Shirts!

Obviously not my kid...but this is what the girls' birthday shirts will look like! Thanks Kristi, for your help!

A wiseguy, eh??

So, this was given to me today. Ha ha. A Reader's Digest article detailing what to do in the event of a bear attack. Subject heading is highlighted even. Wow. Thanks. There is even a second article which describes how to save yourself in then event that you become lost in the wilderness. I assure you, I will not be getting lost. Why, you may ask? Because my ass will be in one of a few places:

--In the cabin
--In the boat
--In the outhouse

And, we are taking a handheld GPS for the actual "wilderness" part of the trip. The navigational GPS will serve us to arrive safely to base camp.

In the mail, we received part of the birthday party supplies. The balloons...um...I guess I just didn't read closely that they were toddler-sized balloons. No, not balloons the perfect size FOR toddlers. Balloons the size OF toddlers. I'm going to need a HUGE tank of helium. Yikes.

First thing tomorrow, Brandon is to get sand for Ava and Lily's sand table. I can't wait to watch them play for hours and hours in it. They love to get dirty. They are so unlike their mother.

I hope everyone has a most excellent weekend!

Yes...I'm still alive!

It's true, I swear!

Why can't things ever just be calm, and simple, and not f*cking crazy like they are right now?

The house we rent has sold. No big deal really, luckily we were looking at other options. But that means we'll be moving. Again. God I hate moving. Bright side - we're moving closer to my brother. Second bright side - the house is SO nice. Practically brand new. Quite the step up from our pre-Civil war hole-in-the-ground. But no one likes to move as much as we have. No, we aren't avoiding the IRS. We're just trying to find our niche. And save up for a down payment.

The housing market here sucks. Super sucks, even. I think I finally got the dirt bag realtor to leave us alone. He had pressured us to make an offer on a repo'ed house, playing off the "Wow, I really think we could do a lot of good with this house..." comments Brandon made. He told us that there were "four other strong offers on the table..." and if we were going to have any chance, we'd have to offer asking price, possibly a little over. And we actually considered it. But I had an uneasy feeling about it. We passed. And you know what, that house is still on the market. Hmmm. Funny how that shit works.

Work is beyond crazy. Non-stop. Somehow, I'm to split my time now between the regular departments that I support, plus add in some new stuff. But, I still have lots of "stuff" coming in from my regular departments in the form of report requests, and the like...so half of my 40 hour work week probably won't cut it. I guess this is where the working from home in the evenings bullshit starts. Blech.

I have officially fallen off the South Beach bandwagon. When I'm stressed...it's impossible for me to diet. And I'm stressed. May is half over, and June is so full that I'm not sure how it's all going to work. We'll be moving to the new house, the girls' second birthday party, Canada...and all of that falls in a 2 and a half week span. So, I cure my ills with Burger King for breakfast. I eat a sensible lunch and dinner. But Burger King negates most anything!

Brandon is stressed at work too. Needless to say, our house sort of resembles a minefield in the evenings. Better watch your step because you never know when someone might blow up! :)

The girls are great. Of course. I can't believe how smart they are. I mean, I can believe it. But it's just amazing. They are little sponges. The teachers said they can name all their classmates. They are the only two who can actually do that. They talked on the phone last night to my Mom. They responded when she asked questions. I realize this isn't rocket science, but when you see your child, your baby...talking on the PHONE. It's just weird. They count, too. Not very far, but I'm still proud! And Lily loves to sing, "E-I-E-I-O!"...all the time. The A-B-C song is their second favorite and I sing it to them as we come home from school. By the time I'm saying, "...next time won't you sing with me!" I hear screams of "AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!" from the backseat. I need to count how many times I have to sing that song in the 20 minute commute.

I've started a bad habit. And maybe that is adding to my current mood. But I've been reading a lot of blogs and sites that have sad subjects. And everyone that knows me, knows I tend to shoulder the sadness of everyone around me. So really, how is this a good idea for me? But I can't stop.

My favorite:http://www.mattlogelin.com/

What a strong and amazing man. That little girl is lucky she has such a rockstar Dad.

The Ava and Lily birthday bash - June 21st...it's going to be AMAZING. Now, I realize they are only two. But they are old enough to have a good time and be excited about stuff. So pinatas, bounce houses, ridiculously cute ladybug cupcakes, decorations - including four 35" ladybug balloons and at least 50 other black and red balloons, and accessories, plus custom made t-shirts (with ladybugs, too...of course) are the only way to go. I've already started helping my Mom with the shopping (for birthday presents). They are getting an art center. And I'm just as geeked as they will be. I can't wait to put a new painting on my fridge at least once a week. From us, they'll probably get something far less exciting, and more practical...like a dresser. We're awesome! But hey, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and everyone else will probably get them enough fun stuff. We'll take the "boring" label. It's okay!

What else...Canada trip in 42 days. If anyone has tips for the following, please leave them in the comments section: Dealing with bears. Holding pee through the night because you are terrified of said bears eating you on the way to the outhouse. Sea planes. Taking off in sea planes. Landing in sea planes. General flight in sea planes. How to deal with missing your kids more than anything in the world. Northern Pike landing and un-hooking. Large bodies of water and one tiiiiiiny boat.

So, there is the update. Not exciting. Not funny. But it's all I've got!

(Sarah - does this mean I can get back on your blogroll?)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

Check it out, folks...this is how I'm spending my Saturday night! Brandon is crashed out in his chair. I'm cuddled up with the laptop (preparing to do some work on a server at 11 pm), and then girls have been in bed for over 2 hours.

Today was my nephew Preston's first birthday. Holy craziness. It was quite the brew-ha-ha and I'm glad I didn't have to do much. He didn't know exactly what he should do with the huge cake my sister-in-law made for him. And he was even less impressed when she smashed some in his hair. The girls had a big time and didn't nap all day. By the time we got home they were so tired that their bath was a fight from start to finish and they were practically dragging US upstairs to their beds. Hopefully they'll get a good nights rest, as tomorrow we're going to be out and about again, as Brandon helps one of our friends finish putting siding up on his house.

56 days until we go to Canada. I ordered a Garmin GPS system with the remainder of my birthday money. I'm really excited about it. It does a lot more than give you directions. It does have the full text-to-speech feature which is awesome. It also will Bluetooth to our cell phones so we can have hands-free talking.

Other than that, I have picked up a new project at work. I'm doing some configuration work for the hospital's patient record system. It's a lot more interesting that writing Crystal Reports. I'm not sure how my two current departments feel about my branching out, but I'm fairly certain that they really don't have that much say in it. I have to do what my boss tells me to. I am excited though, to test drive some new laptops in the next few months.

Brandon's 10 year class reunion is coming up, too. I think it's the weekend we return from our fishing trip. Must.be.in.shape.before.then.

Also, we have a wedding in July. It will probably be the wedding reception of all wedding receptions in my po-dunk hometown.

Mother's Day is next weekend. I'm not expecting anything. Honestly. Well...maybe just a card. Consider this your friendly reminder to at least send your Mother a card. Yes. You. Send a damn card. :)