22 Questions

My friend, Jen, tagged me to answer 11 questions from her blog.  Well, I'm an overachiever and decided to answer the ones she answered plus the ones she gave me.  Also, I'm a procrastinator procrastinating the work that is waiting for me on the other screen...  But, these are fun because I think our kids will love reading these someday! 

1. What is your favorite type of cheese?
Fondue!  Cheeseballs!  Macaroni and Cheese!  What would this world be like without cheese??  Heaven forbid!  Gourmet:  Fontina, Everyday: Pepperjack, On a burger: Pimento Cheese

2. What are you excited about?
Summer is almost here!!!  I love everything about it!

3. How did you celebrate your last birthday?
Did I???

4. What is on your bedside table?
What isn’t on my bedside table?   Unfortunately… you’ll find clothes that need to be packed away, clothes that need to be repaired, new pillows waiting to have their tags taken off.  Oh, the lamp you say?  It’s on the ground…

5. What do you order from the movie theater concession stand?
I’m a sucker for popcorn with LOTS of butter.  However, now that I’m an old person, it makes me sick.  For real.  

6. Do you have a garden? What’s growing?
I have two raised beds at my house and two raised beds at a community garden.  The goods:  Butternut squash, zuchinni, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, medium tomatoes, red potatoes (they look fabulous by the way! I am so excited!), onions, kale, broccoli, cantaloupe, green peppers, red peppers, jalapenos, brandywine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, basil, flat leaf parsley, and there are a few spots for a few more things.  I’m also going to plant some stuff at my dads house; pumpkins and other assorted squash from seeds I sat aside from THESE.  Hoping for a successful crop!!

7. Any summer plans?
Always!!

8. Which TV couple(s) are you rooting for?
Jack and Emily (Revenge) Not a couple yet…

9. What’s the last thing you bought?
Lawn building soil

10. What’s one thing you are passionate about?
Good food!

11. What are you grateful for this week?
Snuggle time with the babies

12. A is for aggravation.  Ugh.  My kids sometimes…

13. What did you eat for breakfast? What do you wish you had eaten for breakfast?  Did I even eat breakfast today???  Any protein or a smoothie. 

14. How do you take your coffee?  Down my shirt is the only way apparently.  My grandpa tried to get me to drink some and then in the process of kidding around he dumped his mug full all over my brand new white shirt.

15. What’s the last book you read? The Pout Pout Fish.  I can’t remember the last book I read for myself, but I’m going to download 12 years a slave tonight!  Thanks for the reminder! 

16. How would you characterize your decorating style?  Hmmm… A little bit modern, a little bit traditional, sometimes too matchy.  I love bright colors and I love white.  It’s a bit tricky, because my house is full of things I don’t love, but they were things we could afford.  Bummer summer. 

17. What’s one blog or website that you never miss reading?  Honestly, there are barely a handful anymore, and Jen’s is one of them!

18. What’s your go-to meal to prepare when you’re having people over for dinner? I can’t think of a go to meal when we have people over because I’m probably attempting something new.  But, my go to meal to take someone who had a baby, sick, funeral, etc. is Shepherds Pie.

19. You are granted three wishes. What are they?  1.  Enough money to achieve our dreams sooner than later.  2.  That my children and family will always be happy and healthy and positive contributors in society.  3. That no one had to deal with allergies.

20. If you had to give up salt or sugar for the rest of your life, which could you live without?  Salt – easily. Is this a trick question?

21. What is the weirdest thing you believed as a kid?  Kids believe all kinds of crazy things!  Looking back, I think a weird thing is that I thought my parents knew everything.  Now what I think is a weird thing is when grown adults can't form their own opinions but have to refer to their parents.  "Well, my (mom or dad) said it, so it must be so!"  Ugh.

22. End of the world scenario – which do you prefer: vampires or zombies? Why? Hmm…Neither… but if I had to choose – Vampires seem more peaceful and attractive?  Zombies are just too gross.

I would tag someone else, but Sarah already did it, and I think most people that read my blog don't blog anymore!!  (Come on you guys!  Blog again!  I need more ways to procrastinate!!!)

Who said being an adult was fun?

We just got four new tires on our van on Friday... Yippee!! (said no person ever)

We also need...

A new vacuum
A new axel
A new yard

Oh my!

At the beach today

I went to the beach today in  Ft. Myers, Florida.  I lounged on a chair in the fine, white sand.  The sun was super bright and warm overhead.  I was enjoying listening to someone’s radio down the beach or  maybe it was coming from the pool.    

Then, a tear involuntarily slid from my eye bringing me back to the present.  I was reclined in a dentist’s chair.  The sun was actually the bright light overhead, illuminating my small mouth for the Dentist to see.  I fought hard to go back to Florida. 

I was able to get back, now sitting closer to the surf digging for clams.  I could feel the sand in between my fingers and toes.  A wave would break forcing water to reach me, and I’d watch the clams dig their way back beneath the sand.  It’s August and the water is warmer than bath water.  No good waves unfortunately, that’s what you get when you are in the gulf.  I’m back in the lounge chair enjoying the view of the ocean and sky; like I was on the edge of the earth.

My hands were shaking.  The tear still frozen in place on my cheek; refusing to drop lower beneath the shaded glasses they gave me to wear as if not wanting to be exposed.  I knew if I didn’t get back to the beach I just might lose it.  I could feel the anxiety rising.  My mouth started trembling. 

I found myself ducking under a wave.  Then another.    I was now in the Outerbanks.  Now, I’m riding a wave.  Now, I’m under the umbrella enjoying the shade.  I was really struggling to stay there…  I couldn’t stay focused on one spot.  I was all over that beach.

All that hypno birthing practice was good for something I guess.  It didn’t work for labor, but that’s how I cope with the dentist.  Our bodies are pretty crazy.  I wasn’t in pain at the dentist today, but painful visits eight years ago have left a pretty bad impact on my psyche.  If I let myself think too much about it while sitting in that dentist chair, it’s like my subconscious just takes over.  I shake, tears start to fall. I picture myself getting out of the chair.  I picture myself asking them to get their hands out of my mouth, or picturing myself having to control my breathing or something like a full-fledged panic attack.  Not even kidding.  It’s never gotten that bad, but I think if I let myself it would totally go there…  The hypno birthing cd I fell asleep to almost every night when I was pregnant with Trevan at least helps me with the dentist.  It basically just has you focus on something else, or puts yourself in a different place.  I wonder if there is a thing called hypno parenting where you can just tune out all the annoying things that you have to deal with as a parent.   I guess that would be called drugs.  Just say no to those, how about a safe hypo parenting option?  That’s probably reading or something.  Anyhoo… Tangent.  

Today, I got a cavity filled and a crown.  Not the pretty, sparkly, tiara kind of crown either.  The Novocain, drilling, impression, 2 hours in a dentist chair, $400 kind of crown.  This year, I’ve had a bad abscess, gone to the dentist, gone to another dentist for a root canal, been on antibiotics twice, back to the dentist today, and then back in a little over a week.  I get so much anxiety leading up to these visits, guys.   Oh my goodness.  I literally have to force myself not to go there (to an anxious, crazy place) in my head.  It so stresses me out!!

You guys, put me in the hospital to have a baby, but send me to the dentist????  I just can’t handle it.  This only started 8 years ago, when I went to the dentist after having Trevan and I had like 12 cavities after never having any!  It was a nightmare.  At the end of it, I can guarantee that that dentist did not like me either.  He complained about my mouth being too small, and how I couldn’t possibly feel what I just said I felt. I would leave that office and just cry. 

Kind of like today.  But, part of that was because I had to spend $400 on a tooth!  Not on something fun like shoes, a new yard, or like, a trip to the beach in real life! 

Oh well, I'll go back and visit Ft. Myers again in about a week….  I'll just keep telling myself that... 

Dinner at the Hamiltons

Meal time at our house is seriously a three ring circus.  The clowns in the three rings are Trevan, Mallary, and Jonah... 

Meal times consist of our kids being insanely hyper, laughing and screaming like little crazies, Mallary sticking her feet on Jonah's legs or seat under the table - which he does not like, and a lot of "encouraging" to get our kids to try new things, or to even take their required bites of their food. (their age = number of bites)

Needless to say, I do not enjoy meal times at our house.  I enjoy the cooking and preparing the meal part, just not the eating together part. 

Trust me, if you were here you wouldn't like it either.  My niece lived with us this summer, and I'm pretty sure she was excited not to have to eat at our table anymore when she left.

Well, last night was the worst meal time in a while.  We were supposed to go somewhere after John got home, so I thought I would get the kids fed and ready to go for when he got home...

Things started out well, then...

Jonah began dropping green beans in his water bottle.

He saw some water bottles on the island and requested he have it as his drink for dinner... 

Mallary saw Jonah had one and wanted one too. 

While I'm dishing up seconds at the stove, Mallary pours her water into Trevan's glass of milk.  

I tell her to stop, and turn back around to finish dishing up seconds.  I then hear a steady stream of water hitting the floor...

Jonah saw what fun pouring out a water bottle into Trevan's milk could be, and proceeded to pour his bottle of water onto his plate, overflowing onto the table, overflowing into his lap, overflowing into the floor...

I clean that up...

Then, Jonah kept grabbing Trevan's plate.  I kept warning Trevan to move his plate, and to not let Jonah grab it.  Two more grabs later, Jonah grabs the plate and spins it off the table.  I'm surprised the plate didn't break, but his plate was full of food...  It was the biggest mess...

At this point, I tell Trevan to clean up the mess, take my chances and leave them all to fend for themselves. 

We usually don't let Mallary and Trevan sit next to each other at meal times, but I guess I thought I would let them try it out again - bad idea.  Now I know that none of the kids can sit next to Jonah either... 

Please tell me I'm not the only one mom that would just like to eat dinner by herself every night.... 

Pet Peeves

Is it bad to post your pet peeves an a blog that is supposed to be uplifting?  :)  Pet Peeves are sometimes funny though, you know?  Maybe I have weird pet peeves.  The pet peeves I have with my kids are way too many to list, so I'll list other ones. 
*  Table centerpieces that are too tall.  I mean, dinner is not the time to play hide and seek.  We should not try to duplicate everything in a Pottery Barn catalog... notice there are no people eating at those tables... 

*  Cooking posts on blogs that have 10 paragraphs before the actual recipe, and then a picture of each and every 300 steps.  Are there people out there that really don't know how to melt butter in a saucepan without a picture?  I'm sure how I post my recipes gets on someone else's nerves too... 

*  The word "huh?"  Is it even a real word?  According to my husband, and four year old daughter it is, and now even my two year old has it in his vocabulary, except he screams it, "HUHHHHH???"   I'm pretty sure I don't mumble or mutter my words...

*  How the whole Chick-fil-a thing went down.  I am so sick of seeing stupid things on pinterest about it, and I just heard about how a college won't serve Chick-fil-a anymore.  Really?  Because one business man said he believed in traditional marriage?  How sad that people can't have opinions anymore.  I love how some mayors are trying to make it so Chick-fil-a can't operate in their cities anymore.  Isn't that kind of like a dictatorship?  If you have a different opinion than everyone else then you can't have a business here.  Isn't that what Hitler did?!?!?  Come on.  I would totally agree with everyone if Chick-fil-a was discriminating against hiring people who are gay, but I'm pretty sure they don't.  Let's not support good businesses that help people get their educations, close on Sundays to let people be with their families all because of ONE of  the CEO's beliefs.  Crazy people.  I could go on and on about this... 

*  People driving too slow in front of me.  I live by a main road that is 50 mph.  Not even kidding most people go 35-45 mph on it.  It drives me absolutely BANANAS!  It's funny because when I had only lived here two years, I was talking to some locals and telling them about it, they had lived here their whole lives and didn't know it was 50 mph.  Oh my word.  I don't typically have road rage, but get me behind a car on that road, and I want to do an illegal pass, and I probably do ride a few tails on that stretch every day...

*  Buying a new hair product and it does not live up to the price, or it is horrible for your hair.  Hate that! 

*  Junk mail.  Do I really need the same company to send me credit card offers every month - don't they get that we aren't interested by not responding every month???!! 

I think I'll stop there, I started thinking of way to many...  :) 

What's one of your biggest pet peeves? 

Allergies

Anyone else as miserable as me?

Oh my word, I want to claw my eyes out, my throat out, and my nose feels like it should fall off. 

Allergies are horrible. 

Ughh...

Those were the days...

I used to gradually wake up in the mornings to John rubbing my back.

I am now FORCED out of dreamland hearing my children say things like:

"No, it's my turn!"

"Give it to me!"

"Trevan won't give me...."

"Mallary took my....."

Followed by Jonah screaming from his bedroom because the other kids woke him up.

I HATE the six o'clock hour in my house.

Oh, the children I'm raising...

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Wrong!! I am not flattered at all, just flabbergasted!

I'm raising future hair stylists, I guess...

First, Mallary cut her bangs off AT HER SCALP last week:

On Tuesday, I take her to the salon and have my girl cut her hair so I can help hide her crazy bangs. She also trimmed it to make it all pretty. So pretty...

On Tuesday night, I come home from the gym, and head upstairs to tell the kids good night. Trevan is standing at the top of the stairs with a weird look on his face, Mallary comes out, and her hair seems funny, but it doesn't register...

"Trevan cut my hair," she said very matter of factly.

I look from her, to him, to her hair hoping that statement wasn't true. Then peek around the corner at John, "WHAT???"

Her beautiful hair, totally chopped up.

John was feeding Jonah, and sent the kids upstairs to get their pajamas on. Trevan went to use the bathroom in our room for some reason, and got "distracted" by the scissors. Here's the thing, he had to SEEK them out! They were my hair cutting scissors, and I keep them in this basket thing on my vanity. They weren't just laying around so easily accessible. He knows where they are because I cut his hair. With Mallary, it was totally my fault for leaving them out, not this time!

I have never in his life been so mad at him. It was just so out of character for him. What in the world possessed him to do such a thing?! I was so angry. I like totally wanted to beat him! I left him in his room, and hit the wall instead. I took toys away, he can't play his Star Wars video game thing for who knows how long, I took all of his Star Wars and Transformer shirts away for who knows how long, and every day after school after he does his homework he has to do chores for me. Yesterday, he cleaned up the living room and kitchen floor, helped me clear off the kitchen counters, and washed the doors down stairs.

"That wasn't hard," he said too cheerfully when he finished yesterday.

I'm trying to think up something "harder" for today. That little stinker.

What really made me sad, is that I was growing her out so I could do Locks of Love without having to cut her hair off to her chin. I couldn't do it because Trevan cut off too much hair.

That night, he just kept saying, "It was an accident," and "I only cut a little bit..." Does this look like a little bit to you?

The hair framing her face? Yeah, that was ALL Trevan...

Yesterday morning, I called the salon, and my girl wasn't coming in until noon, and then didn't have any openings until Saturday (But, just so you know, I'll be getting her cell phone number just in case something like this ever happens again, which it better not...), but the girl on the phone was totally sympathetic and offered to do Mallary's hair for free. I took her in the second I got off the phone, and she got her hair cut. She didn't do as good a job as my girl would have done though, so I'm pretty bummed about that, and wish I would have waited until Saturday. I gave the girl ten bucks anyway. But I thought Mallary's hair was going to have to be cut above her chin, so it's nice that I can still do pig tails or whatever. Though, I will actually have to DO (style) Mallary's hair now, not just brush it and run. That, I am NOT excited about. You should see her hair this morning, totally crazy. Ugh...

Does that look like a three year old hair cut to you? I think it makes her look so old...

Though, the barber scissors are now hidden in a secret place, my friend gave me these last night, just in case:

Good idea, huh?

The girl who cut Mallary's hair yesteray told me that when she first started cutting hair, people would come to her house to get their hair cut, her 5 year old brother would sit and watch. Then one day, he had three friends over, and he cut all three of their hair!!!

Oh, the craziness...

When, Mallary cut her bangs last week, I was so bugged. I kept trying to figure out ways I could fix it. While I worked on her hair, or just while looking at her hair from across the room trying to think of another way I could do it, she would look at me while flashing a cute smile, and say, "Smile, mom." If you only knew how many times she has told me that recently...

They are such little stinkers.

I think Trevan will be cleaning the downstairs baseboards today...

with a toothbrush.

That makes me smile.

Tuesday Tips

There's a reason why I'm willing to pay more for a good hair cut...

Today's Tuesday Tip: Stay away from Great Clips Hair cutting places!

"How can they mess up a guy's hair cut?" I thought. I sent John to get a "style," and this is what he came home with...



Do you see that???? The lady literally used clippers up the side, and THEN STOPPED! Do they not teach blending at Great Clips??? I could have done that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scratch that. I could have done WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than that. Maybe I should go apply for a job there.

I tried to get a picture of the difference from the side, you can barely tell, but you can still see the step. If you were using clippers, she literally went from a 2 to a 4 without blending... ever heard of a THREE??!!

I tried to fix it last night, but you can still see the line on one side.... totally bugs me.

He paid sixteen dollars for that. I could have cut his hair like usual and kept the sixteen dollars for myself.

(you should know that I got my hair cut this past weekend, and didn't get the

results I wanted as well, so I may be a little more irritable about this than normal...)

Where, oh where has my money gone?

You hear of people trying to plan for the expense of having a child. Dear people, you can't plan for this. You really, really can't.

Sure, you can try and plan for an estimate of how much it would cost for the doctor to deliver your baby, but that is about it. (Which we obviously didn't do with Jonah because we are STILL paying bills from his birth!! Our insurance changed at the beginning of the year. Two words: HIGH DEDUCTABLES...)

Costs begin to accumulate starting from the time your child is concieved; pregnancy test, maternity clothes, craving purchases at grocery stores and eating out, baby clothes and gear, etc. etc. etc.

My children are seriously making me poor. A few examples:

1. My children ask for a drink of milk or juice, (mostly Mallary) they drink a sip, and then go to the sink and pour the rest DOWN THE DRAIN! What??? I imagine it's like watching someone burn your money.

2. Trevan has ripped a whole through FOUR pairs of pants since the beginning of the school year. I don't let my kids wear holey jeans to school, so we are down to only a few pairs of jeans... Really? Buy a new shirt at the store, come home and cut holes in it - that's how I feel.

3. You know college is going to cost a lot of money, but Kindergarten? I've already spent ten bucks this week, and it's only Wednesday. I won't even talk about last week...

4. Mallary mixing dirt in a container of baby formula. I was not a happy person on that one.

5. They waste soooo much tooth paste... You could brush a shark's teeth with all that toothpaste.

6. No more pretty soap for me, my kids use enough soap on their hands to wash a a dog with.

7. You can obviously imagine how much water it takes to wash off all that soap with... Literally watching my money go down the drain.

8. It's being flushed too... we now go through toilet paper faster because Mallary enjoys seeing how much she can fit in a toilet at a time. It's usually too much, resulting in a clogged toilet.

9. Jonah has now joined the wasting money party. He poops a little poop in his diaper, I change it, and then ten minutes later, he poops again. I could wait, but his poop eats his bum, so I can't just leave it there, what if he doesn't poop again? Jonah, could you just get all your poops out at once?

10. Don't even get me started on the food that they waste at meal times...

Dishes broken, shoes scuffed the first time they are worn, paper wasted, books ruined, wipeys wasted...

Really, no one can plan for the expense of having a baby. The only thing they can plan on is kissing their money good bye.

Low Expectations

I had high hopes for October. High, I tell you.

I should have stuck with the norm of having low expectations! (It has it's place, I promise. Especially with pregnancy, labor, and raising children. Just imagine nothing will go right, and you'll always, always be pleasantly surprised!)

Anyhoo. Back to my dashed high hopes.

On the agenda included catching up with all my blogging. But, you won't care about reading about my summer travels in January, right? I had hoped to finally start blogging all the 100 posts I have ready to blog about on the other blog too. But, you won't care about reading about the 500 ways you can do ghost treats and cupcakes at Easter, right? Maybe you could take the ghost ideas and adapt them to rabbits. They're both white, so I guess that might work... I had planned to do a grand re-opening of my Etsy store, and finally include all the other stuff I make, with an unveiling of my logo finally. Ummmm, that didn't happen. I had also planned on including my new onesie to try and raise money during breast cancer awareness month. Well, I guess I'll be prepared for NEXT October. I had also hoped to have a new online sight up and running or at least STARTED. Yeah, that didn't happen either. Not. Even. Close. I had planned on throwing Mallary a birthday play date. (Which I had actually wanted to do LAST year...) So, I can use all the stuff I have bought the last TWO years NEXT year for her birthday. Hopefully... Let's see... what else? I didn't decorate for Halloween. We (I include a 'we' here, because John could have remembered too) forgot to buy candy to give out during trick-or-treating (which happened on Saturday night in our neighborhood). I had planned to start getting back to the gym REGULARLY now that Jonah is six months old. That hasn't happened either. (I'm hoping to change that TODAY.) I had hoped to clean my work room... if you could peek through this computer and see the mess around me, you would know that didn't happen either. I can't even remember all the other stuff I wanted to get done, but didn't.

High hopes... I totally thought I would be able to do all that stuff.

I did, however, do at least thirty two loads of laundry, make at least twenty dinners, pack at least twenty lunches, go to the grocery store at least five times, change at least seventy diapers etc. etc. etc. etc.

I have low hopes for November. I'm keeping my list to just a few things....

(Okay, I'll be honest,

there is a list of 700 things I would

love to accomplish this month,

really, you should see the 'to do' list in my brain.

BUT, I know I'll only be able to get to the first three...)

Stay tuned to the post about all the ghost treats! Really, you could use them at Easter...

Dum Dum

I know there are people out there that are directionally challenged. I, however, am not one of them. That, being said, about a year ago I purchased a Tom Tom. I had never felt the need for one, but, I was going to be driving by myself in a big city, and didn't want to have to risk my life while looking at my map quest directions and a map while driving in crazy traffic.

Fast forward to a year later, I still don't love my Tom Tom. Let's just say we haven't quite built a relationship of trust yet. Not. At. All.

Here's the thing... If I'm going to pay a lot of money for a computer/techno gadget shouldn't it be smarter than me? Shouldn't the words 'global positioning' equal 'all knowing?'

Sometimes I'll turn Tom on even when I'm going somewhere I know just to see where he would take me. Let's just say Tom is not the smartest. Only one time has he showed me a new road I had never driven on. ONCE. Granted, that road is a shortcut from one store I frequent to another store I frequent. So, I thank Tom for that. But, overall Tom tries to take me long ways, through icky neighborhoods, and he tells me I've arrived at destinations when it isn't exactly the case.

For example, yesterday I tried to find a new place... Tom sent me to a dead end, I had to find the place all on my own. Then, leaving I figured Tom could help me find my way back.... well, he didnt! He tried to send me down a one way street, and I barely saw the one way sign just in time to pull into a parking lot!!!!!!

THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!

I was driving to a different Wal-Mart once, and the GPS told me I had reached my destination. It must have been an invisibile Wal-Mart, because there was nothing but a field in front of me...

Global positioning... hmmm.... Really? They can't do any better than that?

While some of my relatives were on a trip, their Tom Tom was telling them to go the wrong way, and they started calling their Tom Tom a Dum Dum.

I concur.

Though for the record, if you're lost, it can help you find your way. Even though it might take you an hour out of your way....

It's name is Tom, but it's voice is female... Odd.

Could this post be any more sunshiney?

Yes. Yes it could.

On Saturday, I totally wanted to stay in bed. Forever. I forced myself to go shopping for a little pick me up. Just shopping for curtains, new hardware for a dresser, baby gates; so called, necessity shopping - not the really frivolous kind. It really didn't make me feel that much better, but leaving Lowe's, there were girls selling Girl Scout Cookies (not just taking orders, actual cookies!), and I totally jumped all over that. Oh, the power of a Carmel Delite (formerly known as Samoas).

Then yesterday, my husband sent me an email that had these pictures included in it:

Pictures like that would totally make you feel better, wouldn't they? WRONG! I sent him back an email that said, "Thanks for adding to my depression today..."

Why would those pictures make me depressed? Well, my husband has been doing so great at his job, he's won a few contests. A trip to this place was one of them. Why would that make me depressed???? Well, it's right after I have the baby. RIGHT. AFTER. In case you don't know, you don't swim for 6 weeks after you have a baby, and me sitting for any long period of time after I have a baby is pretty much shot for a while too. The thing about the trip is, there are no rain checks, no instead of's, no monetary reimbursements, no nothing. Doesn't that just stink?? I could so use a vacation...

Next year, it's a trip to Italy. He told me he would try to win that too to make up for this. I wouldn't mind going to Italy...

Tomorrow.

What if I'm not in the mood for lemonade

when life hands me lemons?

I’m not in the mood for a lemon tart, lemon bars, or lemon soufflés (even though I plan on trying a new recipe for those next week).

Where did that saying come from anyway? When life hands you lemons make lemonade? How come it doesn’t go, when life hands you lemons AND sugar make lemonade. What if you don’t already have any sugar? Who wants to drink sour lemonade? Is that the point in the saying? When life hands you lemons be thankful you can make lemonade and have something to drink even though it’s sour?

I know this goes against the cheerful nature of my blog, but I’m in a funk... can we still be friends? Maybe by the end of this post I’ll find some cheerfulness…

Am I the only one that ever thinks life is unfair? Come on, I can’t be the only one. I think I probably bugged some of my high school teachers, because I was the fair police. I had many teachers tell me I should be a lawyer. I was always reasoning with them and telling them that certain things were unfair or not right. One teacher was like, “hasn’t anyone ever told you life isn’t fair?” I replied, “life may not be fair, but it isn’t fair that you just let her do that and now you aren’t going to let him do the same thing, that ISN’T fair.” He rolled his eyes, and said, “You should be a lawyer.” But, he also totally let the other person do what he had just told them "no" to.

I know this post totally goes against trying to be like my mother. I used to tell her often, “it’s just not fair, why you?” “Why not me?” was always her reply. I know she would tell me to count my blessings right now, and look for the good things. But, you know how sometimes you aren’t in the mood to do that? But, I know that's when I need to do it the most. Whenever I have tried to count my blessings, I start a list and I get like four things on the list, and then stop, I really think it’s annoying (if you know me, you know I would have put the 'r' word there, but I’m trying to be better). I mean I know I have more than four blessings, of course… I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I guess I am. I know I have had a pretty easy, great life, but am I not allowed to be frustrated with life sometimes? Ugh.

Basically, I need to count my blessings, which will help me live with the fact that life’s not fair, right? Or at least help me focus on my blessings and be able to ignore what I don’t think is fair.

Let’s see…

1. I have a good husband
2. I have really cute kids
3. I have some good friends
4. I have a house to live in
5. …

Okay.

I’ll work on it.

I'm a little bugged...

So, I sent a feedback email to the Fox TV network this morning. I'm sure it won't make a difference, but I am totally annoyed that they air the show, Hell's Kitchen. TOTALLY ANNOYED. Fox has a few good shows; So You Think You Can Dance, House is clever at times, American Idol annoying at times - but still entertaining, and Glee even looks promising, but Hell's Kitchen is the worst show on television right now! Seriously.

There is no sex, no violence (technically), but I find the show degrading, demoralizing, and highly offensive. I don't think I have even seen one full episode, it is too offensive. I even find the preview commercials offensive. I understand the title is called Hell's Kitchen, but why is it okay to have a show on television that shows someone degrading people like that, I'm pretty sure that's called verbal abuse. Would people be okay watching it if it were a husband and wife situation, or a parent and child situation, NO! I mean COME ON! What's next? A show where someone literally beats another person up? Obviously, Gordon Ramsey is a talented individual, is it necessary for him to be so crass, and insulting? It's too bad if he's like that in real life, but you shouldn't have to subject viewers to watching abusive people, and watch the competing chefs having to show respect to someone who treats them so poorly. Animals shouldn't even be treated like that.

I understand that working in a restaurant can be pretty stressful, and most people aren't on their best behavior in a stressful situation. (I had a roommate dub me The Kitchen Nazi in college, and my husband can tell you I'm not always the most pleasant person to work with when I am preparing for a party and running behind schedule, even though I am a lot better than I used to be...) I am just really disappointed that just flipping through the channels I have to see Gordon Ramsey insult a woman by calling her a "dog." Totally unacceptable. Let's show the world that if you are really successful, you can treat humans like crap, abuse them, and get paid a lot of money to do it. It's disgusting, and really disappointing. This show should not be on the air. They can do better.

My mom didn't watch a lot of television, she would start watching with us occassionally, and then get up and leave saying, "that offends my spirit." I never really got it then. But, last year I watched a little bit of an episode, and made John change it, it totally offended my spirit. I can't even tell you the last time something offended or bugged me as much as this show did. It should offend everyone, because treating people like they are NOTHING should not be acceptable to anyone! That is called A-B-U-S-E, and honestly soooooo unprofessional, and soooo unethical. Why is it on TV???? I mean, come on! Oh my goodness!

I'm taking a deep breath.