for one day.

I would play with myself (not whack off, but just walk around grabbing and adjusting all day).  I would play xBox 360 for several hours while wearing a headset and yelling at my nerd herd on xBox live.  And, I don’t have a third one.

8.  What’s your alcoholic drink of choice that usually raises a few eyebrows?

Probably a Long Island Iced Tea, but to me this isn’t even an eyebrow raiser.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ordered one and had the bartender say “Whoa, hardcore.”  A co-worker of mine also always gives me a hard time for ordering them, what’s the big deal?!

 

I hope you had a great Sunday!  Here are a few pictures from mine:

The girls hunting for Easter eggs.

My Mom made this bunny cake for the kids, it was so adorable!  It may have been her greatest creation ever, sorta like my rainbow cupcakes!

Alex shooting hoops with Shawn on quite possibly the world’s oldest basketball hoop.  Alex was actually shooting hoops with Grandpa, but Uncle Shawn had to be called in to lift Alex up for a slam dunk!

Last, but not least, baby Ethan!  He had on a U of M hat my parent’s brought to the hospital when he was born, it was so cute!  My sister thinks baby Ethan is the “prettiest” baby she’s ever seen.  I’d have to agree, his eyes and eyelashes are absolutely unbelievable!

Feel Good Friday

Does everyone know “The Girl Next Door?” No, no, no. Not these “Girls Next Door!”

This Girl Next Door!

On Fridays she hosts “Feel Good Friday.” For all the details on Feel Good Friday, you can click here. Long story short, there are 5 prompts you can choose from to write your post about, and they all have to do with being positive! It’s just a nice way to start the weekend with good and happy thoughts! So, click on over, and play along!

Before I get to my actual post I wanted to tell you that I’m specifically choosing to participate in Feel Good Friday this week, because the last week and a half has been a very hard week for my family. I went back and forth as to whether I would write a post on this, but I’ve finally decided just to say a little bit about it because I know there are people from my hometown who read my blog and wonder about what happened.

A little over a week ago my Dad was in a car accident. A motorcycle collided with my Dad’s truck head on, and that man was killed instantly. The morning after the accident, we found out that the man who died was my Aunt’s brother. While the accident was not my Dad’s fault, you can imagine how hard this is, for everyone involved.

That’s all I really want to say for now. Except, that I would ask you to pray for the family of the man who passed away, and for my Dad as well. So, the prompt I am choosing for Feel Good Friday is to list 5 things that make me really happy this week.

1. I’m happy that my Dad is alive and that he wasn’t injured in the accident.
2. I’m happy that my Dad was able to meet and talk with the wife and children of the man who died. I’m also happy that they have been so caring and compassionate towards my Dad, and that they know it wasn’t his fault, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
3. I’m happy that on Sunday we are getting together at my parent’s house to celebrate Easter. I’m so excited to see my two baby nephews, and my favorite little nephew “Bubba!”
4. I’m happy that the sun is shining, the 10 day forecast proclaims temperatures near 70, and that spring break is almost upon us!
5. I’m happy that because spring break is almost upon us, the countdown to the “Lainey Doll” has begun…which means no more fielding questions about “How many more days until we go to the American Girl Doll Store?”…which means less gray hairs for me!

Happy Friday to everyone. To close, I wanted to share a picture with you of my Dad:

P.S. I'm planning on doing a Q&A post soon! If you have any questions for me or for my hubby, there is a link at the top of my page where it says "Ask me Anything!" There's also a button on the right hand side of the page you can use too! So, ask away! Please leave your name and/or blog with the question if you want me to link back to you.

Wandering Wednesday: How I met your Father.

Yesterday Erin did a post about how she met her husband, which reminded me that I wanted to do a similar post.  Or rather, my Mom wanted me to, well, kind of.  I’ll get to that.

Let’s see.  I graduated from college in May 2001.  I was still living in my hometown, where unless you want to marry someone you went to high school with, the eligible bachelor population is rather scarce.  Blind dates were out of the question, as the last one I went on was set up by my sister (she came along too w/ her bf) and my date was still wearing his shit-kickers from milking the cows and he later asked me if I had accepted Jesus into my heart. 

With great trepidation, I decided to try online dating.  This was huge, because in 2001 online dating was not exactly as popular as it is today.  Basically, my Mom was convinced that online dating would lead to me being raped, murdered, and left for dead.  She was wrong on all counts, but I suppose it was possible. 

I first posted an “ad” on the excite.com personals (which I don’t think they even have anymore).  Within days there were probably 50 dudes wanting to tap my ass go out on a date.  However, dial-up internet made it impossible for me to weed through all the losers. 

So, I took the ad down and decided to answer an ad instead.  I think my search criteria was:  male (seeking female, duh!), between 25-30, non-smoker, never married, and no kids.  Naturally, I picked the most attractive guy and sent off an email (to Shawn).  He wrote back, we exchanged several emails, and he asked me to go out several times before I decided to finally go for it.

To say I was nervous was an understatement.  Obviously I had dated and had boyfriends before, but this was different.  I was 21 and he was 27.  He had a real job, a town house, and 2 cars.  I drove an hour to meet him (which sounds bad, but I think that was my choice) and I met him in the Home Depot parking lot. 

Not to get off track, but a month or two ago Alivia asked us where we met and we told her we met in a parking lot.  The next week she told my Mom that “My Mommy and Daddy met in a parking lot!”  My Mom may have gotten after me for this, I guess she thought that it made me sound like a hooker. 

Back to the parking lot.  I met him there, but then got in his car to go on the date, so I’m not exactly sure how that was any safer?  Don’t tell my mom, mmkay?  We went to the zoo, then to TGIFriday’s for dinner, then played mini-golf, and then we went to a park for awhile.  We talked for a long time at the park, and Shawn told me he had been married before.  What?  He said he had it posted on his ad (which he later showed me), so I’m not exactly sure how he showed up in my search results.  He should have been weeded out!  I’m just sayin.

After the park he took me back to my car, but then asked me to come to his place to watch a movie.  I went, but again, don’t tell my Mom!  The movie we watched I wouldn’t exactly consider a first date “type of movie.”

The funniest part was that during the whole movie Shawn’s stomach was making those weird fart noises that are inside your belly, but will never come out.  Do you know the ones I’m talking about?  (He’s going to kill me for writing this!)  He kept going to the bathroom, which was annoying because he had this weird roommate who everyone was convinced was a child molester. 

Needless to say, he regretted asking me to come over for the movie and there was no kiss.  He didn’t try to kiss me on the second date either, so I was all “are you gay, or what?!”  He said he wasn’t, and we kissed, and the next day he sent me a dozen roses to prove he wasn’t gay. 

Our first date was in July, we got engaged in December, and were married the following December.  And, yes, I’m glad he wasn’t weeded out.               

I can't make this shit up.

Who remembers this post from a couple weeks ago? Show of hands please. Ok, ok. If you don’t remember, it’s not that important, it just adds to the hilarity of this situation. So, a couple things before I get started…

This is an earring:

This is a nose:

Any questions? Don’t answer that, because we’re going to continue anyway.

When I left the gym this morning, I had a voicemail from the secretary at Alivia’s school asking me to call her. I had to pick up Lainey from preschool, so I decided to just stop by the school office afterwards, to see what she wanted.

When she saw me, she started laughing. Oh great. This can’t be good. Then she proceeds to tell me that Alivia had taken her earring out, and while she was holding the earring she blew her nose. (Don’t ask me why, this story still doesn’t make sense to me!) But, after she blew her nose, she claimed her earring went up her nose! So, she went down to the office and they got the flashlight out, but couldn’t see the earring anywhere. They looked everywhere in the classroom for the earring, but never did find it.

While I was in the office, Alivia came down so I could assess the situation, because I am a nurse after all. I looked up her nose, and saw nothing. I pinched her nose, and felt nothing. I then un-tucked all of her clothes, to see if the earring was caught somewhere. Nope, nothing! In my head there was zero possibility that the earring was in her nose, so I sent her back to class and told her to quit taking her earrings out (this is an ongoing issue).

Fast forward to gymnastics after school. About 30 minutes in to class, Alivia comes running over to me and says “Mom! Mom! My earring is coming out my nose! I was on the trampoline and it started falling out!” I’m thinking, you’re shitting me, there is no way. So, I look up there, and see this coming out her nose:

For reals. It wasn’t all the way out, so I had to reach up there and pick it out, which by the way was no easy task! I assure you that the stone in the earring was green to begin with, but the thing was totally covered in snot!

Like I said, Alivia taking her earrings out is an ongoing problem, so when we were walking out of gymnastics I asked her if she had learned a lesson. She said, “Yup! I learned not to ever pick up a tissue to blow my nose while I’m holding my earring!” And then she laughed.

Monday Mingle or First Vlog!

Ok, I’ve seen other more famous bloggers do a vlog before, but I always thought “That is not for me!”  But, today I came across Jennifer’s blog 80 MPH Mom, which on Mondays, she hosts “Monday Mingle.”  This consists of answering 3 short questions, and you do it in vlog form.  I figured, hey, I can handle that!

This week’s questions are about birthdays, and since you all already know everything about my birthday, I thought I’d make my husband do it!  I know, I know.  It was a great idea, and he was totally thrilled.

Please excuse my sexy voice, as I have a sinus infection.  And for whatever fabulous reason my sinus infections always turn into laryngitis.  Oh, and you’ll see me zooming in on my husband’s shirt, but I don’t think you can actually see what it says.  So, it says “Don’t forget to wipe.”  At dinner tonight Alivia asked him if it meant “Don’t forget to wipe your vagina”?  I thought I’d throw that little tidbit into this post because you know how I love to talk about vaginas.

So, without further ado, I give you my very first vlog (which took several takes as you can see at the beginning and end):

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Well, I hope you enjoyed what may be my first and last vlog!  If you’re brave enough, click on over to 80 MPH Mom and play along!

To whom it may concern:

Please excuse my absence from the blogosphere.  Where am I?  What am I doing?

Welcome to my own personal Hell…

It’s all fun and games until the cookies come in and you have to try to sort and deliver 265 boxes.  My favorite part might have been when the leader wanted me to pay her our $930 bill up front.  Yeah, I have that kind of cash just sitting around in my wallet.  I take that back.  My favorite part was the sleeve of Thin Mints I ate today.

We need to get all these suckers delivered before spring break, but luckily there are 2 little girls who are helping deliver (and eat) the cookies:

Do you notice anything different in this picture from the last picture I posted in front of our house?  That’s right!  The snow is all gone!  G-O-N-E, gone!  Peace out winter, and don’t come back!!  Oh, and please pay no attention to fact that the lawn across the street is already greener than ours.  Our lawn says F-you to that lawn.