Snickers Dip

This is going to be the first thing I eat after the wedding.

Snickers Dip

Yeah. I can get on board with that.

Gratitude

I have a weekend hangover and 11 days left until show time.

I was feeling bad for myself because I'm so tired and blah blah blah but then I saw this

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." -Melody Beattie

And I'm over it.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. Thank you to the men and women who make holiday weekends, weddings, babies and the like possible. We owe you everything.

xxoo
ma

Cray

Thank you sweet baby Jesus for Hump Day!

I took yesterday off to celebrate The King's second year of life.

It was not as glamorous and happy as I'd hoped.

To be honest, he was kind of bitchy.

He woke up kicking me and yelling at 6am.

Which should have been my first clue to forget about it being a good day but I decided we were going to power through and make this day FUN!

So first, we hit up Starbucks. To my pleasant surprise, they were sold out of our favorite breakfast sandwich and Kingy refused to eat the one I bought him.

Who doesn't eat bacon?

That should have been my second clue to turn around and call it a day but oh no, the show must go on!! Extremely chipper now, we made our way over to Target where Kingy was allowed to fill the cart with (almost) anything his little heart desired. I kind of like that tradition for now.

We almost made it out of the store without an episode until he tried to ride on the front of the cart, which I was ok with, until a worker lady started lecturing him how it was dangerous and he should get down but we all know, was really lecture me about how it was unsafe. Which honestly made me want to punch her in the face and pissed The King right off.

Like I'm sprinting through the aisles with my kid on the end of a cart?

Thanks. Dick.

But I didn't punch her in the face and only mumbled under my breath about how she should worry about her job and not my kid. I paid for our junk and we happily headed to the zoo.

As I write this, I realize I've lost my marbles.  

The zoo was fun. Slight bitchy-ness but only minor hiccups along the way. He done good.

Did I mention he refused to talk to ANYONE that called to wish him a happy birthday?

Yeah. Onward!

The afternoon, however, was another story. Homeboy was over everything. He decided napping was so yesterday and only for one year olds so he got about 15 minutes in the car and then pretty much refused to go back to sleep once we landed home.

Ok buddy.

So we headed out to run errands, the duck pond, played some baseball and grabbed ice cream.

Something has to work, right?

I'm really running him into the ground at this point but I don't care. IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!

Stupid.

Stupid. Stupid.

The rest of the afternoon went much the same, climaxing at the point where he became overtired and hungry and then proceeded to pull what would have been his birthday pie onto the floor. Smashing his graham cracker crust everywhere.

Awesome.

We recovered with a stack of chocolate chip cookies, one scoop of ice cream and two candles.

And I just about died from it all.

So here's hoping three is better.

(I can hear you laughing)

Last night as a 1 year old.

Dancing on tables. (Insert emoticon with the covered eyes)

So old.

Fill'er up!

"I ready mama"

Over. It.

I'm not kidding, he threw a ball to me in the air from this far away.

xxoo
ma

What the hell just happened?

Y'all. Things are bananas.

With only 19 days left until the big day, we went from being almost done with getting the house/yard together to having a massive mess. 

Yeah. That's our chimney. Being torn down.

Now look closely.

Past the dreamy sun flare.

You see it?

Yeah, that's a pile of rubble.

Or a lawn ornament.

Pretty, isn't it?

I can't even. 

In other news, one of our decks is painted (almost). I just need to get the face done, the little box that covers our propane tank and throw some chairs and hanging baskets up there and call it a day. Here's a before and almost after. 

I don't know if I have ever worked so hard physically before. Shoveling and painting and up and down a ladder and on and on.

The good news is the front of the house is almost done too. That was a big project. We just have to finish painting that deck and I'll post the before and after.

I kinda want to paint my garage door and the shed doors.

Such craziness. 

Also, I should probably start working out again. My ass is all sorts a jiggly. 

You know, stop sleeping and just work out all night.

Speaking of ass jiggle, I made the most amazing lunch and cake for the fam yesterday. It was my mom's birthday and an "I'm sorry you have to help us with the house again" meal.

Pioneer Woman - Pulled BBQ chicken. 

That woman does not disappoint. Two things. Make the slaw. I used chicken breast, not on the bone and cooked for 60 minutes at 350. Ain't nobody got time for 300 for 90 minutes.

Amazing.

Potato Salad with eggs and bacon

This was my own concoction of boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs (4), chopped up crispy bacon (1/2 package), sour cream (most of a jar), relish (to taste) and salt/peppah (to taste). No proportions, really, just taste it as you go. You could probably add celery and sweet onions too. I just didn't have that much ambition, or any celery. It was gooooood.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Cake

I can't find the recipe online for the one I made but this is pretty darn close (minus espresso). I also added raspberries between layers and on top (obviously).

It was so, SO good.

Also, I need a cake stand.

The end.


Happy Monday'ing friends!
ma

Heart Aches

This morning was rotten.

I have been rotten.

Kingy and I are going on two weeks straight of being sick and whiny and downright miserable.

I have zero patience lately. He is completely whiny but it's not his fault. He doesn't feel well.

I yelled this morning.

It was a decent morning, considering how bad they've been lately, but it ended in about 10 straight minutes of whining, just as we were trying to get out the door.

I yelled. Man, did I yell. And I scared him and made him cry.

And I'm ashamed.

I tried every trick I had this morning. I ignored him. I tried to give him what he wanted, which turned out to be not what he wanted. I ignored again. I asked him politely to stop. Then I raised my voice and then I yelled and walked away from him.

And I made him cry.

He forgot about it in about two seconds and our ride to school was just fine. He reminded me to grab my wallet and then I apologized. He said "I sowwy. Wa you mama".

Then I dropped him off at daycare and he cried for a second and asked me for a kiss.

Kids forgive so easily.

I got to work feeling like the tiniest human on the planet. A no-good, worthless, rotten mom.

I've been kicking myself about it all day.

Then I checked my instagram during lunch and saw this bright-eyed, fire engine red haired, vivacious 3.5 year old little boy, named Ryan, that tragically lost his life over the weekend. My feed quickly filled up with #redballoonsforRyan, prayers and pictures of this little guy with his mom and I thought "I bet she would give anything to have a whiny, temper tantrum, sick little boy".

And I cried at my desk.

I don't know why I felt compelled to share all of this with you. I guess I'm hoping maybe you'll squeeze your little ones a little tighter tonight, have more patience than me and say a prayer for that poor family.

I'll try harder tonight.

xxoo
ma

Cinco de Drinko

I can't stop thinking about margaritas.

Specifically, jalapeno margaritas.

We had them a few weeks ago and they were SO good.

Give this recipe a try today for me, will ya?

Or maybe blackberry margs...

Oh, and these shrimp tacos.

And maybe these enchiladas?

Or this Queso Fundido?

Just gimme all the Mexican food!

Hey Hey

How goes the Monday battle?

We are killing it over here with some Hand/Foot/Mouth awesomeness, soreness and zero sleep.

If someone can tell me why my kid won't sleep and how I can make him sleep without giving him whiskey, I will love you for the rest of my life.

And I'll throw in some cookies for good measure.

We had a ridiculously productive weekend to spite the cold, rainy weather and both, Kingy and I, being sick.

First, we have most of that little front of the house project completed!!! PB needs to fix the siding so that I can finish planting my hostas but otherwise, she's good  to go! I'll share pictures when I put my pots and window boxes out.

I still have a bunch of plants to go in around the house but we need to tackle painting the decks first. I think we're planning to pressure wash them this weekend. And maybe celebrate my birthday, I don't know.

We also put up half of our garden fence (oh my word, I am going to have an enormous garden). I think it's something like 10x180 feet. Whoa. Once we finish putting up the fence, I'm going to paint that sucker white. I can't wait! It's going to be super cute.

The chickens have been fenced! Mulch has been spread! And I'm feeling much, much better about the house situation.

Now to get started on that massive wedding to-do list...

Also, I learned this weekend that "working" for a man doing hard labor is just about the last thing on earth that I would ever want to do on a regular basis. PB only wanted to kill me a few times and it's a serious improvement from last weekend's picket fence building but good LAWD, they are rough. There is no tip-toeing around anything. I'll tell you that much.

In other news, I am still contemplating the Whole 30 aaaaand I impulsively bought Martina McBride's new album on the way to work this morning. It's not country. It's soul and kinda rock and it's goooooooooood. I should not be allowed to have iTunes on my phone.

I didn't really take any pictures this weekend because my phone was dead for most of it and I was bustin my balls, workin hard and shiz. It felt good to disconnect. Try it. Just for 24 hours.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

xxoo
ma