Babyhellfire Has A Blog?!

If you've missed me, it is because I've been everywhere else.

2011-12-06T21:30:00.009-05:00

Dear blogger,
I have neglected you through the month of November , and into December.
I started to upload pictures, I started to write down thoughts to share.
but I failed.
I got lost somewhere between ;
sleeping too many odd hours, Ri working so hard, all the drama in everyone elses life, fall tv,hanging with the kid, and the doldrums of day to day housewifey crap.This is the time of year when the budget starts to get tighter, time starts to get shorter,and everything starts to just feel rougher.
So I took a break.
Plus,
blogging got replaced by the instant gratification of sharing my day to day instagram, facebook, pinterest, tumblr you know- the rest of the net.
In fact, i never even posted my Thanksgiving and Veggie Sunday pictures.
.. and I didn't take all that many.
and now, blogger-er, YOU didn't save the code I had all over the draft post for a thanksgiving post.
So , you get a link to my FB album

-- you can always look for babyhellfire on instagram ,too.

After thanksgiving.- and a bunch of random things, I forgot to tell you(and don't feel like telling you now- lame.)
Rory was in the local Holiday parade, with Girl Scouts:

..... yeah I gotta a bunch of pictures of that on my camera.

Went on a field trip with her class, and found out Rory has more than one boy wrapped around her finger.
I am not sure if she is a flirt, or a tomboy.
I now realize she plays starwars on the playground with the boys- while wearing sequins and sparkles

Ri has spent his time off cooking for Steve, or Nikki , or Jess- or just me. and its been nice to spend the whole morning with him. He took some of his paid time off for thanksgiving it was much needed ... but the day to day grind came back all too soon :(

Then we got a cold.
there was a bunch of drama of all sorts with pretty much everyone we know.
Rory's progress with reading has completely backslid, and she almost seems disinterested in it(which truly breaks my heart )

Rory had a stomache bug last week, '
then it rained crap-tons, and the leak over the laundry room got worse, and now the whole place smells mildewy.ugh.it almost matches the smell of the peice of junk broken window van out front...

then we had to take Rory to the er
when she fell at girls scouts and sliced her ear open on a table
6 stitches.

... then, this morning the cops shut down our route to school, because they busted a methlab RIGHT NEXT to her school!!!!!!!!

10 days to xmas and we haven't even got a tree, or ANY gifts.
To top it off, we had another week of " Oh crap, Ri only gets paid every TWO weeks, and we paid off the wrong thing early" Empty bank account Belt tightening mishap. Fun stuff that.
- even funner when you are using your last bit of money at walmart, and end up behind the crazy coupon lady, with over 50 items in the ten item or less lane.
Sometimes,
just sometimes
I question nonviolence.

It will be better,

Rory is healing amazingly and in a super awesome mood.She ROCKS at the ridiculous math problems she gets (1st graders to algebra now , WTF?!)
they are having their final day before holiday break tomorrow- and they are celebrating with a PJ day, and watching Polar Express.Rory learned to blow a bubble the other day , thanks to some gum Val brought her:
and we had a super awesome night eating popcorn and watching holiday specials.

Ri worked an extra day this week , so we should be able to get our tree , and start our shopping. SOON! :)
Things are improving,I even seem to be getting sleep on occasion.

I dunno.
I'm still not feeling blogging.
Sorry for my absence, but I don't even know if I'll go back to regularly blogging or just stick with the rest of the net for a bit longer.

Who knows.It been hard not to be grumpy and hermity- and when I haven't been i have been busy and social with real life people.. weird. I know.

You're honestly just lucky I ran out of tv and dishes for a second.
Oh.
and if you are wondering, I am still blonde
Mostly
.
I am going to go drink more coffee,
pin more things,
and catch up on more tv,
maybe even sleep.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde." Dolly Parton

2011-11-09T23:51:00.004-05:00

Whoa. Where have I been?
For some reason, I actually thought I had already blogged about Halloween.. instead I realize I am far behind.

I didn't even post after we went trick or treating downtown.
We met up with Lissy an Nico and walked over the bridge.
Nico wouldn't wear a costume, and didn't care for anyone wearing a elaborate costume for that matter. He did like some of the candy though- I completely failed to take any pictures of them Trick or treating the shops.
We pretty much just went from store to store and headed back.
I did get pictures on the way back over the bridge.

Nico was a bit scared going over the bridge on the way, but on the way back he was brave and wanted to walk himself.

Rory didn't wanna wear her butterfly costume, Since we were going downtown she wanted to wear her pirate costume ( pirates are sort of a big deal in St.Augustine)
, she carried her treasure box as a goodie bag , and got lots of ooos and ahhs over it .

Trick or treating the neighborhood was after school Monday, I made some yummy soup with lots of spinach, woke Ri up to hand out candy to trick or treaters, and headed out with Rory..
but it was early, and boring with just her. So we stopped by the neighbor girls house, and asked if she could walk with us. Which ended up being perfect for her parents , because her older brother was going out with his friends.

Trick or treating is soo much more fun with friends.

We went all OVER the neighborhood- until their little bags were weighed down and they were both getting tired
They were soo polite,.
There are soo many cool /nice people in our neighborhood- people that go all out for Halloween with whole big goodie bags and decorations, and little old ladies who stopped the girls to oo and ah over their costumes.
People really loved Rory's butterfly queen costume.
Most people told Rory's friend Summer she was much to pretty to be a vampire, though :)

Jackpot:

It is a good thing Rory is a good candy sharer, I haven't felt like she has been gorging too much on it.
Though she did get a bit sick. .. but we all started to get fevery and congested one after another.

I finally got my tire back from the bike shop that was fixing the bearing, the ride is soo smooth and nice--
I just all around prefer my beach cruiser to Jess' street bicycle , but it was nice to have and not feel trapped without my ride. Ri& I went downtown and rode all over with Nikki one morning.
It was super windy- standing on top of the bridge made me feel like I could blow away.

Last Wednesday Rory came home sick, and then I got sickugh. Whatever it was was short lived, a fever for a day- but we are all still a bit congested

On Sunday Rory lost her 1st tooth!!!!:It took all Day- We were hanging out with Steve and Jess and she kept wiggling it, the one behind it was coming in , and pushing on it and really starting to hurt. I ended up wrapping it in a damp cold cloth and letting her listen to the radio, and pulling, and it came right out..
and she said " It didn't hurt that bad at all!!" she was so worried, I think it hurt more in her mouth than coming out.
The tooth fairy brought her a Sacajawea Dollar - Which was doubly exciting because her class is studying Native Americans for social studies, so she had extra incentive to bring it to school to show her classmates.

- OH, I also did something over the weekend.

I bleached my dreadlocks..
or Ri bleached them for me.
Poor guy.
I have been wanting to dye them. I was looking at darker colors, but Ri convinced me to go blonde, I have never had blonde hair, and it damaged the crap out of my hair the one time I bleached my bangs, but I guess with dreadlocks that ISN'T as much of a concern,
so now seems like the best time to try it.
But, blonde meant 1st stripping out all the color. 2bottles of not cheap stripping , powerful dye- we'd read lots of info on dying dreads that suggested I would only need to coat the individual locks.. that wasn't the case. I had to send Ri out to get another bottle to SQUISH and work the bleach into each one.
Then do it again this week to add some actual blond color over the YELLOW stripped color.

I still need to take a pic of it now that it is less canary yellow and a bit more blond. I didn't notice much difference but Ri says it is less yellow.
I still jump when I walk past my reflection.
It is totally weird.
Everyone seems to LOVE it though. I have never had so many people stop me to compliment my hair.

Monday morn Ri got into a very minor car accident coming off the bridge of lions. Curse the traffic under that bridge, it is such a nightmare.
He is ok, the van is running.. but it broke the back window, and half the bumper will need to be put back on somehow.
Cars just stress me so so much. I hate them!
I am glad no one was hurt.. but the whole " this was a minor accident , No Big Deal" attitude freaks me out even more. Cars are never safe. I wish we just didn't need them. (not that I am saying bicycling is safer- HELL no, not with all the cars out there . lol.

Other than that the last two weeks have been , well- they have just been.
I've been in my head a lot, not really in the place to be blogging. I haven't talked to many people either.
I have spent more time trying to make sure I have time with Ri.
the rest is pretty same old, same old.
clean, clean, hang out, pick up kid, dinner , bed, smoke too much.

Rory spent this afternoon at her friends house, she had a blast- obviously, because she came home and went right to bed. She will probably wake up early (and she has already been doing that with the time change.. so I expect her up at 5am at this rate.)
.. so I should probably go to bed.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

I don't need a costume.I am mother effing majestic, man

2011-10-28T21:53:00.005-04:00

ok.
I've been,
I've been busy,
I've been lazy,
I've been cleaning,
I've been making messes,
I've been troubled,
I've been blessed.
I've been up and down and back and forth, but I haven't been blogging.

I got to a place that I wanted nothing more than to disappear... a few times.
I pushed people away, and felt really hurt when no one was around
... then struggled with whether I wanted to push them further away or get back to good at all.
Dark dark place.

I'm not doing well with having so much going on.
.. and, YET. nothing going on.

ANYWAY!

Last time I blogged, Lily was over - her Dad picked her up Friday afternoon,
Thursday Morn we went to the pier to play a bit with Ri's mom :

Lily was really good, but she was soo ready to go by the time her Daddy picked her up.
I was glad to be done. I was soo glad for weekend. and to not have to worry about anything.
..
but my weekend was not my savior.
We still had so much to do with Halloween coming.
.. and the van broke down
..and all his friends came over to fix it.
..and Rory needed a costume
..and Lissy Came over to paint me the cat for Pin-the-tail on the cat, and couldn't finish it.
and stupid crap bothered me.
...
and I just wanted to crawl back into my bubble of solitude.
and I was irritated with Ri.

Ri ended up getting a ride to get Rory a costume.
She finally settled on a butterfly one,
I painted the cat Lissy drew and spiffed it up
(and Rory painted too:)

-sigh-

Val took me to the gym on Tuesday,with her sis Cortni and friend Soup-
I was really nervous at 1st, but it was actually really fun.
We went to lunch too. So nice to get to chat with someone, to get out of the house and not feel soo lonely.
I even felt amped after the gym and talked Ri into going on a bike ride around the neighborhood..
Oh, by the way, in case you are looking for a place in the neighborhood:

Val ,Cort and Soup - and I all had soo much fun we decided to try the gym again Wednesday
..but none of us actually felt up for it, plus Cortni said her ovaries were falling out.
So we decided to walk St.george street,
Soo many awesome amazing shops.
and we had lunch at the Taco Shop

Val got me this AWESOME wrap skirt/dress thing.. that I pretty much want to wear all the time. I will get a pic of me in it , eventually.(When I am not feeling so mopey).

We BSed all over St.George street, and the weather was perfect.
Oh, and we got flicked off by a crazy old lady.. (since we weren't going fast enough , and she was behind us- as we got stuck at the drawbridge. HA!) Watching her get pissed made it all worth it.

Ri's buddy Jay came over and watched Walking Dead with us- I totally can't watch walking dead alone, I have to wait for Ri to get home. lol. Jay just got back form Hati, he planned on staying longer, but came home sick. So keep him in your thoughts.
We had meant to ( or been invited to ) meet up with him for a few other times this week, but have been slacking

And I am Super sleepy,

Rory brought home this Awesome school pic the other day, I didn't plan on ordering any- but this sample pic is so great. I might need to order some LOL. You can even see how loose those front teeth are, ALL her front teeth are loose now, and that bottom tooth is almost gone.

Rory has been awesome. She has had a few more playdates with her friends, and is trying to plan sleepovers. I am frightened, but I can feel the age is upon us.

Friday was sorta crazy-
She had the character parade that morning and got to wear her costume to school.

(She added to the head piece, the flower hairthings Val bought her, plus some pipe cleaners Jess gave her)- Oh and I adjusted the leg pieces because they didn't fit right

.. and one of her BFFs in class was also a butterfly with pipe cleaner antennas, they were soo cute together.
- I was so worried she would have the some store bought costume as other kids- but she didn't :)
The fall fest was that night. I was soo worried about the cat game- my oil paint mistake had started to weep in the drippy humid weather, and I didn't know if it would hold up, but it seemed to do alright.
Ri took us, me thinking we could just run through the booths, and get him home so he could sleep..
and I was wrong.
Poor guy was soo tired and grumpy, and it was soo crowded this year , there were soo many booths Rory wanted to do all of it (they had some really cool things, a dunk tank, feather hair extensions, face painting, all sorts of games). We ended up there until 6:30. Poor Ri felt like he was going to fall over. .. and he still needed a nap before work at 10 :( .

This morn Ben & Ileana stopped in for a minute since they were in town,
soo good to catch up with up them- but I'm sad they didn't bring their little girl. Hope we will get another chance to hang out soon.

We had to shower and run to Rory's girl scout party.
They danced and sang to celebrate Juliette Low's birthday

it was windy and cold, but Rory eventually warmed up dancing. And she won a cute button in the raffle.
I loved you could spot all the scouts from her school because they had feathers poking out of their heads LOL.

Feeling super lazy Ri ordered us dinner

Noobs always gets the best fortunes

Mine is pretty fitting though.

My thoughts are turning to dishes now.
Tomorrow, trick or treating the stores..
then the kid has school and neighborhood trick or treating.

-I need a drink.
I really hope she gets some good candy.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

To-Do-List turmiol

2011-10-18T10:05:00.007-04:00

1. Make to-do-list

Ummm.
Oh, I haven't blogged in far too long, so much has been going on, and I have so many pictures.
Mostly, Just a lot of the same day in- day out stuff,but there have been a few moments of feeling overwhelmed with all the things on our ever growing to do lists.
Soo 1st thing going backwards:
We went to the beach before it got too cold and yucky-(it was like OCT 5 ) it was a little cold but it was beautiful:

We took Ri's coworker friend Nikki, Ri keeps such odd hours, its nice to go out wih someone else who is on the same day timeline as him.She is pretty fun to hang out with- and has brought us lunch a few times ,too.

I LOVE the clear water

Ri tried to surf, tried to teach Nikki to surf, but it was like being in a washing machine so there wasn't much surfing going on. We pretty much just got pummeled by waves, it was a good workout at least.

Mom stopped in later with the Nico and Allura, and Aunt Judy , We let the kids play a little bit

She came the other day too- and we explore the Halloween sections of the store. Allura and Nico are soo funny.

The hot sorta fallish weather made all the pepper trees in my yard come to life with tiny flowers- and they filled up with butterflies. Tons of them, I don't think I have ever seen so many in one place The weather had been so gross, that I spent far to many hours just watching the butterflies cling to the branches,wondering how they all survived..but then I found one with a broken wing :(
The neighborhood kitty we call "Feisty Cat" seems to be doing alright in the weather, in fact i think SOMEONE must be feeding him he looks healthier. (He is totally wild though, won't let anyone near him)

Despite the wind and rain we still went to Rory's girl scout event - they explored the Spanish Colonial Village downtown. Jess tagged along with us, while Ri went on a much need grocery trip with Steve.
I giggled at all the people in period dress taking photos on their iphones

Rory got to pet a pig, watch a play, learn how to play colonial games- and made a whirlygig toy.She had a really great time- and got a cool patch. She was soo sweet hugging and thanking her Troop Leader before we left.
Then we had to head home and get the kid ready for her friends holloween themed birthday party

She was a barbie princess, but she borrowed her friends cat mask while we were there- and was a cat barbie princess?

Ri made dinner for Jess and Steve- and Rory finally made good on her promise to read the Winnie the Pooh book to Jess Jess rewarded her with tons of paper dolls, that Rory spent the whole next day playing with

Rory had her pinning ceremony for Girl Scouts. She is NOW officially a girl scout Brownie.We made kettle corn for the ceremony.. I made a HUGE batch and feared I would end up bringing it all home, but by the end of the night it was a huge hit.
Rory was just stoked she got her pin and was on stage.. but her last name being so far down the alphabet meant she was the last one to go up in her troop, lol she was starting to get a bit impatient.

Rory and one of her best friends, bonding over Selena Gomez music. They were in Kindy together (Rory and the other girl, not Selena Gomez.. ) I am glad they get to do girl scouts together.
I am loving Girl Scouts more than I thought I would. Rory is always the 1st to raise her hand, she is so outgoing and loving the chance to lead in activities , and the extra time to hang out with kids her age.

She has gone on more and more playdates lately too, she is getting soo big. Her friends are already plotting sleepovers. I don't know that I am ready. Why is she growing so fast?!

I started helping out in her school Library,as well as helping in her computer lab. I don't really help her class so much as I just put away books ( I do help on her library day and get to see her ), but I really like it. It is cool to see all the books they have, I think I just like libraries, even the stuff the librarian thought I would hate , like organizing the nonfiction is sort of therapeutic.

I should really get a library card and start going to the one in town.
.. Speaking of,
This town has been weird as crap.
We went downtown with Nikki last week in search of a gift for another coworker. I may not love the beach as much this time of year, but downtown St.auggy becomes all sorts of awesome for Halloween.. and right after that gears up for the holidays , and she shops- with the cool weather are so fun to explore.

LOL- and then as if it wasn't odd enough, biketoberfest brought soo many bikers through town that the whole town was gridlocked with motorcyles.. and in the midst of the bikes circling the park, we noticed.
a drum circle.
.
I can't make this stuff up. Bikers everywhere AND Krishnas!I have only seen Hare Krishnas in movie airports.They tossed a pamplet in the van as we passed the bike enrobed park

We went to Val's Saturday for dinner. Love that she lives in town now
Rory played with chalk pretty much the whole time.
Val made veggie kabobs
(the chalk is really awesome, it is th3 -d , when you wear the glasses... that make you look as Seth put it like a "retro hipster from 1987" )
Val has the most Epic tree house I have ever seen in person. It even has electricity, I would be tempted to move in. I am still wondering how long before Seth is living in it.

We stayed up chatting and drinking some wine. Petting the puppies

It was a needed break from the drama. I think I even mentioned in my last post there has been a lot of drama. Though , then none of it was MY drama and so none of it was affecting me- I went from feeling like I was happy i was in my own bubble worrying about my own simple day-to-day, to feeling isolated by my bubble, and out of the loop.I can be way over sensitive.

I did have a full out meltdown Sunday, with all I had planned for the up coming week, and the knowledge that our finances were super tight and all our ever growing never have time to-do list was awaiting Ri's next check,
my bike broke... and that was enough to send me into a total tailspin. I found myself locked in the bedroom sobbing for awhile. It was just suddenly all too much.
I'm over it(mostly). Jess let me borrow her bike ( it hurts my back, but it works). and I can still keep all my plans in order.

Although, I had promised to watch Lily for Sari over the weekend, and we thought she meant starting Thursday night, ended up being Tuesday night- and that threw us, with our budget being SO non existent until Friday. Ri's mom helped out a little and we went through the cabinets and found a way to make it through
- So Lily has been hanging out all day.
She made me breakfast :) .
Ri mom brought us some of the grocery staples we needed and found a hotel with an indoor heated pool we could hang out at. We took the girls as soon as Rory got out of school. They LOVED it. It was so nice. Rory even learned to snorkel and was swimming underwater like an old pro!!!

Soo. In the morning, I have to leave Lily with Ri and help out in Rory's class -
then at 6 pm I have to leave Rory and Lily with Ri while I go to a pta meeting.
.. and Friday I'll have to do the morning part again.
It seems I always write these posts when I should REALLY be in bed , and I have tons to do, and haven't been getting enough sleep.
I guess that is the time I need to write .
Hopefully I will have more time to actually write a post , and want to write a post soon.
Say a prayer, or send some good thoughts.. for , well, everyone I know .
I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Is it here yet?

Yes I am leaving stuff out.
I never get everything on my to-do-lists

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. "Buddha

2011-10-02T23:13:00.007-04:00

My eye is twitching,
It's been that sort of day.
-- Oh.
you are probably wondering where I've been.I've been around. Sucked into real life, or fall television.
My house isn't spotless,my sleep isn't regular. There has been some awesomely awesome days- there has been some drama. The kid is doing fantastic in school, and girl scouts, and at everything. She still hasn't lost her loose tooth. She did grow a whole half inch since my last post.
..but , Worry not, you didn't miss much,
but just in case you might of, we can catch up with pictures:

Before the weather cooled off- BEACH TRIPS:

We even surfed in the rain, I got up on my knees on the board a few times.. still not standing, still too chicken to go deep enough to catch any real waves.

beach turtle.

Lighthouse from two angles..

We took Noobs for a walk on the Marina, she loved it. I think she would love to live on a boat. She is a fisher dog.

Lily and Sari stopped in one afternoon
Lily LOVED Rory's bike, she didn't want to stop riding
We watched Nico another night ,too.

They argued a little played a lot, stayed up late. Don't they look sleepy reading bedtime stories?

Random gecko from the backporch
I am just hoping geekos eat stinkbugs, they backporch gets over run with them every night.. whole things smells like chlorophyll or cilantro . Rory says I should mention there are over 300 different species of geckos , she did not know if any of them eat stinkbugs.

Saturday- some of my imaginary net friends were in town with their kids, so we met up at the playground- they look pretty real to me :
I think Rory may have had the best weekend ever
went from that, to playing with neighborgirl,
to this:
then putt-putt Sunday morning (with my friends super funny boys)

AND the book fair Sunday afternoon
She got "Judy Moody , Girl detective"-- its a big chapter book, but the chapters are set up easy to read one at a time.

Oh, carriculum night was recently, I finally got to hear how they were running the classroom- see a bit more of what they are actually doing in there, and I feel much better about it, plus I got a time to help; Thursday mornings I help with computer lab.Mostly plugging in headphones, and keeping kid off the net, but it is nice to get to meet more of her classmates, see a little of her day, and her teachers. I really love the way the two teachers work together.

I don't know how we managed to fit in doing so much over our weekends. It is Ri's only night off, and we really try to hang out and get things together for the week. Ri made a big bowl of awesome veg chilli , and invited his new coworker over to have a bowl,and meet me- she was really sweet , and made us awesome cornbread to go with the chilli :)

After all the humidity, and scary crazy lighting storms, if is FINALLY showing signs of fall down here, and I am loving it.It just smells crisper and nicer out.
Time to figure out Halloween stuff. Gonna need to decorate, and get ready.

I don't even feel the rush to run home after I pick up the kid. We hang out.

There has been a lot of drama. From every angle- Family and freinds that could use
prayers and good thoughts,
or therapy and the right meds,
or better luck and some spare cash.
I could probably do with all those too- but our direct day to day (me , Ri and Rory's) has been really good. Amazingly normal, and aside from a few grumpy sleepy moments.
Right in this moment,We are getting by, and I don't have much to bitch about, for once.
I feel almost removed from all the drama. My heart hurts for a few people, and I hope things improve..
but I am still doing awesome..
and Rory..

.
..she's great.

Ri could use more sleep, more hours in a day, and more money- but he seems to be doing really well the past few days, and I think he is even going to take an extra day off this week.

So goodnight, world filled with drama.
I'm off to absorb more tv, text my hubby, clean this house, and get Rory's school stuff ready .

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Of sleepy random things

2011-09-19T02:26:00.002-04:00

That's Shelly.
Her eyes fell off, so she is just Shell now. Rory made it for me a few days ago- in one of her crafty moments.

Right now,
It is like way late for me, way early in the morning ..
the kid puked chunks of pineapple all over her bed.
.... and it doesn't look like I will be sleeping for a bit.

So, how about I sleepily post some random things?

My back hurts. It's all spasmy and achy. I don't get back aches often,
I don't like it.I feel old , and curmudgeony , can it be over now?

I took a picture of my neighbors flowers the other day
.. I don't know if they are actually planted , or wild
- that neighbor appears to be a bit of a hoarder, it is truly hard to say..it sprouted up between their year round snowman lawn light decorations . That is a classic fall design element right there, so I'm guessing it was planted.
I always thought those plants were sort of rare and not really a hardy wildflower,
because they mainly grow on the dunes by the beach(and touching dune plants is a huge NO-NO).
... but apparently they are pretty hardy sand flowers that grow up in the cracks in the sidewalk and stuff..
and I am an idiot.

I'd trade some jasmine for some of those in the backyard..
Seriously, that jasmine is trying to overtake my yard.

The kid was too busy running to the neighbor kid's house to let me get that picture the other day, I had to get it while she was gone.
She is big like that,
she spends most afternoons at her friends houses' , or playing in the yard with them ,Or bringing her friends over her to destroy them at some wii game she knows how to play and they don't. (which I don't encourage because they are so loud, and Ri sleeps that time of day ).
I've sort of missed her around.
Not as much as Ri has...
It has been pretty hard having her dad sleeping while she is home and awake. :(
At least ,they get so spend weekends together. I think he only let me sleep in on Saturday morning so he could have that time with her. lol

The dog will never leave me though,she is now past the age of wanting to hang with the neighbor dogs, and seems to find most of them annoying.
I am going to get her a microchip on her next vet visit so she CAN'T leave me. Now matter how annoying I get.

I think the dog is the only one who won't laugh at all my dumb mistakes.
..ok, she will- but I won't notice as badly, and I need that.
Gah, lately more than ever I seem to have this wonderful ability to fuck things up.and, in classic me way- the harder I try to get it right, is just the further I will screw it all up.I'm sure 90% of those slips, and missteps have only been noticed by me.. but
Still annoying.

Can I just get one thing right? Can the universe just gimme me one little karmic something to balance all that out.. because really , lame indy nerd humor ( that only my husband and/or sisters get), and random pop trivia knowledge only gets me so far.

I need a real talent.. or cleverness to use a real talent.
Need profit.

... then I could go to fancy restaurants.. instead of places like this:

The service is nice, and it is nearby--- but the food is so hard and plasticy, and not filling at all.

.. besides , they seem to go through young employees like crazy, there is a new chef in that kitchen once a week.

Randomness : ---
I have a scar on my forehead from chicken pox.. I actually sort of like it, because it shows up almost like a dimple when I smile. it looks bigger right now though, because I am tired, and that just makes me look old(er?).

We have this weird nor'easter which is making the wind blow, and it feel all crisp and fallish, kicking up a little rain too. It is sort of nice.
Well. it is not sweltering , that is nice.
The wind blowing all the neighbors plants into their motion sensor lights isnt so nice ( I keep seeing lights blink and thinking someone is here, paranoid)
the beach is all kicked up with jellyfish, Ri came home twice this (last) week covered in welts. I wouldn't have gone in. weirdo.
... but I probably wouldn't have gone with the temp being so low , either.
I love the beach.. but only that 10% of the year when the conditions are perfect.

----
As I look at the time on my phone,
a week or so ago, I was getting up to get the kid ready for school
and my phone rang,
Who the heck calls me at 7am? - it was my dad asking if I was "up getting the kid ready for school ,yet."
Me:Well.yeah "Is everything ok?"
he says : "yeah, I just have your old phone"
...me:you know you can turn the alarm off , Dad.
Dad: I don't want to, It makes me think of you every day.

Awwww.
That is adorable.

There is something weird going on with me and the number 420... (and it has nothing to do with the obvious drug culture reference.. besides the fact that I have dreadlocks, I really don't do drugs -except caffeine and nicotine, which I should really quit-).. the number just keeps coming up, showing up.
$4.20 is my change, 4:20 is what time I need to get food out of the oven, it's when I look at my phone-- weirder still, it was my flight time on that trip to STL , it is Rory's girl scout troop number, and it was my due date 10 years ago when I miscarried (Which I only remember because I remembered I peed on the pregnancy test the day before 9/11.. then had a stressful day of thinking the world was ending and not being able to smoke , and fearing being pregnant with the world ending.) I haven't decided if this number is good , or horrible to me, it comes up to often.Why that number, it is a really horrible cosmic joke.
I swear I am doomed to be mistaken for a drughead no matter what I do.

Sigh,
there are a dozen things I need to do right now, and i don't think I can do any of them because they require something I don't have to do it with. ..
at least that's what I tell people, until I start to believe it ... like when the carpet was dirty and I thought I was out of vacuum bags., they were in the closet, under the hose attachment ."This vacuum has a hose attachment, what the heck?"

Well , before I get even more paranoid as the insomnia sets in. I think I will take a nap and hope the kid stays asleep ,and whatever made her puke was short lived, and she is all better when she wakes up.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

" After a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world. "~Pam Shaw

2011-09-12T02:37:00.006-04:00

I have found excuse after lame excuse to put off this blog post for as long as I have- and now I have soo much to share, that I forgot it all.
Cute things happened that you'll never know about, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So anyway.

I think Rory is doing well in 1st grade.
I honestly don't know that she is doing much at all in 1st grade,
and I've been slightly stressed and concerned about it.- But she seems to be making friends , having fun , and eating- so I guess it is all good. I keep trying to tell myself perhaps they are just starting slow- figuring out where everyone is , or something..

There were some weekends since my last post:
Val took Rory to a local fun factory/ arcade thingy:

We dropped her off, and she was all " Ok bye, SEE YA!" and went to jump out of the van, and we were like, " Well, I think we'll come in for a second"

Val totally spoils her.- and Rory had a blast
and Rocked out:

I haven't gone anything productive with my free time. Ri and I did find enough time to catch up on the new episodes of futurama. It's soo hard trying to catch time with him on this shift, one or the other of us is very tired.

I signed up for HomeRoom mom.. IDk what I was thinking.I think, I was thinking it would be a way to be more involved with the kid's class.. it seems more a way to be involved with harassing the kid's classmates for money... it's great fun. On the bright side, I will NOT be the only homeroom mom for her class- I am splitting it with two other moms. Thank goodness.

I also signed the kid up for girl scouts
- after a lengthy inner fight with myself over it ,
really not wanting to-
then breaking down and doing it .
She is excited about girl scouts.
Her 1st meeting was tonight, she made a bracelet , and colored- it wasn't enough time for her(SHE says, but she barely had time to eat and get to bed she was so overtired).
She was soo cute doing the friendship circle at the end. ( I wanted to take a picture, but she was with so many other girls- I felt bad getting a pic of them)

She has been so all about crafts, and art ,I think she might like all the activities she will be able to do in girl scouts. And we know she needs to work on social stuff.

Poor child, she was so bored she built an entire shoebox doll house last week:
After that picture she even built a second story bathroom with the other half of the shoe box.
She also made a snow globe

.. and she made little paper maps, and TONS of art for her friends.
New and old.

I say I worry about her socially, I know she struggles in that area...
but ,At the same time it is hard for me to even see, because she seems leaps and bounds more social than me.. maybe just not socially mature, I guess she just likes being social more than I do LOL.

OH- I watched Nico for a bit over the weekend.
They went hiking in the backyard:

Rory took pictures of all the things they found on their hike.--
She takes awesome pictures.

... and then they spent a lot of time arguing.
because 6 year olds can be very bossy,
and 2 year olds can be very self centered
... and those things don't work well together.
Unless you count Nico talking so much when around Rory,
just to have to keep up on such debates.

Besides that.
I haven't done much beyond stress, sleep, and stress. (I guess I have done things, but nothing of value = lots of bad tv and radio )

It's all just money, money money money, get it for that person , from that person , for this thing, and that thing. I don't even care any more. I guess, I just need to find enough money that it doesn't matter anymore... nah, because then people will still be asking about my money, probably worse.

The best things we do are free- why do so many other things require money? Why do people focus so much on other peoples money?I am so effing tired of taking about money.
I am so tired of money.
Can we go back to collecting shells on the beach and trading them for currency, cause I could totally do that. I found a sand quarter the other day.
(someone broke my sand dollar, I guess they needed change)

... I mean, I love you ,money.
Come back money- lets make up. I'll be your best friend forever.

I need a job or something.
Because , obviously I haven't stretched myself thin enough this school year.

My mind is in a weird place.
Hopefully, I will find my grove and start posting more regularly.
For now, I think I need sleep.... but I will probably play on the wii , and watch bad tv instead.
Either way
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

I am still the master of surfing the net.

2011-09-03T00:39:00.007-04:00

- Oh,
Um, Hi?

So, Since it is like the holiday weekend and all, and I haven't blogged all week-and will probably only add to the list of things I have to share over the long weekend,

I am just going to dump these beach pictures here,
and hope you will forgive me and maybe I'll be all wordy, and stuff, next time.
(Throw me a little bone here, and pretend you actually like my bloggy wordy posts and aren't just here for pictures, alright? Thanks)

We've been dropping the kid off at school and heading to the beach , when we didn't just both pass out)

(bunch of clams and snails washed up with the hurricane water)

Ri & Steve surfing

- I just thought it looked cool

Hey , look , it's me
.. No I don't have any pictures of me surfing-
I still haven't stood. I am still too scared to go into the deep.
I have gotten really close to standing up in the shallows .. I usually build up the courage to try it just as the fin hits sand.
I also got a rash on my ribs;
a bruise on my hip,elbow , sternum, and arm muscles.
Surfing is dangerous.

Also, a guy got bit by a shark at the beach the other day.

Anyway.
Here is a vid of Ri & Steve surfing.

Then the inside of my waterproof camera got wet, despite being closed and locked,
it fried my battery , it is still acting funny.
It works... but I am a little more nervous about it getting wet now.
-sigh-

Cardinal from Wednesday:
Lots of critters all over here lately. We even saw an armadillo on the way to school.

...Found this on the beach(these guys said it wasn't theirs, but as they posed with it we found that hard to believe)
... but I failed to videotape the cops deflating it. That was hilarious. The male cop wouldn't touch it and instead teased his female counterpart as she tried to deflate it.

Did I mention there were kids on the beach:

our kids(me and the other moms)..but they were pretty busy playing. They did ask if they could go see the "rubberman" ,but we explained it was inappropriate and to go play (all said while trying to hide our giggling).

It has been a long week. Rory has been VERY VERY trying (new fun ignore us thing. great fun)
I have been nonstop cleaning (and this place is still a dump)
- but this week is DONE,
on to the next one.

Wish me luck to make it through the weekend .
At least Ri has the WHOLE WEEKEND OFF!!!!!!!!
(that almost never happens, you knew that, I just felt this sentence needed something in parentheses like the others.)

So now that it is blatantly obvious I am tired,
CYA!

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Noobie Pleads Her Case

2011-08-28T20:40:00.000-04:00

Just a quick vid- I meant to post a while ago, since it is Lissy's Bday and Noobs is having a convo with her I will share it here .
I'll be back soon.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

" Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young." Dorothy Canfield Fisher

2011-08-27T14:54:00.006-04:00

Hey internets
I've either been busy or tired the past couple of days. The back to school routine is wearing me out-
Rory too she he been so tired, but she did give me a hug before school.

PLUS
- It was an awesomely awesome person's 30th birthday on Thursday (Aug/25) -
I had no idea how to celebrate , or what to do for a person that mean so much to me.
A few people stopped in to say Happy Birthday, give him a present , or call him old

I did go to the beach with him Wednesday --( before all that Bday stuff, and before Hurricane Irene came and kicked up the beach enough for them to close the gates.)

- His Last Day on the beach as a 29 year old ;)
It was beautiful and empty

The waves weren't super huge from the hurricane (yet, we heard they got really huge) - but the undercurrent was really strong.

We didn't stay long but it was really nice.

Ri was feeling pretty bummed about turning 30.
Like he is suddenly old , or something.
Just in case I don't say it here enough; He is amazing, and wonderful - and everything to me... and I feel horribly guilty that I didn't do much for him for his birthday.
There is nothing that can ever be perfect enough a gift for him,- I really wish I could've found the gift that would make him happier about being that one year older.Soemthing to show him how thankful I am to have him in my life...
Hell, even these words feel empty compared to how blessed I really feel to have him.
I even struggled to find the words to for one of those lame FB wall posts the poor man got spammed with.
I failed his birthday this year, I am going to have to try to figure out what to get him next year RIGHT now, if I have any hope. :(

Mom also stopped in Wednesday with Nico , and Allura- and a bunch of school clothes they'd found for Rory.(Ri's mom also brought her some cute clothes on Ri's birthday, Rory said she felt like it was her birthday too).
We picked Rory up from school , and Mom bought us all ice cream

..and , we still went to the pier Wednesday night, with some of Rory's friends
( I figured it would be good to get the kidlet out of the house, and let Ri get SOME sleep before he had to work..)
(Plus, it was hot and I wanted to go back to the beach.
and drink a beer, and chat with the other moms.
LOL)

Waterproof cam was the most genius thing we have ever bought

The current was so strong we all stayed in the water next to them, and no one went deep.

Jenn took a pic of Me and Rory !

This is my fave pic of Rory and Rosie- it's just soo them. They are always holding , lifting or climbing one another- often with us going "Ok, that's enough - don't hurt each other"

They had soo much fun they wanted to stay all night, but the current was so strong,the waves were getting higher, and the tide water was so high we encouraged them to head for the sand.

I don't know why they were reluctant , when they found MORE friends over there, danced to the music- had some snacks, and had a blast in the sand there, anyway. They had a huge game of who can jump the farthest off that picnic table for awhile. Rory bumped her head, but she was fine.
it was Much emptier this time- since school had started, the kids had the run of the place.

Most the rest of the time since my last post, between the heat, the relaxing rain , and some new development of low blood pressure (or maybe that is also from the heat) I have been sleeping every chance I got. I feel all weird and over slept now.

Got rained on Friday- after riding the bike to pick up the kid, I knew it was a mistake, but Ri argued I had time before the rain to get her and back. UGH. Oh well, i rode home with another mom, and we picked up the bike later.

So glad the weekend is finally here ! It is sweltering hot, Ri went surfing this morn, and is planning a late night bike ride with his buddies. I HAVE to clean the kid's room sometime before it implodes from the weight of all the stray littlest pets.

If you have any advice on something I could do for Ri--- besides tell him he is not old, or jokingly call him old, Like I have been doing-- let me know.
I'm going to go pretend to clean something
or nap.
it is pretty hot in here,

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE
BABYHELLFIRE

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe

2011-08-24T01:00:00.003-04:00

Really quick before I find some more sleep- I wanted to tell you about Rory's 1st 2 days of
FIRST GRADE..

or at least share pictures of it, Because the thing is, I don't actually know much.
School has been wiping her out!

She got home, ate, played for a little bit, and then napped the rest of the evening , woke up long enough for dinner and went back to bed...
in fact she did the same thing when she got home the 2nd day too.

She seems happy? and I guess she is having a great time to be so worn out.

She was SO ready for the 1st day. She was rushing out the door so early, I wasn't even ready. I was trying to figure out what to do with all the bags of school supplies we had to bring in. Her back pack was STUFFED, and we stuffed another bag. Ri went with me so we could carry it all!!
.. and we rode the bikes mostly in fear of 1st day traffic-
She basically wanted us to leave her alone. In fact i am lucky I could catch a single picture of her

Me: Hey, hey , I got an idea let me get a picture of ya in front of the school sign! Her: NO! Come on, Mom - WALK FASTER! Me: You still have time, stand right her I'll get your picture Her: I guess

Me: Hold still that one was blurry Her:... HEY!! Looks it's my friend:

Then- We are sitting in the cafeteria with all the other 1st grade parents, all holding obcene bags of paper products and random supplies for the classrooms,wondering what to do with them
Hmm.. one teacher,27 kids, 54 huge bags of supplies...would they make it to class?
So most of us had to follow the teacher to class holding bags.
Rory didn't care "Look mom, it's my friend from last year- You can leave now"
Me: Can I get a picture of you at your desk?
Her: UGH. Just go. See you later.

Jeez. At least I got a hug.

Did I mention I was a huge mess?
Hardly slept at all, didn't dress much more than my pjs- hair all wild and all over the place, still hot from the bike ride----I didn't expect to go into the classroom-

I'd just planned on leaving her in the lunch room with everything until it occured to us that some of the kids rode the bus (or swung through the car drop off), had also brought supplies their teacher would've never made it three feet with all that to carry.
Ah well, nice to meet all the other parents LOL.

I came home and took Noobs around the block ,
and we caught a pic of the local wild parrots

Then I cleaned up a little, watched a movie with Ri
- and ALMOST fell asleep, before Libby showed up to hang out before her doctors appointment, we chatted for a little while, drank a pot of coffee. Before I knew it it was time to pick the kid up. I did much much , a million times better with this 1st day than the kindy 1st day. It was just second nature now.

Rory ran out of school all excited ,but was sad Nico wasn't with me , because she said a boy in her class looks like him and made her miss him. She ran to the grass to play with some girls from her kindy class that aren't in her 1st grade class. They say they still get some time together on the playground- and they are happy to get that time after school.
She hasn't talked much to me about school work or anything just a :
Yes, I had a nice day, Yes I ate my lunch.

Today (Yesterday, at this hour) was a crappy no good over sensitive morning for me. I had stayed up getting stuff ready for Rory
- Ironing the outfit she picked, picking out AND fixing a hairbow for her
(.. and then doing the dishes...) ONly for the kid to wake up at 7 am to tell me she didn't liek that outfit anymore, she wanted to wear something else.... three wardrobe changes later she was content, but wanted to give me additure about brushing her teeth .wtf? I was far too tired. I dropped everything.I lost everything. I wasn't with it at all. Nothing went right.
The bike ride was sickly hot .

I came home more grumpy. and sad.. and very very tired.
Ri was like "let's go to the beach" and I thought it might make me feel better. Until, I couldn't find a bathing suit bottom ,and that was enough to send me into a weeping tantrum- I decided to stay home and sleep it off, realizing four hours of sleep for the past 3 days was not enough and I was becoming way over sensitive to life's little curve balls.

I felt much better after sleepig the day away- Woke up to an awesome lunch from Ri.
Picked up the kid- (who repeated the nap thing, and I napped with her.) made us dinner. all that.
I do wish I heard more about her day- but I can tell she is happy, she said she liked her lunch and snack. She told me a tiny bit about her classmates. Right now she is just thrilled to not have homework, and says they have played on the playground more than done paperwork. LOL .

I am sure they will get homework, and start doing paperwork- but are starting off easy, Rory thinks so too- but is liking it. Let's hope she continues liking it.
I just hope she gets enough rest and I see more of her. I also hope I get some rest :P

I found some pics in the cam from previous Wednesday's at the pier.
I am still on the fence if we will go this Wednesday... it depends if she sleeps.
So here are the last of the Summer pictures- Sniffle- goodbye summer vacation-

Their friend's dad brought them all candy

Off to bed
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

"I was the kid next door's imaginary friend." Emo Phillips

2011-08-20T14:43:00.012-04:00

I have started this post countless times.
I am really sorry for the delay.
I don't think have the words to capture all that went on in some cases..
and in others--I don't think there are words.

I was away.
On an adventure.by myself.
I didn't take enough pictures- So I am resharing mostly pics my friends took.So any photocredit goes to them.

When I told most my real life friends, I was going to St.Louis to meet a bunch of old friends... they just assumed it was some people I knew that moved there,
or that maybe I lived there before ( I have only ever lived in Florida ,- and in this general east coast & central part, keep up people!)

.. but no.
I wasn't meeting sorority sisters,
or for a wedding party,
or high school reunion,
or family reunion...
(though we were confused for all of those things at one point or another)
More of a net reunion.

I had met two families before when they came to my area-- but the others, I have only known from the internet.

We've chatted , supported each other , gave advice ,late night phone calls ,
and even argued, for years ....
Some I have posted along side of for 6 years, others are newer- some have been friends long before I came along to their corner of the net -
- in search of breastfeeding advice, of all things.

..That's right, I know most of my net friends because of boobs.I mean, are you really surprised?
In the years since that,I moved past discussing just breastfeeding related issues,we bonded over other things, we had debate boards
some of the board members came for debate, some never even had children, and others had/have long since weaned. (many were there long before me, some are newer)

I don't know how to describe the connection with these women from all across the country that I have shared virtual hugs, long phone conversations, advice, birthdays, inside jokes,laughter, and sorrows with for over 6 years.
When the talk of a summer weekend get together came up ,
I joked with Ri that I should go- and he was like "you know, you should"

.. My flight was Thursday after a long ass car ride ( and Rory got carsick) to Orlando Air --
Why did I fly out of Orlando,
because it was cheaper,
but was it really worth it in the end?
Shut.up.

No.It wasn't worth it. I will never fly out of Orlando again... if only because of that overcrowded jerky tram I had to smush into.

However, as TERRIFIED as I was of security, it was practically a non-issue.
And the flight part, that I was weirdly looking forward too - was instead Sort of not as fun; my ears popped ,I was cramped , nauseous (nervous) and the whole last hour of the flight the pilot had the seat belt light on because of the fogs/haze turbulence.
When I got to the airport - My ride plans had changed and I ended up riding with a group that got a rental car-- which was a hilarious mini trip in itself , figuring out how to navigate through the airport and town.

I was sort of overwhelmed Thursday night after coming in.
I was INSTANTLY exhausted after the flght
, AND to top it off soo many people I have known for YEARS but not really known were now.RIGHT.There. It was a lot to take in.
Some pics another friend took-

She was totally cuter than expect- even her voice was even adorable.

They were both HILARIOUS.( I don't know who's comfy with names- and so I'll avoid that for the most part.. net people are weird like that ;) )

I don't think I have ever laughed so much.
It was weird to feel like I already knew them all.

I was happy though to go back to Mimi's fairly early being soo tired and sort of overwhelmed. Mimi had soo sweetly invited me to stay at her house, her hubby and her were all too, too kind. She is the board Gram to many of us, AND I found out she shares her birthDAY with my actual gram(not year, my gram is older).
We sat up drinking wine and chatting. About dogs, our kids, her grandkids, how we got to know each other on the boards, and facebook..
and wine.
She drinks strong wine. I was soon surprisingly very drunk. Brushed my teeth ,and went to bed

The next morn - My Best friend tata came , with her friend,
She picked me up and took me to the hotel, were they were hoping to get their pictures taken early ,from the photographer that had come to town (and she was a HUGE part of organizing and getting soo many people to come- her pictures are that amazing and I am totally kicking myself for not getting a session).
-- tata's pics still ended up being on Saturday anyway
(once the clouds rolled in . )
I don't think either of us minded hanging out while they did make up and chatted in the prep room anyway. :)

I was READY Friday for it all, after some rest and getting over some of the nerves- I was better prepped handle all the meet and greet, which was damn good timing because WAY more people had come in:
There were many silly convos , and I loved how we would go from talking about our kids, to apps -- or message board jokes- craziness.
and LOTS of giggling over accents

tata, Mrs.R, and me

tata, Mimi and me.

Oohh!
Prisca brought her youngest . All rolls and dimples- I wanted to pinch her to pieces.

Don't you?
She was soo happy just to be in the room with all the noise and talking.

More Awesomely awesome people.
Jen(the blond) is from Jersey and has the best accent ever- I kept making her say words with ASS in them.JackAAaaass and Klaaassy being favs.
& Ham ( what I call the the brunette,) parties like no other, she is a crazy awesome trip. I've posted along side her perhaps the longest... she was one of the few imaginary internet friends Ri knew of, when I would be rambling about message board going ons.
and our kids (Rory and her oldest) are close aged.

...and yeah I've mentioned tata is awesome plenty before.
she is awesome.

-- This girl is awesomesause, too,

I DID NOT expect these people who are soo witty ,clever and gorgeous online to be as much so , in person.
and I was very very wrong for misjudging that...
Every last one of them was MORE so in person (funny, witty , beautiful ect) than they are online.

Most of them are shorter than I thought though,
- or I am taller than I thought,
or I was wearing ridiculous heels
- or all of the above.

(I'm probably laughing at something Jen said funny)

LOVE this one.

I cannot explain my phone in that position. We all saw this pic and posted this picture, I didn't notice until I went to make it my profile picture that my phone placement is so...
awkward... behind.um. her behind.

LOL

We waited for a shuttle and went out to a bar in search of bar food

There were many jokes , and convos - and some dancing

I ate this

I danced here

and we still ended up back at the hotel before pool close hours..
but I forgot my bag in tata's car,
and tata had went to stay a night at a different hotel
...so I borrowed a suit

because these two women are awesome.

At some point there were drunken fountain pictures,
then this happened:
I don't know that guy, or the guy that took the pic- but for a few switcharoo pics of us with them

and We ended up with a pic of us four

and some of their beer--
yeah. crazy crazy time.. and I was smoking a cig in that pic. I don't even normally smoke those.

We stayed up way late- not that I could sleep much at that rate. I still woke up way early looking around the hotel for anyone else who was up early.

Saturday was a much calmer time.
I babysat for a little while, while more pics were taken

Then off to the big GTG picnic
,,,hey! I've posted their picture on my blog before:

I was excited to go to the picnic (even if I was a bit late) because I knew a few people were bringing their family there, and they wouldn't be at the hotel-other mini gtgs

It rained a little

and the girls played in the rain (Tiffers is a awesome photographer)
...and they were so cute I needed to check on Rory.
I missed her :(

the rain brought us an EPIC rainbow:

I was attempting to set the record for weirdest faces made in pictures. I think I nailed it.
(that chick was awesome too :) )

The whole picnic crew- during a speech Mimi made..

(actually more people came later, and some missed it all together.)
I think at best count WITH friends and family there were upwards of 40 people out in STL for the gtg, each more amazing and interesting ,and more hilarious than the next.
I wish i could write down something awesome about each of the people I met, I have a story, or a joke or a something for each and everyone.. but it is probably best not to share them all here anyway.

With all that kiddie family fun time (that my kid wasn't even around for me to enjoy) it was time to get back to kid free party time.

DUCKFACE
Is that not the worst picture of me ever,,, and I was still on coffee , completely sober. I have no explanation.

We planned to go on a big pub crawl.. but just ended up going back to the same bar we'd went to the night before lol .

I LOVE this pic :

She (the chick in the back next to me) was at least taller than me LOL .
She was also super awesome to hang out with and talk to, and was nice enough to help me babysit , and bring her kid to hangout. and her son is a month older than Rory, and sounded /acted so much like her ... I needed to text and check on her,again lol .
..but she looked so much like Amanda Palmer I kept wanting to interrupt her and ask her what it is like to be married to my favorite author. I didn't even get her autograph.

I look weird in all the bar pics

love her too-

So this guy walks up to us in the club over the bar, and asks "what our deal is" when we start flashing wedding rings.
That's the deal.sorry.
Then he says to me " I know your deal,weed"
... really, no no it isn't
apparently, in "Misery" it is really foreign to have dreads and not be a drug dealer. Because I got that a lot.Sorry to disappoint so many.

-- and yeah, She is WAY awesome. I'm sure you could tell .

So , after the bar/club thingy-
Ran in to tata and decided to ride with her , instead of taking the shuttle (which I was sure was just taking them all back to the hotel to bed)
Instead I ended up behind the hotel chatting people up

Hey , it's me and Tiffers
hanging out out back with these people

.. but Hamm& Jen made a pit stop at the casino.
Super jealous I didn't go with them, especially when Hamm was only there all of 5 minutes and won 1000 dollars!!

I stayed up giggling in another girls room for awhile, like kids at a slumber party.

Hamm & Jenn (whose room I was staying in) had headed up to bed awhile before me..
so when one of the girls asked me for a tampon
, and I came into these loud guys from Boston INSTEAD Of my sleeping bunkmates I was pretty shockedSo either, they overheard our room number or SOMEONE (-cough-ham ) was drunk enough to give it out.The three women who had followed me in search of tampons were all laughing hysterically.The guys buddy came to our room to gather their drunk butts up
- but he hung out for a little bit, just long enough for the 6 of us to mock and insult them , he was a nice guy like that.

I hung out with these girls a bit-but was too busy chatting and bsing , and was disappointed I didn't have more pictures with them: so I crashed their room 1st thing on my last day there to make sure to get a pic.

Tiffers made us meet up before leaving to get some pictures.

Boston dudes even came down - terrible hungover - to say bye.

Oh the view from down there looking up made me sick dizzy
I usually don't get weird about heights or anything, but that 12 story up opening made me spinny.

(we were printing our boarding passes)..it was weird being back there-we kept asking "Are you sure, we go behind the desk?"

These pics are my fav. These chicks are awesome!

LOVe love love love.. and i wish this picture had a few other people in it.
So many stories to tell, that you had to be there for, so much silliness and craziness.
It was so weird to do something on my own for me, I haven't done that in years, if ever.

I had a blast. I laughed till I cried.
I never puked.
I got hit on.
I saw crazy things,
I picked up a few accents
- smoked to much - drank too much, screamed, laughed and carried on until I lost my voice completely-
I learned some things,
and I got to meet some awesome people
that had already been my friends for years.
Maybe flying a bunch of chicks to the middle of the country to meet each other from the net is weird..
but it is a really awesome sort of weird I am so thrilled to have gone to.
It was so weird to leave, it all felt sooo surreal.
There are no words.

Next time , camera crew.

but anyway.. You probably wonder what Ri and Rory were doing while I was gone.

He was texting me pictures the whole time.
Rory on the way home with an icee

He texted me that picture in the airport.. he didn't bother to text me that the van limped all the way home with fuel filter trouble until I was saftely at my destination, he didn't want to worry me..
their long ride home ended up twice as long, and he spent the next day fixing it.

His buddies came over .- He sent me these pics

and told me another of his freinds/coworker also came over with his daughter who is Rory's age, they played and had makeovers.

He let her play wii while eating dinner

He tried to fix her schedule , with very little luck
His sis came over and she got to play with Lily

and Saturday night they sent me goodnight videos, that damn near broke my heart. I was soo ready to come home Sunday.

-- thank goodness for tequila in the terminal at the airport with Hamm
being tipsy made my joke of "low-fare pretzels" less stingy as my knee pressed into the guy in front of me
Least the sunset was awesome

..and I FINALLY made it home
I so missed my people, and my dog.
it was pathetic. I was gone the perfect amount of time, I think longer would've been too much time away from them.

We still went to Wednesday at the pier.

So great to watch the kids run and play- even if there seemed to be a bit more unsupervised children, and hoodlums out celebrating the last Wednesday before school.

-- Friday was the big day to meet Rory's teacher. She is in one of the larger classes so she has TWO teachers... and Rosie,Steven and Sid aren't in her class.
Rosie was quite heartbroken by it- but Rory took it better than I thought she would. She says she will get to see Rosie other times, and says it is ok.. plus, she is excited to get to make new friends. A few kids from her old class ARE going to be in her 1st grade so she is ok with that.
I don't know whose kid she is.. I would have broke down like Rosie did , no doubt.Heck, if Rory wouldn't have been so cool about it I would've cried right there with her, lol.
She was SO sweet meeting her teachers, and she walked right up to some other girls playing and asked if they would color with her, and be her friend. The teachers ooed and awwed over how sweet and brave it was.

Today we got more of the ever growing school supply list shopping doom done. The kid is bringing TWO bags of misc. supplies along with her backpack full of regular school stuff. I am not even sure how we are going to transport it all. lol.

I should REALLY go now though. In just a few hours i have to wake her for school.
I am soo not ready, it snuck up on me so horribly. I can't even believe it.
I think I might go cry.Or go into some late night prep frenzy.
Start making some big lists.
1st grade.
ugh.

Well, I'll HAVE TO be back on here really soon with pictures of that. Sorry I delayed this post so long,,
and that it is, sort of, all over the place.
The picture are awesome though, right?

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

In summer, the song sings itself. ~William Carlos Williams

2011-08-08T17:12:00.003-04:00

Umm.
Yeah.
I should be packing for my trip to STL. I should be planning for Rory's return to school.I should be cleaning MORE(I've been cleaning , but it never feels like enough.)
Instead, I have done everything but what I should be doing.

I have some pics of like- the past month (lol- I am a bit behind) - to share though, so I might just post them and run.

Rory has been having a pretty rocking summer.
I didn't sign her up for any classes ,or really plan anything- and yet still the summer is FLYING past and I think she is having a good time.

She plays with the neighborgirl every couple of days- and the Wednesdays at the pier with her friends-
Rosie's birthday party was a little while ago
Ri was off work and went with us too - We had a really good time.
- Rory had SOO much fun at it she decided she wants her party there (never mind that her birthday is in January and a waterballon fight would be out of the question)

..She got a little wet.

They had SOO much fun running through the steaming playground together
.
I am so glad she has had friends she has kept in touch with over the summer. Can they all be in her class next year???I LOVE this neighborhood!

The teacher said it was unlikely many would be in each others classes because there are soo many of their grade (thanks to the hurricane baby boom year that Rory was born in).

Last Wednesday -we all headed for the beach instead of the splash park.
The kids had a blast

..and were a bit more subdued when the music played lol

The sunset was gorg.

Ri broke his big toe surfing Friday morn, it wasn't bad- but by Friday night it was huge and swollen and barely fit in his work boots, he ended up coming home early. :( it looks a bit better now, but still a bit purplish.
The next morn we were 'spsed to go out with the Mom's and Rory's classmates to the beach.. but we stayed in being way to hot and lazy.
Jess &Steve came over and played video game instead

And Rory talked me into taking her down the street on her bike to try again.
She has been trying and trying. Usually only for a short time before she gets scared.
Really, she has been able to ride the bike for MONTHS (if not YEARS) without the training wheels, She just doubts herself too much.

.. We went to the little dirt allyway behind the neighborgirls house to practice, The neighborgirl came over to help and got on her bike .. THAT was perfect, just the thing she needed.
I just had Rory follow her and all of the sudden she was GONE!

She has been practicing all week. Neighborgirl went on a trip and won't be back until Friday , So Rory hopes to show off all she has learned when she comes back.

Rory has had a few moments of stir craziness with the long lazy hot/stormy summer we have had.. but she is pretty creative, and we try to keep her entertained- even the dog does her part.

If only the dog could make Rory practice writing we'd be set. Darn lack of thumbs.

Well, I really do have many things I should be off avoiding.
Gotta catch a plane to St.Louis to meet a bunch of my imaginary net friends. Wish me lucks
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE
BABYHELLFIRE

Of a danger you're addicted to

2011-07-29T20:18:00.008-04:00

Hey, It's my head in a jar
...and my kids in my bed

...but, I wanna stay in bed too!!!
I have soo many pictures to share, and yet - not near as many as I should have.
I haven't been busting the cam out as much, I haven't been blogging- and its been months since I have done the weekly vlog post.

I think the summer is getting the best of me.. emotionally I've not been in the greatest place.
I can be so mean to myself.

Socially I really have had a good time, but after every interaction I judge myself so harshly..
I just want to hide under the table , like Noobie during a summer storm:

... and it isn't like I have been doing better things with my times than blogging, just stalking the internets and watching loads of television.

We did go to the beach a few times:
Ri & Steve surfed
and Ri's buddy George even proved, that he is at least as balanced on a board as I am.

(thats about how far I can get up ,too.. I am far too old and wimpy to pop up)

LOL .. that was Georges board shooting out behind Jess

Rory even stood up on a board a few good times
...and somehow I missed every pic

... I can never catch pics of her Dad standing until he is in the shallows either lol

Even Jess can actually surf now:

...and the "I'm watching Rory " excuse is wearing thin ,when we go to the beach with so many other adults

LOL, also- Rory is starting to be all too big about swimming, she has started to go underwater and swim . I cringe.

I told Ri i might try on a stand up paddle board, I might have better luck that way.

I did go to the pier again Wednesday with Rory's Best buds
- but I didn't get any pictures. -sigh-
They were cute too , it was high tide and they went swimming in the beach together instead of playing in the splash park. Claiming they are "too big for the splash park now".
We got rained out from the music pretty quickly though, shame too 'cause I really liked the band.

Thursday morn , I woke up to a house full of guys as Ri headed home after surfing with his friends.
..and then Mom showed up right behind them with my sisters, and cousin Bubba:

-- to take us all to the beach.
W decided to try the pier again thinking maybe the babies would like the splash park.
(and despite the fact it is so much more crowded there. )

I don't think the little ones care at all how crowded it is.

-- Vid blog
I may post separately later..
if I feel like it,
but,what if I don't?
Then I won't ,
so imma leave this right here

I knotted my knots after I washed them (Thursday night so I could have curls Friday)
I think I might wear knots on my upcoming trip.
Wonder how well that will go over in airport security?
How well does anything go over with airport security?

Today's fortune:
..Yes, we had Chinese for lunch /breakfast ... leftovers for dinner.
What? There's veggies in it.

Rory still spends her evenings fussing over one anxiety or another, big stressful things, like the possibility of one day needing brain surgery. Monsters I could handle, hypochondria I can only relate to .
My bedtime anxieties are on the same level as hers, feels like a bad support group up in here come about 1 am.
She has been good though, She spent today cleaning and pretending to be a robot ( she hopes to get coins from me in order to buy a mermaid tail )
But anyway.
That seems like enough... I should really sleep , some time.eventually.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

- the title was an afterthought from this song:

I found enough sand in my shoe to buld a castle,but it smelled like feet

2011-07-21T23:57:00.007-04:00

Well Hi! I sure hope you came here in search of more summer pictures..
Because that's what I got.

I mean, if you really want I could offer up a rant about; stupid people,periods that come 7 days early, humidity , mosquitoes , insomnia , anxiety or how dishes pile up multiple times a day

... I think we should stick with pictures.

Rory has been a bit trying- she has this new anxiety thing that keeps her up all too late at night..
she worries about things like whether she will have a heart attack, if giant monsters with black tongues are real, if a plane could crash into our house , credit debt , and if she drank enough water -because she heard humans die of thirst...

(one of those could be mine)

..and Her dishes keep piling up, too.. and mean mommy makes her wash them herself.

We went to the beach with Steve one morning..

it was beautiful:
...and after that last beach trip (the one where it was sort of stormy out ) I vowed I would bring the dog , if I was just going to be standing in the sand...
and then I remembered the dog is actually sort of an asshole

The beach makes her VERY happy. So happy she could..
well , you know-
and she does, every time we take her.
She is a jerk about people swimming at the beach ,too:
No one is allowed to go in past knee deep.
She whines, she nose-whistles,
she tries to use her leash to drag you back to safety

....and did I mention it was gorgeous out??
Yeah, so not stormy and cold like the last time.
Good thing Steve was there as a 3rd adult to take turns on the beach to help wrangle the dog so I could swim a little.

(He had just had a CRAPTON of dental work and couldn't really go out in it anyway- )
Poor Steve ended up standing in her line of sight so Ri could surf, and she would stop whining .Yup.
The Dog thinks she is a horse , and needs blinders or she gets all spooked.

"YAY! I saved you Daddy! "
Did I mention the dog is a pain in the butt??
She is lucky she is so cute
and entertaining.

...and that's why we don't have any other pets..
Well.
Except the bunny

She was seriously a bunny for a week straight (thanks to making a bunny mask with Jess, from a big stack of crafting books Jess brought her) . She also ate bunny food, and used her tent sideways to make a big bunny hole.

.. I don't know where she gets such a thing from ,
I mean , it isn't like I run around the house pretending to be animals---
Well, there was that one time I was a squid

but that's hardly comparable.

Besides, I am going to guess she is totally normal, she has moved on to publicly breastfeeding her LalaLoopsy doll.

At least she has neighborgirl to hang out with .. all this free time might make her go silly.
.. and We also got ANOTHER FREE tv from Steve&Jess- lol this time their mom was getting rid of a nice flat screen. lol . They really must not like playing wii on the tiny tv, Let's hope this one doesn't get stuck on Nickelodeon too.
If Rory behaved(and stop testing me) she would have tv privileges more often

I think I took the MOST pictures this Wednesday-
Last Wednesday,(after my last post)
I made the choice to stay in thinking it was stormy (and it never did storm) .. and I regretted it.

So this Wednesday we did not stay in:
Ri woke us up and we hung out a little before he passed out (that's actually how every day starts anymore, he goes to the beach wakes us up , then goes to bed)
-
Then Mom &my sisters came to go to the beach.
We had a picnic in the park/playground

--- Weird playground equipment,,
We ate quickly ,it was really hot and buggy- then went to the beach.

Nico is my beach buddy
As soon as he realized where we were, he would only hold my hand.
He was a bit more scared of the waves this time

Allura was the opposite...
She was actually sort of hard to hold on to, all sunscreened to slippery ,and just trying to JUMP right in after the waves! She even got her face wet with a few of them and kept right on laughing about it.

Aww beach babies
Baby butt crack!

Lissy took a WHOLE bunch of video-- that I have no intention of editing tonight.
another post another day.
Mom got us ice cream and we headed home.

We were home long enough to shower off and get ready for the pier
Rory was soo excited to hang with her friends there.
Splash park 1st

They crack me up soo much!
we went to listen to the music next

We stayed a bit later than norm,
I drank another beer more than norm
.. and Rory played and played

- I had to rush back to wake Ri up for work,
and get Rory to bed.

Ri reminded me all night that Thursday was Steve's Birthday
Oh. yeah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE
..and told me we were all going to go to the beach for his birthday, and to get some sleep.

So fine,
I washed our bathingsuits and towels, I stayed up shaving...
but, I also had a early start to shark week ,and texted him a request for " compacted tubular-shaped piece of cotton that will allow me to go swimming or horseback riding, and maybe even a happy period if I am to believe the packaging."
...
Somewhere between raging shark week and how tired I looked this morn (yesterday morning at this hour?) he ended up letting me sleep in.

-- Sounded like they had a blast though- a bunch of them went out, they rented big paddle boards, caught some waves,
and forgot to take the camera,

Bastards.

At least the lawn guy came and the dog was happy.

OH!! Did I tell you , my PSIL (practically sis in law) Val moved to town!!!! She stopped in with Seth for a bit today, she even brought US presents!
Totally need to bring her a housewarming gift. I am soo happy she lives closer now. I love St.Auggy all my fav people should move this way. If we never have to go back to putnam to visit I'd be happy.
Val brought me another pretty dress too- I am starting quite a collection.
Who knew I would be a dress person?

speaking of clothes...
I should really be planning and packing for that trip to St.Louis that is trying to sneak up on me..
but I think I won't yet.

So anyway.
Theres more, but I am much too bitchy to blog .
I am going to go destroy the kitchen in search of chocolate.
Maybe I'll sleep soon , or eventually

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Of fireworks, imagination, friends, thunderstorms, and a beach bunny or two

2011-07-13T01:46:00.006-04:00

Ok, here I am.
Ri had some time off work, and I have been being super lazy with him home..
Though, he went back Sunday night,
Well,At some point getting back into the flow of blogging becomes harder than it seems.
Stuff piles up.

Then stuff gets left out,Pictures need uploading , edited and explained..
It's summer vacation though, I'm gonna take it easy.

Well, are you ready for the big pic dump of Summer Break?

Mostly, we just hung out around the house. Rory has came up with a million games to play-all while enjoying the freedom of changing her wardrobe on a whim to match her game. Today, it was dolly- The couch cushions were used as iceburgs as they floated the rug hoping for rescue, and later they were seats in her car , as she wore a makeshift sarong and drove her kids to the store for candy.

.. I've been slacking on encouraging the summer education- but she has kept the crafts going, and written a few letters to classmates she misses. Jess has her working on her reading with a book a little over her reading level.

.. Oh, and it has rained
and rained.
and rained.
We needed it soo bad.
The AC died one night.
We thought it died, the next morning Ri found a HUGE frog destroyed in the fan- and cleaned it out.
Landlord still sent a AC repair guy to check on it as it wasn't blowing as cold, turns out- our filter was trashed too.. mostly because landlord had us putting the filter in the wrong place. DOH!

OH!
And the 4th of July!
Ri spent most of his time off grilling amazing food for us. We invited a few friends over for the 4th and had a big cookout.
We planned to walk to the bridge and see the fireworks ,, but it was soo crowded we stayed in the yard, and lucked out
LOOK at his view!!!!:

Boo was down visiting Lissy for their Anniversary- so they came out, we worried Nico would be afraid of the fireworks.. the idea couldn't be further from the truth, he was SO excited.

With the burn ban and all we weren't really sposed to have our own fireworks, (not that it seemed to stop anyone) - we did have sparklers though

George was here- he brought his kid back home before the fireworks, fearing it was too far past his bedtime, and too loud for him.. thats ok - Nico and Rory took to harassing him for attention right away.

When it wasn't raining Rory was living in her bathing suit.

Ri went with us to the music at the pier -with some of the other parents and Rory's classmate friends Wednesday.
He looks thrilled Right?
Rory LOVES Wednesday now, just to hang with her friends. It is totally her thing, but chatting with the other parents is always nice too :)

.. and there was much surfing and beach trips.

It was too cold for me after the rain though, I just took pictures,
if it stays chilly I will bring the dog next time. She is too much trouble when i want to swim, but if I am just standing on the beach anyway , I may as well be walking her.

Rory could spend hours just playing in the sand

Oh. and we saw a for real beach bunny.
Can you see it?

We had freinds over a few times for dinner - I think Ri had a pretty decent week off.
:)

I am sure i could ramble and rant about much more, but I think i will leave that for another post.
but this coffee is hurting my bladder
...and i need to go explore google+ , get bored with it and continue stalking facebook ,
then get bored with it and watch more Dr.who..

What?
I am nothing if not honest.
I could probably sleep too.
.. ok, that was a lie.

Off to catch summer before it slips away any faster.
Also,
ONE MONTH TILL I GO TO THE BIG ST.LOUIS GTG with my net friends!!
BY.MY.SELF.
-shock and awe-

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

2011-07-01T04:50:00.003-04:00

I am embarrassed. I guess I could start this post , as I do most with a load of excuses why I have been absent from blogging
... I've done a lot of watching Doctor Who (I made it to the 4th season NO SPOILERS I WILL HURT YOU) , drinking loads of coffee and doing puzzles. I have cleaned A LOT too .. the house is clean, that is something ,right?
- and Rory has watched all too much tv and done an insane amount of crafts..
(It has been really stormy).

We've also kept and embarrassingly terrible schedule, somewhere between Ri working nights, and the heat we just lost it. She really hasn't been that bad- but I have been a compleate insomniac. Staying up to do stupid things, like clean the washer, and wash the cleaners.

Oh. and It was my birthday, that is really the only excuse I need ,
I was eating my cake.
-- Because I am 28 now and my metabolism has gone to crap and I NEED cake!
Steve and Jess even came over on my birthday and brought me cake
a cupcake cake with my fave whipped icing and butterfly rings..
...which they promptly loaded with candles and laughed about the flames..
they are all older than me.
so there.

Ri got me the most amazing present EVER- he booked tickets for me, JUST ME to go to St.Louis and meet a BUNCH of my net friends - a few I have met before , and almost all that I have known for over 5yrs! Craziness ! I am SOO excited,scared, nervous, freaked out!
It will be just me. The anxiousness of it all is under the surface.I still can't believe it.
I thought even the idea was far out of out budget, and I still feel a bit of guilt about spending any money on me, so frivolously-
but you know me, I feel guilty spending over 5 bucks on a shirt.

This Wednesday it rained to much to go to the pier..
but Last Wednesday after my birthday we got to go- Rory got to hang with her Bffs from kindy
..and i got to hang with the parents , and pretend to celebrate my 21st birthday.
(Oh. and Val got me that SUPER awesome dress for my birthday- Rory is trying to steal it from me already, claiming it to be the perfect princess dress.. I fear the day she fits my clothes)

Mom and Lissy had a lot going on on my bday- between money issues, and mom hurting her leg-
So they came out on my brother JJs birthday to pick me and Rory up
I watched Nico for a bit while Lissy and mom went to a meeting

We stayed the night a Lissy's- playing around on the internets.
...we all passed out insanely early.
It wasn't even ten when I laid Rory down.

(they are petting the cat and watching the gerbils.. it was funny to me)

Oh- and Pirate Puppet Video

Nico was being weird with me all day- He thought I was a big mean mommy,
..because Rory didn't want pizza and soda for breakfast (she really didn't), and for taking my scarf and wearing it when he was playing with it and pretending to be a kitty.
.. but later he ran up and hugged me.
(though it may have just been a ploy to wipe his mouth off on me)
We went to Mom&Dad's and hung out a while, Allura came over and they all played
-It was cute until Rory decided she was spent on the whole day and I really wanted to just take her home.

Then we went through big scary storm
.. the scary part was right after this when the road was too rainy to drive on and yet we werent sure if there was any safe place to pull off.
We made it home.
Thank Goodness.

-- Oh , among the crafts Rory has done.I got the idea to recontruct and old longsleeve shirt into armwarmer/band things...
Which became legwarmers when Rory saw them- and the now sleeveless shirt got knots up the back too- and she ended up with cool new play clothes
..then we went back to the puzzles
I have made her write a little, and practiced the tiniest bit of math as it has come up- and she has read ,and read and read..
but she is seriously taking the summer off- and I am having the hardest time motivating her.
coloring counts as a learning activity, right?
We DID find a baby bird on the porch
( poor quality through the slidingglass window pic- sorry)

- and saw the Mommy bird protecting it- and read a bit about how it was probably just learning to fly .That is sort of like science or something...
The baby bird disappeared an hour or so later. I don't know if it flew, or just hopped off to practice somewhere else. I was just relieved it didn't get stuck in the porch
(it isn't screened in the well, and the screen is compleatly out of the door-but it is still screened in and I have seen birds get stuck back there) .

Anyway.
Ri should be coming home soon, he has the next few days off !! FinALLY- he worked like 13 nights straight, the crazy was setting in. I think he has found a bit of a groove with the shift, at least he seems a little less grumpy.

I don't remember what I was really rambling about- but that is what we have been up to.
I'm gonna go nap or clean or something.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Bubbles and Beach trips

2011-06-21T01:05:00.002-04:00

Quick vlog post..

Hey lookatthat!
it is 1 am , which means it is my birthday - I am 28. OMG.
Soo not ready, that is far too close to 30
No... Not yet, I think I will be 26 - I'll be 26 next year too.

I have no plans for.. Um.. well, later today at this hour.
Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't let our schedule go to crap over the summer, but that was before it got so hot that it became soo nice to stay up late.

anyway. Random picture for now
... We aren't that crafty, we didn't build it we just found it.

Headband haircurl trick
Would've been better if I could've made her keep it in longer.

I'm gonna go thank all my facebook happy birthday wishers.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. -- Sam Keen

2011-06-15T14:37:00.002-04:00

Oh. HI there! I have had this post set up and the pictures uploaded for awhile now, I have just been lazy.. well that , and I decided I should watch Doctor Who from the 1st season..
I've reached new levels of nerddom, I know. Moving on.

It is summer for sure here now.. the kid has started waking me up a little later each day and she spends every second living in her bathing suit.

Look at all the loose baby hair- my hair is trying to grow too fast.

Our summer is going pretty well , now that the sick has run it's course through all of us.

Sunday Lissy & Nico came over She wanted to go out and do something- but then she remembered smart people don't do touristy things on days that start with S. So we let the kids play in the pool, walked through target:

.. and bought a bunch of junk food groceries (which was a nightmare with the two crazies.)
... but we had wine, cake and ice cream when we got home
Lissy said she was sick and feverish by Tuesday too. UGH. Sorry worst virus ever.

Noobie has been in a mood though too..
Can Dogs catch human bugs??

Really I think it is just the weather- she bounces between being a whiny lap puppy, a closet hermit suckling her toy , and taking up the whole bathroom to have the cool tile floors.

I think she may just be under the weather in that - It's either 100 degrees and 1million deg humid out covered in a thick layer of smoke from the forest fires across the state..
, or it is stormy. Neither condition she loves.

Plus,I still think she is mad we didn't take her to the beach Monday.

When Ri came home from work and decided to take us to the beach before it stormed.
Rory had soo much fun she has asked every day when we will do it again

Rory even decided to surf - I LOVE this picture.

There were NO waves, just a big flat lake out there.
Rory splashed you.

We saw dolphins too! .. I got some vid of it I will have to try to edit and share- but I couldn't catch a picture of them. :( (Darn digital delay , they would pop up for a second , but by the time my cam snapped it was flat water)
The 1st one got SO close to Ri is was amazing!

Since school let out Rory has been going ON AND ON , about Wednesday- when she was going to get to see some of her bff and other kindy classmates at the pier. Lissy was going to take me- but she had felt sicky .. I almost called it off and would've if Rosie's mom hadn't written me saying how excited Rosie was, and Rory was soo soo excited she might get to see Rosie, that I went ahead and called another Mom to take me.
They had soo much fun it was ADORABLE! I am so glad they can still get together like this, I really amd fearful of 1st grade.
Their teacher even told them their is a large chance because there are so many more 1st graders, and 1st grade classes than there are kindy that they might have a class with NONE of thier classmates!!!-sniffle-
Drinks with the other mom's <3
So so fun, the kids played in the splash park for a long time, then in the sand while we chatted and drank,
we even took them up to the stage area to dance for the last song.

I am still trying to talk Ri into staying up one Wednesday to go with us. I think he would if he could,but he is pretty grumpy about it right now though.
He is on full time.. Every night of the week even, and he is NOT enjoying the graveyard shift, and sleeping all day
( though Honestly, as hot as it is midday I am thinking me and Rory should switch to graveyardshift sleeping hours too).
I think he does have PAID vacation time coming up though, in July? Something like that. I just hope he makes it that long without breaking down.

Maybe I will start waking Rory up when he gets home and going for more dawn patrol beach trips?

For now, I need to run-
Someone has to hold back the flood of Little pets in my living room.
AND this back room gets SOO hot I have been doing most of my web surfing from my phone to avoid melting in front of the computer.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

I lost my voice .. but I found it again

2011-06-09T12:42:00.004-04:00

Sorry for my hiatus.
You see,
1st the blogathon ended, and I took a much needed break..
then the kid got sick.
She missed the field trip to the alligator farm.. and spent another day home still feeling icky with a nasty cough.
... and Ri had to take Lissy to the airport, so we had her car at least , and took a trip to the pediatrician.
again.

Another big giant dose of Antibiotics...

Then I started running a fever,
a really nasty fever.
Sore throat, swollen tonsils ( could barely swallow,eat , talk , breathe.. it was a nightmare). Ridiculously high fever, body aches..
Tonsillitis.

So I didn't blog. My weekend was pretty well screwed.

Rory started feeling better though, and thank goodness she wasn't a total nightmare as I felt unable to do the tiniest things.

Getting her ready for school Monday and Tuesday was brutal ( because i felt soo much worse in the mornings ) -- and couldn't talk.
..PLus, she was soo sad about it being her last week of school.
The did a game day, when Rory brought in her fav puzzle and a bingo board game.

Monday after taking the kid to school , Ri convinced me to drag my silent, starving sore throat self to the beach , convinced it was the cure all..

My equalibrium was in no place to try and stand, much less stand on a board-- but I do think the water made me feel better.. besides there were NO waves.

Cannon ball Jelly

It was probably Thursday before I was able to eat more than Popsicles, and I feel like I wished it into existence when I was complaining last month about how many calories I eat and How Hungry I always am..

Noobie seems sad I haven't taken her out in days.. but It has also been so hot she goes out the bare minimum anyway.

LOOK!!! I finally caught a picture of the parrots. I am still determined to get a better picture.

I still felt so bad Monday that I called the homeroom mom and canceled helping with water day.. and it broke my heart. But Wednesday(, which was water day) I was feeling much better, so I came to help with the lunch part, and skipped the morning water activities. I still got to see Rory on one of her last days.. and even ended up helping break down the water day stuff ( don't ask me how I always end up being the one doing the work instead of playing with my kid, no matter how hard I try)

It did look like water day was a huge success, what a cool idea for the end of the year..
and I got to see the scrapbook the class put together for their teacher.
I am going to miss her whole class soo much.

Popcicle tongue
She is not happy school is over. Thursday was a big fuss fest about it.
.. but she spent Friday Swimming at neighborgirl's house, and today hanging with my niece , nephew and Ri's buddy's kid.

Plus, she has a hundred odd crafts going at any given moment
..and she is still making me read chapters of Misty of Chincoteague

I DID get a teeeny bit of footage for the week in a minute.. but It's been two weeks and your only getting one minute
...it's my sick hiatus I'll do it how I want.

One more weirdness before I go.

.. Thinking I might take a random August flight up to St. Louis to meet a bunch of my imaginary net friends.
Yup.
Why not.
Ri owes me a girl trip and thinks the weekend would do me good... So I think I'll start counting change and scraping up birthday moneys,
Maybe even sell some things.

Who wants to buy my dirty dishes?? We can start the bidding low?

Well,
i'll get back to ya.

Ri says his throat is starting to feel a little sore, and everyone in the house is taking a nap, I think I will join in.
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Tortillas are bean blankets

2011-05-31T22:26:00.003-04:00

Today's prettiness

I need a laugh too:

see more Lol Celebs

I'm having a case of the Mondays.. even though it is Tuesday.
Kid is still congested, it is alll far far too humid,Giant mosquito helicopters have taken over my backyard and claimed at least a few pints of my blood.It is so freaking hot, that I am tired of showering... I have showered off the sweat more than I probably showered all winter.

Ri slept most the day and woke up sort of mopish.

..BUT,Hey! at least the yard got mowed thanks to awesome yard guy, he even mowed the landlords yard (Her son is still in hospital from a stroke, please send him healing thoughts/prayers and all that).

I survived another day. Had a good breakfast. It can't be all bad, I guess.

Blogathon is drawing to a close. I made it the whole month! (Even posted my dreadtimeline vid everywhere else on the web the day blogger went down and caught up with my dread post the next day)
..but I MADE it!!!!
A post a day for the month of May.

I'm not sure what I got out of it- I don't think I quite fit the blogathon mold, and just sort of did me.I did find a few great blogs to follow, I guess I didn't get as much out of it as I thought I would from other people .
I did enjoy the PUSH to update more frequently, and I knew that I should.

So the big question is, will I keep blogging daily?
Probably not.
I WILL try to blog more often than once or twice a week, I do think my posts are a bit better when I do, but daily is a lot.
If I do decide to daily blog again I don't think it will be the wordcount blogathon, I think I will just do it on my own randomly- I need to push myself more.
I'm selfish like that.
Or something

Hey. I warned you I was bitchy today.
I blame the hellfire.

Anyway. I am going to go finish the 1st season of Son's of Anarchy.
and probably shower.again.
gross.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! ~Maya Angelou

2011-05-30T22:25:00.002-04:00

Hey!
Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day.

Rory has seemed a bit congested(and fingers really crossed it doesn't progress past that.. there are only 8 days of school left!!) but I think if anyone she had a good one.

The humidity was crazy here today. I had planned to go on a bike ride with Jess.. but we ended up waiting until later in the evening, midafternoon was TOO hot.

Jess had helped me all weekend to make a scrapbook page for her teacher (there is a bit of personal info on it I can't share here) -- but it turned out soo cute! I know there is no way I could have made something so awesome without her help. We finally finished it the other day- so we had time to just ride.

Rory got lucky while we were waiting for it to cool down ,and the neighbor kids came and invited her to go swimming at their house (they have one of those mini inflatable pools, Rory can touch the bottom in)
.. Which left me wondering around the house lonely, since Ri was at work too.. I ended up taking another go at scrubbing the tub...and watching the 1st season of Sons Of Anarchy.

When Rory came back we cleaned up the yard, practiced riding her bike.. it is still big for her -sigh- I doubt we could have afforded to buy her a 16 inch bike and then the 18 inch in another couple months, so we went for the 18 but learning on a larger bike isn't easy.

Then we called Jess over and went for a nice ride to the lighthouse playground (until we got hassled a bit by a bum) , and headed to the sno-cone place, to get a little blueberry sno-cone she had been begging for.

How spoiled is the kid??

I even made her perogies and broccoli when we got back..

Now , I once again have to battle the dishes, didn't I JUST do that last night?!

Hopefully with the long weekend drawing to a close I will find more time to BLOG ..
but if not, the blogathon is coming to a close, and I'll catch you when I catch you.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Hurry up and wait

2011-05-29T21:58:00.003-04:00

That's right people, another quick photo post, instead of a bloggy blog..
I told you the loonng weekend was mine..

So anyway, this is how the kid looked the morning- before we left on our van testing out/shopping trip.
..then she found these shoes
..and this bicycle (which is a little big for her but the 16 was too small.)

.. Then my folks stopped in and took the truck out of our driveway.. much needed since Reggae Sunday brought with it streets filled with drunk hoodlums

..and me and Jess left the kid with guys FOR ONCE- and went on a bike ride all over town

and managed to fit a good deed in.. When we brought a lost dog home, Dog chased us down the road a bit, it was pretty cute- until we couldn't get him to go home so we called his owner.

Now, I am gonna go make and iced coffee and hang out with some friends. you're lucky you got that much out of me.
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

The long weekend is MINE

2011-05-28T21:40:00.002-04:00

I must apologize.
... Sorry, See that sunset...
See that long weekend , Ri having the weekend off and friends over, and Mexican beer, fish tacos..
and the weekend Anniversary of the 12th year I have been with Ri:

So .. here are some pictures from throughout the week.. mostly Friday

I have a full belly and am gonna go have a smoke..and skip writting out a big blog while I have company

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

It's Friday -Week in a minute

2011-05-27T22:09:00.001-04:00

.. yeah, it's late, I'm just gonna post the vlog and run..
but here is an extra vid just because it was funny.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE