Stolen Video. Hilarious!

I copied this from my cousin's blog. I love the electric headlight so that a woman will find a man of truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txaR2HvnwVg

Mavis Beacon, I need you.

While I'm puttering about the house I think of all these "important" things that I want to write about on my blog and then when I finally am able to sit down at the computer I don't want to post because I can't type fast enough to please myself. So I don't and several days will pass without any new information being added to this journal of my life. I am going to try a new method. I am going to write in stages if there is a lot on my mind.

Stage 1:
I am in love with the mixture of vinegar and baking soda. I love the smell it produces, the smell in the drains that it removes and the sound it makes as the vinegar hits the soda. This week, I have treated every sink and the bathtub in my house 4 times each and the toilets twice. I also treated Mom's kitchen sink when we were there yesterday for Memorial Day. (It smelled like fish.)

Stage 2:
Don't drive and push the buttons on your cell phone. The other day I was driving and the cars ahead of me we were way ahead of me so I started dialing a number. At the end of the number I looked up and saw an elderly gentleman crossing the road at a very slow pace. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him. If I had looked up a second or two later my life would be very different right now. It was sobering.

Stage 3:
I have always been proud and thankful for the fact that I have never gotten a fever blister. I am firmly opinionated that some people get 'em and some people just don't and I was obviously one of the people that do not. Mom got them. Dad got them. Jason got them. But not me.

Until this weekend.

It hurts. I cannot even open my mouth all the way to take a bite without splitting it open. How does one remedy this situation?

Stage 4:
Tomorrow, at nine o'clock in the morning, Angie is coming to take pictures of our house. Angie is our realtor. That's right. We are putting our house on the market. I have cleaned all the live long day and even mowed the front and side yards. I also have all the laundry done. The problem is that now I won't let the girls move or breathe until after Angie is here and has done her business. (And, I would proudly let her do her business b/c my bathrooms are sparkly clean! :) )
I won't start supper because the kitchen looks so lovely and I don't want to mess it up. Maybe I should have scheduled her appointment for this afternoon.


Disclaimer:
I wrote this entire thing in one sitting. I just liked using my bold font at the beginning of each paragraph.

:)

POLL

Would you quit reading this blog if it had advertisements?

I've thought about adding them to start a fund for really cool giveaways.

I want your real opinions.

And another one

This video is great. What a fun way to promote your business.

Please watch it. For me.

This one is beautiful but the main reason I like it so much is that he has a dimple in his shoulder. I thought I was the only one!

Good Grief! Around 3:42 it will really blow your mind.

Inspiration

In our next home I will have a room that is painted white and I will have a piano that is painted green or fuchia. Or orange. Or maybe red.

Elaina's Calla Lilly

The beanstalk.


















It keeps growing...




















and growing...

and look! It's still growing.

I'm afraid it will reach the ceiling before it decides to stop.

And isn't an actual flower bud supposed to appear at some point?

What's next??

Now the old girl needs a new radiator.

Molly Got Married!!

We went to Memphis for my cousin's wedding and just about everything that could go wrong, did. Not for the bride, for us. I was never so glad to finally get home.

The house needs picking-up but I really just want to lie around with the girls.

So I think I shall.

Silver Dollar City, Our First Family Vacation

Yesterday, our van was in the shop getting her lower intake gasket replaced ($$$$!) so the girls and I decided to walk to town since we were really hungry and there was no food in the house. It started to drizzle right as we reached Steffy's Pizza and we darted inside.
















After a yummy meal of half sausage, half pep. pizza and cheese sticks the girls and I gathered ourselves together and set out to walk home...in the pouring rain.
















We decided since a run in the rain was really the last thing that we, and by that I mean I, wanted to do, we would just lope across the grass to BNT Auto to check on the status of the van.
















It was ready! Hallelujah!















The picture above of all the girls with their hands raised is a picture of the absolute most boring ride at the park. The ladybugs go around in a circle. That's it. No jumping or bouncing or buttons that you can push to go up, up, up and then down, down, down. I had the girls screaming their lungs out and holding their hands up the entire time. It was really, really funny.

We drove home and I ironed for the next 5 years of my life.

After all that ironing I decided a date was in order so I called Leah, who had previously volunteered to babysit and Jason and I made our date details.

I arrived at the Malco Theater and guess what!!!???

All that money that we had just paid to get the van fixed was in vain. I couldn't get her to stay cool. So we had to park her at Wendy's and this morning I made the mechanic man go get her first thing. I am not going to pay towing charges. I can be very firm with people.

But only over the phone.

So here we are, carless again which I really don't mind. I just want it all to be fixed and have one less thing to think about.

Plus, we have grandkid pictures in the morning and I really don't want to walk to the studio.

Look how sweet this one is.

Visitors!

This morning around ten I heard a knock on the door and it was Ashlie and the kids dropping off a birthday gift for Eily. How fun! I always love unexpected company. Especially when my house isn't embarassingly messy. Ashlie needed to take Alli to Girls Scouts so I volunteered to keep the other kids and we are just having the best time. I was going to take advantage of the "babysitters" and get the rest of the yard mowed but the mower still won't start.

That ol' grass

The back yard and I have a contest going on. Or maybe it's me and the mower. Or maybe they are both working together to make it IMPOSSIBLE for me to get both the front and the back yard mowed in the same day. Today I got the side yard and the front yard mowed. Eily was down for what was destined to be a long nap and I was bound and determined to get the back jungle mowed. Last week I got one third of it mowed before the rain started in. So now the other negelected two thirds of the yard is actually knee high... or is it knee deep? I started in on the same patch that I got to mow last week and before I could even get that little part finished, I ran out of gas. I couldn't go get more gas because I would have to wake Eily up and then if she was awake I wouldn't be able to mow. The verb tense in this paragraph is all over the place. So, once again, the jungle remains. Once Jason got home I sent him for more gas and I went out to mow for the 30 minutes of daylight that was left and the silly mower wouldn't start.



Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe not.

Giving Thanks

It's finally not raining. Finally. I'm not sure how long it is supposed to last but I'm so thankful for the sunshine. You know what else that I would be thankful for? Photoshop.

I'm thankful that Eily is currently happy and occupied by someone other than myself. Very, very thankful.

I'm thankful that my house is picked up. It's been a long, long time.

I'm thankful that the pest control man is coming in a few to spray the house. NO MORE ANTS!!!! Oh, and spiders too.

I'm thankful for cousins and what they make possible. :)

I'm thankful that my girls are growing up living close to their cousins. (This is true until September so I'd better thank it to death while I still can. ) (That sentence makes no sense.)

I'm thankful that my entire family gets to eat out for free tonight.

What are you specifically thankful for today?

Thanking away,

Ceridwen

The Winner

Since today is Jason's birthday I let him narrow the winning entries. He choose Queen S and Gwendolyn and this is where it gets hard because I know both of you personally. I know to Gwendolyn this gift card may seem like a hundred dollars and I want to pick QS because I absolutely love that movie and that quote.

But Gwendolyn, my heart leans towards you and where you are in life. So you win. And I feel so terrible towards QS that I'm sending her something too. I just don't know what yet. I'm leaning towards a handwritten letter.? Some of you may think that that's a lame runner up prize but I love to receive letters in the mail and it doesn't happen often enough.

This is the last contest that I will personally pick a winner. It makes me feel mean. From now on it will be random.org. Sorry people but my heart can't take it. I cry easy these days.

I won an award. :)

Dani from Dani's Daily Drop awarded me with the Friendship Award. This is what she said about it:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."

I thought that was right nice of her.

Favorite Photo Shoot

You have got to check out this photo shoot.

Time for another giveway!

This time the giveway is a little girly but any of you men that want to enter, if you win you can just give it to a girl that ya love.

The qualifying question:
What is your favorite movie quote?

Prize:
$22.93 gift card to Maurices
I do realize that it is a strange amount but I have to work with what I have.

Contest ends Tuesday night at 6pm. It's a little longer than I normally go on a contest but since this is the weekend I thought I probably needed to extend the time limit some.

You want to know something embarrassing about the previous post?

Every time the king would introduce a princess and the boy would play the bugle to announce their arrival I started tearing up. My throat was bobbing for all it was worth to keep my tears at bay.

Princess Day at Chick-Fil-A

Today had so much potential to be a really fun day for the girls. Chick-fil-a had the coolest things planned for Princess day but it is raining cats and dogs here. The restaurant was so crowded that people didn't even have a place to sit and eat. We ended up with a side table that was meant for something else and two chairs at the main table. The restaurant was decorated to the hilt. It was really amazing. We didn't want to stand in the rain to wait for our turn to have faces painted, nails painted and pictures on the prince's horse so instead we went to the mall. I think the girls still had good time and I hope they do it again next year and if so, I hope it doesn't rain.


Claire and Elaina with Princess Vanilla and Princess Chocolate.
















Lillie at the mall.























Eily with Princess Chocolate and Elaina with Princess Vanilla.

Elaina at the main table.

Claire and Lillie at the side table that we swiped.

Company

Yesterday at the birthday dinner, we went outside to blow bubbles and the two boys that are constantly at our house, of course, showed up. The 10 year old is Cody and the 5 year old is Austin. They are the strangest pair and it is even more strange that they are always knocking on the door to see if the girls can come out and play. A 10 year old boy that is not related asking to play with 2 and 3 year old little girls. A little strange considering that there are a jillion kids his age that live in this neighborhood. Anyways..... Cody wanted me to take his picture and then one of the two of them together. So here they are. Great posing, don't you think?

Giveway coming up as soon as I can get to the mall.

Happy Birthday to Thumper!!!

Today is Eily's first birthday. I now have no children under one. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
















It also means that it is time for my personality updates on everybody.
This time we will start with Eily since this is her big day and all.

We love Eily. And that about sums it up.





























She is the most delightful baby and she jabbers all the time. It is the funniest sounding garble. I love to smell her neck. Is that strange? And she loves to play games with us. I'm going to miss having a baby this age.


Next up:
Daddy.

Daddy sprained his back Monday and hasn't been able to move well since. Hopefully it will heal soon and he will be back to his old busy self. In the mean time it has been fun to wait on him and baby him. He is still an awesome painter.

Now for Claire.

Claire is still the same. When will she get out of this stage? I love her caring side and I'll be glad when/if that is ever her most dominate side. She is getting taller and is starting to thin up. Her lashes are still lusciously long.























Elaina:

Elaina has really gotten into coloring. She will spend hours at her little table practicing staying inside the lines. It's fun to watch her develop. She's been a little bit more of a handful this month but is still generally easy. She is all about cleaning her room and then she and Claire get in fights because she won't let Claire play with any toy because that would mess up the room. I feel for Claire but I love Elaina's cleanliness.

That leaves me. I have been dragging a lot these days and I look forward to getting some energy back. And I need to clip my toenails.

I will leave you with some more pictures from the party tonight.