Weight of the World

I have decided to not just deal with one stressful thing at a time... but instead to do it all at once. Why not? Get it all done and over with.

As most of you know I am engaged to the love of my life (Win). Engagement means planning a wedding. Not as easy as it sounds. I have come to the conclusion that no matter what I plan not every person will be happy or comfortable with it. So after more and MORE trial and errors with the plans of the happiest day and many trial and errors we have come to some conclusions. These "plans" have yet to become solid though. Only because out of fear everything will have to be changed again because god knows why. Seems every time we make a decision we have to change it. We have decided on getting married on Valentine's Day of 2009 in Pittsburgh. Cliche? Yes, but we (okay, more so me than Win) picked this date for a few reasons:

1. I hate Valentines Day and now it will actually give me something to like about it.

2. Only have to buy one gift for the two "Love" days. Money Saver...SCORE!

3. How can you forget the date?

4. Far enough away to send invitations still. But close enough to actually finally get married w/o having to wait too long.

5. Color scheme is already laid out for us.

6. Decorating will be easy since stores will be stock piled with the decor.

However, the event will be family only and intimate. The "Reception" will be held in June sometime for all friends and family to come and celebrate with us. For the "Reception" we will do a Luau theme which is also easier to accommodate many wallet busting expenses.

To add onto the stress of the wedding we also decided to purchase a home. This home is not located where we are now in VA. But instead in Oakland, MD so that will entitle us to have to move as well. Not only is buying a house a pain in the butt but so is moving and boxing up everything. To also add to it I will have to find work in a place that I have no idea where my right or left is. Mmmm fun. Good thing we just bought a Navigation System. That will definitely come in handy when I get lost on my way to Super Walmart and have no phone reception (yes, we hardly get cell phone reception). I love the house and the area but my only draw back to the area is that there is no Target in a close radius. No TARGET!

Target is my peace. When I go to Target and push my cart which is full of products I don't necessarily need but thought they were either a good buy or just cool... I am in heaven. No stress going up and down each aisle scoping out the clearance racks. This is where I enjoy buying clothes for both me and Kayliegh. You can buy a shirt for five bucks or less and pants for under ten. You can't beat that except at Old Navy and there is not one of those in close radius either. I guess I will be saving more money though since I won't be making my weekly trips to Target for some random thing I thought that I MUST have and it can only be purchased at Target. I guess Walmart will have to become my new friend. At least when I come to VA to visit I can hit up one of the many Targets in the area.

So besides the crazy stressful times of planning a wedding, buying a home, finding a job, and no Target in close radius we decided to add one more thing just to see if we will cave in and whither to the ground and beg for mercy. We adopted a German Shepherd name Chaz (Chasique- but that name sucks so we call him Chaz). This dog was Win's idea...don't let him deny it either. He came home one day like a seven year old who found a lost puppy that he just had to have. He told me of the love he shared with the dog that day. Chaz is a great dog/ puppy (nobody really knows how old he is...maybe two)... but this dog is not leash trained in the slightest. He is about 60 pounds of unleashed energy as soon as you strap a leash to his collar he takes off in excitement. Now remember this dog weighs a little bit more than half of me. Imagine me trying to restrain this energetic dog. Not so easy...amusing to someone watching I'm sure... but not easy.

Not only is Chaz not leash trained he refuses to go to the bathroom while on a leash. Now I can understand privacy. Hell I don't like taking a crap when I know someone can hear me. But this dog needs to understand he has to do his business while on the leash. We tried to let him of the leash but he ruined it by running off. So until we put in a electric fence he needs to learn to just do the deed on a leash. We can walk him and stand outside for 20 minutes. He will walk in circles and act like he has to do the doo-doo but doesn't. Sometimes he even screws with me by squatting and getting in full position then just dashes to another spot. Almost to say to me... HAHA! You thought I was going to crap didn't you?!?! HAHA! Stupid human I fooled you. After we give up standing outside with this sarcastic animal we let him inside. Then he immediately takes off and craps in a certain spot in the house. I think he does it on purpose because he feels the need to prove the point of privacy. I will get him leash trained even against his will and the last laugh will be on him. At least him and Kayliegh will have something in common later in life...they both liked to crap on the floor of the house. Yes, during the potty training days my daughter used to take her diaper off and crap and pee on my floor. I'm not proud of this. But she is potty trained now and he will be too.

So enough of all that. I'm sure I drifted off into many directions with my ranting in this blog entry but oh well. It's more fun that way because I'm a random type of chick. There is actually quite a few stressful things that have occurred in the past couple of months to add to everything else; but out of privacy I won't comment on them. So consider yourself lucky because this blog entry could have gone on much longer.

Closing on the house this Friday! WOOT WOOT! A home to call our own is only a few days away.

Beaver Dam

So I admit it I have a mouth like a sailor. Maybe because I grew up in a Military family and was made by a sailor. Who knows but I like passing the blame onto others. I really try to watch my language but it seems to get the best of me. Now I have created my own little devilish sailor of my own. Maybe that's what she should really be for Halloween...then she can cuss all she wants.

There have been quite a few occasions where she has said some words that she shouldn't be using. But I have to admit it...it's quite humorous at times when it does happen because she can use them in the correct way. Believe me I'm trying to put a end to it and be the good parent I'm supposed to be.

She has now began her lying phase. Now this phase is really starting to annoy the shit out of me. She will bold face lie to me even while I watch her doing whatever it is she's doing. Her lies sometimes are quite creative I must admit.

Her newest lie is to cover up her sailor mouth. Like when she yells out "damn" for some reason that she feels that it fits at the moment (most of the time she does of course use it correctly). I will instruct her that she is not to say that word and its a bad word. Then she insists that she said Damn like a Beaver Dam. Although we all know for sure this is not what she meant. So we will bicker back and fourth until complete frustration as I tell her not to lie to me (as she lies to me about lying then tries to pass the buck off to a bug that may have said it- WTF).

Even at the age of 2 she was a potty mouth. I remember sitting down at the dinner table with her one night. Here we are sharing a lovely experience together and she goes and screws it up. She accidentally squeezed her juice box too hard. She looks at the table and the juice puddle on it. With this very angry face she looks at the mess and shakes her head as if in disbelief. The next thing you know she yells angrily "SHIIIIIT!!!". I of course try not to laugh but it is hard not to because she obviously used the cuss word correctly. I get my composure and explain to her that is not a word to be used.

Dinner must bring out the best in this child's language. The other night we went to dinner together at Friday's (Me, Win (Fiance), and Kayliegh). As we were enjoying our yummy food my daughter for some reason only she must know starts saying "Fucking" (yes I know the cuss word of all cuss words- don't judge me) in this low voice. I look at her to make sure that is the word coming out of her mouth. As I'm staring at her she continues to say it over and over and over (maybe about 10 times). Then the little shit looks up and laughs about it. She knew damn well what she was saying. Win and I once again explain to her that she is not to use that type of word.

Man we really need to watch our language around here.

The devil potty mouth at her best.

She's crafty...

Last year in a Pottery Barn catalog I saw a cool collection of hanging frames. Each frame was hanging at different levels and stacked on top of one another. It was a pretty snazzy idea I thought. Seemed easy enough to create on my own vs. spending a butt-load of money on their high end product.



I went to a few yard sales (you can also try thrift stores) and rummaged around my house and found some old wooden frames. First I spray painted each frame black. Next I sanded down areas on the frames to make it look distressed. Thirdly I drilled a hole big enough to add the twine for the picture to hang by. The last step was just adding the twine (you can use twine, rope, yarn, or ribbon depending on the look you want). You can hang as many as you want just make sure to stack the frames and at different levels. Great for a long hallway or a stairway.



So here is what I came up with and it cost me under $20. Remember that no frame has to be like the other because you can spray paint them to the color you perfer. Try to pick different shapes and sizes. I choose to do black spray paint to go with the sepia tone pictures.

It's not chicken unless it's brown...

So what if I used to hide my food in my napkin or attempt to feed it to the dog without getting caught. Unfortunately for me our childhood dog didn't like his vegetables either. I was shit out of luck on quite a few occasions and had to sit at the table until I ate all my cold food (of course it was the perfect temperature to begin with I just sat and whined long enough to make it cold). I remember thinking I would never do this to my kid. Man I said and thought that about a lot of shit. Now I'm doing all the things I said I wouldn't.

Kayliegh, my 4 year old drama queen and love of my life, is as picky (if not more) as I was when I was little. I guess this is one of those revenge tactics that seem to happen later in life. I constantly argue with her to try new things. I have quoted it in Dr. Seuss manner and everything (You may like you will see...). Sometimes I win the battle and she enjoys it but other times we throw down and get pissy with each other and both go into our own fits of rage over it.

I have the hardest time getting her to understand that chicken is still chicken even if it does not have the fried brown goodness on it. Of course we get into a debate over it and she refuses to believe it is chicken because it isn't brown or come in the shape of a dinosaur. She doesn't seem to understand that everything can be made in different ways. Ground beef doesn't just come in the shape of a circle slapped onto a bun...sometimes it's round and called a meatball. Dip it in the good damn ketchup and eat it already. It's not like you can taste it with that inch layer of ketchup anyways.

Usually when we thrown down I either end up winning by one of two ways. One, she eventually gives in and just eats it. Or the second, I hold her down and force feed her. Either way if I have the strength that day and the patience I WIN. Yes it sounds horrible but sometimes the kid just needs to try it. Once she puts it in her mouth and eats it (even though its accompanied sometimes with some weird painful moaning noises because the taste isn't of ketchup or macaroni and cheese- drama queen) she enjoys it and will eat the rest.

Then there are these times where I swear my kid is on something. She will state she wants a salad or some "weird" food that does not consist of cheese, processed meat, or chocolate. Those are the days that I take full advantage of and pull everything out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry and make her try it all because she is so willing at the moment. Oh those days are like heaven in this family.

Eh Why Not

Since I constantly do nothing but Google at work and read blogs all day I have decided to create my own blog. I have thought about it before only because I got hooked on www.Dooce.com (freaking hilarious) and found out that she makes enough money from her blog to support her family (What's that no more Corporate America? SIGN ME UP). One of my good friends also has a blog going and she is a crazy donkey with some funny shit of her own. So my Fiance suggested I should start one as well.

At first (okay, for maybe 3 seconds) I thought nah I don't want to be a "copy cat". But then I thought hmmm it could work out well. Especially considering we will be moving soon and it will give everyone a glimpse into our life. Or in another way it will answer anybody's questions before they call us (because we will be living a few hours away) and want to know EVERYTHING that has been happening.

Let's see how it turns out...