We Survived the 7-yr Itch!

Charles and Me!  Wow, we are so young here!

Hi yalls!  Hope everyone is doing well!  I have been a bad, bad blogger these days!  What can I say, I been lazy... I ain't gonna lie about it.  This month, my hubby and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary and 13 years together!  Thank you... Thank you!  I have to say, it hasn't been bad at all. We have never had any bad fights.  We had a "break" our first year together but that break definitely did not last long.  We have had the money arguments (mostly me... i was a credit debt queen and still spend too much money! =-P) and the nit-picking arguments of course, but other than that, nothin but love here!  

When we first met, it was winter 1998.  My dad, sis, and I came to NC to visit some family.  Charles was best friends with my cuz, Braden.  First time I saw him, yeah... he was (still is!) hot!  So shy too!  Braden and him were going to the movies and were trying to get me to go with them.  I didn't go even though I really wanted to.  LOL   But that was as far as anything went for about 6 months and then one day I was on ICQ (remember ICQ yalls?!) talking to my cousin and Charles was there.  We were all talking and then Charles went home and got on his ICQ.  Very soon the ICQ conversation became me and Charles and I don't even know when Braden stopped talking.  Charles was fun to talk to.  We talked online a lot and soon started talking on the phone.  Let me tell ya, too bad there was no such thing as "unlimited talk and text" 13 years ago.  There was no cable phone lines where you could call anywhere and not get long-distance charges.  Nope, AT&T charged like .15/min back then I think?  Charles and I had many phone calls that lasted for HOURS!  My dad was NOT happy... his parents were not happy either!  I was having fun talking to him though.  I was going through a lot before I met him.  I was partying too much, hated my job, and men were players and ho-bags.  I didn't think there was such a thing as a man out there who wasn't a man-ho.  I figured Charles was playing me... sending me the most romantic letters, flowers, and calling just because he wanted to hear my voice... Now if I am gonna get played, that how to get played!  Let me tell ya what, those guys back in Monett needed to get their heads outta their butts and learn to treat a girl like this guy!  

I was falling pretty hard for him.  I kept telling myself that I was just setting myself up for serious heartbreak, but he was doing all the things that I was looking for in a guy.  When he was coming to Missouri to visit me, he would send me Roses and Daisies.  Daisies with roses for each week before he was coming.  My former boss at the floral shop and my bestie, Heather, who worked there, always got to make my arrangements.  He would call them personally instead of going through FTD.  He would tell them what to write on the card.  

He asked me "What are you going to do to me when you see me get off the plane?" and I told him I was going to run and kiss him!  LOL  The day came, and I brought Braden and my bestie Sabrina (BEANS!) to meet him.  Because I am such a chesty gal, I wore some lil white shirt that had written on it "GENEVA GIANTS".  When he got off the plane I froze.  I was like "No way... this guy is too hot for me."  LOL   

Anyways, we had a fun week together.  We couldn't do much because I still had to work.  I had gone to visit him 2 months later and fell in love with North Carolina.  We had talked about him either moving to Missouri or me moving to North Carolina.  Well, I think we know how this turned out!  LOL  

Right after he proposed at Atlantic Beach, NC

 Pregnant with Connor!

 Charles and I at the Rain Forest Cafe

 It took me 5 yrs but I finally got that 2 yr degree! Connor was a bean in my belly here!

 My favorite wedding photo.

 Drunk Cheesin...

 we were too cute!

Charles proposed to me February 23rd 2004 at the beach.  It was so sweet, but not what he had planned. I didn't want to go to the beach the night before which is when he wanted to do it. We went the next morning and decided to have a "contest" to see who can find better shells. We met up at and he was already on his knees with shells laid out.  We compared and I was definitely winning in the shell department. And next thing, the sun hit something in his hand just right and seriously blinded me!  Needless to say, I said yes... or I wouldn't be typing this now, would I?  We got married in Las Vegas, October 23, 2004.  It was a great wedding... a lot of family made it to the wedding.  I think mostly because the wedding was in VEGAS!  LOL

I will tell ya though... our poor honeymoon. LOL  I was one sick girl!  The day of our wedding I was feeling kinda blah.  My throat was feeling sore and I was so tired.  I was thinking I was just tired from not sleeping well the night before.  As I was getting dressed, I realized my fingers were MAJORLY swollen!  My engagement ring barely went over my first knuckle!  My dad's girlfriend at the time was there and she was massaging my shoulders and she was like "there are a lot of toxic pockets in your system."  I think she popped those toxic pockets because not long after that massage, I felt so shaky and weak.  At the time I thought it was just wedding jitters.  But I wasn't really jittery about the wedding.  I couldn't wait to marry Charles!  In our wedding video you can see my hands shaking soooooooo bad!  My candle was shaking so much, I am glad I didn't torch the chapel!  Right after the wedding, even though, I was absolutely thrilled to be married, I was starting to feel sicker.  My throat was hurting really bad and coughing really hard.  We had gone to see a Circque Du Soleil show right after the reception.  I coughed through the entire show!  We tried to walk the strip, but I had no breath in me.  I was struggling to breathe!  The next morning, I was feeling TERRIBLE!  When I saw my face in the mirror, OMG!  My face was sooooooo swollen.  I was swollen and so sick.  I had to go to the emergency room.  They did x-rays and came to find out I had gotten pneumonia!  The doc got on to me for smoking, and I told him I didn't smoke.  My lungs were invisible in the xrays.  Those smoke-filled casinos were too much for me. So I spent most of my honeymoon sick and wheezing.  LOL  I think we deserve a honeymoon re-do!!!!!  

Now, here we are.  Still happily married with two very handsome, smart, and loving boys.  We still tell each other "I love you" every day.  He still calls me from work just to hear my voice and to tell me he loves me.    Yeah, we probably make other people wanna puke because we still hold hands, he still opens doors for me, and still show PDA.  ;)   Maybe not as much PDA as we used to... but that's okay.  He's still my man and I love him to bits.  He loves me even though I have gained more weight than I care for... he still loves me even if I am still in the jammies I had on when he left for work... even though I might wear makeup once a month and do my hair about once a month.  He's impressed if I actually have a ponytail that's not lumpy and halfway pulled through.  

Now I need to go and pick up his suitcase that's been laying in the dining room floor for over a week and wash those same clothes that I have told him to pick up and put in the laundry room for me.  AND I need to go on a hunt in his man cave to find dishes.  AND I need to pick up the trash that he lays on the floor next to bed because we all know that walking 2 foot to the trashbin is too much exertion for any man.  =-P

Laters yalls!

What's the Dish?

what's the dish???

Hiya pals!  So, I am starting somethin' new.  I love to cook and people are always asking me for recipes.  I know there are like a billion recipe blogs out there.  I am not goin completely foodie on here yalls.  Once a week, I plan on sharing a meal.  

First, when I go to the grocery store, I am always looking for deals most especially on beef and chicken.  There are like a zillion things you can make.  You can never have too much beer or chicken... oh, and beef.  That was a clever typo.  You really can't have too much beer OR wine... or Captain... or Smirnoff.  BUT anyways, whenever I go to the store, I typically buy the family packs of chicken and beef and I try to go early in the mornings or even later evenings to the store because that's when I find the best markdowns on meat.  

When I get home, I will cook the hamburger ahead of time.  Usually when I use ground beef, I always need it crumbled up, so I go ahead and crumble it up and season it with salt and pepper.  ! Ppsst... I also dice up onion and add it to the beef when I cook it ;)  !   After it's cooked and drained, fill up a sandwich baggie of the crumbled meat.  I have found that one full sandwich baggie full of meat is equivalent to 1lb.  If you are one of those who makes a lot of Hamburger Helper, which always requires 1lb of beef... well, here ya go!  I then freeze them.  

With chicken, i have about the same process.  I will cut it in cubes and season with salt and pepper and put in plastic baggies.  I also bag 2 chicken breasts together, uncooked.  Another thing I do with chicken is bake it, put it in my kitchen aid mixer and shred it.  I fill up a baggie and whenever I want to use shredded chicken I have some already cooked and shredded!  I typically spend my Sundays preparing for meals through the week.  

Thank you to Pinterest, I have also started buying Mason jars.  If you buy a lot of fresh produce and hate to go to your fridge 3-5 days later and find your produce is already growing hair (or leaking... GAG!)... I have found that putting produce in a Mason jar will make your veggies go further.  So I cut up some of my veggies and put them in mason jars.  It works EXCELLENT for onions!  The smell from the onions do not escape and make your whole fridge smell oniony.  You don't have to use Mason jars either!  I have been saving and reusing pickle, salsa, spaghetti sauce jars and they work too!  

Fall time means crockpot time.  I use the hell outta my crockpot in the fall and winter.  Also, thanks to my Pinterest addiction, I have found MANY recipes on there to keep some variety in our meals.  I have particularly found myself freezing ingredients together in a freezer bag, then all I have to do is cut the baggie off and put the meal in the crockpot and WHA-LAH!  8hrs later, my house smells like I have slaved in the kitchen all day long when I have really been playing hot wheels and snuggling with my youngest spidermonkey!  

As a matter of fact, today my crockpot is cookin up the Teriyaki Chicken that I made ahead of time and froze last week.  It really smells so good in my house right now!  Plus it helps that I finally took out the trash which totally reeked of poo-poo diapers!

Please ignore my messy stove!  I had just made a frozen pizza and the crumbs were everyhere!

So, here is what you need for Teriyaki Chicken.  It makes 2 bags worth

2 sm bags baby carrots (seperate... one bag per meal)

1 lg red onion, chopped in large chunks (or if you like onions, get 2 and use one onion for each bag)

2 20oz cans pineapple w/juice (one can with juice per bag)

2 -4 chopped garlic cloves per bag ( i added 3 to each bag)

Celery (it's not shown in the picture because I forgot to take it out)  I used chopped 6 stalks and divided them.

2-3 chicken breasts per bag

1/2 c. Teriyaki sauce per bag (you will want to add 1/4c more of teriyaki sauce the day you put it in the crockpot).

Cook on high for 4 hrs or low for 8 hrs.  

I have read that you can add for extra flavoring brown sugar, garlic sauce, and soy sauce.  

Don't forget to make some rice!  

Top 5 Things About Me! :)

Top 5 Things About ME!

1.  I love to cook and bake.  There are times that I make things that are questionable and sometimes things turn out AMAZING!  I love getting crafty in the kitchen.  My favorite things to make are my white choc. chip craisin cookies, Mexican food, cheesy mashed potatoes with hotdogs cut in it (seriously, that's a family fave here), and casseroles.  From October to January, I am a baker and I love to make goodies to give to neighbors.

2.  I love being a stay at home mom.  Yes, it may seem I don't at times.  I have my days, but I love being able to be here for my boys.  They drive me insane a lot but I love them with my heart and I love watching them grow.  Well, watching them grow is bittersweet.  Seeing my babies growing and learning everyday is a miracle in itself.  I look at them and think "Dang!  They are a part of me and look at them!  They are too cute and too smart to belong to me!"  LOL  

3.  I LOVE to laugh.  I find humor in so many things that I probably shouldn't probably laugh at.  I never laugh to be mean-spirited.  I just see things in life and can't help it.  I don't understand how there are people in life who don't laugh?!  I didn't believe that it was possible but I have met someone who didn't laugh or find humor in things.  People who have no sense of humor, probably don't want to come to my blog or be on my facebook.  LOL  My sense of humor can be immature.  I will always laugh when someone farts.  I can't help it, but any kind of gas passing is hilarious to me!  I know everyone does it and it's no big deal but seriously?!?!  How can anyone NOT laugh when someone farts???  

4.  I love to meet people and talk to people I do not know.  Its not always been a good thing, but I love to meet people.  I start conversations with strangers and I love the things you can learn about people.  Sometimes, if I see someone sitting alone at a restruant like McD's or someplace like that, I ask to sit with them.  Mostly people don't mind.  I have met maybe 2 0r 3 people who have not been interested but those people are missing out.  I am pretty awesome.  

5.  I love reading.  I love several kinds of genres.  I have started reading the old classics that I had no interest in when I was younger.  Most girls read Little Women.  Not me.  I had tried a few times when I was younger, but could not stay interested.  So, I recently picked up another copy of it and trying to give it another shot.  I like to read biographies, novel fiction, non-fiction, and I even at times read some of those teenage genres.  The books they write for teens these days are kinda risque!  The R.L. Stines and Sweet Valley Highs of my days are nothing compared to what the teens read now!  I think some of them are a bit much for the ages they are geared towards, but times have sure as hell changed since I was a teenager!!!

So this is my Top 5 list thingy!  My fellow blogging buddy, Brianna (check her page out @ http://starneslifefamilylove.blogspot.com  ) .  I was supposed to do it Friday, but I wasn't able to do it then.  Anyone who reads my blogs and blogs themselves are more than welcome to join in on the fun!  


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It's Fall, Yalls!

Hi yalls!  It's officially fall feelin' round here!  YAY!  It's my favorite season!  The season for a cool nip in the air, yummy chili, pumpkin flavored yummies, football, halloween, apple cider, harvest flavored beers, and that crisp fall scent in the air.  It takes awhile for that fall feeling to kick in here in North Carolina.  

It's been awhile since I have blogged.  I have missed it.  It seems everytime I would get on here and start that something happens and I would have to stop.  Typically the kids start fighting or MUST need me for something.  It's my life though and I love it no matter how crazy it makes me.

It's almost election time.  I know a lot of yalls are sick of me goin on and on about how I am not a fan of Ovomit... I mean, Obama.  I am gonna be on my reliable ol' high horse, Stan, and we will stand on our soapbox for the next 6 weeks.  

Did anyone see the first debate?  I got a kick out of it.  Obama is out of his league.  I know he had to go and do his job on his anniversary and he would have rather been spending time with his wife than being at a debate.  Tough shit.  I got a kick out of his own supporters making fun of him.  Then those who are still completely clueless on the topics could only talk about the neckties.  That's okay... if you don't understand economics, it's best to talk about neckties than look like a complete farttard.  Sorry if I offend any of you with my political statements.  I have a tendency to be passionate about things I am right about.  

So, I am in the process of pulling out my fall decor and making my house all pretty!   I do have some super cute fall decor.  AND my house smells DIVINE!  It's a Harvest Wonderland here!  I took the kids to get a pumpkin to paint and it was so cute watching my spidermonkeys get creative.  Here's a few pics of that artsy fartsy fun!

 yeah, i am pretty sure more paint ended up on Corbin than the pumpkin!

 Connor is getting the fancy art supplies out!

 He was getting tired of me taking pictures

 Connor is telling me "If I smile one last time, can you not take more pictures, mom?"

 Lil man is serious when it comes to painting his pumpkin!

This past weekend we went boating with my MIL, her pal, me and the kiddos.  I have some water lovin babes.  I think we will have to go buy a boat in the next few years.  They LOVE to go boating.  We went out to Shackelford Island. My back feels nice and toasty and it's starting to itch like most sunburns do.  Here are some pics of the babes out on the boat and on the Shack.

So, the kids have had one of those weeks of 'kids do and say the darndest things'.  One of the first instances, was witnessing my youngest spidermonkey, Corbin, acting like a dog.  Yes, most kids do go through this stage.  They walk around like dogs, bark like dogs, eat like they are dogs... but Corbin took it to a whole nother level.  Let me start at the beginning.

One day, I took Corbin to the Petsmart to see the animals.  He is my lil animal lover.  There was a woman in there with two dogs and my spidermonkey took a liking to them.  One of them would not stop licking itself and Corbin saw so much humor in it.  He would laugh and say "What he doin?" and I would say "He's cleaning himself.  That's how dogs clean their pee-pee's."  He probably asked the same question ten or fifteen more times... like kids do.  And I answered with the same answer as most parents do.  After we left Petsmart, Corbin acted like a dog everywhere we went.  Thankfully Target made an exception for my 'dog' considering their strict rule against animals in the store and I was obviously not blind.  He barked and crawled all over the store.  When we got home, he stripped down naked as he always does when he is home.  I go into my bedroom and found him on MY bed, attempting to lick his own balls.  I would have stopped him, but what are the chances that he's going to succeed?  I watched partly disturbed but mostly amused.  I said "Corbin, honey, what are you doing?"  He answers, not once stopping to find that miracle position, "Kweenin mah pee pee, momma."  Oh, I thought about getting my spray bottle filled with water and spraying him as I once had with a dog who always licked it's balls.  Eh, what's the hurt in letting him try.  So I went about folding laundry as he rolled all over the bed with his tongue sticking out and failing terribly at licking his own nuts.  Then before I knew it, he rolled right off the bed.  Has a pretty little raspberry rug burn on his forehead.  BUT he seems to have officially given up on his quest to "kween" his pee-pee.  I am sure he's not the first kid who has tried this disappointing feat.  He hasn't stopped acting like a dog in other ways, but I am glad he can't lick his own testes.  It's bad that I have to carry a spray bottle of vinegar around to spray the tongue of the oldest spidermonkey that gets mouthy but to have to carry a spray bottle of water to spray my youngest spidermonkey for licking his nuts would be hard to explain to onlookers.  

A few days later, I took the boys to the library.  Let me tell ya what.  My children do NOT know how to behave in a library, no matter what I say or do.  Connor is very loud and his voice carries. I have had his hearing checked on a number of times, and he can hear fine, he just seems to not quite understand how to adjust his voice from indoor to outdoor levels.  A young vet, missing one of his legs, was there.  He had a metal leg and Connor shouted "LOOK MOMMA!  THAT MAN IS HALF MAN HALF ROBOT!"  Talk about wanting to die!  The library is very small and the man was only 2 feet away from us.  Thank goodness the man was kind and had a very good sense of humor.  Connor asked him questions like "Can you put magnets on it?" and "Are you like super man or batman?" The guy told Connor how he could take his leg off and he was hurt in war and that he never thought of himself as a half-man, half-robot before but he liked that idea.  Connor and Corbin thoroughly enjoyed talking to him and they thought it was cool that they could touch his robot leg.  Actually I think the guy enjoyed talking to Connor about it.  It's probably easier for him to talk to the kid about it than to hear the parent embarrassingly tell their child to be quiet.  As we were leaving the library, Connor said "See ya later Robot Man!"  The guy laughed.  Connor told me as we were leaving "That guy was so cool mom!  He is half man and half robot!"  

About a week before that incident, we had another one at McDonald's.  Every Friday, after school, we go to McD's for ice cream.  We were sitting and eating our ice cream when Connor looked up and took off running and yelling "MEME!  MEME!  MEME IS HERE!"  Meme is who they call my mom.  He and Corbin took off running to the front of the restruant.  By the time I caught up, Connor is behind a woman with his arms wrapped around her hips and his face buried in her ass and saying "Meme!  I missed you!  I was going to call you!"  She turned around and looked down at him and was rather surprised.  Then Connor looked up and stood back and said "Oh!  Oops!  Sorry!  I thought you were my meme!  You kinda look like her but i guess you kinda don't look like her.  My meme has white teeth and you have brown teeth!"  Now as I have mentioned before, my Connor has the loudest voice and it carries.  McD's was filled with high school kids and several other customers who heard what my kid said, not to mention they saw him rubbin his face all in her butt.  I felt so terrible... I mean, it's one thing to run to a woman thinking she looks like your meme, but to shout to her and everyone else in the store that she had brown teeth was... well... embarrassing for all of us.  The kids were definitely enjoying the show.  The lady was nice... she even let us sit with them at their table.  Connor goes to school with her daughter and we see them everyday I go to pick up Connor from school.  It's kinda awkward.  

Several years ago, I had done something very similar to that.  My parents, sister, and I had gone to the movies to see Home Alone.  Everyone was waiting in the lobby for the previous showing to let out.  My sister, Cheryl, and I were playing around while waiting.  She was probably about 7 or 8.  I was probably 13 or 14.  She would run past me, and I would reach out and grab her and hug her to me then let her go to run off again.  She had run past me and I grabbed her and hugged her to my boobs. At 13-14 yrs old, I had a rather big rack for a girl my age.  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice my sister staring at me and I looked down and did not recognize the hairbow or the face that looked up at me, completely frightened and I said "Oh my God... You're not my sister!" I let go and that poor child, a complete stranger to me, took off running and crying.  There was probably 50 people who witnessed me unknowingly traumatize a poor child and several people got a good laugh.  I have to admit, that looking back now, it was hilarious.  It still is a funny story, looking back now.  When we went to sit in the theater, I looked behind us and low and behold, we are sitting directly in front of the poor traumatized child.  The theater was completely packed and there was no other place for them to move.  That poor girl jumped and sat as far from me as she could.  I don't know if we were laughing more from the movie or from my sister mixup.  I often wonder what that poor girl is up to nowadays and if she remembers the experience.      

Well, Corbin is awake from his nap and I have to do a quick sweep around the house so it doesn't look like I have been sittin on my ass all morning long.  Hey, I am entitled to sit on my ass somedays!  

Later bloggin buddies!