Life on Magnolia

Spy's Like Us

2012-02-23T15:31:00.000-06:00

I spent some time with my wonderful friend Penelope last night after the kids were all in bed. We laughed so hard my sides ached, and tried to solve the problems of the universe. And then... We used the BEST binoculars EVER and looked at all the neighbors houses. In all fairness, everyone had their lights off so we weren't peeping toms. But there's always next time.

Hockey Pucks~

2012-02-18T22:56:00.001-06:00

We made it onto the jumbotron (sp?). Henry had gone to try to get a hockey puck so he wasn't in the shot. And that really sucked. The best part of the night was when Henry asked this older gentleman in a suit (who works for the Stars) "Do you know how a boy can get a puck around here?" I'm still laughing about that one!

Fu*k off Grim Reaper ~

2012-02-13T17:31:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow will mark the first time in four years that Sister and I have had a full year without having to put someone we care about in hospice and have them die. Tonight marks the anniversary of my Great Aunt Ruth's death, which was by far one our crazier deathcapades (I know that's not a word but it should be).

I am celebrating. Celebrating life and the living, and love and not having to tell someone that it is okay to "let go".

I wanted to make this post all witty but for the life of me I can't figure out how. I think I'll just include a really funny picture - that has nothing to do with death. Because death pictures are never funny.

Sockbun reject

A note about the above picture: Everyone on Pinterest, and the entire internet for that matter, looks so damn cute after they sleep in a sock bun. The tutorials show them pulling them out the next morning and shaking out some serious model hair. ME on the other hand, not so much. In fact, I looked horrible, and this picture is one of the best shots I took.

Fabulous Weekend Trips & Shame-overs

2012-02-08T13:21:00.000-06:00

Shug and I spent a wonderful weekend in Laguna Beach at the Montage. It was my first trip to SoCal (see how cool I am, I already picked up the lingo). The hotel was amazing. I'm pretty sure their goal is to make every guest feel like a princess - and they more than succeeded. It was beautiful and swanky... and even then I still managed to wake up on sunday with a shame-over. Shug thought I had a hangover, the way I just laid there groaning with a pillow over my head, and I wish thats all it was. We'd spent the day before having three perfect meals all accompanied by perfect drinks. That would have been enough itself, but more got the better of us, so we spent time on the beach, laying on a blanket, watching dolphins play in the ocean while sipping on drinks, and we strolled around town looking at cute shops and stopping in an oceanside bar or two to contribute to the local economy and sip a few drinks. And by the end of the night I was saying how amazing this place was and how I didn't even need a passport to get here! And Shug said that I said Are you kidding? about 150 times. And I may have even talked about when I write my second novel and it's a huge hit... but the thing is I haven't written my first novel yet. So yea, I woke up with a major shame-over, bitching about the evils of alcohol.
It was still a perfect weekend, as I was able to shake that ~~dumbass~~ shame-over feeling after a day (or two) and Shug still thinks I'm a damn good catch.

Five minutes after we got in the room ~

That's me a beachy (I know it's not a word) and boozy ~

There was a note in the room letting us know what time the sunset would be each evening we were there!

15 Years...

2012-01-19T14:29:00.000-06:00

Shug and I have been married 15 years. In that time there have been more than a million I love you, almost as many I'm sorry, some do-overs, some I'm finished, tons of laughter, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 house and I would do it all again. That's the thing that makes me the happiest. That in the deepest part of my soul I know that I would marry him again, in a heart beat. Would I marry someone else if something happened to him? Never! Not because I believe there is only one love or that I could never love again after him - I'm just knowing that marriage is a lot of work, and sometimes it's a beating and basically I would be to selfish to ever put up with and put it all out there again. But for him, I would. So here's the card I gave him, and I think it pretty much sums it all up.

For the record, I still haven't gotten an answer from him on this one.

Follow Up To Mud Wrap ~

2011-12-16T14:47:00.000-06:00

I survived the mud wrap and the detoxifying wrap. I didn't loose 20 pounds, I didn't have glowing skin and I sure didn't feel detoxified. Loosing 20 pounds wasn't part of the claims but I was hoping to be a little lighter. I showered twice during the whole process so I for sure was clean when it was all said in done.

I can sum the whole experience up by saying that the next time I lay nude, on a table covered in plastic, under very bright lights, it better be for an autopsy.

Mud Wraps Musings~

2011-12-09T10:23:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a mud wrap and a firmness wrap. Unfortunately I can't even tell you what this means. I got the package when I was on about day two of a really bad diet last January. Bad as in I was only getting to eat enough food to sustain a baby squid so I didn't have a lot of brain power working. The diet was a power fail but now I have to use this package before it expires. So I send the "wrapper lady" a message asking what I need to wear and what I need to do to get ready. She responds with one line "Just wear something comfortable and be ready to relax." ???? Really? That's all the prep info I get? Surely she doesn't' mean for me to show up in an old tee-shirt of Shug's with no underwear on - because that is my "comfortable and ready to relax" look. I HATE not having a ton of info before something like this. I like things spelled out for me. Should I have shaved? Will I be naked? Mud over the clothes sounds awful so I must be getting undressed but now I'm obsessing over the undergarment part. Bra or no bra? It's to much stress just getting ready. I'm going to need a xanex for sure. Maybe a shot too. I told my friend Beth I was hoping to loose 30 pounds during the wrap and she suggested if it worked we should do one every day until we reach our target weight. I wish!
More to come...

Wallpaper Ya'll!

2011-11-04T10:46:00.064-05:00

The wallpaper is up! It was a lot of work - not putting it up, I paid someone to do that. It was a lot of work getting the wallpaper here and ready. I ordered my paper from Anthropologie, they have some very yummy wall paper! When the Wallpaper Professional Extraordinaire opened the first three rolls she found a printing mistake. At this point I was getting a little freaked because it had taken me forever (in my mind) to pick the paper and I couldn't imagine finding another I loved as much. Also, I was just being dramatic. The paper had been cut into lots and lots of strips. I needed to return the messed up rolls to Anthropologie. I thought this whole process was going to be a total pain in the ass but it turns out Anthro is the BEST. The cute girl at the counter took the giant box of cut up wallpaper and set it on the counter behind her, the smile never leaving her face. And then before I could get very far into my very long and overly detailed story she ask if I would like them to overnight three new rolls or refund my money. WOW! I had the new rolls sent to my wallpaper gal, she inspected them, and hung them. They are perfect. I am so pleased to present my new (old bathroom) and my gorgeous wallpaper! And it only took two rolls so I took back the third and did what any self repeating woman would do - I bought myself a new sweater!

Here

Long Time No Blog...

2011-10-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged since August. I would like to believe that anyway, but I have been flighty in the past so it's probably no big surprise. I'm back now so I'll pick up where I left off.

School is still sucking for my 6th grader but the good news is she is the next kid on the waiting list for a really great school. It's a private school that I really believe is a great fit for her. I have always been a huge supporter of the public school system - but as things stand I can't wait to get out of it. 60 kids in one class, 40 in honors science, it's just to many. Her smallest class is honors English and she has 33, which is still to crowded. Over 600 6th graders crammed into a historic Elementary building is over the top. They are the only grade in the building but I'm pretty sure back a million years ago when it was built it was meant for more like 200 kids. So now we wait for a spot to open. That means somebody needs to move, or get divorced or get kicked out - something! I am to afraid of the karma that my wishing any of these things on a family might bring so I am hoping and praying some family gets a great promotion that they can't pass up and have to move away for - and then my child gets their spot! As far as the public school crisis goes... if anyone out there thinks that Rick P would be a good choice for president please email and I can give a long list of reasons why he would SUCK at it. I am living in his state, and he has done nothing for our public schools. Plus he's just a complete clown. I feel pretty certain that the four people who actually read this blog are way to smart to vote for that nutcase!

THE HOUSE:
We have been in the throws of remodeling our 90+ year old home for the last 9 weeks and it's been a mix of greatness and hell. I love that the popcorn ceilings are gone and that everything has been repainted - I HATE the dust that it created. I love that the old original bathroom has been remodeled and is beautiful but I can't believe how much crack I've had to see everytime I peaked in to see the workers progress. I can't imagine for the life of me why men don't care that their crack shows. One of the workers was so in love with my dog and I caught him sitting ~~indian style~~ criss cross applesauce on the floor petting Pablo about a million times. Which is really sweet that he liked the dog but every time I walked up on that scene I had to see his crack and think about the fact that he should be rubbing grout on the shower walls not rubbing my dog! Tomorrow the final phase of the bathroom will be finished, a lady will be here hanging wall paper and then I will post before and after pictures! You may be thinking "wallpaper?" but this is not your grandmothers wall paper - it's a really large print and groovy and beautiful. I kept the original floors in the bathroom which are these very small tiles that all these houses have in them. Some of them are chipped and a few are missing but I refused to change the floor. I updated everything else, subway tiles a third of the way up the walls, the tub torn out and tiled into a big shower, new sink and toilet, and tomorrow wallpaper - but the sweet old original floors remain. I think between the floors and the wallpaper I nailed it. I did have them preserve the floor under the shower where the rest of the tiled floor is so if someday someone else owns this house and they want to put in a claw foot tub they can rip out my shower, and under they will find the old tiles protected by wood and some kind of rubber stuff.

I've fallen behind on reading a few blogs that I really enjoy so I'm going to catch up and see whats been going on in their lives and leave comments and show them some love.

I'll leave you with a picture of the dog loving worker - cutting tiles with no crack showing. Your welcome.

Have a great day!

6th Grade Is Killing Me

2011-08-23T16:29:00.000-05:00

Sixth grade is killing me and I'm 41. My sweet girl started 6th grade this week and it is one of the hardest things I've gone through as a parent. The school is full of 6th graders, twice as many kids as she had in her whole elementary. It's a shock to the system. Her classes are full of kids she doesn't know, the cafeteria is a sea of faces, laughing and talking and hanging out, and she is floating without a life preserver.

I know she will be okay, and I know that a billion kids have gone before her and survived. But they weren't my child.

I so clearly remember taking her to kindergarten. As we walked down the hall she held my hand tight, and as we walked into the room she held even tighter. Those tiny little fingers gripping with all their might. As we walked down the sidewalk to the 6th grade center I was rattling on about how much fun it was going to be and how great it would be to make new friends, and then I felt her. She reached out and took my hand, holding on tight, those fingers, now longer, griping with all their might. And in that moment, my heart ached in a way I hadn't known before - like all the other times in her life I could somehow protect her from the really crappy parts of growing up, but not this time.

I want her to make a really great friend, to feel comfortable, to laugh a lot, and to remember 6th grade as a great time in her life. I want everyone I know to pray that this is what will happen, and if you don't pray then light a candle, or send it out to the universe, just do something, because seeing big sad tears roll down her face is killing me.

Gas is Great, Gas is Good...

2011-08-10T23:58:00.001-05:00

I had my teeth cleaned today. My dentist gives gas for this, if you want it. I do. I used to have dental anxiety (from a kooky dentist I had as a kid) but 12 years ago I hit the dentist jackpot. He eases all my anxiety with his kind bedside manner... and gas - I actually don't mind going anymore. My husband thinks it's weird that I always use the gas. BUT, he's never tried it! He's chicken to ask for it. He won't admit that part but I know it's true. He says he doesn't need it and that they would think he was some kind of drug head for asking for it. I know he's wrong. It's one of the last frontiers of "legal highs". Seriously, look how happy I am, and I'm in a dental chair!

A Painted House

2011-07-08T10:12:00.016-05:00

The paint is finished! We are still waiting on the new wood windows that will go in upstairs. It seems like there is always something more to do on an old home. I'm not complaining, all we wanted when were buying was an old house, it's just that there is a lot of upkeep. Now that the house is painted it's time to move onto the next project and I'm lazy. I'm not to proud to say it - I'm lazy. Maybe if I had a really great eye for design it would be different, but every idea takes me for ever to ~~steal~~ come up with.
As I said before, I got the paint idea from a feed on Flicker, Daily Bungalow. Again, one of those ideas I didn't come up with my self.

Shirts Of My Father

2011-06-28T10:20:00.002-05:00

My dad (the 76yr old and the one w/o the mohawk) gives me tea-shirts. About every other month. I think he gets them in the mail, or maybe he buys them at gas stations - I've never asked. They always have something to do with eagles, freedom, gun rights, those sorts of things. They're obviously not my style but that doesn't stop him. I've decided to do a series of photographs of the shirts titled: Shirts Of My Father

More Disney

2011-06-22T18:36:00.001-05:00

My Brother in law is the one who looks like he's in a coma...

Disney World

2011-06-20T07:52:00.001-05:00

We are here!

From the mouths...

2011-06-09T21:42:00.001-05:00

At the end of the year the children at our school are required to put together a portfolio that they feel represents their best work. This was one of the papers Henry (8yr) chose for his.

Memorial Day~

2011-05-29T16:04:00.000-05:00

The whole family is in Sunset for the weekend. It's hot, the food is good, the family is crazy and it's damn near perfect. I'm learning to embrace the crazy.

PMS, Xanex & Choconex

2011-05-25T10:37:00.001-05:00

As I've gotten older my PMS has gotten worse. How many times am I going to say that on this blog? Recently it was at an all time high. It was at the level of My husbands chewing is driving me f*%king crazy, which is very bad. I prefer it to not get any higher than I hate my furniture, it's all ugly and I decorate like shit. In an ideal world it would never get worse than I'm bloated. This time when it was at it's worst I had to medicate with Xanex and Choconex. For you armatures out there Choconex is chocolate used as a medication, as in medicinal chocolate. The fact that I prescribe it to myself makes it no less official. When I want to rip someones head off because of PMS sometimes all it takes to bring me down from the ledge is good Choconex.

Arts and Crafts 1917

2011-05-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

Our house is being painted! This is the fourth color in 14 years which is really normal for a home that is wooden and was built in 1917. When we bought our home it was pink, pale pink, but still. The first color we I picked was supposed to be a tan but when we got home from work it was the color of the old flesh crayon that used to be in a box of 64 Crayolas. Of course, that doesn't exist anymore since Crayola realized that flesh comes in lots of colors. Anyway, it was terrible and we hated it but we couldn't do anything about it. Also it was one time in our marriage Shug gave me all the credit. We couldn't afford to change it so we had to live with it. Some years later the house was painted a gray green with white trim, black porch, doors and accents - I loved it. But this time takes the cake - it's blue but a really dark blue with a couple of drops of gray, and I don't mean navy at all. The trims are all white and the porch, accents and doors will be chocolate. I wish I could say I came up with this but I'm copying it from a picture I saw on flicker from a girl who only takes pictures of Arts and Crafts homes. I'm so excited and also just a bit anxious because I want it to look great, I want my neighbors to love it too and I want it to add to the greatness of my street - which is Magnolia. They say they'll be finished tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath. This job was started weeks ago, then the rain came, and the high winds, then more rain, and some days of the painters not showing up because they were on other jobs. So for the longest time (6 weeks) its been in the scrapped stage which was driving me crazy. The fact that it sat like this drove me crazy and caused more than one fight between Shug and I. A few times I said things like if they actually show up to paint today I'm going to give you the BJ of a lifetime. So, maybe a few times when they didn't show up it actually turned out to be in my favor being that I said that a lot. It's a hell of a motivator. I will post pictures as soon as they are finished.

This message is for M -

2011-05-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

You have to tell me how to be invited to see the blog... or else I won't be able to throw the cyber shower!

Text Message PSA

2011-04-21T17:02:00.002-05:00

We took a family trip and caravaned with two other families. It was an easy four hour trip that took us about 5 1/2 hrs. Sometimes we would text the other cars to see where they were. At one point I was driving and Shug had my phone. One mom sent me this funny text that she was drinking (a joke). Shug took it upon himself to respond on my behalf- another joke. It was at this point that her child (age 8) was playing on her phone and read the text out loud when it came through. Yikes!

So what I'm picturing is her son not getting his work done in class and his teacher asks him what the problem is- he answers " I'm just baked and horny" because he's tired and mad.

Prisoners & Disney World

2011-04-20T09:59:00.001-05:00

Sister and I (and husbands) are taking the kids to Disney World in June! We bought the trip in January and have been waiting until it got closer to tell them. I had this great idea that we would blindfold them and all of us put on Mickey mouse shirts for the big reveal. The reason I wanted us to wear Disney shirts is because I thought it would be really funny to see Shug and my brother in law in them. I was so right - this is two guys who would never wear a shirt with Mickey on it. Anyway, I couldn't find blindfolds so I grabbed pillowcases. The kids put them on, we all put on our ~~dorky~~ Mickey shirts then we told the kids to take off their blindfolds and guess where we were going the day after school got out. They went crazy screaming, jumping into daddy's arms, jumping on his back, screaming Disney stuff. Of course, as sweet as all that was, I was thinking about bad it would suck if they threw his back out and I had to do 7 days at Disney without ~~his help~~ him. Aside from that thought, it was so fun to see their joy.. As soon as Sister and I watched the video we realized the kids look like prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. So much for Disney wanting to use our video in one of their commercials.

Wren Coralie

2011-04-19T00:14:00.001-05:00

My niece was born tonight. She is healthy and beautiful. Less than an hour old when I took this picture.
It looks like she's trying to tell me something. I've been loving her long before tonight - my love runneth over!

Organizing and Pretty Mormon Bloggers

2011-04-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

Organizing
I am down to 24 days left to clean out and organize my home. Last week went pretty good. My closet took 2 1/2 days, 3 garbage bags of trash, 2 garbage bags of donations and 4 Space Bags. I am a crazy fan of the Space Bag - they are exactly like the commercial, holding tons of ~~crap~~ stuff. I put my winter clothes in one, some clothes of my mom's that I wanted to keep forever in one, another with old concert tee shirts and the last jumbo bag is holding all the clothes that don't fit me right now. I hate to even admit that. I know they will fit when I drop this last 10 pounds and every time I look in my (almost empty) closet I'm reminded that I better stop eating. As for the rest of the week, well, I got caught up in a few other family projects. I'm back on track as of today and the area is my dresser and night stands. They look terrible but by tomorrow they will look great. Pictures to come!

Pretty Mormon Bloggers
I love reading blogs. I click on random blogs from blog rolls, looking in at others lives. And I have stumbled upon an interesting connection - There are a lot of pretty Mormon bloggers. Their clothes are always cute and pressed, their hair fixed, their homes decorated well - they look so put together. And I can't leave out stylish. I hate to admit this but I had a really different Mormon picture in my mind. And no it wasn't all long skirts and long hair with big puffy bangs and no makeup. It was just conservative and maybe a bit pain, okay okay, boring, I thought anyone who never gets coffee or cokes must be boring! And I was wrong, really wrong. There is a disproportionate number of pretty Mormon bloggers. What is up with that?
And, I want to say, for the record, that while I am positive that my current followers that blog aren't Mormon they are pretty too.

For the Next 30 Days...

2011-04-05T09:14:00.000-05:00

I'm jumping on the bandwagon, the I'm going to __________ for thirty days and write about it bandwagon. Some are really inspirational. I just saw a woman on the news who works at Goodwill and is going to be wearing goodwill clothes for the next month - well I already did that. It was the 80's and I thought I was alternative and cool. I wanted to wear black all the time (I still do, but now it's because I want to look thinner), and ~~cheap~~ vintage stuff was the way to go. Kind of like the whole Pretty In Pink thing only not so pink, or pretty for that matter. It was probably a little bit about pissing my mother off too.

I decided mine will be cleaning out and organizing a different space in my home everyday for the next thirty days. I'm going to document it in pictures. I've been saying that I was going to get it all organized for about the last 4 years. I'm hoping that putting out there for everyone to see (all 3 of you) will keep me on tract. Kind of shame me into following through - we'll see. So here's the list of what I'm going to be cleaning out - in no specific order.
1. My closet     2. Shug's closet     3. Laundry room     5. Kitchen cabinets     6. Coat closet

7. Built in bookcases     8. Kitchen drawers    9. Pantry     10. Media cabinet    11.  Wooden chest

12. Window seat    13. Craft closet   14. Under my bed   15. My room   18. Entry way and entry baskets

19. Guest room   20. Ella's closet   21. Henry's closet   22.

I'm stopping at 21 because I'm pretty sure that some of the projects are going to take me more than one day. I'm going to work on the projects while the kids are at school. That gives me about 5 solid hours of work. I'll post before and after pictures. I started yesterday with my closet. I didn't take a picture at the very beginning because I forgot, but I did get a couple of during. I'm about to finish the shelves and then start on Shug's closet. I could really use an 8 ball but it's 2011 not the early 90's. On that note I'm going to grab some really strong coffee and get to it. Pictures to come!