Peace Y'all

I'll be taking a break for a few weeks.  I hope to be back soon.  Sorry I didn't get back with those pictures from our trip, Aiden makes typing a simple post a very big chore at times.  It is Mother's Day, and time I get some priorities in order.  I will miss you all (bahahahaha, my 2 readers).  I really do make for a terrible blogger :)

Peace, Y'all

~Annie 

Back to the real world

This last week has been wonderful.  Disney was stressful, yet amazing!  The beach was delightful, (although cold at times), and the accommodations were perfect!.  I could not think of anything better than a week with the cousins.  Aiden had a blast and is now sad that he's lost his "friends".  Aiden and I woke up sick at 4:30 a.m, and are fighting a lousy flu-bug type of thing.  Why is it that whenever I go on vacation, I get sick?  It's kinda funny.  A trade off, I suppose :)  I will have pictures from our journey up soon, as well as a write-up of the adventure.  I figure if Marc and I can handle 3 days of Disney with 2 three year olds (we had Aiden's SUPER cute cousin with us a lot of the time), we can handle anything!!

Eyes of a Child

I now remember why I was sucessful at posting to my old blog.  I was working on my masters degree, and was supposed to be writing papers, so instead, I blogged.  It was genius!  Now that I'm all done with that, I don't feel that sense of procrastination.  Until today...  It's Saturday and Marc is working.  I have a crap load of things that I must accomplish., all on my own, but instead...I think I'll blog.

So the other day, Aiden grabbed a hold of our super old and falling apart camera.  Seriously, it's like a zillion years old and VERY fragile.  Instead of taking it away, I just let him play, and it gave me an idea.  He's only 3, but what if I bought him a camera, something stable, yet fun enough that he just might use it...a lot!  I could then see the world through his eyes!!  Have you ever noticed that children see things that we could never see.  Like the pattern in the background, or shapes, or lines that you could not, or would not ever see because you're too darn busy?  I think this is all very interesting.  We could all learn so much from our children, yet we are always so focused on teaching THEM.  Here are a few of the pictures he took (I'll even include his first, it's very fuzzy), just so you could see that his skills progressed.  They were mostly of the dog, me and random objects in the room, but I think he got some good practice.  There are a few others that I shot just to note the moment.

This was his very first pic.  Why yes, I do look funny, thank you for noticing, ha ha!!

 A random pile of books (common site in my room)

We need to work on lighting and the shadows, but there ya go, a little bit more in focus...

Now I took this next one, but I had to add it, because I just think my son has the cutest face in this picture...I know, that's what all moms say :)  (NOTE: I think his pictures actually turned out better than mine!!)

I'll be getting him that new camera soon.  Looking forward to the pictures he will take of the world.

~Annie

The Joys of Laundry

Just to start out; I HATE laundry.  I hate everything about it!  I guess I'm not very different from most people.  I feel quite thankful that my laundry is for a family of 3, and not more.  I often wonder how it would be if I had a bigger family, and if I would not just be doing laundry ALL of the time.  Because as of now, it never seems to end.

So when I find a product that makes my laundry life just a teensy bit better, I have to share.  My family and I strive to be pretty "green".  We use an energy efficient washing mashing, and for the most part all green cleaners (there is more to my being "green", but I won't bore you for now).  Method is by far my favorite.  I've long talked about the fresh minty smell that their glass cleaner leaves after a day of cleaning windows.  Or the almond smell that my wood emits from their "wood for good" dusting spray.  It is all amazing, I've never been unsastisfied.  But this...THIS is just SO MUCH BETTER!!!

Not only does it work very well, but it is so easy, quick and clean (and by clean I mean NO MORE CRAPPY STICKY CAP TO DEAL WITH).  Having a front end washer,  that old system of pouring the cap into the top compartment and then having to go to a separate room to clean it out is gone.  I just pump it a few times, shut the door and it's done.  Easy peasy.  Now if Method could just come up with a quick and simple way to get my laundry folded and put away.

Have a wonderful weekend.  I'll be back soon with pictures from our upcoming vacation to California.

~Annie

Confession

I have a confession to make.  This one may or may not land me in jail.

I stole a book.  It was a very long time ago, in a land far far away.  High school in fact.  I did it out of spite, and not because I actually gave a rats ass about the book.  You see my high school English teacher was kind of an (explicative).  I was a VERY bored high school student.  I think I had some intellengence, but was never pushed, never challenged, and never expected to accomplish anything.  I was just the "ditsy cheerleader".  I think I had one teacher who knew I was smart, but he ended up in jail, so who knows what that means. 

But back to English...

I love to read, I always have.  But in this class, the teacher insisted on READING ALOUD TO US.  I mean, come on?  We were 17!!  And not children.  I took it to be boring and insulting.  So I did something very childish and decided to cause some trouble (which I've been known to do).  I don't really want to admit this, but for the sake of the story, I will.  I decided to pass the amazingly boring time by biting staples (it is interesting, if you bite the just the right way, they fly across the room).  Well, one happened to land on his desk, or maybe on the book itself.  I don't know.  All I know is that his face turned red, he put the book down and calmly asked me to leave.  I then told him that my tax dollars, (yes I did work, quite a few hours in fact for a typical high school student), paid for my education and that I wasn't going anywhere.  He then preceded to call me an airhead and mentioned something about pulling my head out of my a@@ (I've never really gotten that saying).  So he left the room. 

Yes, I was embarassed.  I felt bad, humiliated and hurt all wrapped up into a teenage package.  So I decided to boycot his class for the rest of the term (3 weeks).  He met me at my locker a week later and inquired as to why I had not returned.  I just stated the obvious.  He told me that he felt terrible and I did the same.  He ended up giving me an "A" and I managed to hold my 4.0 my entire senior year. 

I never returned that book.  I kept it as a signal of my independance from "the man".  I kept it (nice and safe) for 11 years.  Then one day, I decided to send it back to the library at my old school.  Funny thing is, the librarian sent me the most wonderful thank you letter.  I felt so guilty, I didn't know what to say.  So I just left it at that.

To top this whole mess of a story off, my best friend's boyfriend (who was a known trouble maker at the time) got blamed for the theft.  I found this out years later.  Yes, I do feel bad for that...but it still makes me laugh.  Sometimes I wonder if any bad Karma that comes my way comes from the theft of that book.

I should try to be a better person. I really do, I promise.

So I'll teach my kid to never steal, do drugs (not that ever I did...except that one time when that same trouble maker...whom I still love to this day, gave me a Ritalin), and to always shrug off what others say.  Just because he called me an airhead, doesn't mean I needed to aspire to be one.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  He may have made me who I am today.  After all, I don't think many "Airheads" have masters degrees and fly airplanes.  I do blame my poor grammar on that man though...I mean, I should take responsibility, but it's just so much more fun blaming him.  Ha ha, just kidding, it's really all my fault.

So that is that.  I stole a book.  I promise to never do it again.  Even out of spite.

Peace.

~Annie

Blah blah blah

I've not given up on this blog, though it may seem so.  I have just in fact just been VERY busy.  You know, doing my hair and makeup and getting manicures and pedicures.  Ha ha, I hope you know that's a joke.  Please know that MOST of what I say is a joke, it's just my nature.

So to my readers (all 2 of you), I will be back with some interesting stuff, just as soon as I figure out what that is.  I think I need to add some color to this thing and jazz it up a bit.  I've got some work ahead of me.  But this time, I'm not going to quit...even if it means writing brainless stuff with my head pounding and while being dead tired and half asleep.  So to my 2 readers, don't give up on me quite yet.  Unless you must, and then I'll understand. 

More to come.  

Peace

~Annie

This and That

I started this blog with the hopes of writing at least once per week. (Blasted goals!)


It's now Sunday night, and it's been a whole week. Thing is, I've really got nothing to write about...zero, zip. I've been sick for almost a week now, probably with something akin to the flu (I'm not so sure a cold could actually suck this bad). I'd like to think this weekend was highly productive, but it wasn't. I sat around, finished two books, made food for the fam, and ate (candy, mostly...OK, I wasn't that bad, I kept it under 10 pieces).

There was one BIG moment that will mark this weekend. Are you ready?
We finally took away my son's pacifier. YES, he IS 3 (just turned, in our defense??). It really was time. I would love to tell you he was ready, but it would be a huge lie. I think he could have sucked on that thing for naps and nighttime for another 5 years. His "bubs" (short for "bubba") as we like to call them, have always been a part of his life. He has never gone one whole day without them...ever. So yes, this was a VERY difficult thing. I tried to make it "fun!", but really, how fun can it be losing your best friend? We gathered them up and put them in his Easter basket. We then preceded to tell him how the Easter bunny, with the help of the "Bub-fairy", would take them around to all of the little babies that REALLY need them. The "Bub-fairy", (yes, I know I'm riding a fine line making up yet ANOTHER fictional character), left him quite a few toys and after a long, hard night, they were very welcomed.

Here is a picture of Aiden enjoying these "bubs" (old school, and camping at that).

 

As I sit here and type, he is ferociously crying while Marc is attempting to sooth him to sleep (yeah, it's not really working). Sometimes this job is quite hard. But I will not be broken, I refuse (notice, I'm NOT in the room. YES, I am a wimp!). So we will have to endure these cries. I just wonder for how long?

I do plan to do pictures soon. My camera is almost 7 years old, (THAT'S old in camera years) and not really functioning well. So I'll try to get on that...sooner rather than later.

On another random note (randomness is kind of my thing), I found a really COOL new (for me) Pandora station. If you don't use Pandora, you should.   I've been singing its praises for years now. I'm not even mad they're making me pay these days (because I ALWAYS max out mid month. .99, for the rest of the month is a fair price to pay though). Anyway, back to this station. Her name is Joanna Newsom, you should check her out. Different, but different is good.

~Annie

Blog

I used to "blog". In fact, I LOVED to blog. Probably too much. I like to talk, and write, so a blog can be a dangerous thing. So, I switched to Facebook, it seemed to make life easier. All of the sudden, there were friends there, in one place, and close; it didn't take much effort. But then I started growing tired of Facebook (I know, you really can't tell). There is always so much that I want to say, but don't (I know, again, you can't tell).

So, my blog used to be called "Adventures in Mommyland" or something to that effect. The last few months I've started to realize that I've been living in a "mommy cave" (for 3 YEARS!), and it's time to come out. So, as much as I would like to go back to my old title, I won't. Not that I don't like being a mother, because anyone who knows me knows otherwise. I just need some "Annie space" separate from being a mom, or a wife, or any of that jazz. This blog will, I am sure, include much about my life as a mother, but there will be more; it's not just a "mommy blog", I'll tell you that up front.

There are a few reasons I gave up blogging. The number one reason is that I finally, after over a year of blogging, got "self-conscious" about my writing skills. I am the first person to admit that growing up in the public school system did not do me wonders. But I do try. While my writing may not be perfect, and my grammar leaves something to be desired; I do hope you enjoy what I have to say. I have a lot of blogging friends. They have fancy-cool blogs. This will not be one of those. Just words, mostly, maybe a few pictures (hopefully).