Careful What You Wish For

I guess I should have never complained about not getting a cake.

I'm finding it difficult to stay on my SLFP with all of this yummy cake.

Last night I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday with my sister, mom and Aunt Lisa. They, unfortunately, will not be able to come to NYC to help me celebrate so we had a little ladies night out. We went to Joe's Japanese steakhouse and had a very tastey dinner. The last time we all went to dinner was last year for my sister's 30th birthday. It was very nice to get together with all of them again.

So nice that I decided to go around and get pictures with everybody. Here's me and Melissa. Isn't she pretty as a picture?

Me and Aunt Lisa. Love ya, Aunt Lisa!

And there's mom. Love ya mom, but wasn't this supposed to be a post about me? Look how cute I am in that picture. (It's a long running joke with my mom and I that I turn everything back to me. Isn't that how it should be? I'm the baby in the family afterall.)
No, really back to my point. See my sister?

This is her daughter. I took it a few weeks ago at the Shrimp and Grits festival. That apple didn't fall far from the tree, did she? She reminds me so much of my sister when she was a kid.

Anywho, point is, I'm good on cake. Thank you everyone for your Birthday wishes and I will be thinking of all of you while I'm running around NYC. Love ya!!

Birthday Cake

The other day I made a comment on Working mum's blog that I don't usually get a birthday cake. I said that I guessed my husband's family wasn't that into doing cakes. I meant that in all my years of marriage to my husband he has never gotten me a cake for my birthday, so I assume that they didn't do that when he was growing up. He would say they were too busy working to eat any cake.

About eight years ago, I was pregnant with Jonathon and working at GAP. My birthday rolled around and I was about six months pregnant working in the mall. I called Josh to see if he wanted to come up and eat dinner with me at the mall to celebrate my birthday. He said he and his friend Travis were too busy to come eat with me. I asked what he was doing and he said he was just too busy.

I just knew I was having a surprise birthday party. He was busy getting all of my friends together for my fabulous party. That was okay. I could forgive him for not coming to eat with me since I was going to be having this great party. So, I head down to the Corndog 7 and get myself a corn dog, large Dr. Pepper and cheese fries and settle down to my birthday dinner. Can you picture me in the food court, eating a corn dog, bopping up and down getting excited about my BIG birthday bash? Good, you're there with me.

I get back to work and start trying to call Josh to try and find out more about my big plans. I reach him at home and now he and Travis are just hanging out watching TV. WHAT?! This is when it sinks in that there is no party. Now, I have to finish out my shift near tears the whole night. I thought we were going to get divorced that night. I called him on my way home and told him that if he knows what is good for him he will get right out and get me a cake for my birthday. I get home and there is this horrible round cake from Winn Dixie with the scariest clown I have ever seen and 2 big emergency candles stuck in it. (the cake was thanks to Travis, by the way, because my husband was STILL not going to go get me a cake) I cried the whole night and really wondered if my marriage was going to make it through this.

Over time, we come to accept things and I have accepted that my husband does not do cakes. Okay, fine.

But my friend Gigi does!

If that cake looks familiar, it's because she had one like it on her blog the other day. She baked one for my birthday. She saw my comment and decided I needed a cake. How sweet was that. It was her son that got the horrible clown cake years ago, and now she has made a special one just for me. Her little family has just been too good to me. I love ya, GIGI!

Madi really enjoyed her piece of cake.

See her party hat? They had a party at school and when I told her I had birthday cake she asked if she could put on her party hat.

She had spent the day before with Gigi and Shelby and I guess they looked for candles for my cake. She asked who made my birthday cake and I told her it was Gigi. Then she asked if Gigi ever found any candles. How cute is that?

Thank you, Gigi. That's the best Birthday Cake I've ever had. (Unfortunately, that's not saying much, I guess...)

Check Me Out!

My friend Amelia must have the best life ever. She keeps coming up with all of this way fun stuff. She went to yearbookyourself.com and made the funniest pictures of herself. You should definately check hers out. They are hilarious. Mine are pretty funny, but hers are side-splittingly funny. (is that a word?)

I swear my mom has a real picture of herself from college that looks just like my 3rd one.

Go do yours!!!

You're Crabby

Jonathon presented me with this beautiful piece of art, yesterday. All of the petal pieces are done in a different type of texture. A few minutes later he came back into the office and we had the following conversation.

J: I made a card for my teacher. I did it with the same texture things, only her's was a crab.

Me: What did you write on the inside? I hope it didn't say, "You're crabby."

Awkward silence as I laugh hysterically at myself. I turn around and realize he's not laughing.

J: Why not?

Me: Because when you say someone is crabby, it means they are always in a bad mood. Is that what it said? What did she say?

J: Yes. She said, " You think I'm crabby?"

Me: Oh, no. (still laughing)

J: (while running from the room) I've GOT to get that card back!!!

I just want you to know I totally blame Spongebob and his alluring crabby patties for all of this.

Retractions

It seems like my recent post about the state of our economy and our upcoming choice to make for President really riled everyone up. That's great. I think we should get all riled up about politics. And I am totally fine with people having different opinions from mine. I take it as a compliment that everyone felt safe enough to share their views with me.

So, was what I said about Sarah Palin sexist? Let's see. I said "I'm all for women in government, I just can't believe that there wasn't a more qualified, granted less pretty, woman for the job."

Let me explain what I meant. I was thinking that there were probably a lot of experienced, charasmatic, intelligent women that might have been looked over because they were not as camera friendly. And do I think that has an effect on why they chose her? Not that I'm mad she's pretty, I'm mad for the other women that maybe aren't as pretty who might not have been chosen because of that. Does that make sense?

I said it without really looking at the women in our government. So, I did a little research and here's what I found. Take a look at this. It says that there are currently only 3 women Republican governors in the US. So, I looked at the other two women who have been in their positions longer than her. You can take a look. That's all I'm saying about that.

Now, those other two governors may not have had the same political ideas as McCain. They may not have been able to serve as the Vice President for some other reason. I realize all of that. I honestly felt like there would be more women governors when I started researching this. I decided to check the Senate and here's what I found. It looks like there are 5 women there that are Republican.

What did I learn from all of this? First off, I have a much higher respect for Sarah Palin because I had no idea how few women there were, out there, doing what she is doing. And I have changed my mind about what I said being sexist. I believe that it was. But not for the reason you may think. I still believe that her good looks played a part in why she was chosen. BUT, when I think about it, it has been that way for men for years. Since the invention of the TV. Back when the politicians were on the radio, no one cared what they looked like. I would have never said that JFK, Clinton or Reagan (who was an actor before his political career) were helped by their good looks. So, it was sexist and I apologize. She has worked very hard to get where she is and I shouldn't have taken away from that by emplying that she got it because she was pretty.

Love ya. Can we all still be friends? Hope so.

Shrimp and Grits Festival

Yesterday was the perfect day to play outside at the Shrimp and Grits Festival. It was about 75 degrees and breezy all day. Jonathon was selling popcorn at the Cub Scout tent so Josh and I took the other kids around the Festival. We met my mom, sister and her two kids. Here's a shot of my mom, Melissa and her son Cooper (next to Jackson) and Bailey (in the stroller behind Madi). We were going to go in and check out the Sea Turtles but it was kind of pricey, so we didn't. Maybe next time.


We did find a bounce house that was free and lots of fun!!

And then we found some tables that had this great tree next to it. The kids played there for an hour.

Then the Queens Army came strolling by. (The restrooms were right next to our table) These reenactors were way SERIOUS about their jobs. I chased after them to get a picture with them. I was yelling for them to stop. But it was not that easy. The Commander (guy on the left) had to yell out an order for the Company (guy on the right) to stop. And then they had to "about face' before they were finally facing us. They were very nice and didn't break character at all.

What a great day!! And we got to see Josh's sister Courtney and her kids and Gigi, Christon and their whole gang. We had tons of fun and ate plenty of very good, a little overpriced, but very good food.

Down in the Dumps

Let's get right to the point. I haven't felt like posting anything. I'm usually a pretty upbeat, positive gal, but I'm having a hard time finding the bright side. I mean life is good. Josh is staying busy at work and I am not complaining because in times like these it's great to still have work coming in. All of my kids are healthy and very happy. That alone could keep me happy the rest of my days.

I'm just worried. I'm worried that we have lived in excess for too long and the bill is about to come due. I'm worried that people (including myself sometimes) have lived above our means and we will have to be knocked on our perverbial bums before we begin to live with what we need as opposed to what we want or even what someone else has. I'm worried that there isn't a man (or woman) alive that can pull us out of the hole we have willingly thrown ourselves into.

This lady seems like a nice person and she seems to have the right attitude as far as cutting spending goes, I just think she is extremely underqualified to become our Nation's Vice President. I'm all for women in government, I just can't believe that there wasn't a more qualified, granted less pretty (Sorry. Is that sexist and can I be sexist since I am a woman?) woman for the job.

I liked this guy when he ran against Bush. I liked him because I thought he would really be different. I don't know if I've grown up or what but I don't like his ideas anymore. What really turned me off to him was when he was asked in one of the debates about our economy and he said, "I will have a staff that knows about the economy and they will help me make the choices for our economy." WHAT??? I felt like I was the only person on Earth who believed that maybe, just maybe, considering the times we are living in, our Commander in Chief should know a little something about the economy.

And then there's this guy. Who I honestly believe has the best of intentions but will not really be able to change anything. I think he simply will not be able to change the face of Government as we know it and that seems to me to be about the extent of the work we need to do.

I didn't get a picture of Joe Biden who is that previous guys running mate, but I do want to add something about him. I really like him a lot. What I like about him is that he has gone home to his family from the first day he was in Washington. I like that he says what he thinks, whether it be politically correct or not. But are those good reasons to vote for the guy??

We need Mitt. Fine, whatever. I just don't know what I'm going to do.

I asked Josh's grandma if she could take care of our whole family when the economy goes down the toilet. She said that we would be fine with all of those cows we have out there. That actually comforted me a little. At least I'll be eating steak while the world crumbles around me.

Dancing

Not me this time. This guy is way better. This is the coolest thing I have seen in a while. I was just saying on another blog that one of these days we were going to figure out that, no matter what nationality you are, we are all one people living in one world trying to make a life for ourselves and our great great great grandkids. I am so inspired by this, right now. Take a look. You MUST!

http://vimeo.com/1211060?pg=embed&sec=1211060

Thank you, Amelia for sharing this with us.

My Monkey and I Have a Follower!!

The way she eat's bananas, you would think she was a monkey. I was trying to save some bananas to make banana bread and she kept gettting them off of the counter and eating them. Every time, I would catch her just after she had already taken a few bites, peel and all. EEEW. I'm sure the peel has vitamins or nutrients or something, though, right?

Am I the only one who thinks she is too cute eating that banana? Probably.

There's the banana bread I made. For the recipe you will have to join me tonight at FHE at our church. Or I guess you could go to the Food Network website.

Whoa. Wait a second. Did you think I couldn't hear you? "All she ever does is put pics up of her kids eating food. And that Emma Mae is in like every picture." Fine. Here's some pictures from the farm.

I guess Emma Mae's in that one too.

No Emma Mae here, though. That's just Noah petting the donkey and explaining to us how he wants to marry the horses.

This shot is just after I explained that we can't marry animals.

How did this get in there? Isn't it cute, though? The horse totally wanted her cookie.

Man, I'm a bad photographer. That's Jonathon up on the tractor. The sun is drowning him out a little, but he's there, promise.

I asked Papa to move the tractor to the shade and there you go. It's a little better. Those boys had a blast working at the farm. I would have taken pictures of Madi, too. But she was inside with Nanny laying on the couch watching cartoons.

Also, I wanted to mention that when I signed in to do this post, I noticed that I have a Follower. Oh, my goodness. I have no idea what it means but it sure has blown my head up, big as the sky. Thank you, Reluctant for following me and making me feel important.

Stuffed Shells

You were wondering about my dinner, were you? Well, this is Josh's favorite meal. We call it stuffed shells. I found it in one of my Southern Living cookbooks, but you can also find it on the Southern Living website.

You'll notice that the recipe calls for manicotti. Well, these large shells just seem easier to work with to me. Also, I don't use the tomatoes that it calls for. Recently, I bought a LOT of tomatoes and made homemade marinara.

The recipe for that is on the Food Network website.

Did I mention that I made some marina? About 93 jars to be exact. I gave some to my mother in law and Josh's grandma. And what is in that picture is all that I have left. Which is still a lot if anyone would like to try some.

Anywho, you brown 1 lb of ground sausage. While that is browning boil your shells for about 9 minutes. You don't want them to cook too long because they will start to crack. And they will finish cooking in the oven. Speaking of that, go ahead and preheat to 350 degrees. Once the sausage is done, add it, the cream cheese, 2 cups of mozarella, 1 cup of ricotta cheese together in a bowl. The warm sausage will melt the cheese a little and help it to mix well. Then you pull out your shells, stuff them with the sausage and cheese mixture and put them in the baking dish of your choice. Pour your jar of marinara over them. Put the remaining 2 cups of mozerella over the top and pop in the oven for 25-30 min. And Voila. You have Josh's favorite meal, ever. Please invite him to eat with you when you eat it. Thank you, very much.

Husband Forced to Move Out

See Debbie, there? Look at her face. Oh, she's evil. As a kid you might look at her and her gooey honey buns and think that she is your new best friend, but we adults see right through that devilish smile, don't we?

It all started a couple of days ago. Josh has a renter that works at a bread store. They sell bread and things that are about to expire. Anyway, Josh comes home with this giant box that has 8 of these size boxes of honey buns in it. Oh, he was so proud. His renter gave them to him because they were about to expire. As he was telling me about his 'great deal' he sat the box down in the office and headed back to the room to get a shower. So, that's where the box stayed. On the floor in the office. Very easy for the kids to get to. The first day of the kids asking to eat a honey bun every few minutes was not too bad. It was starting to drive me crazy, but not too bad. Then, yesterday, I thought I was in some kind of honey bun blackhole. Emma Mae was picking them up and begging for one. Madi was opening them and hiding with them.



This is just a shot of our dinner last night. Isn't it yummy looking?

A shot of the smaller dish that I made because the larger dish doesn't fit all the gooey goodness in it.


Back to my point. See there? The half eaten honey bun and it's friends that were apprehended earlier in the day.


Try to ignore my dirty pot holder and notice where I found a honey bun yesterday afternoon.

It all came to a head when I was cooking dinner and I stepped back and stepped on something smushy. Oh my goodness, it was another honey bun. I flipped out. I had had enough. It was either them or me. When Josh got home I let him have it. I was done with the honey buns. I wanted to make them all disappear. I'm thinking cement feet if you know what I mean. This was his solution.

Finally, he put them up. Now they are all in a cabinet over the stove where they will sit and grow old not being eaten by a single soul. The kids have already forgotten about them. Not me, though. I will be there to watch as they get old and moldy and uneaten and I will laugh. Because I won.

Thank you, Mr. Phelps

How cool is that guy?

We think he is pretty cool around here. In case the computer you are reading this on sits on a desk underneath a rock, that is Michael Phelps. And I think he has just officially turned swimming into America's new favorite sport.

Last year, at an appointment with Jonathon's doctor (the one with the phd), Dr. MalFabi (not his real name...) suggested that I get Jonathon into swimming. He said that Jonathon is a little flat footed and it would be really good for his legs and hips if he got into swimming. I talked to Josh and he nixed the 'swim team' idea. Josh, believe it or not, can be a little intimidated by things that he doesn't know anything about. He wanted Jonathon to just stay in soccer and baseball.

Enter Michael Phelps at the Bejing Summer Olympics.

The boys started swim practice yesterday. And the rest, they say, 'is history'.