Progress and potential psychological problems

Last night was anything but uneventful. I worked, probably until close to 8 or 9. And while I was working, the mister was doing manly things in the bathroom.

Don't go there.

This is what he was doing.

And that is after I painted, had him hang our new light fixture, and we added the paneling (see all below).
B & W because I don't want to spoil the reveal. =) I am mean like that.

All from my cell phone again, because really, I am too lazy to connect the battery to the charger, and then the charger to the wall. It would be helpful if the charger wasn't upstairs or the battery down here.

But it also might be because of this guy:

  

As I was working last night, I felt something on my shoulder. Marcos had just got done throwing a wadded-up paper towel at me (a sign of love, really), so I wasn't all that impressed with the slight movement.

And then it kept moving. So I swatted at it. And it moved towards the back of my arm, almost in the under region and it BIT me, Charlie!

That bite hurt like a m@*#(@)#*$^@#)@)@()*#$_!@+.

I swatted at it again and it landed on my leg. I yelled, swatted it off and it landed on the floor. I called for my knight in paint-covered armor to come save me. He captured the little bugger and put it in a baggy in case I met my fate. He'd be able to show them what kind of bug it was.

I posted about it on Facebook. 

(EEEh. It feels like stuff is crawling on me NOW!)...

And a friend asked me to post a pic. So I did. Of my bite and the blasted bug.

I woke up this morning to a reply from another friend telling me that it is called an Assassin bug and that she was bit by one a few years ago and had some major psychological issues related to that bite.

Not the most friendly wake-up call. But I am glad she warned me.

I kept googling - trying to determine my next steps.

And that is where I am right now. The bite area still hurts, but it's not swollen or crazy. I don't feel any different. But am starting to wonder when my special powers will kick in.
You know, like Spidey's did.

And now I am wondering what I will look like in tights.

via Pinterest via a cute Sweedish Blog

Alright, Mr. Assassin Bug, do your thang.

Every vote counts

It took all day, but I finally was able to get my vote in... and my seat belt on.

It's funny, before I left to go vote (and visit Hobby Lobby), I asked Nic who he "voted" for today at school.
He was wearing his Scream/Ghost Face costume again.

I asked him who he voted for. I figured I gave birth to him, I had a right to know.
He told me that he voted for the guy who, when someone broke into a house, broke a window and hurt their arm at the window, they would have to go to the hospital and pay for their doctor.

For real.

That answer did not help me in my decision. And truthfully, I think he mixed up a few things. Maybe a Proposition or two. But I think what I got from him is that he doesn't quite care for Obamacare. :P

I am sitting in my office, the kids have homework that involves watching the news and watching the results. My vote has been counted, I think. And I can tell you that I voted for whom I felt would do a better job.

I am Republican by nature. (Nuture?!) That doesn't mean I agree with everything our Republican candidates say or do, but for the most part, I am in line with their thoughts.

I voted for Mitt Romney because I can see his family values. I believe in his family values. And yes, his family values most likely come from his Mormon faith. And that's okay. It's great, even!

I like the idea of America standing up, getting off of our butts and getting back to work. Working towards lowering the unemployment and welfare numbers. Putting the pieces back together, from the past 8 years (and yes I realize half of those years were when Bush was in office - love him). We need to learn not to be so entitled, to work for what we have. To give back to the people who need it the most. To spend money on EDUCATING our children. Yaddah Yaddah.

This is like the 9th inning in the World Series.
I'm biting my nails.

Manners are over-rated

Nic has been BEGGING for a Scream/Ghost face costume for days now. Ever since Halloween, really. Well, I had to run errands today to get Isa and Nic shoes. While at Target, I found a Ghost face costume 70% off. So I got it for him. It doesn't matter that there are almost 11 months until Halloween. He loves costumes and dressing up.

Lately it's been Darth Vader or Dracula.

Anyway, after some fun scores at Target, I come home, demand 'thank you's' for the shoes from Isa (she's been bugging) and Nic runs off to try on his costume.

Five minutes later, he returns. He looks amazing. Scary, even.

Alex, the great & considerate one, prompts Nic with...

Alex: Nic, what do you say?

Silence.

Alex: Nic... Come on. What do you say?

Nic (in an eery voice): Hellooo, Sydneyyy!

(Evidently people aren't getting the Sydney reference. My mom and dad sure didn't. Did nobody watch horrible horror movies from the 90s and early 2000s?!?! Just in case; here is the video. Which is where I am sure Nic got this from. Bad mom alert. Letting my 5 year old on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ht0uR5jWz0)


And then later... the home phone was ringing off the hook. Political calls, marketing calls, and everything in between. It got to a point that we just stopped answering it.

After about the 4th call, Nic finally walked over to answer it. You could hear the loud voice on the other end. I thought it was a recording. Nic listened intently.

A few moments passed and then I heard Nic say, "No, thank you." and he hung up the phone.

Alex and I just looked at him, perplexed.

I asked him what the person asked him.

He said that the man asked if he wanted to donate his sister.

It took a minute but then I realized that it was Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Valley asking if we had a donations.

And here Nic said "no." He must be loving Isabel today.

The kid KILLS me. =D

Donations

There comes a time when you look around and are just floored at the "world" around you. Right?
Wait... let me back up. Let me OWN this.

I am looking around and am floored at the "world" around me.

I am so sick of the STUFF.

I've been tossing things into Goodwill destined boxes all weekend. I've actually taken things in that still had their previous Goodwill tag on them.

I realize this is my own version of Super Soul Sunday. Especially as I dig deep into my soul to determine if I am full of joy. At the moment, most likely not. Of course, there's a cure for joylessness. And without trying too hard, and going with my heart, I have a few ideas up my sleeveless tank-top.

Election 2012

Isa: Who are you voting for, mom?

Me: I am not saying.

Isa: It better not be Romney.

Me: Oh?

Isa: You didn't listen to the debate, did you? Romney is trying to get rid of the people who are from other countries.

Me: Illegal immigrants? Isa... if they aren't here legally, that's an issue.

Isa: But what if he sends Justin Bieber back to Canada????

Me: Isabel... I am almost positive he is here on a working Visa. And that's fine. That means he's here legally. He won't be sent home.

Isa: What do you mean you're ALMOST positive?

This was an actual conversation with my 13 year old daughter just now.
Those smarty-pants politicians are being sneaky... and at the same time, scaring the Bbbb-Biebers out of teen girls across the country.

via

Back 2 Reality

We are home and I am hoping we are back on track for LIFE come Monday. In the meantime, here are a few pics.... I have a gazillion more to edit... (among other things to do, like pay bills, spend time with the kiddos, and get food back in the house).

Cali sure is pretty!

He Completes Us

If you've been here before, you know that my third child is a masterpiece. That does not mean the older two are less special, they are just as perfect, but Nic is different. I think we've all helped shaped him, but God seriously had the most impact. Silly God and his crazy sense of humor.

Nic has a memory like no other. I pray for his future wife and kids. lol... Seriously, he can remember things that happened nearly three years ago, when he was three, that hold no real significance to the rest of us. They must have hit a chord with him.

For example. Well over three years ago, I was driving with the kids in our van and there was a huge piece of metal on the road. The car in front of us hit it and it flew under our van as we drove on the freeway. It made a huge BUMP and ultimately, we had to get the undercarriage examined and fixed. Nic STILL talks about the bump in the road. He reminds me to drive carefully on freeways. The dude is FIVE. That was three years ago!

That's not all. He says he remembers being a baby, in jail. Obviously, I am not that gangsta of a momma. He wasn't born in a jail cell while I was awaiting trial due to my mad graffiti skills. However, he was born 3 full months premature and did spend several weeks in an incubator and then a crib with bars(ish). Things that make you go hmmmmm.

There is more stuff where that came from, but that's for a different time.  The reason I mention his memory is because we were on the way to dinner on Friday night, just Marcos, Nic and me, and he was talking about things he remembered. As always, I complimented him on remembering all that stuff. To which he replied, "You know how I do it, mom? I have memory ships in my heart."

Memory ships. In his heart.
Of course he means 'chips.'

He once told me that he sees his memories as pictures in his head. And that the pictures have a white boarder around them.  Oh, to be a blood vessel in his brain....

Besides he love for remembering things and coming up with the cutest sayings, Nic loves to collect things.

He found these rocks at the park. Evidently, we were all out of Ziploc bags, so he used the next best thing. Tin foil. You know... so they stay fresh.

Nic LOVES to put on a costume.

And he loves Legos, small toys... and taking pictures of everything.

This kid cracks us all up. He's the perfect third (and last) child. He completes us.
No really. He does. As in, I see minor surgery in my very near future. As in... no more kiddos for us!

See, literally, he does complete us.

Momma's Kitchen Makeover

This post has been a long time coming, but I finally got the pictures I needed to make it worthwhile.

In January 2011, my parents had a small kitchen fire that caused major damage to their entire house. Between the smoke and the actual fire damage, their kitchen had to be gutted and recreated from scratch. My parents lived in an extended stay hotel for nearly a year, while they were waiting to move back into their house. The drywall, A/C units... everything had to be replaced. They lost some items to the smoke damage, but nothing of major importance (like my baby pictures). Well, they did lose their large flatscreen. That had to hurt.

Here are the kitchen pictures I took that day, back in January.

Before the kitchen was a small, early 90s affair. You can see where the wall was (where the fridge was in the middle picture) that divided the kitchen from the study/guest bedroom. During the renovation, that wall was knocked out and that entire space became the kitchen (with an eat-in area). They also added a HUGE peninsula which gives the grand-kids space to hangout.

Here is the kitchen today (okay, yesterday):

 

The garage door was moved to the left, making room for more cabinets. This picture right here is the same vantage point as the first fire picture above. Huge difference, huh?

While the fire was bad and my parents having been misplaced for month after month was horrible, the outcome couldn't be sweeter. Everyone is okay, the house is standing, and the kitchen has been updated and has added value to the house.

My momma is a FANTASTIC cooker, so it's even more fun to see her moving around in that kitchen making delish dishes for us.

I am not sure if my pictures did the kitchen justice, but trust me when I say, it's fab!

Where have you been all my li-i-i-i-ife?

I ask the same question that Rihanna does. However, where as she's prolly talking about Chris Breazy, I am directing my question to someone much cooler.

Ladies and gentlegerms... I am now drinking Erin Condren's Kool-Aid and I likey.

I have been thinking for a while about purchasing one of these babies. I admit, the price gave me a bit of sticker shock in the beginning, but I will tell you honestly, I had no issues pulling the trigger clicking on the Buy Now button.  None.

From start to finish, I had my order in my hands within 8 days. Two days earlier than promised.

Here is a picture from my phone, from my BED, on the day it arrived. I was like a freakin' school girl:

The box and packaging was beautiful. My 13 year old thought for SURE it was a package for her. Justin Bieber tickets, maybe? Tsk Tsk. Silly girl.

While I was waiting for the planner to come, I checked out ECs Wall of Fame on Pinterest. I wanted to see what all the cool kids were doing. And I was in awe. There were stickers, washi-tape stamps, colorful pens, etc. Not to be outdone, I ran over to Hobby Lobby to see what I could find. Oh, and I scavenged through my office, too.

I had the highlighters on hand, but I decided to purchase a few stamps. For obvious reasons, I won't always have time to make my notes pretty; however, for things that I about well in advance, why can't I? And look at that stamp to the right. I mean left. Up there at the top of the picture.

So, so, so true. I figured I would use that when I wanted to jot down blog ideas. Or special bloggy events. Like this one:

Wait a minute... What's that say?! On 9/23, this little blog is going to be featured on Eighteen25? Say it ain't so, Joe!! Wait a minute, Joe. Don't say that. I'd hate to screw this up. I am not going to give too much away, but it DOES have to do with their Spooktacular series that's going on right now. SQUEAL!

Erin throws in some cute little extras. Stickers, a few call-me cards, and a ton of cute quotes. I opted to go for the 16-month calendar. And I love it. When I shared on Instagram that it arrived, one of my friends on FB said that she loved them, but couldn't get past the price.

I get it. BUT! When you think about it... a really good 12-month planner can cost around $20-25 IF NOT MORE at Target or Staples. I have a GORG! planner to use from NOW until NEXT DECEMBER, people. That is worth the price for me.  Plus the quality is SUPREME. When you hold it in your hands for the first time, it's loverly. I will tell you though... it took me two days to WANT to even write in it. It's that nice-looking.

Oh... I didn't share the front with you yet?

This is the best shot I could get (you know, lighting, flash, reflections, etc)... but it has my name on the side all scrolly like. It has my blog tagline.

And the picture is from my recent shoot with my friend, Amy. I realize my head is missing, but I remember how I felt that day - I felt GOOD. I love the look of the jeans and my hand on my hip. My hair wasn't quite right in that shot; I cropped it so. And to that picture I added a reminder for myself.

I sit here, happy and delighted over a piece of stationary/office-supply product. To those that REALLY know me, that won't shock you at all, will it?

Witness

I  love witnessing skies like this:

Straight from my cell phone.
Such beauty.

We Ran Away, Shopped 'til we Dropped & Guest Bath Update

I don't even know where to begin. I was too tired to post this last night. Lots of pictures and updates below. This is your warning! =)

First of all, I think it's important to let you know where we stand in the guest bath makeover.

Reality is - we haven't done anything since our last post. I've been sick - with SOMETHING. All I know is that the very strong antibiotics and steroids have not worked, and it looks like I will be going in for follow-up care. Regardless, I knew we needed to get SOMETHING done yesterday. So we went with the lesser of two evils and went out and shopped.

I got up, showered, did the whole make-up thing (my make-up drawer was missing me, I think) and took a shot in my makeshift mirror (this is NOT the final mirror, but I needed something in there since we were so mirror-removal-happy).

I was ready to go. Of course, by go, I mean travel the 50 miles to Desert Industrial Business Asset Liquidation company we found online. (say that 20 times fast)

We are looking for a new sink. A Vessel one to be exact. But before we got even 20 miles, I stopped (and instragramed this photo)

A lovely, warm and delish bagel from Einstein Bros. bagels in Tempe. We don't have any out in Queen Creek, so anytime I venture into town, I have to stop. Mmmm.

Anyway, we continue into Phoenix, looking for our destination.  I had no idea what to expect. I think I don't get out enough. This place was COOL.  But smelled not so good. They literally buy all the stuff from stores, restaurants, etc, if they go out of business. I mean even the salt shakers had salt still in them. (Do I hear Buy 1 Get 1?!)

They had chairs, benches, sinks, utensils, tables, fridges, tile, cabinets, etc. etc. etc.

Marcos and I have a fun time peeking into every corner of this place. The prices were reasonable, and they were willing to make deals. Want to know how I know?! Because I walked away with 8 of something. Too much to add to this post today. but I will whip up a post about these 8 lovies tomorrow.

After we loaded up the van, we decided to hit a few more places. Hey, we were sans kids. It was like a date.  We went back into Tempe and hit up our favorite fabric store (which also smelled. pee-youuu) and grabbed a few things. And then decided to get some lunch near ASU. We had a front row seat to a busy street near the campus and we just gawked. Oh to be young again.

Lunch was fab. As always. Even got some free bumper stickers.

Have you ever had Jimmy John's? Sooo good. I just get the #1 Pepe.

After lunch, we headed out to the Home Depot. Again. BUT! We were able to get some stuff we needed. Like light bulbs. We really needed those.

We also purchased all the stuff for tiling job we hope to accomplish this year, in the guest bath. Since we are changing out the sink and adding shelves above the toilet, we only needed about 3 feet of tile.

I always had the Subway tile in my mind and I love the glass tile as an accent. We will not be creating the traditional Subway pattern here, though, folks. Crazy, huh?! Instead, we will lay the tiles side by side (see pic below). The tile will mimic the paneling we put in on the other wall.

For $25, we got all of the tile we needed for this small job. I think it's a great learning opportunity for us. Eventually we want to add tile to the kitchen back splash.

From start to finish, Marcos and I ran away for 7 hours. We ended the afternoon at the grocery store, grabbing what we needed for dinner (Taco Night, a day late) and went home and cooked, ate, and then fell into our bed. It was exhausting.

I'd like to thank Alex and Isa for holding down the fort and for not allowing anything to happen to/with/for/at Nic so that emergency peeps did not have to make a visit to the house while the ball to my chain and I were knee deep in sour smelling goodies. Love those kids.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see what I scored at Desert Liquidators.