the one about our vacation - part 1

So my uncle gave us a week of his time share at Hilton Head Island, SC. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive from home and a super nice place FREE for a week. Simply having somewhere to go for FREE for a week solidified it for me, but the icing on the cake was having it be somewhere like Hilton Head. I've spent the better part of this week digging through the pile of paperwork looming on my desk (trying to find the keyboard so I could catch up on blogs and facebook and email get cracking on that ASAP!) and now that I'm semi caught up on blogs, FB, email, Perez, CNN, etc. work I will do my vacation post....since I know you've all been on pins and needles waiting for it! HA!!



We left our house about 4:30pm last Tuesday (we were supposed to leave at noon.....remember?) and after 3 stops it still only took us right at 4 hours and 15 minutes to get there. I have to say the ride down was actually quite pleasant. The Husband watched 5 million episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm on his iPod Touch while Big One alternated between watching Mall Cop and Bedtime Stories on the DVD player and playing with her new Nintendo DS (story later). Little One took one nap for about an hour and entertained us towards the end with her new-found dancing abilities (I'll try to get a video up of that soon...too funny) but was overall quite good, which surprised the living hell out of us all. Oh and while all of the rest of them were duly entertained by their various electronic gadgets, I drove the whole way. I did listen to Confessions of a Shopaholic (a recommendation from one of you) for part of the way but it got annoying having to constantly press 'pause' and pull out my earbuds for the incessant "Mommy", "Mommy I need....", "Mommy look", "Mommy......" or "Honey this" or "Babe that". I eventually gave up and just drove in silence. Silence is sometimes underrated I have to say.



When we got there we shlepped all our crap (and by crap I mean half of the house..including but not limited to..packnplay, clean air machine for noise, diapers, wipes, 3 suitcases, 2 duffle bags, nebulizer, laptop, shoes, beach chairs, towels and sheets....etc.) up to the third floor and got settled. I quickly set up the pack n play, diapered and jammied the baby, tossed 5 or so 'sassys' in the packnplay with her turned on the clean air machine and fan and shut the door. Now to unpack everyone else....



By this time Big One is overtired and I'm starting to hear a Whiny Bird in the distance. There is not much I hate more than a whiny mini. Mine, yours or otherwise. I can't stand a whiner or whining in general. That's when General Mommy takes over my body and whips everyone into shape. Beds made, clothes in dressers, Big One jammied and tucked in. Now it's time to get down to business. My glass of wine is patiently awaiting me on the kitchen counter while the condensation sweat drops roll down the side of the glass........

part 2 (compelling I know) coming up

Thousand Words Thursday

The Minis.......Hilton Head Island, SC......June 2009

For more Thousand Words Thursday go visit Jen at Cheaper than Therapy!

scratch and sniff

do you use Zicam when you have a cold or sinus problems? If so you need to read this now!!!

I personally don't use it or any other nasal spray but I do use Neil Med Sinus Rinse and I swear by it. Can't do much harm with salt water right?

I know people that do use it so I just wanted to share.....don't want any of my peeps losing the ability to sniff out that baby poo

real post coming up....pinky swear

dispicable

This makes me sick.....on so many levels

stay tuned for a real post later

High Noon

If anyone needs me I'm leaving at noon for this place:

I can be reached here:

or here:

or here

disclaimer

that last post was not homework from my Big One......it was something someone else sent to me and I thought it was TOO funny!!!!

she's funny......but she does know how to spell Horse!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!!!!

Homework

Help me!

Okay, I need your help.

I need books

I need new books

I've read all the Twilight Series(so last-summer...), I've read all the Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta series, I've read all of Nicholas Sparks books, I've read all David Sedaris books, I've read both of Tori Spellings books, I've read all of Torey Hayden's books (which are phenomenal by the way), I've read The Heart Shaped Box by Steven King's son, Joe Hill....I've read Sophie Kinsella, Alice Sebold, I've read Jeanette Walls the Glass Castle (one of my favorite...it's a must read if you like true stories)...I've read COUNTLESS memoirs.

Please recommend something. Anything. I have quite varied taste in books. I need something to take on vacation.

I do love true stories, but I'll take any suggestions. A good series, anything.

Please ya'll, help me find new stuff

Don't make me go to WalMarts and get some powders.....

Putting the "s" in Anniversary

Our 9 year anniversary was last Wednesday (the 27th). We've been married 9 and together 13. That's a long damn time considering I haven't killed him yet. Anyway, the plan was that we were going to get a sitter and go out Saturday night, we even had "plans" with another couple whose anniversary was also last week and they also have a 7 year old girl and a baby that is 15 months old. What are the odds? Or are they really Single White Female in couple form? Hmmmm....

Well no matter because our "plans" were not to be. None of the grandparents were available for storage and our usual sitter was at the beach. Looks like no night out for us. Oh well, maybe next week.

The husband of the couple we were going out with is a buddy of the Husband's from work. After we broke the bad news the Husband said, hey, you go out to dinner and then come by and have a few drinks on the patio. That sounded fine to me, but I didn't really think they'd come over.

They did.

And they brought another couple (this husband also a work buddy). I don't know these women really. One of them I've met a handful of times and the other I've never seen. I was the odd girl out sitting at the table with my glass of wine whilst all the others guzzled beer. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about having a good beer, but wow.....

I am normally very social and can get along with most anyone. I love having people over. It's always a good time. About an hour into the visit I started to realize I had not much in common with these two ladies and that perhaps this might not be where they want to be. They didn't have much to say and I tried conversation but to no avail. It was just kind of awkward if you know what I mean. I guess I felt like I was never in on the joke or something. After a few glasses of wine and them guzzling some more beer things got better and we ended up having a decent time. Mostly because my husband and I spent all night laughing our asses off at the mispronunciation of everything. It was downright hilarious.

We all ended up in the mancave above the detached garage and one of the ladies was talking about her obsession with getting stuff for free and the lengths to which she has gone to do so. Amazing. Utterly amazing. She has closets and pantries and cabinets and an entire garage full of cases of toothpaste, bodywash, soap, razors, toothbrushes, facewash, brushes, combs, dish detergent, laundry detergent, baby formula.....and the list goes on and on and on. It's breathtaking....and strange. But anyway the other wife kept talking about "WalMarts". I didn't think much of it at first but then I began to notice that she not only pluralized WalMart but she added a random "s" to lots of things. For instance Targets and Twilights and powders. When I pointed this out to my husband it became a running inside joke and both of us were nearly in tears laughing after a while. It was just too much. Every time she spoke we were holding in our laughter. Like to teenage boys that just smoked a big fattie. It was hilarious. If nothing else, at least the two of us had a good time even if we didn't get to go out.

Of course now everything is plural at our house. In fact I'm going to WalMarts today and you better believe I'm going to get me some powders.

I might even stop by KMarks (not KMart with a "t".....KMarks with a "ks")

Watch out or I might stop by Costcos

stuff and stuff

So there really isn't much interesting funny or witty going on these days.

I'm suffering from BBS.....Boring Blog Syndrome....or Balancing Bullshit Syndrome......or whatever

The short list:
1. Dad finishes radiation this week. They found another tumor but it's surface level so isn't a threat at this point and they will remove it after radiation is complete. Bummer......but glad it's surface level. The oncologist says that for this type of cancer you will spend the rest of your life chasing it. There really is no real remission. Big time bummer.

2. The minis and every other kid in North Carolina are enjoying the pure-t-shit out of that waterslide. Best.Purchase.EVER.

3. I've been having more knee pain lately.....blah blah.....two surgeries in the past.....blah....more therapy...blah blah.....2 cortisone injections and a new knee brace.....blah

4. 5 more days of school. I'm not sure yet if I'm excited. Maybe for the first week, but as soon as the chorus of "I'm bored" and "there's nothing to do" and "there's no one to play with" and "I don't want to go to camp" and "we're out of Popsicles again" starts.......I'm done. How many days till school starts back up?

5. Going on vacation next week. First vacation since before I was pregnant with Little One. WOW. I'm a little excited. Not sure how much there is to do in Hilton Head for little kids besides beach and pool.....but hey....I said beach and pool....isn't that plenty?

6. Is it really a vacation after you consider all the packing and preparation that comes along with taking a 7 year old and a 15 month old and a complaining husband (not really a beach kinda guy) on a 5 hour journey where you will set up the condo to be as much like home as possible and baby proof the entire place while unloading groceries and laundry detergent.......wait.......didn't I say we were going on vacation? This sounds like a lot of work to be considered "vacation".

7. I'm absolutely in love with the new Dasani Unsweetened Lightly flavored waters......Black Cherry, Strawberry Kiwi and my personal favorite Lime. Love love love

8. My pergola is almost done. So excited. It still needs staining, ceiling fans and lights......but it's built.....baby steps....

9. So this week it's Girl Scouts Bridging Ceremony (oh dear lawd...it's always something with those scouts)....Girls Scouts Carowinds trip, End of School music program, new school orientation and school tour, new school fundraiser and family picnic. And then I plan to hole up on my patio with a vat of wine and some of my new favorite dishes, the recipes for which I will share......in order to get my mind right for "vacation"

10. I plan to kill the cat soon if it doesn't stop waking me up at 3am to play or lick my face or scratch on the door or bring the mouse with the bell on it in my room to play.....etc. Not really, but a solution for this problem is an absolute must. I finally got the damn baby to sleep all night and now the DAMN cat won't leave me alone. I tried locking her in my office where her food and shitbox are but she tears up the carpet by the door trying to get out. She's beautiful and sweet but dumb as a box of rocks and annoying as they come in the middle of the night.

So what are you up to this week?

ETA......this is my pergola.....almost done!!