Moving! Everything Must Go!

Oh hi!  I've taken the plunge and have moved this blog over to WordPress.  It's pretty great, because I was able to move all of these posts along with the posts from my previous blog.  Now everything is in 1 place!  I hope you'll follow me over there!  It's right here!

Be sure to click over and save.

Bye Bye, Blogger!!

Friday Free For All

• ·         I have now been sick for more than 3 weeks.  A call to the dr. yesterday, after having finished my z-pak on Tuesday and still not being well yielded this advice: Try some Advil Cold and Sinus and saline spray.  Call me Monday if that doesn’t help.  Um…really?  3 weeks, lady.  3 weeks of a cold, that turned in to a clogged ear that turned in to the worst sinus pain and pressure I’ve ever had, and you tell me Advil? She didn’t even tell me herself either; she had the receptionist call me back.  I hope I don’t end up at urgent care this weekend.  I just want to be better.  I have plans!

• ·         Liv, who has always had a rather difficult personality, has really kicked it up a notch these past few weeks.  I’m talking screaming, tantruming, hitting me, (she actually bitch slapped me at bedtime the other night.  I can’t even.) and I am at a total loss.  I don’t know what to do with her, and it makes me sad.

• ·         I need to have my eyebrows waxed but I am afraid because my face has gotten a bit tan.  I don’t want eyebrow tan lines.  Could you imagine? The alternative is bushy eyebrows though.  I think I’m screwed.

• ·         Keeping all 3 kids out of camp on Fridays was a Very Bad Idea.

• ·         I went swimming (in our 3-foot pool) with the kids yesterday. They were amazed and all like “Mama, you can swim??” Where have they been for the past 8 years?

• ·         We have found 3 dead rats in our yard this summer.  We don’t know where they have come from, only that the dog has killed them.  I think they are passing through our yard from one of the neighbors behind us because Haley has been spending a ton of time behind our garage.  I am beyond skeeved out.  Beyond Skeeved.

• ·         Finally, today I was reminded of this email forward I got several years ago at work.  My friend and I laughed for days, and every year or so, she will send it to me, or I will send it to her.  The email body is this: My friend is getting rid of his dog (FREE).  His wife says the dog stares at her all day. See picture below:

July Mini-Vacation

I had a bit of a mini-vacation last week.  The kids were home from camp and I was off from Wednesday on.  It was pretty spectacular.

For the 4^th we took a bit of a drive to have dinner at this restaurant that is right over the Niagara River.  This was our view:

Then we headed down to the park for fireworks.  Hub taught the kids to play Blackjack while we waited.

The next day we got up early and headed down to PA to go to our favorite little zoo, and to the beach.  It was one of those rare days where the kids were behaved and all had fun.  There was little complaining. It’s hard to only pick a few photos to show here—I love them all so much!

The rest of the week, we really just relaxed (well, I went out to dinner and to see Magic Mike with some girlfriends too). Our trip to BJ’s on Friday yielded this great find:

Oh, and this too:

 

Even with my raging sinus infection, I would say this was the best mini-vacation we’ve had in quite some time.  Bring on the rest of the summer!

Great Dress at Target; Hair Care Woes

I had a really good trip to Target this weekend.  I still haven't found a maxi dress that I can wear--apparently, big boobs and hips indicate that you are tall, very tall, so I haven't found one that doesn't drag on the floor. I did find this chambray dress though, and I fell in love with it--1. the fact that I fit in to a dress from target that was not in the plus or maternity section, and 2. it really is super cute!  Just look:

I also bought these sandals:

I bought some fitted tees and workout clothes as well.  I've been feeling pretty good about the way I look lately, and I enjoyed shopping.  I'm not skinny by any means, but I am more toned than I've been in a long time.  I'm enjoying wearing clothes that make me feel like I look good.

If only I could do something about my hair.  I had the straightest of straight hair up until a few years ago.  I never used a hair dryer, never had to worry about it.  Now?  The shit is straight up wavy/borderline curly.  If it is humid, as summer in Buffalo tends to be? Forget it.  What is a girl to do? It seems like even if I blow it straight complete with product, that as soon as it hits the humidity, or I sweat a little bit that it all goes to hell.  Being that I never learned how to do my hair, I am at a loss.  So tell me--what am I supposed to do with my hair?

Anyway

I had a post in draft about the horrible things that happened here last week. The things that pushed me to my breaking point.  The things that have left me (at the very least temporarily) estranged from my mother.

It's not worth it to put it here though.  It doesn't need to be hashed and rehashed.  I'm so thankful for the people who talked me through it last week and helped me to be strong, my husband, my brother and my godmother as well several of you who were pissed right along with me. 

I was (am) disappointed and hurt by my mother's decisions, but I am grateful to be on the other side of it now, having said everything I've wanted to say for 20 years, and knowing that I am supported, cared for and loved by so many people.

I hate that it took what it did to get here, but for the first time in a long time, I feel ok.  I feel at peace.  The weight of everything that was unsaid for so long is gone. 

And I think I am fine.

Fun Bits

• I think I forgot to mention that we had the police here over Memorial Day weekend. As is our usual weekend plan, we had a fire out back. Hub had been saving our Christmas tree, for compost he says, well…since Christmas. I went inside for a minute and came back out to see that he’d thrown the tree on the fire. They tell you to keep your Christmas tree moist for a reason, right? Picture a dry-ass Christmas tree catching fire. This tree sparked and then suddenly the flames were higher than the house. The leaves on our live chestnut tree were starting to curl. Hub grabbed the hose and put it out just in time, leaving a normal subdued fire in its wake. He thought it was hysterical. Me? Not so much. Anyway, about 30 minutes later an officer was peeking over our side fence. I caught his eye and he said he’d had a complaint of a fire too big for a back yard. He was looking around, and said “Clearly, you have an overreacting neighbor. This fire is fine.” Hub and I looked at each other and sort of shrugged our shoulders. And now we are plotting against the neighbor next door.
• I got our garden, both front and back completely planted that weekend as well. I never thought that I would be the gardening type, like ever. But it is so fun, and I love that I can eat what I grow, AND that the compost we worked on all winter is integrated in to the soil and is feeding our new veggies. Circle of life and all that crap. It is a gorgeous garden if I do say so myself. Separate garden post forthcoming.
 • I will show you this though—Bud built me a planter on the side of the garage, to dress up the back yard a bit. Isn’t it just great?

 • I finally added internet listening to my SiriusXM plan, and am enjoying listening to Howard while I work.
 • This maybe isn’t such a fun bit, but it is interesting for me. I’ve given up dairy.. My skin has been a mess for the better part of a year. I’ve been on every prescription acne medication. I’ve used everything you can imagine over the counter. Nothing works. I’ve waited for it to “get worse before it gets better” through countless regimens and nothing. Mild to no improvements on all fronts. So I’ve decided that it must be something inside my body that is making it so bad. I had a milk allergy when I was a kid, that gradually turned in to an intolerance. Certain forms of dairy make me feel worse than others, but generally my tolerance is high. I think. Or I thought. I noticed that I have more breakouts when I’ve been drinking iced coffee—you know that comes with heavy cream and wheels started turning. I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while now, and so I started yesterday. My plan is to give it 30 days and see what happens. I hope it works, because if not, gluten is next and I think I need gluten.
 • The best news of all has been finalizing some plans to meet up with 3 fantastic ladies in July, and having potential plans to see Carrie and her new baby (This should be easier than it actually is. She lives an hour away from me.) In my 12 years of blogging, I’ve had all of these relationships and I’ve never met anyone in person. This is a step for me, and an even bigger step for Hub who is convinced that everyone on the internet is a murderous stalker. Meet-ups ahoy!

When I think of my Liv, I think without fail “my baby”, or “the baby”. She is, right? She still snuggles up with me on the couch in the morning, still has a bedtime routine and is still such a lovey dovey. She can’t be anything more than a baby right?

It takes me seeing pictures of her to knock me in to reality—Liv is a full blown kid. Not a baby or even a toddler, a kid. In 2 months, she will be 4 and has asked to get her ears pierced. A kid.

This. Right here. This is a kid.

I still refuse to believe it.