Not Me, Monday!

Monday is upon us. So exciting...{or not}.

MckMama's got all the rules for "Not Me!" Monday posted so if you haven't participated before, click on over and find out the scoop on all that is "Not Me!" Monday!

While we were having the scorching hot days, Kyle did NOT have me get a few bags of ice for a make-shift air conditioner he was making with our fan and some copper tubing. Because that little experiment didn't work so well, we didn't end up using two bags of the ice. Kyle did NOT stuff them in the freezer where they've been since. I have NOT been trying to get him to do something with them because I need my freezer space back. When that wasn't happening {although I kept threatening to stick them out on the deck and letting them melt} I did NOT take matters into my own hands since I REALLY needed the space...

You would think that taking two bags of ice out of the freezer would be as simple as that. In this case? Not so much. They had melted a bit and then when they were shoved in the freezer, they {obviously} froze back up, but this time into almost solid blocks of ice. {GRRR!!!} In my attempt to get them out, I did NOT shake the entire fridge / freezer, push and shove every which way, kick the bags of ice trying to get them to submit to my need to get them out, and use a wooden spoon to try to break it up. The wooden spoon did NOT have pieces break off of it and then I did NOT use the handle and puncture holes in the bags {unintentionally}. It did NOT take me for frickin EVER to get those damn bags out. And when I finally did, I was NOT the nice wifey and decide to store them in the freezer in the garage...

Trying to get TO the freezer in the garage was NOT a whole other story. There is NOT a large garbage can full of pieces of wood sitting in front of the freezer. I could barely get the stupid thing open. Again, there was NOT a bunch of pushing and shoving to be done to get a space open enough to shove the bags of ice into. Once I did NOT get that accomplished, I did NOT have to get a box OUT of the freezer {that once upon a time contained parts of a butchered cow} which took some time too, since I still did NOT have the freezer door open very much. BUT, the task got accomplished and I did NOT get my freezer space back.

When I told Kyle what I did, he did NOT ask me if I wanted to help him clean the garage. Nope, I do not thankyouverymuch!

Before I got laid off, I would get waxed every five to six week. The wax included my upper legs. Since I haven't been able to get waxed in about 6-7 months, I have NOT been getting a lot of ingrown hairs, most of which I can get out no problemo. I have had one spot on my inner thigh that I've been picking at off and on. The stupid hair is NOT so lodged into my leg that I now have an infection...

I did NOT send my mom a text asking her what to do about this severely ingrown hair and she didn't get my text. She did NOT send me a text later asking how I was and saying that she'd see me the next day, which is when I did NOT find out she hadn't received my previous text. Her response? "Sounds narly. See you tomorrow." So when I went over to her house to watch my nephews, I did NOT tell her that my text was not a statement but a question. After I showed her what was going on, she did NOT tell me that it was bad. Very bad. My mom did NOT then transform into Dr. Mom {although she holds no MD degree}. Surgery was NOT about to be performed on my poor leg. BUT, when she started investigating, she wasn't able to see the hair so instead she did NOT put some sort of concoction on some cotton, wrap my leg in saran wrap and an ace bandage and tell me to keep it on for 24 hours to draw the infection out. Grrr!! All this has to happen when we have no insurance, of course. {Although my mom did say that she'd pay for me to go to the doctor if it comes to that. This is nasty stuff, people!}

Evan {3.5} was NOT being a stinker and refusing to pick up some playing cards. My mom did NOT slightly raise her voice and tell him to pick them up because she had already picked them up two times that day and she didn't want to do it again. That he was a big boy and he could do it. Evan did NOT tell her to stop yelling and she told him to then start obeying. Mr. Man decides to say one of his "regulars": Stop talking to me! I then did NOT go over to Evan and tell him that he needed to speak nicely. He did NOT then say, "Please stop talking to me" to my mom. We were NOT cracking up while trying to not let Evan see.

Driving home from my mom's the other day, I did NOT see three teenage boys walking down the street. One of them was NOT leaning against a fence looking into the woods. One of the other two boys did NOT walk by the one looking into the woods and totally pants him! I am NOT glad that I was still far enough away that I didn't have to see that kids stark white ass staring at me as I drove by!

This conversation did NOT happen over this photo taken this week while I was getting my hair done.

{Click to make larger}

My sister does NOT give me anxiety.

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I need more questions for a future post...do you have one for me? Go here to ask your question{s}; I'd love to answer!

Worship and Praise Sunday: You Raise Me Up

You Raise Me Up

Selah

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary,

When troubles come and my heart burdened be.
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

CHORUS:
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up.. to more than I can be.

REPEAT CHORUS

There is no life - no life without it's hunger
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly
But when you come and I am filled with wonder
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
And I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up .. to more than I can be
You raise me up .. to more than I can be

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I know Josh Groban sings this song, too, and I don't know who the original artist is, but I really love this song. It just gives such an uplifting image. Also, it's such an encouraging song.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up.. to more than I can be.

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Join Brittany at Sweet Nothings for more Worship & Praise Sundays.

She's been away from the computer the past couple months {I hope she's doing alright!}, but I'm sure she'll be back just as soon as she's able.
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I need more questions for a future post...do you have one for me? Go here to ask your question{s}; I'd love to answer!

Weekend Wordle / Six Word Saturday

To create your own Wordle, go here. And then download MWSnap to save the image. Easy peasy!

Join in on the Week-End Wordle with Shannon at Last Shreds of Sanity. Link up and see what everyone else is coming up with.

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Six Word Saturday:

My Birthday Party. In One Week!!!

My birthday, the next day.

Join Cate at Show My Face for more Six Word Saturdays. She's got lots of groupies that like to play along!
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SMART ASS ANSWERS according to Reader's Digest:

Smart Ass Answer #5:

A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed her. Without missing a beat she said, "Sir, I need to see your ticket not your stub."

Smart Ass Answer #4:

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but she couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

Smart Ass Answer #3:

The cop got out of his car and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window. "I've been waiting for you all day," the cop said. The kid replied, "Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could." When the cop finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket.

Smart Ass Answer #2:

A truck driver was driving along the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, "Low Bridge Ahead." Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck, huh?" The truck driver says, "No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."

Smart Ass Answer #1:

A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. "Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury or illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!" A smart ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, "What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?" The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says "Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand."

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I need more questions for a future post...do you have one for me? Go here to ask your question{s}; I'd love to answer!

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life!

Answer my question and make sure you post one on your blog!

After that, go relax because today is Friday!!

Question for you this week is:

Have you ever broken any bones on your body? If there's a story to go with the injury, tell me about it.

My answer:

I broke my arm when I was in first grade. My left arm. I'm left-handed.

My dad took my sister and me to the park on the way home from somewhere and as we were getting ready to leave the park, I wanted to climb up this wooden jungle gym thing one last time. My dad turned for a split second to see what my sister was doing in the dirt and I tumbled off the structure and broke my arm. We had to stop at home to get my dad's wallet {I think?} and then headed to the ER where I was x-rayed and casted.

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Broken Bones

A blonde walks into a doctor's office and tells the doctor she's broken every
single bone in her body. "That's impossible!" says the doctor.

The blonde says, "No, it's really true. Look!" She then touches her leg with
her index finger and screams "Ouch!" Then she touches her arm and yells
"Eeeeoooow!" Finally she touches her ribs and can barely maintain her
composure as the tears start to roll down her face. She says, "See, I told
you I broke every bone in my body."

The doctor rubs his chin, then conducts a thorough examination. "Well, miss,"
he tells her, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is,
you haven't broken every bone in your body. The bad news is, you've broken
your finger."

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I need more questions for a future post...do you have one for me? Go here to ask your question{s}; I'd love to answer!

Ocean Shores: Day 1

Saturday night, there was a surprise party for my cousin at my house...guys only. So I went to see Julie & Julia by myself. A new experience, but not too bad.

I had told Kyle that I wanted us to have everything ready to go Saturday so that we could just get up and go on Sunday morning...at 6am.

Yeah.

That didn't happen. LOL

We didn't end up even waking up until 6:30 and we left the house at 8am.

But, of course, we couldn't just get on the road. Kyle had to make a stop at the grocery store to deposit some work checks and get some snacks for the road.

So we ended up actually on the road, leaving town at 8:30. A full 2.5 hours later than we wanted.

Oh well.

Also, mapquest told us it was going to take us 4 hours to get to Ocean Shores. Ugh!

But since it was a Sunday morning, there wasn't too much traffic and we made it to Ocean Shores in 2.5 hours. Yay!!

{I tweeted that we were going to be going through Forks, for all of you Twilight freaks. But, we ended up turning to go the opposite direction. Sorry for the tease, since I had told a couple people on Twitter that I'd at least take a picture of the welcome sign. Didn't happen. Then I was going to at least take a picture of the road sign that said Forks, but then I didn't have my camera out soon enough on the way home. Again. Sorry 'bout that. I'm so mean.}

So we get into town and head to the camp ground. Everyone else is in town. We call my MIL and she said that the guys were walking along the beach and if we headed down there we'd probably run into them; that the girls wouldn't be too far behind them.

{I'll just insert here that we were camping with a family that included mom: Barbara, dad: Bryan, daughter: Margaret / Maggie ; Kyle's and my former grade school teacher Jerrie, her husband Karl and their daughter Karlie and then my MIL & FIL.}

To the beach we went.

And Chew had his first swim in the ocean since last June when we went to Oregon.



We did eventually meet up with them all. Then we headed back to the campground for awhile, had lunch and "moved in" to the camper where we were going to be sleeping.

After a bit, everyone wanted to head back to the beach to spend the rest of the day.







Everyone chilled {literally...NW beaches are not exactly WARM} for awhile and then the sandcastle making toys came out.

Karlie buried herself in the sand...

The guys went and got buckets of water to drench the sand with...






{Unfortunately, the sandcastle never got finished...every other year that they've all gone camping, they've built a sandcastle and left it to finish the next day with no problems. This time, when we checked on it the next day, it looked like a beach patrol person had come and smooshed it down and filled the moat back in. It was so sad.}

Kyle lifted me up with one arm so we were a bit awkward and trying to take the picture fast. lol

Later on, after we'd gone back to the campground and had dinner, etc., Jerrie wanted to go back down the beach to see a sand sculpture they'd seen some guy working on that morning...and some others wanted to go to the grocery store.

This is what we saw when we drove onto the beach...

The infamous sand sculpture...looks like some kids had been playing on / around it...but pretty cool nonetheless.


After we went into town and were headed back to the campground THIS is what greeted us...so amazing! The sunset completely changed within about 15-20 minutes.


Day 2 coming soon...we'll see how ambitious I get...I may post a couple posts the next few days {along with Aloha Friday, Six Word Saturday, etc...{or not} we shall see}.

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I need more questions for a future post...do you have one for me? Go here to ask your question{s}; I'd love to answer!

Sad News

From Kori:

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Peace be still

Richard graced the gates of Heaven at 12:26 AM today.

"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord."

2 Corinthians 5:8

Prayers and tears for you and your boys, Kori.

Wordlessful Wednesday: Is There Anything Better Than S'mores?

We LOVE s'mores and we indulged in a lot of them on this trip.

My Mother-in-law making one of hers.

Kyle's perfectly roasted marshmellows for his.

I had to have one last s'more before we left. Just look at this masterpiece.

The ooy gooyness.

Mmmmmmm...........

The melted marshmellow and chocolate stretches just like it should.

Perfection!

Please ignore how gross and greasy I was! A shower was non-existent on this trip, unfortunately.

For more Wordful Wednesdays click here.

For more Wordless Wednesday go to the WW HQ here.

And Mostly Wordless Wednesday here.

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Do you have a question you've just been dying {or not} to ask me? Well, I want to answer it! Go here to ask your question{s} and I'll answer in a future post!

TAT / TST: Me? A Cheater?

Driver's Ed.

Ahhhh....

Fun. Times.

I was 15 1/2.

Gearing up to get my driver's license, but of course, had to take the required class.

This particular day, we were in the simulators.

And we had a test.

I don't remember if we did the simulator and then had a test or if we had a test and then did the simulator. Doesn't really matter. Either way, we had to take a test.

And I was not prepared.

I was never good at taking tests. No matter how much I studied, I always froze up and couldn't remember the answers.

I believe I had NOT studied for this test, though, so I was even more unprepared then I normally would've been.

I was never a cheater either.

Just call me Miss Goody Two-Shoes.

Driver's Ed was after school so some time during this particular day I had written down the answers to this test we were supposed to take.

How I got the answers, I do not remember.

But, I had the answers.

And we had a test.

Did I mention I was a bad test taker?

So we're sitting in our simulators. There were two seats along each side of the simulator.

I believe I was sitting on the outside of the row, along the aisle.

We're taking our test and I'm coming up on some questions that I don't know the answers to so I take a peek at my cheat sheet, which was just a palm-sized piece of paper with really tiny writing on it.

Mr. Driver's Ed is walking up and down the aisle so I'm thinking I'm being sneaky and careful about when I peek at the answers.

Apparently not, though.

The next thing I know I'm being tapped on the shoulder.

"Miss Boardman, will you please come see me in the back?"

Crap, crap, crap, crap...what do I do? Crap, crap, crap, crap!

Everyone's looking up from their tests to see what's going on.

I take the walk of shame.

I get up and walk to the back and the Driver's Ed instructor says something to me about cheating, what am I doing, why am I not prepared, etc., etc., etc.

I don't remember the conversation, except that I totally graveled and plead for mercy.

Mr. Driver's Ed gave me another chance to take the test. Again, I don't remember if it was that same day or if I had to take it another day, but I was given a second chance to redeem myself.

I don't even remember what score I received on that test.

I just remember that I was so embarrassed and humiliated that I never wanted to cheat again.

And as far as I can remember, I didn't.

Learned me a lesson that day!

The cheating is not worth the embarrassment of getting caught.

But Thank God for merciful Driver's Ed teachers!

Now, if you've got something totally awkward that has happened to you, why don't you hop on over to Tova Darling's and link up. While you're there, take a look at all the other awkward stories. They'll make you feel better about the things that have happened to you.

And / Or

If you've got a Totally True story you want to share, head over to Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday and link up there.

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Do you have a question you've just been dying {or not} to ask me? Well, I want to answer it! Go here to ask your question{s} and I'll answer in a future post!

Not Me, Monday!

Monday is here. The weekend just flies by too fast, huh?

MckMama's got all the rules for "Not Me!" Monday posted so if you haven't participated before, click on over and find out the scoop on all that is "Not Me!" Monday!

This week while camping, we did NOT walk A LOT. We did NOT walk 6 + miles one morning. That walk was NOT on the beach into town and back to our campground. After that walk, I did NOT decide to avoid that walk the next day since my foot was bothering me and I could barely walk because of sore muscles I didn't even know I had. We did NOT happen to end up walking a lot anyway.

I also did NOT end up getting sick on this trip. It started with all the aches and pains. Then plugged up ears and nose and sore throat. I did NOT think it was just because we were camping, however, when we got home it just got worse.

Kyle and I were walking to the bathrooms one night and although we had a flashlight, Kyle didn't feel the need to USE it. Because I couldn't see where I was walking, I did NOT trip over a hump in the road. The next night we were walking back from the bathrooms and I did NOT walk off the side of the road and totally twist my ankle. This time the flashlight was being used except we were distracted by another dog that came to visit Chewy and I didn't see that I was so close to the edge. Ouch.

I mentioned before that we were going to be camping with a couple of other families. One of them being Kyle's and my grade school teacher and her fam. We did NOT end up spending a lot of time reminiscing with her about things she taught us and things that we actually remembered from those days.

Our 8th engagement anniversary happened to be one of the days we were at the ocean. We did NOT go down to approximately the same place {and the same time} that Kyle proposed and take pictures. It was NOT freezing and we unfortunately didn't get the gorgeous sunset that we had on that day 8 years before. My MIL did NOT get some really good pictures though so I am NOT looking forward to sharing them with you all.

On our last day there, I was NOT feeling like complete crap and just wanted to go home. Kyle wanted to go out to this "Spit" thing with everyone else. It was NOT a sort of a finger-shaped piece of land with a bay {or something} on one side and the ocean on the other. It was NOT so warm there with hardly any wind...which is NOT what I had been wanting the beach to be the whole time we were there. Kyle and I did NOT end up going exploring and walked almost the entire way around this thing {about 4 miles}. We did NOT end up being gone for a few hours and by the time we got back, everyone had NOT packed up and left. His parents were NOT waiting for us in the parking lot and had been for about 15 minutes. It was NOT fun "getting lost" with my hubby and finding lots of fun things. One of the not-so-fun things we found was the head and spine of a bobcat. SO GROSS! Chewy actually found it and was rolling around in it. We do NOT have a picture of the bobcat head.

A couple days after we got home from the ocean, I did NOT have to take Chewy back to the vet for a check up on his ear infection - it's gone now. Yay! On my way home, I did NOT see a sign on a telephone pole that said "I Need A Girlfriend" with a phone number. If I had not been entering the freeway, I would've taken a picture. So weird. Does this person actually expect someone to call? LOL

While I'm still not completely well, my head is NOT feeling a bit lighter, finally.

I do NOT have 550 pictures to go through. I have not even begun to look at them yet. But be prepared for a lot once I've finally gotten them online.

What have you NOT done this week?

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Do you have a question you've just been dying {or not} to ask me? Well, I want to answer it! Go here to ask your question{s} and I'll answer in a future post!

Weekend Wordle / Six Word Saturday

To create your own Wordle, go here. And then download MWSnap to save the image. Easy peasy!

Join in on the Week-End Wordle with Shannon at Last Shreds of Sanity. Link up and see what everyone else is coming up with.

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Six Word Saturday:

Julie & Julia. You MUST see!!

I saw this movie on Saturday night, by myself, because there was a surprise party at my house for my cousin...guys only. There wasn't really anyone around to go with me so I took the plunge and ventured out to a movie...alone...

This movie was completely adorable! There were some funny parts. Not gut-busting, but still funny. And if I was a crier, there were some parts that would've made me a bit misty. I highly recommend that you see this movie!! I loved it!

Join Cate at Show My Face for more Six Word Saturdays. She's got lots of groupies that like to play along!
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TIME FOR A LITTLE COUNSELING

After just a few years of marriage, filled with constant arguments, a young man and his wife decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling. They had been at each other's throat for some time and felt that this was their last straw.

When they arrived at the counselor's office, the counselor jumped right in and opened the floor for discussion. "What seems to be the problem?" Immediately, the husband held his long face down without anything to say. On the other hand, the wife began talking 90 miles an hour describing all the wrongs within their marriage.

After 5 - - 10 - - 15 minutes of listening to the wife, the counselor went over to her, picked her up by her shoulders, kissed her passionately for several minutes, and sat her back down. Afterward, the wife sat there speechless. He looked over at the husband who was staring in disbelief at what had happened.

The counselor spoke to the husband, "Your wife NEEDS that at least twice a week!"

The husband scratched his head and replied, "I can have her here on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

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Diver without scuba gears

One day, a diver was enjoying the aquatic world 20 feet below sea level. He noticed a guy at the same depth he was, with no scuba gear on whatsoever. The diver went below another 10 feet, but the guy joined him a minute later. The diver went below 15 more feet, a minute later, the same guy joined him.

This confused the diver, so he took out a waterproof chalkboard, and wrote, "How the heck are you able to stay under this deep without equipment?"

The guy took the board and chalk, erased what the diver had written, and wrote, "I'm drowning, you moron!"

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Do you have a question you've just been dying {or not} to ask me? Well, I want to answer it! Go here to ask your question{s} and I'll answer in a future post!

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life!

Answer my question and make sure you post one on your blog!

After that, go relax because today is Friday!!

Question for you this week is:

Which do you prefer: tent camping or hotel room?

My answer:

I PREFER a nice hotel room, but getting out into nature {as long as I don't have to sleep directly on the ground} is nice once in awhile too {as long as it's not freezing cold!}.

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Three sacks

There was a blond, brunette, and a redhead that had just robbed a store.
The cops spotted them, so they started to run.
They saw a barn and ran into it. Once inside — they found three potato bags that they hid in.
The cops saw them enter the barn and went in to find the three robbers.
The cops saw the three sacks moving so they went to investigate.
A cop kicked the first bag, which was the brunette’s.
She said “woof, woof.” They thought it was just some little puppies.
He went over to the redheads bag and kicked it.
She said “meow, meow.” They thought it was just some kittens.
Then the cops went to the last bag which was the blonde’s.
They kicked it and she said “potato, potato.”

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The Blonde and The Grasshopper

A blonde received an assignment from her science teacher. The assignment was what will happen after you pull all of the legs off of a grasshopper. So the blonde says jump grasshopper jump. And the grasshopper jumped. So she pulled off one leg and said jump grasshopper jump. And the grasshopper jumped. So she does this until she got down to the last leg. So she pulled it off. Then she said jump grasshopper jump. And the grasshopper didn’t jump. so she wrote down on her piece of paper.

“They lose their hearing“

I Can't Stinkin Believe It....and Got A Question For Me?

I can't believe that I've written 300 posts and you guys have stuck around to read my blabbering!

Thank you!!

A lot has happened in 300 posts.

You've seen me rant and cry and question my infertility: here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. {What? It's an infertility blog, even if it's not focused solely on infertility.}

You've seen me be totally and completely awkward here.

You've read my childhood diary entries here.

You've seen my goofy pets doing animal things here and here.

And you've seen me being either completely in love or completely irritated with my other half here.

I've also almost reached 250 followers! Woohoo!!

Again, thank you to those that have been here from the beginning and those of you that have come along throughout.

Not only do I have 300 posts on this little blog 'o' mine, but I'm ALMOST to my one year blogversary! {In October}. WOW!!

C-R-A-Z-Y!!

For this little milestone of hitting 300 posts, though, I thought it'd be fun for you guys to:

ASK ME ANYTHING!

I did this once before, but that was a long time ago and I'm sure you guys have some more burning questions for me, right? Ha! I'm probably kidding myself, but whatev. If you have a question or two or ten for me, I'd love to answer them in a future post.

Serious, funny, crazy, weird...whatever...I'll try to answer whatever your inquisitive minds are wanting to know.

So, go forth and question!!

True Story Tuesday: Our Engagement Story {re-posted}

**I am re-posting this since we're ACTUALLY HERE on the 8th anniversary of when it happened AND I have a lot more followers since the last time I posted this.**

Don't mind the quality of the pictures...I scanned them just for this post.

I figured since I showed you a picture from when we got engaged yesterday that I would tell you about when the engagement actually happened.

And I'm really sad because when we first got engaged, I signed up with TheKnot.com and I had a profile on there with our engagement story. I logged on yesterday for the first time in forever (and it says: DAYS MARRIED: 2637 - wow, that's a lot of days! lol) and while they still have us on there, our profile is basically just our names and wedding date. I didn't have it written out anywhere else, that I can remember. I would've loved to have shared with you what I had written back then since it was so fresh. Now all the details are somewhat unclear.

Oh well....

As a brief recap of our life...

We met in fourth grade.

We started "dating" our freshman year of high school when I was 15 and Kyle was 14.

The summer after we graduated, we broke up for a year.

We didn't talk for the first six months.

My cousin and Kyle had enlisted in the NAVY and at their going away party Kyle decided he wanted to talk to me again. They left on Kyle's 19th birthday.

I told him that while he was in boot camp, if he wanted, I'd write to him, but if he didn't want me to I wouldn't. He wanted me to.

So I did.

After boot camp, Kyle was stationed in South Carolina.

After a few months, he got out on an Administrative Discharge.

He drove home in four days.

He came to my condo that I shared with my best friend, Riika, a couple hours after he got home.

That was in July of 1999.

Three weeks after he got home, we got back together.

Skip to 2001.

We had talked about getting married. Actually we had talked about getting married for YEARS. But more recently we had SERIOUSLY talked about getting married.

We went and looked at rings. He wanted to get me a solitaire diamond. I didn't want a solitaire diamond. I chose the ring I wanted but didn't expect him to get it and had NO idea when he would even think about proposing. He's very sneaky and great at surprising me.

I'll just add this in now...we had NEVER been on any sort of vacation together.


So out of the blue one day, Kyle asks me what I would think of us taking a little trip down to Ocean Shores for a weekend get away.

I was ALL for it and SO excited.

But my cousin; one of Kyle's best friends, would go with us as a "chaperon".

Neither of us were 25 yet. We were both 21.

When I called around to book a hotel and / or cabin no one said anything about needing to be 25 to rent / book a room / cabin.

So the weekend of August 18, 2001, the three of us headed to Ocean Shores. I had gotten us a house / cabin a couple miles from the beach. But when we went to the rental office, they almost didn't let us go through with the rental because we weren't 25. But they figured that we were "nice kids" so they did, after all.

Oh! Haha It was either before we left or right after we arrived in Ocean Shores...I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think maybe Kyle and I were hugging and I felt something in his pocket {get yer mind outta the gutter}. His dad had given him this little gun for Christmas and I asked him if he had his gun in his pocket (gosh, I wish I could remember the exact details...I don't know if it was his pocket or I saw something in his bag...either way...I saw something and I asked him about it). He said something and then disappeared quickly.

After we got all settled in and whatnot, we went exploring. If you haven't been to Ocean Shores, it's a very small town. Not a whole lot to do.

Eventually we ended up on the beach.

We made a fire and just hung out.

After awhile, I decided that I wanted to go down by the water and write in the sand.


Kyle followed me a little while later.

Then he decided that he need to go and get the ring box "get his sweatshirt". The ring box "sweatshirt" was what I had seen earlier but had no idea what it was.

When he came back down, we were standing there by the water and I was taking pictures of the sun setting.

Kyle started talking about how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and I told him that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him as well.

We'd had this conversation before so I still wasn't thinking anything out of the ordinary.

I'm not sure what else he said, but before I knew what was happening, he was down on his knee in the wet sand, with a ring box open and the ring I had chosen starring at me.

He said that he loved me and asked me if I would marry him.

I had a giant smile on my face and I don't remember my exact reaction but I'm sure it was something like YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!! lol

He proposed on 8/18/2001 at 8:18 pm.

When we got back to the house, we called everyone and NO ONE answered their phones! So we had to wait to share our news till the next day.

After we got home and called even more people, everyone seemed to know what was going to happen except me. Kyle had only told his parents and John, I think. Oh, duh! And he had asked my dad a few days before we left. Everyone told me it should've been obvious since we had never gone out of town together and now all of a sudden we were.

I guess I'm just dense sometimes. LOL

We looked through the calendar and we really wanted to get married on New Year's Day because that was the date that we originally started "going out", but everyone kept telling us we couldn't get married on a holiday.

So we decided on January 12th.

Then my dad asked us if we would change our date because there was a lady at his church that had also just gotten engaged and they had chosen the 12th. It normally wouldn't matter, except that she was getting married and moving to Australia the next day (so they couldn't change the date as easily) and she wanted my dad to sing at her wedding. Since we had just chosen the date and it didn't have any special meaning to us, we decided to oblige and moved it to the next week.

And there is our engagement story.

We got married 5 months and one day later.

At my dad's house after getting back into town.

My engagement ring...there's another band to make the set.

If you've got a Totally True story you want to share, head over to Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday and link up there.

Not Me, Monday!

Monday is here. And I'm camping...err...not camping. I will NOT have a full report for you when I return.

In the meantime...

Free therapy is a good thing. As is refusing to admit to the things that you've done recently...or something like that. Put those two things together and you've got "Not Me!" Monday.

MckMama's got all the rules posted so if you haven't participated before, click on over and find out the scoop on all that is "Not Me!" Monday!

This week has NOT been a so-so week. Some days were busy and some were not.

I did NOT spend more time on the computer than I should have fiddling with pictures and stupid, slower than molasses photobucket. I did NOT want to pull my hair out one strand at a time because of that stupid site that I only use because it's easy to post pictures to blogger with.

I did NOT finally organize a file drawer filled with crap bills and miscellaneous papers. I did NOT throw most of it away. Only took me two years to do it.

I did NOT call both mortgage companies we have an ARM and get our mortgage payments reduced for x amount of months different for both. Yay me for NOT doing that! And no, I do not remember what the plan is called that's allowing people to do this.

On one of those calls, I was NOT snotty when the lady kept asking the same frickin questions over and over. Did I not JUST answer that? I was NOT frustrated with having to repeat myself a million times because she could not understand what I was saying. And yes, she spoke English and no, I was not mumbling.

I am NOT tired of this rain that we've been having. I would like to know where summer went. We did NOT go from 105 degrees to 60 degrees almost over night. Rain is good...in the Fall.

My mommy and I did NOT get my birthday party planned. I am NOT leaving the details up to her, though. When I told Kyle that my party was getting planned, he did NOT fess up to calling his mom just that day to get MY mom's phone number to call her to see if they should throw me a party. I should've held off on calling my mom one more day...even though I did not even bring up my birthday to my mom, she did. I am NOT all melty-hearty {yes it's a word, shush!} that Kyle was thinking about throwing me a surprise party.

Chewy did NOT get computerized microchipped this week. Yay for waiting two years to do it. D'oh! It is NOT so tiny that they put it in just like a shot. Whodathunkit.

Someone that I've complained about on Twitter did NOT call me this week. Because it was a number I did not recognize, I did not answer my phone. On my VM she did NOT say that she thought that WE should throw "OUR GUYS" a nice dinner because they've been "working so hard lately" blah blah blah. I did not / have not called her back because if I want to throw "MY GUY" a nice dinner, I will. I do not need to do it with her when I can barely stand to be around her for more than five seconds.

One night this week, I did NOT look over at my sliding glass door and see it COVERED in frickin disgusting make me want to puke maggots! WTH?!?! I did NOT look at the door closer and see that they were some how getting INSIDE my house, too! GROSS GROSS GROSS!!! I did NOT get TP and smoosh the ones that were inside and stuff TP around the track to keep any more from getting in. What the hell is it with me and REALLY FRICKIN DISGUSTING things happening lately??? I am SO OVER IT!! And of course, the maggots were NOT gone in the morning. Are they night creatures or something? The male dumbass didn't see them because of them being gone. Grrr!!! The maggots are NOT a result of two human dumbasses that live in this house. One for thinking that the other was going to go to the dump with our pile of garbage really soon, therefore putting frozen meat and rotten food in a garbage bag {out on the deck} and one for not going to the dump often enough therefore letting things fester and get even more disgusting then they were before. This one is NOT our garbage service / man. The garbage has since been taken off the deck and is now ready to go to the dump. Thank God!

Now that I have NOT admitted to some crazy things, what have you NOT done this week?

Worship and Praise Sunday: His Strength Is Perfect

His Strength Is Perfect
Steven Curtis Chapman

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength,
But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me;
No great success to show, No glory on my own,
Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know . . .

CHORUS
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.

We can only know
The power that He holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes;
His strength in us begins
Where ours comes to an end.
He hears our humble cry and proves again . . .

(chorus)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually haven't heard this song in a long time, but found it during my search.

During those hard times where you just don't know where to turn, this is a great song to listen to as a reminder that Jesus is the one to turn to because "his strength is perfect" and it will carry you through.

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Join Brittany at Sweet Nothings for more Worship & Praise Sundays.

She's been away from the computer the past few weeks, but I'm sure she'll be back just as soon as she's able. Maybe even this week. Guess we'll see.

Weekend Wordle / Six Word Saturday

To create your own Wordle, go here. And then download MWSnap to save the image. Easy peasy!

Join in on the Week-End Wordle with Shannon at Last Shreds of Sanity. Link up and see what everyone else is coming up with.

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Six Word Saturday:

Going camping. Will return on Thursday.

Yes, I'll be camping. With the inlaws. In a camper. With a stinky dog {their's} and a snoring FIL. This should be interesting.

{All posts are scheduled from now till Friday!}

Join Cate at Show My Face for more Six Word Saturdays. She's got lots of groupies that like to play along!
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A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead where marooned on an island and the blonde stumbled across a lamp with three wishes.

The blonde called the others over and said look I found a lamp.

The redhead snatched it out of her hand and and said "I wish I was at home in my warm bed" she disappeared to her bed with her husband.

The brunette then said "I wish I was at home too!" so she disappeared.

The blonde was then scared of being left alone so she said "I wish the other two were back here with me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sally, a blonde, goes on her first camping trip. Her husband, who was a Scout Leader, was sick so she volunteered to take over for him one weekend. She got everyone together and assigned different duties to each scout.

Gabby was responsible for the food supplies, Mike would be the cook this trip, Johnnie was responsible for their maps and making up a time schedule, Tim was to decide on their events, and to fit them into Johnnie's schedule and Sally would test all their equipment before setting out.

They arrived at Big Moose Mountain and everyone was excited. They arrived right on schedule and were getting ready for their first event - hiking up the mountain. But first, they wanted to get something to eat. So Sally asked Mike if he would prepare the meal and, of course, Mike said he would.

About 10 minutes later he came back and told Sally, "I can't make the supper. I can't light a fire with the matches you brought."

Sally replied, "I don't understand! Those matches should be perfectly fine. I tested them all just before we left."

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life!

Answer my question and make sure you post one on your blog!

After that, go relax because today is Friday!!

Question for you this week is:

What is your favorite birthday memory?

My answer:

For me, it's hard to top last year. I was in DISNEY WORLD!!! That trip was all thanks to my Mother-in-law. The trip was awesome.

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Blonde Interview

A Blonde airhead goes for a job interview in an office.

The interviewer starts with the basics.
"So, Miss, can you tell us your age, please?"

The blonde counts carefully on her fingers for half a minute before replying "Ehhhh... 22!"

The interviewer tries another straightforward one to break the ice.
"And can you tell us your height, please?"

The young lady stands up and produces a measuring tape from her handbag. She then traps one end under her foot and extends the tape to the top of her head. She checks the measurement and announces "Five foot two!"

This isn't looking good so the interviewer goes for the real basics; something the interviewee won't have to count, measure, or lookup.
"Just to confirm for our records, your name please?"

The airhead bobs her head from side to side for about ten seconds, mouthing something silently to herself, before replying "MANDY!"

The interviewer is completely baffled at this stage, so he asks -
"What in the world were you doing when I asked you your name?"

"Ohhhh, that!" replies the airhead...
" I was just running through that song -
'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear...' "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is my aunt Christina and cousin Marc's birthday.

Happy Birthday to the two of them!!

Mischief Makers

When we were in high school we got these new youth pastors at church. Everyone thought they were just the coolest thing since sliced bread. They were funny, inviting, caring and everyone just seemed to click with them. Plus it had been awhile since we'd had a good youth pastor.

Many nights were spent at their house with them playing games, watching movies and Sue {the wife} even baked with those that wanted to make cookies or whatever.

They had three kids at the time {I think they've got two more now} and some of the girls were babysitters for them and stuff {I never was}.

One Wednesday night, the youth pastor {Pastor Bill} told a story of them getting TP'ed repeatedly by the teens at their last church.

Soon after that story, they started getting TP'ed by our group as well. I have no idea how many times it happened, but I know that I was involved with it at least three or four times {along with Kyle and some of his friends / my cousins}.

I don't remember when it was, but Pastor Bill and Sue ended up leaving to start their own church and {unfortunately} became very stuck up and exclusive.

Kyle and I invited them to our wedding but they didn't come. He was the officiant for the friend I made the diaper cake for and that wedding was just WEIRD; it just seemed like he wasn't taking it seriously. But whatever, that's off topic.

One year, Kyle and John {cousin / business partner} got the bright idea to "SIGN" their house. This is a couple years after high school. It was an election year so there were political signs EVERYWHERE.

Over a couple months, Kyle and John gathered these signs in the back of their trucks and then {and I only know this from the picture} on November 10th {the night before the date on the picture} we {the three of us} went to their house and "signed" their yard.

The good thing with having TP'ed their house so many times was that we knew about the motion-censored driveway light so before anyone started doing anything, that light bulb was unscrewed. We all knew to not talk or make a peep and we, for the most part, knew where to walk so it was pretty quiet. We only got {almost} caught one time, and this was not the night.


Apparently my mother-in-law went and took these pictures the day after we did it. Leave it to her to document her son and future daughter-in-laws "vandalism".

Then right before we got married, Kyle, John and a couple others went and TP'ed their house for the last time. There's video of that around somewhere.

Sometimes we "forked" their lawn along with TP'ing, too.

I know they SO appreciated the clean up from us. We never fessed up to doing anything, but they highly suspected it was Kyle and {John's brother} Marc. I don't think they ever knew I was involved. *snicker*

These are fun memories. heehee

Have you ever been involved in or been the victim of any sort of mischief like this? Tell me about it.

{Almost} Wordfulless Wednesday: Diaper Cake

I made this diaper cake for a friends baby shower that was held on Saturday. I got there and the hostess had made a diaper cake as well so I just let my friend open this like a "regular gift" and then her mom set it out.

This is the most simple one I've ever made, but I like it. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Her registry said that her nursery is done in Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell. When I make diaper cakes, I try to take the colors of their nurseries as inspiration...this one was more a long the lines of Tinkerbell.

{please excuse the mess on the table}

For more Wordful Wednesdays click here.

For more Wordless Wednesday go to the WW HQ here.

And Mostly Wordless Wednesday here.

Auction For Kori

You see above this post that I asked for prayers for Kori and her family. Now, there's more you can do as well...

Shannon at Welcome to the Nut House! is holding an auction today to support Kori's family. This is what she has to say:

Kori and Richard have been married 8 years and are parents of two boys. In April of 2008, Richard was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. Sadly, he is close to losing his battle with this deadly disease. Kori's world is now full of hospice, lawyers and wills... and watching her beloved husband succumb to his illness. Yet despite these unimaginable horrors, Kori's faith and strength remain unbroken.

With mounting medical bills and soon-to-be-needed funeral costs, one thing Kori is in need of is money. As a way to raise funds for our dear friend, a few of us kick-ass bloggers will be hosting an auction here on my blog on August 11th. Absolutely 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the McCulley Family Trust.

• duration of the auction is 48 hours (originally it was just going to be 24 hours, but I've had a few late donations come in and want to make sure each one gets plenty of time!)... auction will end at 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, August 12th

To find out more about the auction that is happening today, go HERE.

TAT / TST: BFF's Do La Conner {WA}

Last week the BFF's and I headed out to La Conner, WA. Not sure why, but I was thinking it was an island...Jewel corrected me and it is NOT an island...which I kind of gathered once we got there. LOL

Once I figured out how to parallel park my vehicle {I suck...it was one of two things I got marked down on during my driving test}, we were in search for food.

We ended up at the very end of a long street, at a little cafe / diner. {Wish I had taken pics, it was a cute little place}. During our chatting, found out that Krista reads my blog...Hi Krista!! Colleen does sometimes, too, but thought she wasn't supposed to know about it. I've told them that I don't care if they read it, I just want to know. {Speak up, girls!!}

After that, we wandered around some of the shops. In one shop, we kept walking around this table in circles just chatting about whatever. LOL I'm sure we looked like goofs just going around and around and around. I finally had to break the circling and wander to another area. Lots of fun jewelry and stuff in that shop.

Then we ran from attack bees. They were in our faces and wouldn't leave us alone no matter what we did.

We went into an antique shop that had some naughty things. Kind of funny. {Rusted} Nude girl bottle openers and cork screws...Playboys from the 80's...stuff that you wouldn't exactly expect to see in an antique shop. lol

We found a little kids shop, which had some cute things. Krista was searching for gifts for her twin nieces that are turning two. No such luck, though.

We took a little gander over to this pier and took a few pics. The day was kind of cloudy and overcast. Definitely would've been more pretty had the sun been out, but it was still fun just being with the girls.

Me, Colleen, Krista, Jewel

{I tried to lighten this picture, but photobucket seems to hate me. I tried for an hour and it just sat there thinking. Does photobucket hate anyone else as much as it seems to hate me? So frustrating trying to use that site.}

Before we left, we stopped at a little shop for some sweet treats. They were making caramel apples when we were there...mmmmm. But we got ice cream and I got some toffee for Kyle.

All in all, a great day. Wish that the four of us could do these sort of things more often, for sure!

A little something I forgot to include in yesterdays "Not Me!" Monday...{cuz I really don't want to admit that this actually happened...}

When we dropped Jewel off, I had to park up a little further than I normally do. She's got an elderly lady for a neighbor that does not like it when people park in front of her house, even though it's sort of a shared driveway.

So Jewel had gone inside with the kids and Krista, Colleen and I were in my car. I was backing up into the {old lady's} driveway to turn around and go back the direction we had come in. I did not remember that there was a little ledge along the driveway and when I was backing up....BANG!

HOLY. SH*T!! {I don't usually swear like that, but I could tell I was in a bit of trouble with that one!}

I open my door and my foot bar is resting on the ledge.

Krista says to gun it {since I have a 4x4}.

Yeah...that's not gonna work here...

So Krista and Colleen get out to see what the damage is. Colleen was in the front passenger seat and she could tell that on my side, the ledge was a bit higher.

Hmmm....what are we going to do....

Not tell Kyle about this for one! LOL

What I ended up having to do was crank the steering wheel to the right as far as I could and back up. Then drive forward a little bit and repeat. I think I had to repeat the process two times.

Finally, with Krista and Colleen's guidance, I made it back to solid ground, not teetering on a ledge and we were able to head on out.

We talked about that little experience for the next few minutes. My heart was pounding. I can not believe I did this! I'm seriously shocked I didn't do any damage to my car. We hit HARD coming off that ledge!

Now, I've done some stupid things in my life while driving, but that may have been up there as one of the stupidest.

D'oh!!

Now, if you've got something totally awkward that has happened to you, why don't you hop on over to Tova Darling's and link up. While you're there, take a look at all the other awkward stories. They'll make you feel better about the things that have happened to you.

And / Or

If you've got a Totally True story you want to share, head over to Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday and link up there.

Not Me, Monday!

Monday has graced us with it's presence again, I see. How kind.

If you'd like to avoid paying for a therapist and would like to just let it all out, "Not Me!" Monday is the place to be. What's better is that it's free.

MckMama's got all the rules posted so if you haven't participated before, click on over and find out the scoop on all that is "Not Me!" Monday!

Last night / this morning I did NOT have a very strange dream. If I did have a strange dream, it may have gone something like this:

I was helping my cousin Eve with something. It seems like it was a her place of employment. I was there telling her I'd do a few errands for her since she was on her way out to do some others. I was walking around the perimeter of the room when all of a sudden, the floor caved in. But it wasn't a real floor, or at least a floor that could be seen. It was a lake of Edible Arrangements so all I could see were melon balls and strawberries and chocolate.

After a few of us were rescued from this mess, I finished up getting directions to a few places around the area that I needed to hit. I got to one location and it was freaky! It seems like I was there with someone else, but I don't know who it was. I just know that it was a line of inmates that were coming out of a very secure area into a somewhat secure area. They were being searched for different things. Chairs were being flipped up side down to search inside them. A shovel was found in one chair. Another girl was escorting out another guy. A security guard lazered this guy and it turned green so that meant that he wasn't safe to come out of the secure area so he had to go back in and he was mad so he flipped a table / desk. There was another inmate that was pretty chatty and he was talking to the security guard.

It was very strange dream. No idea where it came from; no idea what it means. Any one good with dream interpretation?

At church yesterday, we did NOT finally talk to our teacher from 4th, 7th & 8th grade {remember, small private school}. We have NOT been going to the same church as them for the past 10 months, seen them {her and her husband} and avoided talking to them because we're dorks that don't like to initiate conversations. It is NOT a good thing that we finally talked to them since we're going camping with them {and the inlaws and another family} next week! At the beginning of our conversation when they were SHOCKED to see us, Kyle did NOT tell them that we had seen them but just never said anything. I was NOT embarrassed that he admited that to them. I did NOT think we were going to keep that between us. D'oh!

I know I have NOT mentioned it yet, so just in case you did NOT see on Twitter or any previous posts, Chewy did NOT have diarrhea in my car and it did NOT take me 2 hours to clean up and my car still does NOT smell like it. I am NOT blaming it on the vaccines he got at the vet on Friday. And I am NOT done talking about it now.

I did NOT make a diaper cake for a baby shower I went to on Saturday. The hostess also did NOT make a diaper cake. Mine was NOT better if I do NOT say so myself.

I am NOT losing followers left and right. What's up with that? Have I done or said something to offend people? I am NOT sad about it.

My cousin did NOT get married yesterday and it was NOT a simple, gorgeous wedding. There also were NOT local celebrities there since my cousin used to work at the Christian radio station here before she moved to New York. That was NOT fun to see them up close and personal. I am NOT so happy for my cousin. The guy she did NOT marry seems like a great guy that is completely in love with her. Oh, the guys family is NOT from Brazil so Kyle did NOT keep on saying he was going to ask my cousin if she had a Brazillian. Nope, my hubby would NEVER say that.

What have you NOT done this week?

Worship and Praise Sunday: Draw Me Close

Draw Me Close
The Katinas

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause no one else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find a way
Bring me back to You

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another great song that we sing in church. So simple but so powerful.

Draw me close to you...

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
Help me know you are near

Love it!

{And I can't remember if I've done this song before and I don't have time to go back and look. Sorry if I have, but I hope I haven't. Eek!}

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Join Brittany at Sweet Nothings for more Worship & Praise Sundays.

She's been away from the computer the past few weeks, but I'm sure she'll be back just as soon as she's able. Maybe even this week. Guess we'll see.

Weekend Wordle / Six Word Saturday

To create your own Wordle, go here. And then download MWSnap to save the image. Easy peasy!

Join in on the Week-End Wordle with Shannon at Last Shreds of Sanity. Link up and see what everyone else is coming up with.

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Six Word Saturday:

Chewy had diarrhea in. my. car.

I wanted to VOMIT!!
It took me almost 2 HOURS to clean it all up and it still smells in there. *cry*
My tummy was queasy for the rest of the night and I couldn't eat dinner.
{Of course I couldn't be mad at him. My poor baby just couldn't hold it. Stupid vaccines.}

Join Cate at Show My Face for more Six Word Saturdays. She's got lots of groupies that like to play along!
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Dogs and Light Bulbs

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?

Border Collie: Just one. Then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.

Rottweiler: Make me!

Lab: Oh, me, me! Pleeease let me change the light bulb! Can I? Huh? Huh?

Dachshund: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!

Malamute: Let the Border Collie do it. You can feed me while he's busy.

Jack Russell Terrier: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls.

Greyhound: It isn't moving. Who cares?

Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

Mastiff: Screw it yourself! I'm not afraid of the dark...

Doberman: While it's out, I'll just take a nap on the couch.

Boxer: Who needs light? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

Pointer: I see it, there it is, there it is, right there!

Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb?

Australian Shepherd: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle...

Old English Sheep dog: Light bulb? That thing I just ate was a light bulb?

Basset Hound: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Westie: Dogs do not change light bulbs -- people change light bulbs. I am not one of THEM so the question is, how long before I can expect my light again?

Poodle: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned-out bulb?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll use my seeing eye dog

A blind man with a seeing eye dog at his side walks into a grocery store. The man walks to the middle of the store, picks up the dog by the tail, and starts swinging the dog around in circles over his head.

The store manager, who has seen all this, thinks this is quite strange. So, he decides to find out what's going on. The store manager approaches the blind man swinging the dog and says, "Pardon me. May I help you with something."

The blind man says, "No thanks. I'm just looking around."

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life!

Answer my question and make sure you post one on your blog!

After that, go relax because today is Friday!!

Question for you this week is:

What book(s) are you reading right now, or have you read so far this summer?

My answer:

I recently finished Under the Overpass. It was really good and eye-opening. I haven't started a new one yet.

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My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping channels.

She asked, 'What's on TV?'
I said, 'Dust.'

And then the fight started...

******************************************

My wife and I are watching "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"
while we were in bed.

I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?"
"No," she answered.
I then said, "Is that your final answer?"
She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, "Yes."
So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."

And then the fight started....

******************************************

Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed,
made my lunch, grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly
into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the truck,
and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.
The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into
the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that
the weather would be bad all day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and
slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's
back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered,
"The weather out there is terrible."

My loving wife of 10 years replied, "Can you believe
my stupid husband is out fishing in that?"

And then the fight started....

******************************************

I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were
alongside the road and slowly the other driver got
out of his car. You know how sometimes you just get
soooo stressed and little things just seem funny?
Yeah, well I couldn't believe it.... He was a DWARF!!!

He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and
shouted, "I AM NOT HAPPY!!!"

So, I looked down at him and said, "Well, then which one are you?"

And then the fight started.....

*****************************************

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds.'

I bought her a scale.

And then the fight started...


******************************************

After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply
for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked
me for my driver's license to verify my age. I looked in
my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I
told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would have
to go home and come back later.

The woman said, 'Unbutton your shirt'. So I opened my
shirt revealing my curly silver hair.. She said, 'That silver
hair on your chest is proof enough for me' and she
processed my Social Security application

When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my
experience at the Social Security office.

She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You
might have gotten disability, too...'

And then the fight started....

***************************************** *

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school
reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging
her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asked, 'Do you know her?'

'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. I understand
she took to drinking right after we split up those many
years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since.'

'My God!' says my wife, 'who would think a person could go on
celebrating that long?'

And then the fight started....

******************************************

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason,
took my order first.
"I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?""
Nah, she can order for herself."

And then the fight started...

******************************************

A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror.
She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband,
'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly.
I really need you to pay me a compliment.'

The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'

And then the fight started.....

Best Friends

Over the years of growing up and into adulthood, you have many friends, right?

You have the friends that come and go and then you have the friends that are around for a lifetime.

I am lucky enough to have a handful of the lifetime friends.

I've mentioned them all in here one time or another.

Colleen and I met in third grade. We were in an Awana's class together at a church. I don't remember if we were instant friends or not, but once we were friends, we were joined at the hip. We didn't live very far from each other and we would walk or ride our bikes to the others house, often. We talked on the phone any time we weren't together. I would spend the night at her house and we'd talk to all hours of the morning. Her dad would come in and talk with us and tickle us till we couldn't breathe. We would each sit and write in our diaries and we would take turns tickling each others backs. I would tell her all about the "Facts of Life" {not the show...reality...I thought I knew everything. haha!}

Me & Colleen. I think this is 4th grade. We were in a play.

Krista and I met in fifth grade. She was the new girl at school and my birthday was {is} always right around when school started. I invited to her to my birthday party and the rest is history. She's lucky I can't find a picture of her from that party or else I'd post it. I know they're around here some where, but likely packed away in a box. She had really short hair and pink, plastic rimmed glasses. It was either that year we met or maybe a year or so later, she got wire rimmed glasses. I always took them from her and played with them. Her and her parents didn't appreciate it.

Not sure why she decided to continue being friends with me that first year. I was pretty mean to her. I would go around biting her back and I left a scar. Yes. Yes, I did. Unfortunately.

We would have fun walking all over Edmonds, where we both grew up. We would go to the beach and my cousin, who wasn't yet my cousin {got that? lol} lived across the street from her so some times we would play with him. We had lots of adventures.

Krista has this amazing red, curly hair. I remember I used to like french braiding. She wanted me to french braid her hair one time but she had such a huge matted piece that we couldn't get out so she decided to pass on the french braid after all. I've always loved her hair though. It's gorgeous.

Jewel, Me, Krista...in Canada.

Jewel and I have been friends since sixth grade. That year she was the new girl and everyone said that her and Krista looked alike. I think it was just the naturally curly hair, though. lol I'm not sure how the four of us came to be friends, but we did and have been friends since.

When we were in seventh grade, a new boy came to our school and Jewel and I were madly in love with him. We even pretended to be on dates with him. Oh yes. We did. We sort of stalked him.

Jewel and I did everything together. We were then the two that were inseparable. We had sleepovers and told each other our deepest darkest secrets. Later on, we set up dates to try to get Kyle and I to hold hands and kiss {never worked}. We would strategize ways to get the guys to hang out with us and like us. Growing up together, we had so much fun.

In eighth grade, the three of them left me and went to a public middle school, while I stayed at the small private school. I think it was around that time that we all sort of drifted apart from each other. We didn't see each other often and we didn't talk often. I don't remember a lot about that time in our lives, but I do remember that when I got a call from Jewel telling me that she was going to have a baby {a few years later}, that was when we "reconciled", if you will. Not that we had had a big fight or anything, we had just lost touch with each other.

It was after that call that we got back into the rhythm of our friendship.

These are my best friends {aside from Kyle, and also Riika...her and I met in high school though}.

Right now, we're pretty spread out. Krista is living in Boston and she's been the one to move from place to place {state to state} a lot. Colleen lives in Seattle and Jewel north of me {almost to Canada...haha...not really, but closer than I do}. It doesn't matter though. Even though our times together are very sporatic and limited, whenever we're together it's like we haven't been apart.

Krista's bachelorette party...uh...3? 4? years ago.
Colleen, Lindsey, Krista, Jewel, Me.

And today, I get to spend part of the day with them! We're headed out to a little island {I think it's an island anyway...} to explore and have fun.

It's been about a year or so, I believe, since the last time we were all together. I'm looking forward to catching up with all of them. Colleen is pregnant with her first baby and I'm looking forward to seeing how her belly's been growing. She's due at the end of September with a baby girl, Avalon. I'm excited to hear what adventures Krista's been on since she's always on the go and I still see / talk to Jewel the most so I'm mostly looking forward to giving her a hug and seeing what her and her crew {5 kids} have been up to this summer.

I love these chicas like they're my sisters and I miss them a lot. I wish we could go back to when we were younger and could hang out and spend all of our waking hours together. Wouldn't that be nice. lol

After today, this will no longer be the most recent picture of the four of us and we'll have a more beautiful backdrop then a store in the mall.


Oh...and P.S. Today is ONE MONTH till my birthday!!! Holy. Crap. I'm gonna be 30 in a MONTH!!! Ahhh!!!

Wordlessful Wednesday: Wenatchee River

Here is more from our little Leavenworth getaway. If you didn't see the first part, it's here.

As I mentioned before, Kyle NEVER stops and lets me take pictures. It's a busy highway and usually we're meeting people over there, so we don't have time to dilly-dally. But I guess he really wanted me to enjoy our time away and make it special for me, so he decided that he'd stop a few different places along the Wenatchee River and let me take all the pictures I wanted to my hearts content. Awwwww....

You can sort of see the trees behind this sign. In 1994, there was a HUGE forest fire there that lasted for five months. You can still see charred trees all these years later.

Someone made a Tom Sawyer raft, or so Kyle thought.

This spot was SO windy! I thought we were going to be blown over a couple times.

HORRIBLE picture of me, but just to show you how windy it was.

The bush somewhat normal...

And blown almost all the way over...

Ginormous rocks and fallen trees.

I wanted Kyle to take my picture with both rocks behind me, but apparently he couldn't read my mind. lol

I thought this trees roots were pretty crazy.

If you're ever in Washington and want somewhere fun to go, head east {about an hour and a half to two hours} to Leavenworth. Such a cute, quaint little town to visit.

For more Wordful Wednesdays click here.

For more Wordless Wednesday go to the WW HQ here.

And Mostly Wordless Wednesday here.

Tag! You're It!

I've been tagged to do this meme by Rebecca Jo at Knit By God's Hand.

Rules:
1. Respond & rework; answer the questions on your blog, REPLACE one question that you dislike with a question of your invention - ADD one more question of your own.

2. Tag five other people........Easy enough... Let's play!

What is your current obsession? Blueberries

What are you wearing today? So far, just pj's.

What's for dinner? Dunno. Maybe spaghetti.

What would you eat for your last meal? Lobster, crab, scallops.

What's the last thing you bought? heehee That's a secret. Something else I've recently bought...probably groceries.

What are you listening to right now? The cars go by outside and myself typing.

REPLACED QUESTION: What is your favorite scripture or quote?
Isaiah 40:31

³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Which language do you want to learn? None. English is enough for me.

What do you love most about where you currently live? The trees, the water, the mountains.

What style is your current home decorated in? None. It's just comfortable.

What is your favorite color? Brown.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? I have a sweatshirt that I've had since I was in high school. It's still in good condition. No rips or anything. Maybe, slightly stretched out.

What is your favorite sound? Water.

Describe your personal style? Comfortable.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on? A personal trainer.

What are you going to do after this? Either eat breakfast or look for a job {I've been slacking on that}.

What are your favorite films? Romantic comedy's. Any.

Favorite Books? From growing up, Anne of Green Gables & The Girl of the Limberlost. Now, I read a lot of chick lit.

Do you collect anything? Moose.

What makes you follow a blog? If I find the content interesting.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today? Slept in.

What makes you comment on a blog? I try to comment on all of the blogs I follow and read regularly. I know I love comments so I'm sure everyone does.

What is your favorite thing to do when you have some free time? Blog or hang out with friends.

Do you have a blogging pet peeve? People that leave the same comment on every single blog and you can tell without having to see it on someone else's blog. Like you can tell that they didn't even read the post and are just trying to see how many blogs they can get to or something.

Rebecca Jo's question: In honor of Michael Jackson just passing - What is your favorite Michael Jackson song? We Are The World, probably.

My question: If you could go back to a time in your life that you enjoyed the most, when would that be? I loved when I was really young, like 5-6, and life was just carefree with no responsibilities. All I had to do was play and dote on my sister.

I'm tagging anyone that wants to do this. Just let me know if you did so I can come visit and see your answers.

Not Me, Monday!

"Not Me!" Monday is free therapy, so why not join in?

MckMama's got all the rules posted so if you haven't participated before, click on over and find out the scoop on all that is "Not Me!" Monday!

I am NOT extremely happy to have woken up to the news that MckMama's baby Stellan is going home from the hospital today!!! Yay!! Thank you, Jesus!!!! He is NOT a walking miracle!

This week was NOT torture because of the extreme heat that Western Washington isn't used to. In order to minimize the heat in the house as much as possible, we did NOT have A fan going 24/7. I did NOT close all the blinds the day after Kyle OPENED them all and made it over 90 degrees in the house. We do not have shades on our sliding glass door, so to keep the sun from shining in, I did NOT pin up a sheet. See...

Kyle is NOT making me crazy by opening all the blinds when he comes home from work "to let more light in", while I'm trying to keep it out!

I did NOT make this...and eat a good portion of it for dinner. I do NOT plan on eating more of it today.

I did NOT go out on Lake Union with the inlaws and Chewy. Just the four of us. My MIL did NOT tell me that it was a huge compliment to them, me wanting to spend the day with them. I told her that it wasn't weird for me because I've been married to their son for almost eight years and been a part of their lives for like, EVER. We do NOT spend more time with them than we do my parents.

Because it was so dang hot, even out on the water, we did NOT decide to go swimming in Lake Union, which non of us had done before. It was NOT incredibly warm...almost like bath water.

My FIL did NOT pull this fish out of the water. It was NOT just floating around, dead. I did NOT take way too many pictures of this little dumb fish! {Come to find out on the news that night or the next, the water was SO warm and these little fishies were just dying because it wasn't cold enough for them. The seaguls were NOT having a feast!}

Chewy did NOT go swimming too. The first time he did NOT swim around and around. The second time he did NOT stay right next to the boat and paw at it till we got him up. The third time he did NOT go directly to the step and hover on it till we got him back in the boat. Poor little booger.


We did NOT have an amazing time out on the lake though. Oh! And my MIL and I did NOT literally swim / float almost all the way across the width of South Lake Union. Haha!! We are NOT awesome!

I do NOT love this picture of Chewy's ears flapping in the wind.

And this one too.

We did NOT go over to the inlaws for dinner and Kyle did NOT bring his water balloon launcher that he build in preparation for NEXT 4th of July's boat parade. The guys were NOT playing around with it.

Loading it up. Kyle's brother Tyler, Heidi's husband Chad, and my man.

Chad taking a try at shooting it. The balloons did NOT end up all the way down the street.

While writing this post, I did NOT dump half a mugful of coffee over, most of it landing in my brand new shoes that I've worn only two times. I did NOT rush to put them in the wash and am praying that they can be salvaged. This is NOT the second time I've done this recently. The first time I did NOT get it all over the keyboard making for sticky keys. D'oh!

What have you NOT done this week?

Worship and Praise Sunday: Shine Jesus Shine

Shine Jesus Shine

Cliff Richard

Lord the light or your love is shining,

In the midst of the darkness shining,
Jesus light of the world shine upon us,
Set us free by the truth you now bring us,
Shine on me. shine on me.

Shine Jesus shine
Fill this land with the fathers glory
Blaze, spirit blaze,
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth your word
Lord and let there be light.

Lord I come to your awesome presence,
From the shadows into your radiance,
By the blood I may enter your brightness,
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness,
Shine on me. shine on me.

As we gaze on your kindly brightness.
So our faces display your likeness.
Ever changing from glory to glory,
Mirrored here may our lives tell your story.
Shine on me. shine on me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found this song and it totally brings me back to youth conventions!! I love it!

I remember going to a camp {that's actually not very far from where I live now...back then it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get there! lol} sitting around in a half circle on the floor with all of my classmates just singing this song and worshiping God. So awesome!

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Join Brittany at Sweet Nothings for more Worship & Praise Sundays.

She's been away from the computer the past few weeks, but I'm sure she'll be back just as soon as she's able. Maybe even this week. Guess we'll see.

Weekend Wordle / Six Word Saturday

To create your own Wordle, go here. And then download MWSnap to save the image. Easy peasy!

Join in on the Week-End Wordle with Shannon at Last Shreds of Sanity. Link up and see what everyone else is coming up with.

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Six Word Saturday:

**DRUMROLL PLEASE**
The Giveaway Winners Are:

Soup Bowl
WW: Cook It Quick!
Set of 3
Cooking for Kids Bible
Test Kitchen Favorites
Congratulations Ladies!!

Please contact me within 48 hours with your address or I'll have to draw another name.

I had so much fun with this giveaway. Thank you to everyone that participated!!

Join Cate at Show My Face for more Six Word Saturdays. She's got lots of groupies that like to play along!
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THE BLONDE WINNER

A blonde goes to a restaurant, buys a cup of coffee and sits down to drink it. She looks on the side of her cup and finds a peal off prize. She pulls off the tab and yells, "I won! I won! I won a motor home, I WON a motor home!"

The waitress runs over and says, "That's impossible. The biggest prize given away was a mini van!"

The blonde replies, "No. I won A motor home, I won a motor home!"

By this time the manager makes his way over to the table and says, "You couldn't possibly have won a motor home because we didn't have that as a prize!"

Again the blonde says, "No, no mistake, I won a motor home, I won a motor home!"

The blonde hands the prize ticket to the manager and he reads, "WIN A BAGEL."

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Casino Blond

Two bored casino dealers are standing by the craps table when a blond walks in and wants to bet $10,000 on a single roll of the dice.

She tells them, "I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when completely nude".

So she takes off everything but her necklace and throws the dice saying, "Come on, come on momma needs a new pair of clothes".

She starts yelling, "Yes, Yes, I won, I won!!!"

She starts jumping up and down and hugs the two dealers.

She then picks up her clothes and money and leaves.

The two dealers stand there dumbfounded for a while.

Then one dealer says, "What did she roll anyway?"

The other says, "I don't know I thought you were watching"

The moral - not all blonds are dumb.