Thursday, June 29, 2006

**NEWS FLASH**

No one cares about the bobblehead formerly known as Star Jones.

There has been an incessant whine coming from every news and entertainment channel for the past 2 days....fired...quit....let loose in a field and hunted for sport...I don't care!!!!

Tell me about the war...tell me about missing children....what about the flooding in the northeast?? All that is trumped by the head heavy diva who must have been the life size model for the Bratz dolls...

Enough is enough damnit!!!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Random Facts:

1. FIRST NAME? Michele

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of.


3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Today at my son's VBS closing show.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No not particularly.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Braunschwager.

6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes.

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU OR NOT? Of course I would!!

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Yes.

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Well..honestly...yes. More often then I probably should.

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?No way! There's nothing to catch you if they rope breaks.

12. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.

13. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes.

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? This week I am really into White Raspberry Truffle at Bruesters. Next week who knows.

15. SHOE SIZE? 9

16. RED OR PINK? Pink

17. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight.

18. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My mom.

19. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? On my birthday in a hospital.

20. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Barefoot, blue jeans!

21. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Soft pretzel.

22. FAVORITE SMELL? Clean Laundry. I even just bought a Yankee Candle that smells like fresh laundry.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE? My friend Yoli.

24. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MEET? Their smiles.

25. FAVORITE SPORT? Hockey.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I need a vacation....

to recover from my vacation.

After puke fest 2006 was over and we arrived in Williamsburg, I thought that the week could only get better.

I thought wrong.

We purchased 3 day admission to Busch Gardens before we left on vacation. Those 3 days could be used at any time as long as they were consecutive days...unfortunately the reservations for the wheelchair and stroller that I made were for monday and wednesday and they couldn't be changed without losing my payment. So on rainy monday we headed out to the park.

On the way my MIL pukes in my car. I about died. If anyone else would like to come over and puke in my car please let me know...I can make arrangements.

The boys had a great time. Other than the guy who measured them for ride bracelets everyone was great. The service at BG is always top notch. The guy was measuring TT1 and told him he was a purple bracelet. So I have him doing the happy dance that he can ride the roller coasters. Then they guy turns around and says that TT was standing on his tip toes and isn't big enough for anything other than the kiddie section and the log flume. Well let me tell you that didn't go over well with TT. But I took him on the log flume and he had a great time. He even got to go on it twice in a row since there were no lines.

We had lunch at "our place". Octoberfest. We always split one meal between the two of us and still get full. Of course the kids wanted something else other than corned beef on rye and potato salad. They got hotdogs in this really cute dinosaur egg that we brought home. What really got their attention though was the show. We never get bored with the show there. We could go and see it every day...more than once a day...and still love it every single time. Who knows maybe someday we'll make it to Germany for real...but for now I have Octoberfest!!

The day was long and wet...but not too bad. That night I ended up getting sick and sat out the Tuesday excursion to BG. Of course that was a really great weather day...and BD didn't take my camera...but they told me that they had fun.

Wednesday was the monsoon. It was cold...wet...miserable...we got rainy day passes to come back again. We stayed in the park and did a couple of the shows (Octoberfest of course!) and then we left around 3. There was flooding in VA Beach and they closed the tunnel so the park closed at 5 anyway. We took the kids to Friendly's for dinner. It had been years since we'd eaten there...the food is the same....the ice cream's the same...I don't know why we made such a fuss about not having one nearby. It was okay...but no different than any other place that has ice cream.

Thursday and Friday were shopping days for me. I love me a good sale...and we found a great one. I don't know what it is about sales shopping...but I get such a rush about finding a good deal. Well we went to the Children's Place and they were having a sale that included racks of clothes for $1.99!!!! We were able to get winter school wardrobes for both the TTs for less than $100!! I was psyched. We also hit the Corningware outlet there and were able to find a few good deals there as well. Gotta love outlets.

On saturday we packed up the van and headed south once again. We will miss the inlaws...but we were all happy to be going home. Back to our own surroundings....comforts of home can't be replaced.

Back in the swing of things this week. TT1 has VBS...I have the dentist...company and church picnics both on saturday...

Busy Busy Busy..............................

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Have you ever felt like you must be in the movies?

And you just don't know it? That's how I have been feeling for the past few days. We are currently on vacation and it has been like an Griswald trip from the start. Are we really on our way to Wallyworld? Will it be closed when we get there? These are questions I hear my husband asking me while on the way to VA. We may not be on our way to Wallyworld, but if we get to Williamsburg and there is a sign on the gate that they're closed - I'm pulling a Clark - no questions asked. Should make for some interesting scrapbook pages anyways.

We set out on our little trek on Friday afternoon. Loaded 2 TTs, 2 beagles, and a howling cat in the van and headed north. We stopped for dinner about an hour in and everything was going pleasantly. Another hour in and we heard the first spew. There is nothing that sets fear in like the sound of puke in a fairly new vehicle going 70 on the interstate at night. As I'm yelling for the hubby to pull over he is trying to not get us killed. I'm trying to console the 2 year old who has just lost most of his last meal all over himself and his car seat. Poor guy has never been sick before so he didn't even know what hit him. I was able to get him calm enough for hubby to drive to the next exit so we could clean him up properly. We stopped at a great hotel who allowed us to use their facilities to get him and his seat cleaned up. I wish I could remember the name cause they were so accomodating.

We got back on the road and made many more pitstops along the way cleaning and changing, changing and cleaning, getting coffee. We eventually made it to Williamsburg by around 7am, but check-in wasn't until 3. We took a walk, took the kids to a lousy pancake house up the road (if you're in the area don't bother eating at Stack'em High), did some window shopping with the kids, and of course washed our laundry that had accumulated from the one night on the road. We finally got an early check in for an extra $15 (guess everything has it's price - wish we'd have known the price of this little bonus at about 7:15 this morning) and got the boys settled down enough to take a nap. The rest of the day was basically getting everything settled in and set up for the week.

The in-laws showed up about 3pm (perfect timing for regular check-in) and I unloaded their van into the trailer. I'm still trying to figure out how much stuff they needed to bring...we had less in our van of 4 people and 3 animals than they did in a van of 2 people. It's a mystery. BD tells me not to hurt my brain trying to figure it out, I beginning to believe him - it's not worth it.

Sunday we went shopping and that's about it. TT1 went swimming and was able to swim by himself (with his swim vest on) from one end of the pool to the other. TT2 had enough pool time after about 10 minutes.

Well that is act one of our show for this evening...act two will be at a later date...I'm getting the evil eye from the hubby...time for bed. Good night all................

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Congratulations Alabama voters...

We have succeeded in screwing ourselves for another 4 years. The primary certianly didn't go the way that I thought it would...and honestly has left me wondering if there is intelligent life here.

The choices given to us for Gov I know were not top of the heap by any standards..

Bob Riley - The incumbant. The person who told us that if we didn't pass a tax hike then the state would ge bankrupt...then when it didn't pass somehow "found" over 2 BILLION in surplus...but still cut funding to the schools that he so desperately wanted to "help"

Don Seigleman - The man is under investigation for fraud. Need I say more?

Lucy Baxley - The current Lt. Gov who somehow won the primary for the Dem ticket...without ever having to actually take a platform....any platform...nothing...kinda like what she's done for the past 4 years in office.

and lastly...

Roy Moore - the Ex-Supreme Court Justice who was ousted from the bench due to the ten commandments. Can you lead a state when you can't follow the laws you were elected to uphold?

So those were the choices....not much of a choice I know...but now in November we only have to choose between the "do nothing" and the "mathematician".....not much of a choice there really....it's kinda sad. Pretty much like the state of Alabama...pretty sad.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Very cool webpage...

Stumbled across the Imagination Prompt Generator today. Very very cool prompter. In an effort to make my blog a little more interesting (since it seems I am boring people to death with my current ramblings) I will try to use this from time to time to get my creative juices flowing...like today.

Do you think real change can take place if there is resistance?

This is like an oxymoron. How can there be change if there is resistance? If taken literally, think about trying to change a resisting toddler. Does the change occur? Or are you left to waiting until they are ready for the change? It is the same in life. Can you really change if you are not open to it in the first place?

I need to lose weight. I complain about never being able to find clothes that fit, but do I stop eating ice cream? NO. Why? There is something in me that is just not willing to change yet. I don't know what it is, but I know it's there and it resists the attempts to change my habits. I will start to eat better and make an effort, then I just slide right back into what is familiar and comfortable. I know that I need to lose weight and if I don't there will be horrible consequences that I really don't want to have to deal with, but I still allow that resistance to stand in my path - why??

Sometimes resistance to change is external also. You can't control other people, yet other people influence your ability to change. Sometimes life is a very big catch 22. You will have the desire for change, then you hit a roadblock created by another person. Whether it be a friend, your significant other, your kids - someone stands in your way to reach change.

Change requires commitment. You can not have commitment if resistance is present. What are your thoughts on change? Do you have a change in your life you need to make but you have a roadblock in front of you? How can we remove those roadblocks? What can we do to help each other make the changes in our lives that we so desperately want?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

The Summer Book Club

A group of us at MOMS decided to start a summer reading group. We met tonight for a planning session. We are going to have a great summer as far as I can see. The ladies that came are all very insightful and I have learned a great deal from them in the past...I hope that our summer reading will allow me the same.

Our first book choice was Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. This story of conversion written by the converted themselves proves to be a wonderful journey. I look forward to rediscovering my faith and foundation in the Catholic church.