What I don't know about car repair...

...could fill a ... uh well car repair manual! LOL

So the car has been making a terrible noise when you turn left for quite some time, and I've been putting off getting it fixed because it's SOOO hard to get it anywhere when you only have one vehicle. Well we've got the scooter too, but my hubby seems to have some aversion to riding it and since I'm in the family way there's no way I'm going to get on it. Not that I don't love it!!! Cause I do!!! It's just not exactly a family vehicle. If it was I'd be on it every single day! 100 miles a gallon! 100 miles a gallon!!!

Well I took the car last Saturday to finally get it looked at, but I guess I didn't take it early enough because they didn't have time to do the work that day. It needs a new ball joint on the drivers side and the tires need aligned. I also got it serviced, and they do a maintenance check when they do that.

I didn't look at the little form with the smiley faces and frowny faces when I was there, because I kinda figured they'd tell me if they found something wrong other than what I was asking them to look at, but I guess they don't want to pressure you.

Well I got home and there was a frowny face next to something called the PCV Breather. *blinks* I had no idea what a pcv was much less that it needed to breathe! ;) So I've been learning about that this morning.

I have to take it back in the morning to get the other stuff fixed, and I'll ask them about replacing this too. It also said they suggest I change my fuel filter ... I just had it changed back in November. So the only thing I can figure is maybe the problem with the other thing made it get dirty faster. I guess I'll ask them about that too!

Cars are a pain. I really want to get an old one and learn to work on it, but I'm just not brave enough to do anything to this one as it's our ONLY car! We are planning on getting another soon. That's why we're trying to get everything all fixed up on this one so we'll actually have two working cars! Yay!

And nobody better say anything like, "You could take the bus or train and conserve energy like a good little green girl!" Because trust me if that were an option I would love to! We don't have public transit here. Ah the joys of rural living. :-D And we're not even very rural!!!

The Customer is Not Always Right...

My hubby found this blog and it is just priceless! It's definitely going on my list o' blogs. :-D

The Orphanage

I'm not often scared by movies...but this one had me shivering!

I don't wanna say much about it if you've not seen it before, but I just want to say that I highly, highly recommend it. It was absolutely wonderful! Oh and I had NO idea it would end the way it did. None at all! I think I liked the ending though.

That is all... :-D

8 meals in 2.5 hours? Wow, I rock!

Okay, so I'm trying to stock up on food for after the wee one is born when I'll be WAY too dang tired to cook. Not that I'm not already way too tired to cook, but somehow I managed. hehe

First I started almost an entire bag of frozen chicken boiling, and while it was doing its thing I cut up enough veggies for 3 nights worth of fajitas. So I guess I didn't entirely finish those meals as I need to get some more chicken to cut up and mix with seasoning and freeze to go in the bags with them. But most of the hard work is done.

So when I was done with that the chicken was finished boiling so I tore it up to add to the enchiladas that I then made. Five days worth if you include tonight.

So I have seven meals worth of food in the freezer and one ready to go tonight. Yay!

Hubby is also bringing home the chicken I need for the fajitas and the taco seasoning and huge thing of hamburger meat that I'm going to make tomorrow to freeze so I'll have taco meat prepared that I can just pop in the microwave. Can you tell we like Mexican? :-D

I ordered this book too after Lisha suggested it to me and then I browsed it at her house. So I'm hoping it will give me some more fabulous ideas for freezing. :-D

You know your pregnant when...

You suddenly and inexplicably desperately want a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich like the one Paula Dean made on one of her shows but trickled with chocolate syrup.

OMG That sounds good!

Gift Registries: Tacky or Practical?

On the pregnancy forum I frequent, people were talking about how much they hated registries and thought they were tacky and selfish...

I don't get this... I wish everyone would have a registry and or wish list where I could see it so that I would have an idea of what to get them when I need or want to get them a gift! I don't like giving gift certificates and money. It just feels immpersonal to me. On the other hand, sometimes you want to get a gift for say your cousin who is getting married or having a baby, and he is the guy in the relationship and lets face it most guys don't get a say in decorating the house. ;) You might not have ever met the girl he's marrying so what on earth do you just randomly pick out if there isn't a registry? Or you know that your friend is having a baby, but you have no idea what their parenting style is or what they might have already gotten as a gift. Here again registries are totally handy.

And just because someone has a registry that doesn't mean you're not allowed to get them whatever the heck you wanna get them. Or not get them anything at all! I mean if you feel like you have to get me a gift then just for heaven's sake don't! I don't want gifts that someone feels obliged to give. That just makes me uncomfortable.

So what do you think? Registries: Tacky or Practical?

It's Not About Politics! It's About Gratitude!

I saw this on Vixen's blog and had to share it. It's really lovely!

*Stares Transfixed*

Mmmmmm Lost Finale!

Wireless Allergy

Wireless Allergy?

Okay, so we probably don't have the slightest idea what we're doing to our bodies by filling the air with wireless signals of all types, but radio, tv, and the like has been coursing through us for around a 100 years and we seem to be okay.

I just have to wonder if these people who are "allergic" to wireless get the same reaction everywhere they go or only those places that they know there is wireless. I don't know if you've ever turned on a wireless receiver and driven down the street before, but if you live in any kind of developed area you're likely to get a new signal every 50 feet or so! I usually pick up about 3 different networks in Walmart alone!

I'm not saying I'm any kind of expert on the subject of the effects wireless on the human body. I'm just say, it makes you go hmmmmm...

It makes your Mii Fat!!!

ROFLMAO

Okay, so I got up early this morning and went to the store to get a Wii Fit before work so that I'd make sure they weren't sold out. What? I'm not crazy! The first two shipments at GameStop were already sold out.

I just took it home to the hubby to play with and went through the setup stuff. You give it your height and date of birth. Then it weighs you and tells you your BMI. Well even if I wasn't pregnant I'd be a bit on the rotund side, but as you can imagine... Let's just say it was high. We're blaming that on Finn! Hush! Yes, we are! Okay, Finn and Nicky and chocolate in large quantities. :-D Probably mostly chocolate in large quantities, but I will hear no evil words spoken of chocolate while it's keeping my blood pressure so low!

Anyway so the really funny part is that on the Wii you get these cute little characters to represent you called Miis. When you choose them for Wii Fit if you're overweight or obese it makes your little character fat!!! So I have this little fat mii running around in yoga pants! LMAO

I didn't have time to play with it properly and naturally most of the exercises will be out of my range until after the wee mii gets here, but i played one of the balance games and it was totally fun. I wouldn't say I did well at it...but it was fun. :-D

It's a girl!!!

No not mine! It's still a boy as far as I know. :-D

But my best friend Lisha's little girl Perryn Marie was born today at 12:30 pm!

She was a lovely 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long.


Isn't she just beautiful!?

More on the Tornado

I found some more news articles on that tornado that hit Stuttgart.
My parents are still without electricity. I sure hope they get it back soon!

Stuttgart Residents Count Blessings After Surviving Tornado

Governor Tours Stuttgart, Declares Disaster In Arkansas And Phillips Counties

How did you spend your weekend?

Why, hiding in a bathtub from a tornado of course!

We went down to visit my parents this weekend, and what followed us there but an F3 tornado...

They'd said on CNN that south Arkansas could be getting tornadoes popping up Saturday, but when I talked to my friend Lish on MSN and she said that they were right then seeing footage of a funnel cloud dropping and jumping into a cloud right over our other friend, Jenn's, neighborhood (Yes, Jenn, we're very glad you were camping!), I kind of assumed that the majority of the nastiness had gone north of us. Little did I know that right at that moment there was a tornado forming just up the road.

The sirens went off in Stuttgart about 8ish, and that was odd because it wasn't even raining yet. So I grabbed Nicky, and we went directly to the bathtub. Then my dad came in and told us that it was actually still about 20 minutes out. Since the toddler didn't understand the need for sitting in the bathtub without even any water to play in and a bunch of pillows, we abandoned that idea until it got closer. My pregnant hip, which hurts so much I can barely walk, didn't get it either!

Just as predicted about 20 minutes later, the sirens started going off again and the rain and wind started. So back into the tub we went. I made Nicky get inside my shirt with me. He thought that was pretty darn amusing at first, but then got really mad about being trapped. I've just heard too many stories about mommy's having their babies ripped out of their arms by tornadoes, and I didn't have the Ergo carrier to strap him to me. The power started blinking and then went out completely. The tornado's actual passing by didn't last long. There were a few minutes of horrible wind and what sound like hail but was more likely debris slamming against the roof. The whirly bird (or whatever you call that vent thing on the roof that lets hot air out) sounded like it was about to be ripped off. Then everything went deadly silent for like a minute before it started up again. I guess it didn't take much more than ten or fifteen minutes for it to pass by completely.

It's so strange. For some reason, I would have thought there would have been much more thunder and lightening involved. Aside from wind and debris, there wasn't just a lot of noise from it. My dad commented that he kept thinking there would be that freight train noise they always talk about, but there was just a loud whistling sound.

When we came out every Bradford Pear tree on the street was just shattered. It looked like a bunch of firewood. Poor trees. And Daddy's big pecan tree was completely uprooted. Most of the houses in the neighborhood had lost shingles, a lot had lost privacy fences, and a house three doors down had part of its roof torn off. The whole place stank of natural gas. Someone's meter must have gotten ripped off the wall.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, we found out that one of the buildings that is part of my mom's campus had a wall ripped off of it and a the main building had a plate glass window into the lobby completely shattered . The neighbors parents' house (thank goodness they were out of town) was almost completely demolished. It's so sad cause they just bought it three months ago and had just finished doing a bunch of remodeling! Also another of their friends' house is now missing its entire second story. They were also out of town. Isn't that crazy but wonderful!?
The power didn't come back on at all last night, likely due to the fact that like 25% of the power polls were down in town. They still don't have power last I heard. At least my parents are close to the power company's headquarters so surely they'll get it back pretty soon. In the rest of the town I can't even imagine how long it will take. It got soooo hot in that house last night. Modern houses are NOT meant to be without air conditioning!

So I got up about 5:45 and went to look outside. However, the darn baby safe thing we put on the door into the sun room would NOT come off. I could feel the cool air coming in, and I turned into one of those puppies who puts his nose to the door and tries to suck in the fresh air cause they want outside. What? My dogs do that! Don't yours? So I finally resorting to cutting the dang thing off the door. It was sooo cool outside that I swear I almost squealed with glee.

pregnant woman+hot house+sleeping=very bad deal

I think I must have managed to wake up the entire rest of the house with my antics, because by 6:15 everyone was out of bed except Nicky. That is somewhat of a feat when my hubby is in a house. ;)

So since we were up we just got the heck outta dodge so that my parents could deal with all the stuff that needed to be cleaned up at Mom's school. Since she is the vice-chancellor she gets to deal with the organization efforts for cleaning up that kind of mess. Seeing her working her booty off at midnight and then six in the morning made me glad I am a peon. She's pretty darn amazing.

It took a little bit of doing to get out of town because there were so many power lines down. This being one of them...

No, I didn't zoom in... That is the view that was directly out of my car window. It was almost touching the car! Don't worry it wasn't live.

This is what the majority of the rest of the lines looked like...



And this is what the bad spots looked like...


So all and all the fact that there were only three injuries and they were minor was pretty much a miracle!

So that's how I spent my Mother's Day weekend... How about y'all?

The Mist: Two Hours of my Life Wasted

!!!POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!

Ugh! We watched The Mist on Demand last night. I have to say. Not only was it completely predictable, but despite it's predictability it was one of those movies that makes you think...Well crap, why the heck did I just waste my time to subject myself to a movie that offers nothing but pure and utter despair? Now I like horror movies. This one wasn't even scary though... Yucky at times, but I wouldn't say scary. Granted, I'm not easily scared, but good grief!

I adore stories. Even badly crafted ones. So I'm seldom disappointed with movies or books, but for the love of all that is good and holy I wasted 4 dollars and two hours of Nicky snoozing in bed time on this that I will never get back!!!

Baby Stuff! And Walmart is Silly!

I must be nesting because my best friend's due date is looming near, because it's still AGES until this little dude will make his arrival. Yes, ages I say! Pay no attention to the ticker with the countdown to your right. It's ages I tell you!

Anyway, I finished cleaning out my bedroom closet, so that I can clean out the guest room closet, so that I can clean out the boy's playroom/future bedroom closet, so that I have somewhere to put my children's clothes.

I also got some little bottles with drop in liners. I'm planning on nursing, but last time it took my milk almost a week to come in. They kept telling me to keep trying, and I had no intention of giving up but looking back I sure as heck would have given him some formula before I did. Poor little guy lost 15 oz that first week. He was a tiny little guy and only weighed 5 lbs 15 oz when he was born because of the pre-eclampsia. This time I'm going with my instincts and forgetting what the doctors and nurses say. Nicky had no trouble going back and forth between bottle and mommy. Ideally this time it won't be an issue at all, but I'm going to be prepared for it this go around. I've also got a new Isis (No, for those of you who know me well I didn't just buy it cause of the cool Egyptian name) pump that got rave reviews and a good storage system for freezing.

Sunday after going out to eat with my girls, we went by Kohl's, and I found a great little going home outfit for Finn. It's adorable. It has a little sleeper, cute slippers, a hat, a bib, and a matching blanket. Pictures will come later, but my camera bit the dust and I'm still waiting for the new one I ordered to come in.

Which brings me to an annoying point. Walmart is just silly! I found the camera I wanted on Walmart.com and saw they had a replacement warranty for 3 years which I wanted because if it lasts three years then I figure it's lived up to its expected lifespan quite nicely. Mine that just died lived four years. It was a good camera. So I went to the store to buy it, and they had the camera but it's not available with a warranty from the store... So they suggested I order it online and have it sent site to store so I could get the warranty too. Which I did, and even though they have it in the store and I'm going to pick it up FROM THE SAME STORE I have to wait for them to ship it from like California or somewhere so I can pick it up at the store where they already have it...

Well anyway maybe it'll be pretty fast.

So now all I desperately need for the little man is a new car seat and stroller and I'm pretty much set. Back to my nesting now. hehehe

Hey! I said STOP IT!

I think my plea for no more rain has gone unheard!!!

Flooding Shuts Down School in DeWitt and Stuttgart

Yeah, so DeWitt is where I grew up and Stuttgart is where my parents live...

I don't remember it ever flooding except on some really low lying spots growing up. It's just nuts!

I have a request...

Could it please stop raining!!!!

Now, about half of my state has been declared a disaster area. We're on a mountain where we are so aside from seriously soggy ground, we're fine. That's not the case for so many people around though.

My parents' river house is within two feet of having water coming in! Check out this article. The picture is actually of the community where their house is, Maddox Bay. It's so sad, because they've been working so hard on getting it all fixed up, and it's absolutely adorable! I'm so grateful that they're not living there full time now, because my mom said there is no way in and out since all the roads are flooded. If you've got a big truck then you can still get in and out, but otherwise you're stuck! Well, unless you have a boat. Since it's a fishing area most of them do, so I guess there is that. Still there are lots of older folks, who have retired to the area. I'm sure it's going to be really rough on them.

Lemmie just take this moment to say DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS RUNNING WATER!!! A man from our area had his truck washed away when we were having such serious flooding last week, and they only just recently found his body. It happens so often! Not with such tragic circumstances always, but why take the risk?

Any way here is my final plea to the powers that be... PLEASE STOP THE RAINING!!! We've had more than enough now. How about we save any for the next, oh, two weeks or so for this summer when we're in drought again? Sound like a plan? Thanks!

Seeking the Aid of a Higher Power

Don't worry. This isn't going to be a religious post. I can almost 100% guarantee that I will never be going there on this blog.

So I've talked in the past about Nicky's obsession with the Wii. He loves that thing. Passionately. To the point of obsession. His favorite games are Cars, Wii Play, and his new Diego game, which we only got a scant two days before the incident.

Nicky had been trying to convince me all day to play Diego, but I didn't want him playing all the time, and he was being rather ornery about it so that clinched my decision to not let him play. I'm so not giving in to the orneriness! However, after lunch he had ceased his ranting about it and been good while eating his lunch, so when he came to me hugged me really tight and gave me a kiss and asked to play Diego I decided to let him. Well, I got up and turned on the Wii and it said it didn't have a disc...Odd since I'd left Diego in it. I hit the eject button and sure enough Diego popped out. hmmm... Tried another couple discs and got the exact same result.

The horror of horrors had happened. The Wii was broken!!! *insert corny horror music here*

Well I remembered that we'd gotten the two year warranty when we got the Wii so I got out the receipt and looked up the website for said warranty and filed a claim. All the time, an angry, betrayed baby bear was staring at me ranting (again) about wanting to play Diego. The email I received back from the claim said that I was to take the Wii the next business day to So and So's Satellite repair in Pennsylvania... Take it to Pennsylvania??? I could buy a new Wii for the price of gas! So I emailed and asked if I could mail it, and they said they were sorry but the instructions were for local people... Okay... I should wait for a mailing label, which should come within the week (if it's not there when I get home today then that isn't true), then after they receive it, the repair should be completed within 10-15 business days. All and all this ads up to over a month. How can I be Wii-less a month!?!?! Don't they know that WiiFit is coming out in March!!!!!!!

Anyway so Nicky was very displeased with me! He kept asking for Diego, Cars, Cows (WiiPlay). To which I always replied. Nicky, I'm really sorry baby but Said Game is broken.

Well this weekend I was taking Bryon to a friend's in a town not far from here, and I missed the road and had to turn around in a little subdivision. Nicky, in the back seat, suddenly shouted GRANDMA!!! I looked up and sure enough the subdivision bore a striking resemblance to the one my mother lives in, only she lives about four hours away... I tried to explain that it wasn't Grandma's, it only looked like Grandma's, but when we turned around without visiting Grandma there was much screaming.

Apparently this triggered a chain of thoughts in my two-year olds head, because later that evening when we were picking up Bryon again, he shouted that he wanted to call Grandma. Now he's never actually asked to call anyone, so I naturally picked up the cell phone, called her, and let him talk. The first words out of his mouth?

"Grandma, Cars broken."
*inaudible Grandma voice*
"Grandma, Diego broken."

So when I got the phone back I had to explain to her that my child, apparently believing me powerless to fix his Wii had sought out someone of much higher power. The Grandma!

Most Definitely Finn and Not Avalon

We are beyond a shadow of a doubt having a little boy. There is no mistaking the ultrasound picture I've got. Bryon asked if maybe it could still a girl? Umm...if it is, she has a penis. LOL

Anyway we're both in good health, but I spent Friday evening in the hospital. Blah!

You see...my darling sneaky child tried to make a break for it. It was about 70 on Friday (today we woke up to several inches of snow...you've gotta love Arkansas) so I took Nicky out to play in the backyard. Well our gate isn't the best in the world, and Nicky has figured out how to open it. So I always block it with a big cinder block, which is way too big for him to move. So he found another way around it.

The puppies were out playing with us, and Nicky announced that he wanted to go in the house. So I went and let the puppies in the back door closing the gate behind me. Only I can't cinder block it from the outside. I should have known that telling me he wanted to go in was a scam. He never wants to go in. I usually have to drag him in kicking and screaming. What he really wanted was to go sit on the "Big Red Tractor," my husband's lawnmower. So I turn around from shutting the dogs back in the house, and he's opening the gate. So he starts toward the lawnmower, and I start walking really quickly toward him. (You know toddlers are like run away wild animals if you run to catch them, they sprint away.) Well he turns around to see me and takes off running toward...the road! Now it's not exactly a freeway or even a highway. It's a dirt road, but Mommy panic kicks in and I take off running after him. I make it a few steps and my foot gets caught on a branch that blew out of a tree during the last wind storm and fall flat on my face...and more importantly my rotund, pregnant belly.

So Nicky turns around and comes back to me, pats my arm, and says. "Okay, Mama?"

Well, points for caring!

So I gather myself up, and get him back in the house and call my doctor's office, but they close at 2 on Fridays. Lame! And then I'm really nervous about it so I have them page the doctor on call. He calls and tells me I need to come in for an ultrasound so I tell Bryon to get his butt home and take me.

So when I do get to the hospital, the doctor is like...yeah, since your twenty weeks there isn't really anything we can do if there is something wrong, but let's just have an ultrasound anyway and find out. How encouraging, right? Now I'm not in the least bit of pain and Finn was doing his usual water aerobics (this kid is moving all the time) so I didn't figure there was anything wrong, but of course I do what I'm told. The ultrasound came back as just fine. Happy, healthy, little boy. He was either sucking or drinking amniotic fluid when she took his profile picture. It was pretty darn cute.

So that is how I spent my Friday night? I'm a regular swinging cat, no? hehe

Still More Nesting...

Okay, the next stage of get these nasty carpets out of my house has been completed. The little bedroom, which was formerly the nursery (where my child NEVER slept), now has its new floor. :-D

Bryon patched and sanded and then I laid down the planks yesterday. It looks so much better! The carpet that was in the majority of the house when we moved in was just downright icky! It was stained, and they were the kind of stains that no matter how many times I cleaned them with the shampooer they came back.

Have you ever pulled up carpet? If not, you should try it sometime just so you have some idea of the kind of dirt that resides underneath it. This house wasn't even that old when we moved in. I guess the carpet was about ten years old but there was an ocean of dirt underneath it. It makes you wonder if they just laid it down on a dirty floor but surely not!

So here are my terrible pictures. There wasn't much light when I was taking them.

This one is the in progress pictures...(forgot to do a before)


And here is the after!


Thanks for your help, Bryon! Now you get to move the guest bed in there so you can rip out the carpet in the other room. ;-)

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

I'm sure we've all heard that part of the poem before, but while looking for something that might tell me what the heck a snip is I discovered that it's actually part of a longer poem and some of it's verses are really cute so I thought I'd share.

Jericho Tonight!

Wooooooooooot!

That is all! ;)

I'm a Farmer's Daughter! I should have some idea of how to grow things!

Now, I've always wanted to be able to grow things, and the idea of planting things and later harvesting them and feeding my family with them is very appealing to me. However, it seems that I have a big ole...hmmm what is the opposite of a green thumb? A red thumb? Anyway I have those. I am moderately capable of keeping roses alive, but only after a very sad incident in which I completely ignored them for an entire summer in a bed that wasn't lined with that fabric that keeps weeds from growing... Yeah, I didn't realize you had to have that stuff! I thought if you put down mulch it kept things from growing. My weeds laughed at the mulch and grew to waist height!

So last summer my quest was to save the remaining roses in my bed and plant more. I did a pretty darn good job, and I think they will come back quite happily in the spring. I do need to cut them back this month though...*adds that to her to do list*

I also started a nice little herb garden. Anyone can keep herbs alive right? WRONG!!!! I had to replant the basil three times before it took! The first time was totally not my fault. We had this freak cold snap where it dropped to like 22 for three days. It was so sad. All the beautiful spring leaves on the trees shriveled up and died. I was pretty concerned for a while there that we weren't going to have any leaves at all, but they finally came back. I can't remember why the basil died the second time... But the third it took and boy did it take. It got enormous. The mint did well too so I'm hoping it will come back. Mint comes back right? And the cilantro only lasted about a month before I killed it... Oh well. We'll see what I can do with that come spring.

So anyway that brings me to this year. The soil here is...well the soil here is rocks. So as my darling husband has been cleaning up our field in anticipation of spring and lovely new native plant (read that as: weed) growth and has piled up a knee high five foot wide pile of rocks, we're going to be making some above ground garden beds. They'll be 4 foot by 4 foot. Basically we're going to use this uber cool method I saw used by my best friend's sister. It's called Square Foot Gardening. It's like the lazy girl's garden. :-D And it's perfect for places like here where the natural soil is pretty much useless.

So I was thinking the other day, since they are putting out all the gardening stuff does that mean that it's time to start planting the garden. Then it occurred to me that I really should have some idea of this. My grandmother grew like an acre of garden every year! My father was a farmer for most of his life! And I have no idea whatsoever when to plant my seeds... I think I'm embarrassing my ancestors. *Goes off to learn more*

No Thursday 13 Today

I'm just too lazy to think of any lists today.

I made the mistake of cleaning out all my cabinets in one day on Tuesday and my back is still recovering. I swear being pregnant makes me feel like I'm 90 or so. So I've decided to be completely lazy today and not do a darn thing. :-D

Then tonight I'm going to watch the season premiere of Lost! Yay!!!

Happy New Year!

And belated Merry Christmas!

I've been out of town and since I got back I've been so tired that I have been napping most of the time. Ah, the joys of pregnancy.

We had a delightful Christmas. Nicky was really into the present opening this year. He loves all his toys. He even did a little dance when he opened his Puppy Computer (A Leap Frog Click Start) It's a lot of fun. Not that it keeps him from trying to steal my laptop but oh well. ;)

Well I just wanted to make a quick message so everyone didn't think I'd disappeared off the face of the earth forever. :-D

So Happy New Year!!!

While Mindlessly Googling Myself...

I found this!

"Lesley Speller of Kaos Kreations said, 'The percentage of people from 15 to 25 years old in Denmark who play roleplaying games is estimated at 23% according to a Danish roleplaying magazine called Alter Ego, so we will have a rather large audience.' Features of the website . . ."

Now I have no memory whatsoever of saying that, but we did own that domain so I guess at some point I must have. LOL

On a somewhat unrelated note, but also about google.

There is a woman in England who works in Education who is also named Lesley Speller. I know this because of the random googling of my name of course. I wonder if she ever googles herself and finds all these strange things posted by and about a weird wannabe romance writer in the US. hehehe

WOooooooooooo PIG!

O Lord! It's hard to be humble.
When you're perfect in every way.
I can't wait to look in the mirror.
I get better lookin' each day.
To know me is to love me.
I must be one heck of a fan.
Oh, lord! It's hard to be humble.
When you're an Arkansas Razorback Fan!
GO HOGS!!!

That is all!

I'm Learning to Knit!

I've always wanted to learn to knit as my attempts at crocheting have all failed mesirably, which makes me sad cause my Granny was an amazing crotcheter (is that a word) and I would really love to be able to make those adorable Granny square quilts. I thought they were so silly looking when I was a kid but now that I'm grown I think they are just beautiful!

Well anyway, I bought the Knitting Made Easy CD-ROM from Hobby Lobby and have already perfected...err...attempted the knitting stitch. Actually I keep ending up with these strange extra stitches and I have no idea where the heck they come from, but I guess I'll figure that out with time. I decided to wait until tomorrow to attempt the purl stitch. Wouldn't want to over work my poor little preoccupied brain.

This CD is fabulous! I lurv it! It's funny, because I have the same one they make for crocheting and have tried to prefect my techniques through that with absolutely know luck! Obviously I just wasn't meant to crotchet! Sorry you wasted all those hours trying to teach me Granny!

Oh well, I just had to share my new joy. :-D It's uber fun! I can't wait to learn to make mittens! Nicky really likes gloves! (I know, I find that odd too, but whatever makes him happy) So I'll simply have to knit him some mittens. :-D

But since he's sleeping, I'm off to work on Blood and Violets.

Good Night!

Wow! Yeah! I'm glad I came to the auto shop today!

I have been putting off getting my spark plugs changed but my car has been hesitating a little bit in the past week or so since it got cold so I brought it to Precision Tune Auto Care to get it looked at. Good thing I did too. He just brought me my serpentine belt and showed it to me and it was...well lets say it was BAD! It looked like it was about to fall apart in his hands. I'm absolutely sure it would have died on the way to my parents this weekend. Cause that's the way things go. But now it's all fixed and my car should be happy again. Yay! So it got spark plugs, a chassis lube, new oil, a fuel filter, and a new serpentine belt.

But at least I had a coupon! If you need any work done that website has one for 10% off.

Twas a Bad Plan!

Now you'd think I'd be smarter than this at the age of twenty-eight, but I guess I'm not. I've been feeling crappy for like three-ish days. Sinus issues mostly. However, I still thought it was a good idea to spend the entire day working on the pasture next to the house. Hubby and I took turns running the Weed and Brush Trimmer thing that we borrowed from our dear friends (THANKS GUYS!) to try to make some progress in clearing the field. It's full of waist high brush right now and below that...rocks and no I don't mean like gravel. I'm talking mega monster rocks! Well we did a great job! We got almost all the way around the perimeter of the field in about a fifteen foot depth. That's saying it a lot considering the size of that sucker! While I was working on it, I felt decent...better even! But as soon as I sat down I felt so much worse than I have in days! *whines and moans and complains* I'm a very bad sick person as I simply don't have the time and desire necessary to slow down enough to allow for the actual healing process to take place.

Oh well...I've learned my lesson. No clearing pastures when I'm sick!

But, but, but...

What the hell happened to Torrid.com!!!!!!!

*whimpers*

It used to be cute plus-sized goth clothing!!! Now it's like prepville! It makes me want to cry.

I'm so old! I mean, I used to tend toward goth, and since I've been writing the short I'm working on I've had renewed interest since my heroine is a goth girl. (Yes, I do morph into my main characters temporarily. What of it?) But lately I've been looking at goth websites and the stuff they call "goth" now is totally different! And I don't like it! Now it's all 80s punk! What happened to my lacy white shirts and long velvet coats! That is goth! Not this strange punk stuff!

*goes off to sulk and feel like the old lady remembering her goth youth that she is*

I Smell Like Smoke!

But not the yucky kind! I smell like yummy woodsmoke. We got one of those outdoor table sets this summer that has a fire pit in the middle, but we haven't really gotten to use it until now because it's been too hot. It was fun. We made smores and had dinner outside sitting by. The trees are starting to turn and the view is just beautiful! It was a lovely afternoon. Nicky had a blast running up and down the hill with his dump truck.

We did, however, learn something about ourselves. If we got dropped on a desert island, we would not be like the cool people on Lost. At least not where fire building comes in. We'd be more like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Cause it took us about an hour to get it going, and (my darling husband will argue this point, but it is fact) we didn't really get it going until I pulled out the starter log I had forgotten I bought. So if we have a notebook, a barbecue lighter that is akin to a flame thrower, a lot of dry grass, and a starter log, then we'll be fine. Otherwise, I think we'll be eating a lot of sushi!

I also found a leather jacket this weekend at Name Brand Clothing, and I got it for a steal! It's so cute. I forgot how much I love leather. It smells so good.

All and all it was a great weekend. Now if my munchkin would just go to sleep I might be able to get some writing done.

Stinking Gremlins!

Well, they really did a number on my hard drive. It wasn't fixable. Fortunately, I think that most things were backed up. My writing is safe. I keep it in two different places and burn it to CD pretty often. Not that I'm trying to tempt the fates here. I'm not saying this is an infallible system so don't try to prove me wrong or anything!

But for the moment, it's all good.

Bryon managed to get my pictures from vacation off the hard drive through some mystical computer guru process. I dunno exactly how he did it, but he did. :-D So yay! Thanks, sweetie! I'll do my pictures from vacation Thursday 13 this week.

Now I'm going through the arduous process of reinstalling everything! *Whines* It's so boring! I could be writing! And I was on a roll yesterday. There was a brief lull in the writer's block that has been plaguing me with the last half of Blood and Violets. Of course, this probably means that it will come back since I'm not going to be getting any writing done today. At least, none worth speaking of.

I'm putting this at the very bottom of an unrelated post in the hopes of not jinxing it. I just can't not share any longer though!!! I GOT A REQUEST FOR A FULL!!! YAY!!! It was actually almost a week ago now. I wonder how long these things take. *checks her email again* I'm sure some of you are like, "La dee da, she got a request for a full. Who cares! It's not like it was a contract offer or anything." Well, it's special to me, cause it's my first one! *bounces* So I guess I'm gradually moving up in the world. hehehe

That, my friends, is all. Now I'm heading back into the reinstall cave. Wish me luck!

Did you know you could let bread dough rise in a Freezer?

OMG We have been soooo sick! Not Nicky, thank goodness, but Bryon and I. Apparently it was a virus, because we gave it to poor Lishy. I'm sorry, sweetie pie! Let me know if I can do anything! We thought for a little while that it might be food poisoning, because yesterday I opened the freezer and saw something that you just don't expect to see in your freezer...

I had one of those huge bags of like 72 frozen balls of bread dough for dinner rolls. Unopened mind you. So I opened my freezer and saw that the entire bag had split open because all the dough had defrosted and started rising. I should have taken a picture. It was ridiculous! My entire freezer was full of bread dough! Who'd have thought a freezer would have been a good place to let dough rise right??? Apparently something is up with my compressor unit on the fridge so neither the freezer nor fridge are working. The compressor just doesn't kick on. It doesn't even try. I swear the air blowing into the freezer was actually warm! So I'm wondering if somehow the defroster thing didn't get stuck in the on position. I don't know a great deal about fridge repair so someone is coming tomorrow to take a look at it. In the meantime, I've had to throw out about 150 bucks worth of food. Thank goodness I hadn't just been to Pass Your Plate, or I might have just broken down.

We thought we might not have noticed it was out and the sausages we ate might havhad gone bad. Incidentally if you love me, never feed me sausages EVER again!!!!!!!!! The thought of ever eating them again, whether it was their fault or not, makes me violently ill.

So then last night after I threw away everything in my fridge I went to get in the car to go buy a couple ice chests, some ice, and milk for the little dude...and the car didn't start...

I mean seriously! What the hell have done to deserve this incessant torture from the universe? So I called Lishy and Scott (her hubby) and they came and jump started my car with their handy hand held jump starter. It started right up, and I went to Dollar General. Yes, if I'd been smart I would have gone to Walmart and gotten the stuff I needed since they sell batteries there and there was really no good reason for my battery to be dead. I came back out and no, my car didn't start. So I had to call them back (I'm a terrible friend!) and ask them to jump me again. They were almost home. Poor guys! The wonderful friends that they are, they came right back. So I went to the house and left the car running while I made my hubby come with me, because I just didn't want to get stuck somewhere again all by myself with Nicky in the car, and we went to Walmart

The wonderful man in the auto-center tested it and then changed it when he discovered it was dead. It was a Walmart battery and the warrenty hadn't run out so it was just like twenty to get it fixed. That was good I was terrified it was something like the alternator, and it was going to cost a thousand bucks or something.

So we also bought one of those lovely hand held jump starters, and I won't have to call my darling friends again for a rescue.

I hope nothing else breaks in the immediate future!

It could have gone one of three ways...

A. The plane trip could have been much better than I thought it would be, and I would have been ecstatic and relieved.
B. It could have been just the same I thought it would be, and I wouldn't have been surprised.
C. It could have been worse than anything I imagined...

The answer, my friends, to how our trip went was a big whooping C!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I wouldn't survive! Honestly!

First we got on the plane in Fayetteville on the way to Atlanta. The take off was somewhat difficult, because you can't have electronic devices turned on, and the only thing that really distracted him was the iPod! Thanks, Mommy! It was a HUGE help at all other times. Once we got in the air it wasn't so bad. We played games had snacks, and he was relatively happy.

Then right before we were supposed to land, the captain came on and said that there was a bad storm over Atlanta, and we were in a holding pattern until it blew over. Okay not so bad. We should still have had time to make our flight. Yay!

Twenty minutes later...

We're running low on gas and still can't land so we get diverted to Birmingham to fill up.

Fine. The piolet says it should only take about 20 minutes then we're back on the way to Atlanta.

So we land and get in line to fill up. Honestly I don't remember how many times he came on and told us we'd we were the next in line for either getting gas or getting a slot to land in Atlanta, but after 3.5 hours on the tarmack in Birminham we were finally allowed to take off again. 30 minutes later we landed in Atlanta. I finally got Nicky to take a nap in the last 20 minutes of that flight...That was a total of about 6 hours on the plane...

So we get to the customer service agent who says we're supposed to be sent to Dublin and then to Copenhagen. Well after being on the flight for 6 hours, we were already exhausted and decided to ask them if we could just wait for the flight the next day that we were supposed to have that day. It goes directly to Copenhagen.

I know the woman was probably stressed because of so many people mad about missing flights and stuff, but OMG. The woman at the Dublin check in desk looked up the flight for us, and told us times and stuff and said we could go down to customer service or call and get the flight changed. Well Bryon wanted to wait in line because he wanted to talk to a real person so after an hour of that with the line moving about 2 inches I said no way and went to call. The person on the other end of the line was very nice and polite and told me that there were no seats left on the one the next day! Oh crap! One night in Atlanta isn't so bad but not two days gone from our vacation. So we RUN down to the Dublin desk and the same lady is there and we tell her the issue. So she gets us two seats with a seat in the middle for Nicky. They are the ones right at the front of economy class so lots of leg room. Woot! Thatøs great. It was the only thing she did right...

Well I've been running around like a mad woman so I haven't changed poor Nicky's diaper in a while, and while we're standing there he pees, and we have an overflow. I catch him and deposit him on hip and tell Bryon to deal with the check in while I go and change his diaper. I get back and the lady is telling Bryon that he is going to have to buy another ticket because we don't have the paper ticket for him. Well for a moment I'm very confused because you know they give you all the different things and God knows what they are all for. Finally I figure out what she is talking about. He never had a paper ticket. His was always electronic. Nicky's and mine was paper because it has to be when you have an Infant in Lap.

Finally with only a little more ruckus we get on the plane.

Nicky would NOT! Go to sleep. I tried everything! The Calms Forte did NOTHING! I had given him a Benedryl because he was stuffy and had a runny nose anyway before we got on. That should have made him sleepy too, but NO!!! He's so incredibly exhausted, but he can't seem to get comfortable and so he cries everytime he starts to fall asleep. I thought I would scream, and I think I actually did cry!

Finally with three hours left I give him some tylenol, and apparently his teeth were hurting him as well because that seems to do the trick along with discovering the perfect position for him to lie in. That position unfortunatly has caused serious damage to my back, but hey... at least he slept!!! For two hours at least. He woke up when they brought breakfast.

I would also like to add to this that I seemed to have developed a 24 hour stomach flu that was set off by flying. I had air sickness for the first time ever.

So we get to Dublin. Let me just say! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I was in Ireland! I mean in it! Past customs and everything! IN IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I didn't get to see jack!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway we realized that the woman in Atlanta hadn't given us a boarding pass for the flight to Copenhagn. I think we went to four different desks. The Irish airline respresentatives were lovely and helpful. There names were Claire and Mandy! Thank you, Claire and Mandy! It turns out the woman did everything in Atlanta WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She seperated my and Nicky's ticket somehow, but didn't give us a coupon for it. She took a reciept we were supposed to have that was an *interuption of flight* thing or something. I dunno. Anyway we got it worked out and got there right as the plane was supposed to take off, but it had been delayed. Thank goodness for that.

That flight was the only one that didn't suck. May I say, I love you SAS! Nicky got his own little life vest in case of accident and his own seatbelt that hooked to mine and we were in a window seat for the first time. Aparently looking out the window as we took off did the trip cause he passed right out and slept the whole flight.

So we finally get to Copenhagen and call Bryon's mom and dad. They thought we weren't going to be there until the next day because we told them we were overnighting in Atlanta, but they headed to the airport so they were there almost when we got through processing.

And what happens when they screw up your flight... They lost our bags. They are supposed to find them today, but you know how that goes. Right now I'm wearing two day old socks and a shirt my son peed on, but my mother in law the darling woman that she is bought me a new tshirt and sweater that I'm going to change into as soon as I take a shower. Oh! And undies! I can't tell you how much I look forward to clean undies!!! There is just something wrong about putting a pair of underwear back on after you've already worn them!

So when we finally got here, I got violently ill. Dizzy, throwing up, stomach upset in general, and monster headache! I'm fine today though. I think it was a combination of sleeping 20 minutes in 48 hours and a stomach flu. I thought I would just die. Then when I tried to nap I couldn't. Fortunatly though we slept til 11 this morning with only a two hour interuption at 3am. I guess Nicky wasn't quite on the time yet.

I'm feeling perfectly fine now though, and soon I'm going to be all clean and showered with clean clothes on WOOT! Nicky had some clean ones, because of course his grandmother had bought him a few outfits. hehe

So that was my trip. It was pretty much worse than anything I had ever imagined that it would be, but at least we survived! And next time can't possibly be worse! *beats all nearby wood with a large metal bat*

Hmmm...I seem to be in a Danish version of blogger and it refuses to check my spelling so I expect I spelled lots wrong. I'm sure y'all will forgive me! :-D

Absolutely Perfect Weather or the Unknown Laws of Baby Physics

It is a breezy 72 degrees, and I'm sitting under the canopy of my swing in the backyard watching the munchkins play. It's just lovely!

This morning was sooooo coooooold! Okay, it was 58 but that seems freeeeeeeeeezing after the hot weather we've been having. My hummingbirds are angry with me cause their feeder is empty. They keep buzzing me and looking at the feeder.

Now because the I am trying to watch the tots, it is inevitable that they are going to go to the opposite side of the shed from where I am sitting, thus obscuring my view of them. When I then move to the canopy on the other side and sit down, they will immediately run back to the other side by the swing. It's physics, folks! You can't fight physics.

Requested Pictures: Pink Hair and "New" Purse

Lishy took these lovely pictures of my hair this afternoon. :-D


Nicky was very helpful during the photo shoot. :-D


Suuuuch a cutie!!!
Okay, he wasn't requested but now can anyone say no to that face.
And here is my purse! I should have done a before picture. Just think stained khaki and you've got a very good idea of what it looked like. hehe

Rit Dye + Old Purse = Adorable New Handbag

Okay, the purse wasn't actually that old. It was khaki canvas and the week I bought it a drink mix packet exploded in my purse and dyed the whole bottom of it pink! I really liked it though! It's a lovely purse. Its got the right number of pockets and best of all a strap that isn't obnoxiously short as seems to be the fashion today. In case you haven't noticed, I don't give a flip about fashion. ;)

So I bought a bottle of rit dye in wine and boiled my purse. hehe That was pretty weird actually. I kept waiting for my hubby to come in and accuse me of concocting some evil brew. :-D I boiled it for thirty minutes. Rinsed it and washed in the washing machine. When I took it out it was a touch splotchy so I boiled it one more time and washed it and dried it. It's lovely! I'm so pleased!

My Son the Locksmith!

Okay, maybe locksmith is a slight exaggeration.

Here's how it went down...

So we've been fighting with that stopped up drain and finally realized there was no way were were going to get it unstopped. So today I called Rotorooter. The guy was here fast! He got it unstopped in like two minutes, and I walked out onto the porch to ask him how much. He was back in his car filling out paperwork so I turned around to go back inside because I was barefoot.

But SOMEONE had locked the door. Someone being my little bear!

So I ran down the stairs and asked the nice rotorooter man to let me use his cellphone. Called both hubby's cellphones and his office phone and no luck. He must have been in a meeting. I called the Help Desk to ask them if they could get ahold of him for me, but I must have gotten
a bad connection cause all they said was "Hello? Hello?" Then hung up... Oy...

So I ran around the house and peeked in, Nicky is sitting there chilling with a box of graham crackers that he stole off the counter watching Wonder Pets. *shakes fist* So I tried all the windows. Most of them I couldn't even get the screen off of. Then I tried to pry one open with a garden spade. No go. All I managed to do was bend the spade. Well, at least I know my house is well secured.

This whole time my darling boy is walking over giggling at me and making faces.

So I finally squeal in frustration and tell him to go unlock the dang door. Actually there were probably some more choice words than that. Then I go around to check one more time before I am going to shatter the glass on one of the windows. Well apparently Nicky followed directions for the first time ever! Because the door was unlocked.

Did I mention I'm sick! I've been sick all the long weekend and am still sick. I shouldn't have to be running around all over creation barefoot when I'm sick! *whines*

Oh well, it all turned out all right in the end. The plumber didn't cost my life savings, and I managed to get back in the house before Nicky hurt himself and without breaking any windows.

AstrologyZone.com

I've never been big on horoscopes, but a friend at work pointed this site out to me. The astrologer there does monthly horoscopes. So I read mine with some skepticism, and it was eerily spot on ALL month! So I've been patiently waiting for this months new one, hoping for a better month than last. We're traveling. I've got a submission and a couple of contest entries out. It's my birthday the 20th. And dang it after last month, I deserve a little freakin' respite!

So this morning I logged on to check this months horoscope and amongst the many gems which include lots of angst with someone close to me, lots of change (from the eclipse), and perhaps some money at the end of the month (Heck yeah!), I found this...

"There are lots of possibilities. You may publish a book or launch an artistic creative project. You may be offered an important new career position or change residences, perhaps by buying or selling a house / condo."

Now, I'm telling you, I'm not so interested in moving and I like my job (wouldn't mind a ni