Lo Foolery

2011-12-09T11:40:00.001-06:00

Things I'm learning by filming

2011-06-09T11:07:00.003-05:00

Number 1 -

Don't film with the camera on the side. When you rotate the picture, it squashes you.
You look like you're in a fun mirror at the carnival.
Not pretty.
This is the reason the last YouTube video disappeared.
I looked like the newest member of the Lollipop Guild.

Number 2 -

HD shows you how how outdated your bathroom really is :)
Setting up a new place to film now.

Number 3 -

You really really need to mess around with the camera before you post anything.

Number 4 -

If you're a mommy, write out a timeline with bullet points.
Because you are going to forget what you were saying about 4 words into it because someone will need you to help them wipe their butt.

Number 5 -

Lord, do you see how messy your house is!

Going to film today, play with the new edit and post on YouTube Monday.

Later,
Lo

Today's Outfit : I'm a Bag Lady

2011-06-03T19:31:00.005-05:00

...with a large clothing budget, hee hee!

So today I'm sportin' what my loving Mr. Mine calls my "bag lady" dress.
I think it's adorable, he only tolerates it because it sticks in my tush every time I bend over, HA!

I prefer to think of it as my floaty ballerina dress...ok, so that means I spin around and act like an idiot in it. Don't care, LOVE it!

It's so comfy cool for HOT FREAKIN' summer temps...and we are having a heat wave here!

If my HD camera doesn't get here soon I will post the other ones, but I'd love to just redo them in HD...You know, do this RIGHT ;0)

Happy Weekend!
Lo

New AC Compressor....

2011-06-02T17:42:00.004-05:00

So today has been a bit busy...

2 of our 4 AC units decided they were tired of working.
The HVAC doctors came out and diagnosed one with a bad capacitor and the other one was given it's last rites... The 4 ton unit.

"Cue the funeral march"

Oh and my husband is mad at our cable, phone, Internet provider....had to a lot of research to find out that they charge different rates for the same things but it all works out to about the same total, give or take a few dollars....

That being said...I didn't get a chance to edit my videos

I was throwing dishes at the wall in frustration.

Just kidding....sort of :0)

Anyway, not ignoring my series, but I plan to eat an entire Chinese buffet tonight.

See you tomorrow,
Lo

Yesterday's Outfit details

2011-06-01T11:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I realized a desire for an HD camera for the first time!!!! YIKES!
That YouTube Video is crazy blurry!

Will have to mess around with it to see if I can make it better...
I will post the others that I filmed yesterday and I will continue to film more and work on camera issue.

Anyway, thought I'd give you a few details on the casual day outfit I was sporting yesterday.

It was a Target-ish kind of day.
T-Back workout tank - Champion by Target - black
Stretch Yoga Pants - Champion from Target - black
Gray boyfriend Sweater - I swear I thought I bought this from Target, but it's label isn't anything I recognize from Target...energie?...Kohl's maybe?
Ballet Flats - Gap City Shoes - black

Makeup - Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet Foundation - truly awesome stuff
MAC eye shadows - Brule, Cork, Charcoal Brown
Buxom gel liner in leatherette
Laura Mercier Cake Liner in Black Ebony
NARS Laguna
MAC powder blush - Springsheen
Lancome Hypnose Mascara
Mac Mineral SkinFinish Natural - Light/Medium
NARS Duo Concealer - Vanilla/Honey
Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller
Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Opal
Earrings - my hairstylist - She makes such cute stuff...I'll see if she has a pace where you can order her jewelry.

My crazy Gorilla had to get in on the action! Jammies styled by himself
(chuckle chuckle snort)

See Ya!
Lo

30 in 30!

2011-05-31T20:31:00.004-05:00

Ok...to get back into blogging, I'm jumping into YouTube.

Challanging myself to make and post 30 videos in 30 days

Today's video is on my basic morning skincare routine.

Hope you like it and the ones to follow...and pls be forgiving. I am VERY new at the video format. This will be trial and error ;0)

*took it down because it was VERY bad quality. Will be doing soon...when will school ever start!!!!*
Lo

As inspired by...Today's Outfit

2011-02-08T13:15:00.011-06:00

Today's Outfit is inspired by the lovely Olivia Palermo.

Didn't go for a "copy cat" version, but I took a few elements from some of the press pictures I've seen on Google Images.

leggings, jacket, loose shirt

fuzzy vest peeking out of jacket...again a similar silhouette

statement necklace, leather legging, loose top

leather legging, jacket, necklace

Lo's Version

I think I've got the "I have to pee" pose pretty good.

It's a great pose that forgives a lot of flaws, but ever since I saw in in the weekly rags,

I've thought, "those girls have to go to the potty...and FAST!"

Ok, boxy Jacket - check

(Target Mossimo Brand)

Here's a cute one on Zappo's
loose hanging shirt - check

(Novelty Tee @ Target again -

I get a large or XL when I want a drapey, "please cover my butt" effect)

leather leggings - check
(Shopbop - mine are Members Only, here's a decently priced version by Plush)

Wristlet - Dooney & Bourke blended shadow

Here's a shadow version ...but I can't find a blended version in black

...I like the white for spring/summer though

fuzzy pull thru scarf - check
(Got this @ Goodwill....)

so here's a cute look by Rachel Zoe on QVC)
Ballet flats - check

(Gap - last summer)

Here's a bazillion at ShopStyle

Lusting over the first pair from Tory Burch...mine are looking a little scuffed, LOL!

deconstructed

details

Old lady hands, mine :)...got to stop chewing the cuticles

Essie Really Red polish

Wedding & engagement rings - MINE, U CAN'T HAVE THEM, LOL!!!

Gold ring - Banana Republic clearance

God Bless eBay! Here's a ton of GREAT fun Banana rings

Necklace - Anthropologie

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE eBay

Here's some fun anthro necklaces

Have Fun Playing Dress Up!

LO!

005/365 6 year old self portrait

2011-01-05T16:02:00.001-06:00

005/365 6 year old self portrait
Originally uploaded by Lo Foolery

This is mommy screwing around with photo editing....not me cheering for UT...hahaha!

I think our son wants to join in on the picture a day fun :0)

Taken Jan 6 2011

005/365

004/365

2011-01-04T10:30:00.001-06:00

004/365
Originally uploaded by Lo Foolery

Uh, yeh....Welcome to my life.
This is what happens when I mention to my husband that he might want to see a doctor about something on his thumb.
He decides to preform surgery on himself....HE'S NOT A SURGEON!!!

Thankfully my past life, (before kids), trained me to stop the bleeding.

And thankfully, my training as a woman taught me to hit him over the head and yell at him.

Date taken : Jan 4, 2011
004/365

Uploaded by Lo Foolery on 4 Jan 11, 7.07AM PST.

003/365

2011-01-03T19:04:00.001-06:00

003/365
Originally uploaded by Lo Foolery

Experiments with Acid Reflux....

Instead of cow's milk which my doctor BIL said increases my acid production, (for which I take 8 pills per day), I'm going out on a limb and trying my triple latte with Almond Milk.

It's the milk not the 3 shots of espresso that's giving me acid.....;0)

002/365

2011-01-02T14:09:00.001-06:00

002/365
Originally uploaded by Lo Foolery

The Grinch is trying to decide which of last year's Christmas to steal when they go back to school...
Date Taken - 01/02/2011
002/365

Today's Outfit

2011-01-01T14:33:00.003-06:00

And we will not be changing ALL day!

Jammie pants with Stars - Charter Club (cuz I'm classy like that)

Jammie T-shirt - Gilden Activewear (cuz tshirts ROCK)

Boys Jammies - Go Diego Go

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Project 366-1

2011-01-01T11:57:00.002-06:00

Project 366-1
Originally uploaded by Lo Foolery

My 2011 goals:

To sleep in more often

CHECK!!!

You Were Lost and Gone Forever, Oh My Darlin', Clementine

2010-11-23T17:39:00.008-06:00

So I've been gone forever. But I still been taking pictures of various outfits and stuff in general.

Guess What!

These are my new stairs in my new house!

You'll probably see a lot of them.

The awesome purse is Anthropologie (caught on sale for $49!!!)
I cannot tell you how many people have said they love my purse.

The bad hair is an attempt at being cool and trying out "Ombre" hair

NOT!

I have since had that phase of dreadful hair fixed by the coolest, most awesomest hairstylist I've ever found...

(I facebook stalked her after I saw her picture on a friend's feed. She knows and still likes me!)

I've been so busy unpacking and hanging stuff in the 5000 feet I call home it's NUTS!

(btw, cleaning 5000 ft is not for the weak, OMGosh!)

(btw, btw I HATE DUSTING! now I have more of that a little to do. Bring out your teeny tiny violins)

So my wonderful bad ass bloggy friends,

I'm moved and in need of sharing the silliness that is me.
And I like taking pictures of myself.

Go figure, right!

Outfit:
Shirt - Necessary Objects
(400 yrs old & it's still hasn't been killed)
I heart that shirt :)
Here's one that's cute

Jeans - Delia's Reese style Mine is Miami wash, I think
(darlin' make sure you wear floss for underpants on these suckers cuz when you sit there is all kinds of plumber's crack happenin'. I'm just not ready to throw in the towel yet)

Shoes - Mossino
(Got them at Target right as the whole "shootie" craze was beginning. They're suede but as with all my shoes, I treat them like they cost me $400, so I treated them with suede protector and they've lasted a LONG time)
Here are some in a similar style

Muscles - Pure Barre
(OMGOSH!!!! MORE ON THAT LATER!!!! It's love I tell you and this picture was taken maybe a week into my love addiction so I have AMAZING guns now!)

Later, Gaters

why I haven't been blogging as much lately

2010-11-22T13:10:00.010-06:00

an actual transcript of a conversation between my sister and I on Facebook after she wanted more picture of my kids sent her way.

Pictures below:

Sister

I want to see new pictures of your monsters! =)
2 hours ago ·LikeUnlike · Comment · View Feedback (1)Hide Feedback (1) ·

Lo
would you like pictures of my pillows. that's where i am most of the time these days...maybe i'll let the kids take over the camera and tell them to take pictures of me sleeping and I'll post those. Possible not the most attractive in the... world, but an accurate view of my world.

5am wake up, from intense licking by Vicious(10 lbs of terror) & Delicious (16.3lbs of marshmallow)

5:05 stubble over shmooppy doglets to let them out to pee

5:15 still outside waiting on one of said shmooppies to FINALLY do it's number 2.

5:20am go inside...coffee on my mind, but not on the BEASTIE Thor's mind.
5:21am open pandora's box, I mean, Thor's kennel. All hell breaks loose. I am knocked over at least 3 times with love "snuggles" from Thor. Meanwhile still have to watch my step so shmoopies don't become shmushies.

5:30 (seriously) finally convince Thor he need to go outside to relieve himself and finally convince Delicious he doesn't want to be directly under him while Thor does the deed.

5:31am pass out on the floor exhausted, planning my naptime.

5:32am awakend by sweet but insistent Vicious licking my face to tell me I forgot to feed her.

5:35am Feed schmoopies Water schmoopies. Thor makes his first attempt to run into the house by smashing head first into the glass back door

5:36am Thor makes 2nd attempt

5:37am Fill up Gallon pitcher to water Thor, listen to Thor's 3rd and 4th attempts...It's not like I keep that door clean.

5:38am put one foot outside to pour water into Thor's "Thor proof" water bowl. Put 2nd foot out and Delicious feels like I've now abandoned him and starts to howl...not whimper, HOWL!!!!
5:39am Rush back inside to assure crazy D that I'm not leaving but only going out to feed Thor next. BTW Thor has drunk a half gallon of water by now.

5:42am Dogs barking I make it in with a bowl of 4 cups of Lab dog food. 4 CUPS, PEOPLE (x2 feedings a days that 8 FREAKIN' CUPS OF EUKANUBA and he's not over weight!)!!!!!! and a hand full to sprinkle on the floor to ensure the schmoopies don't want to again try and escape.

5:45 head to espresso machine to make what will be first 3 shots of espresso out of 7 total for the day.

6 am HUGE mug of latte in hand, espresso machine cleaned out, all coffee paraphanalia washed an set up for second go, I sit down...see the upstairs motion sensor light turn from green to red and anticipate (with a genuine smile) the coming down the back stairs of one of my precious kidlets. Schmoopies dance around in excitement as only weiner dogs can do and mommy's hour of "quiet time" is over.

One hour in the life of Lo

6 minutes ago · LikeUnlike

Thor in our old house..not much has changed except now he's 106 lbs

Schmoopies - Delicious on left & Vicious on right

The faces I wake up to every morning

Cholesterol Busting - Nom Nom Nom!!!

2010-04-19T13:40:00.004-05:00

Here's my DELICIOUS lunch today courtesy of The New York Times
I found it through Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer in this Alexis post

Quinoa with lime ginger dressing

I, too, left out the shrimp (LOADED with the bad cholesterol) for avocado (A cholesterol busting "superfood").

Why all the emphasis on cholesterol you wonder to yourself?...hmmm...

Last Tuesday, I went to my annual girly doctor check up and decided to kill 2 birds with one stone.

Nurse : Would you like us to run a blood sample for things like thyroid, cholesterol, iron, blah, blah, blah...

Me : *thinking in head* (no additional co pay, no additional doctor appointment one the rare day without my kiddos)

Me : *outloud* Heck Yeh! (cuz I'm country like that, chuckle, chuckle, snort)

Results are in and I have a total cholesterol count of 246...dah dah duhhhhh!

With an LDL of 164...zinger!

They asked me to come back to do a fasting blood test, (which is a little silly because the last one was basically a fasting one, if you don't count the nonfat latte I had 4 1/2 hours before my appointment...STICKLERS!!!!)

Well I can't go back to my lady doctor more than once a year cuz the good ole insurance would then classify her as a specialist...ie. twice as much co pay.

I asked her to send my paperwork to the house and I'd set up follow up blood work with my regular doctor. That will also help me as I like to see ALL my numbers in black and white,
HDL -??
Triglycerides -??
Hemaglobin -??

So no killing birds with stones (I'm not much of a hunter, it seems). No saving of co pay (see Mr. Mine, I figured out a way to spend money again!

But it gives me time to lay off the twinkies and get back into my healthy eating ways as seen here. Really good info...I see walnuts and sardines in my future!!!

Plus I get to kick my butt in the gym and get back to my former enviable ~~bikini~~ cholesterol shape.

A girl's got to have priorities!!!!!

19 days and Counting...

2010-04-09T15:42:00.004-05:00

We're moving in 19 days!

Yeah!!!!

So other than t-ball, I'm spending a lot of time getting ready for the move.

Here are a couple things I am most looking forward to for in our new home.

This is my new breakfast room!

This picture DOES NOT do it's size justice.

It's Massive!

One side will have our table (not this one in the picture. Our's is teeny in comparison)

And the other side will have an area for folks to hang out.

This is our new kitchen...

CABINETS!!! =)

COUNTER SPACE! =)
only has one oven...=(

oh well, can't have everything

But the thing I'm most looking forward to is my new sewing room

I have a bit (Mr. Mine is snorting loudly over this statement)

A bit of a problem with vintage patterns.
Hi....My name is Lo...

I'm a vintage pattern addict...

Hi Lo! (chuckle, chuckle, snort!)

Let the over indulgenge begin!

Very Spring!...

Will definitely not be using these colors!

No hat or gloves either

I will live in this!!!!!

View A has my name ALL over it!
This apron dress made by Atomic Mum I've been dying to make

(drool....)

This is the pattern I've found

Here's the actual pattern

I think some "altering" can be done to my pattern

And last but not least!!!!!

The first vintage pattern I EVER collected.

Ever since I picked up this vintage Woman's Day on eBay or at a garage sale

(I'm addicted to either for a vintage quick fix)

I've been dreaming of scrubbing toilets and making PB & J's in these babies!!!

Again NOT in these colors!

It is official.

I'm Crackers!

How Can You Tell When Your 5 yr old Thinks You're Old?

2010-03-31T21:10:00.011-05:00

I happened to be stumbling around the kitchen this morning, praying desperately for a hot-milky-frothy-high caffeine beverage to mysteriously appear in my hand, when my darlin' ~~babies~~ little people came bouncing into the same room looking for chocolate milk and cereal.

We are a whole lot of "keep it real people" in our household...mommy used to make scrambled eggs and microwave bacon, but that's for special occasions now...like when my family come to visit and I pretend to be ~~Mrs. Cleaver~~...well sometimes after my coffee.
That always counts as a special occasion.

Anyway, this was an especially rough morning.

I had, unbeknownst to me, had an ear infection for the last 6 days and had only the evening before decided to go to one of the grocery store "Little Clinic's"...

...(I know, I just pamper myself, don't I?!)

...to see what was causing the space in between my ear and my throat to feel like a whistling tea kettle on high boil!

Lo (hee, hee) and behold, I have the 2nd ear infection of my entire life.

What am I!!! A toddler!

I thought grown ups weren't supposed to get these crazy things!

Like, I was 3
(ear infection - pink medicine in the fridge that my sweet nanny remembered to give me)

and now I'm...well...older than that
(ear infection - giant freakin' horse pills that I have to remember to take on my own)...
(picture me mad, stomping around at this injustice! Where is Miss Maureen when I need her!!!)

Ok - that's two things on the "woe is me" chart this morning.

...Somebody start playing a teeny tiny violin for me

Wait! Let's add one more thing...just so that I can affirm that I am, indeed, a whiny soul.

In an effort to keep my blazing ear at least partially upright

(so my head doesn't literally explode)

I stacked all my pillows up and "slept" at a 45 degree angle...during the night, somehow, I slid down to where it was only my neck at a 45 degree angle and woke to a MEAN MEAN MEAN crick in my neck.

So picture that crazy, sleep deprived, ear ache-in', neck crooked, caffeine fiendin' mess...

This sweet face appears

my angel....

my first born...

the boy that let me dress him in, what his daddy calls,

"a boy dress"

But what us real southern girls KNOW is a John-John...

a hem....I digress

I tell my sweet darlin' to give me second to pour some coffee down my throat and I would attend to his needs of chocolate milk and frosted cereal goodness.
I told him, "Mommy woke up feeling like she was a little old lady"

That sweet baby turned his big brown eyes on me and said,
"REALLY!!!! But I thought you were an OLD LADY already!!!"

I have made the decision to show ALL his naked baby pictures to ever girl he brings in the house from here to eternity.

*grumble grumble grumble*

They did take some sweet pictures the other day though...

I have a thing for Super Babies

2010-03-24T20:27:00.005-05:00

I gave my Ninja these cute dress up shoes

a little after she declared her undying love

for all things footwear...

That happened the Christmas before she

turned 2,

when Santa slipped some black patent numbers

in her stocking!

Quote "oh Oh OH OOHH..SHOESSS!!!!"

I love these tootsies!

Especially when they're out to take on evil!

Kinda reminds me of some other super hero I hosted in my home!

Took some great pics of the kids today in all of Spring's glory...
Goll-Lee! It's good to be back bloggin'

A New Day, A New Season

2010-03-22T09:51:00.007-05:00

I have not been a faithful blogger.

Fortunately, that was not in my marriage vows.

Just in my New Year's Resolutions.

And last year's resolutions at that!

And now I have a confession to make.

I have had plenty to write about, but not the heart to write.

I could have B. S'ed my way through this blog and written about all the funny craziness that has happened. The good and the bad.

For example: I know, even if I'm too far away to hear the exact words,

the exact tone of voice that both of my children use to yell at me to wipe their booties when they've gone

"Poo poo in the potty".

Seriously.

In the past 3 years, the tone has NEVER once changed.

I can be changing a load of laundry on the opposite side of the house, with

dishwasher running, dog barking, etc, etc...still hear that particular tone.

One day they will have long enough arms.

I know this to be true....because mine are long enough. LOL!!!

I am now raising Godzilla the dog.

That cute little puppy in the last post...He's now 110lbs of hard headed, ridiculously destructive, jack rabbit, trampoline jumping Labrador Godzilla.

This picture was taken last Halloween...He was not yet a year old...

He likes to jump on it so he can get a better look at who he's barking at....

My back yard is a disaster.

Have I mentioned we're selling out house?

No.

Well I will say it is not made at all easier by a dog, hell bent on destruction. I can't even take pictures of the back right now. It's rid-donk-kew-lous!!!!

But the truth is, with all the normal funniness that goes on everyday, my family and I have been in one of the darkest seasons of our lives.

We've had so many decisions and responsibilities to carry. Not that we're whining, some of the things we've carried are good things.

But any burden is heavy.

And we have been bent low. There are many times in the last year we have tasted the dirt of the road we were traveling. And during this time, we have made momentous decisions and done the "hurry up and wait" game more times than we can count.

We have trusted in God. And yelled at God. And carried our children to the best of our ability. We trusted in ourselves and our own abilities (always SUCH a good idea *heavy on the sarcasm*), in the end coming shame faced back to where we started.

But mostly, we've waited.

Because that's what you do when change is coming. You wait and pray that it is for the best.

We close on the sale of my in-laws house today.

Going through all their things, estate sales, renovating the interior, putting the house up for sale.

Each small (or large) item costs a piece of you.

You have to learn to set a part of your sentimentality aside to progress. That is truly difficult, if not impossible for most things.

Doing this once or twice, you can put it out of your mind with a fair amount of ease. But the "everyday-ness" of this process has cost us a part of our souls. And we are at a point where most people have forgotten or have moved on in their own lives. I can't put my sadness on other people. They won't understand it and certainly won't appreciate it.

We are trying to move forward. You don't move past a loss. You step forward most days and then on the raw days, you curl up and wait for it to pass, hoping you don't lose too much ground.

You take on too much so that you can stay busy. Busy helps, but can also prolong an already long ordeal.

So we put their house on the market, got 2 storage units and cleared out A TON of our *read my* crap, put our house on the market (not our best moment with 2 kids & our aforementioned Godzilla dog), put a contingent contract on a larger home, fighting like cats and dogs (stress), bought his grandparents lake house back with his sister. We've had 35 showings on our house. Multiply that number by at least 3 hours of cleaning and you will see that blogging about our "woe's" has not been high on the priority list.

Because we are blessed.

Not just blessed,

But ABUNDANTLY BLESSED.

We are holding on for our dear lives and looking forward to a new season.

Thank the Lord, Spring always comes

I Promise...

2009-05-29T00:42:00.002-05:00

I promise I'm not being lazy and sleeping all day...
I promise I will have a new post up in the day.
My BIL is graduating from medical school (way to go!!!)
So we're traveling, messing around with family & running around like chickens with our heads cut off.
Gruesome..
Anyway, it leaves a lot of time for pictures, but not a lot of bloggin' time! And I am NOT organized enough to do my posts ahead of time.

Thanks for your patience. Be back soon ;-)

Lo

For My Brother in Iraq

2009-05-25T01:01:00.004-05:00

My 21 yr old baby brother on top of his armored vehicle in Iraq

To all American troops,

Thank you

Memorial Day Weekend!

2009-05-24T16:22:00.004-05:00

Never a party until you get all your friends together!

(My friend had all the crawfish labeled as one her friends on facebook)
I was the one on the upper right *hee hee*

And I must now totally plagiarize my friend, who in the caption wrote
"I think I am not alone in thanking the designers of the skirted tank-ini, the unofficial swimwear of '30 something moms' everywhere!"

Truer words have never been written!
Hope everyone is still having a great weekend!

Who says Uggs have to be Uggly?

2009-05-23T11:36:00.002-05:00

My new Summer espadrilles!

They have the fuzzy lamb's wool on the toes!
So cozy, I think

My lounging wear!

Tunic - Liz Lange Maternity for Target (ya'll don't laugh, ok laugh it's pretty funny...but I can't give it up. It's like the only white top I've never stained. Now watch me pour a cup of tea on it)

gauchos - target (have to be all "thing-a-thonged" out on these. The butt on these leaves no room of VPL.)

espadrilles - Uggs (not so Ugg-ly)

Hope you're all havin' a beer or a margarita!
with sweet friends & precious family

Today's Outfit

2009-05-22T22:19:00.001-05:00

The weather is so funky here...

It's starts off chilly and ends up sweltering!

I had a cute cardigan that I forgot to take a picture of cuz I'm forgetful like that

But I got comfy cute today

shirt - Kohl's (on one of their crazy $2.28 sales)
capri leggings - some old box of workout clothes I didn't remember owning
belt - same one worn here for only like half the night
shoes - bebe worn here (woo how much my photos have changed)
necklaces & earrings - talbots (1million years ago...a gift from the Mr. Mine while we were dating...I think he understood I like cha cha on the right occasion...)

completely didn't see that my little cup stand is topsy turvy until editing these pictures.

It's still upside down...

Some one comment and see if it's still upside down next week...

That would make a great poll

these shoes are just ok with this...I'm totally kicking myself for not getting the navy blue ones I saw in Target about 3 months ago, but they weren't comfy...but they would have been perfect for this.

Oh well

Lipstick and Gloss - Mary freakin' Kay Love that lady!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I'll be by the pool

Give Away Winner!!!!

2009-05-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

Had an Issue with ....

2009-05-20T22:20:00.000-05:00

Had an issue with my camera and my family today.

All worked out and I'm working on the drawing right now.

I'll post it soon.

Thanks for your patience!

Lo

Intervention Necessary!

2009-05-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

Give AWAY!!!!! Only a few people have entered. Your chances of winning are excellent!

Here's the Giveaway post!

My friends will find it necessary to stage an Exhibitionist Intervention on me after this post...

But hey, we all had a GOOD laugh!

And just to make sure everyone has all the details, at this point in our trip ALL the alcohol was still in the brown paper bag.

....hmmm...doing this sober doesn't sound much better

Whatever!

We had a need to shop!

And apparently Pearl had a need to dress like a Ger-Animal!

TJ Maxx is one of those great places where you can find all sorts of fun cute things for less.

I managed to find too much
(which will be featured on future Choose My Outfit posts)

But among the pickin's for the evening

Stripper shoes
(they had zipper's on the back! Hey Hey!)

Then my sweet friends dared me to wear this...

(how I love my friends)

(have I mentioned I don't say no to dares easily?!)

(Lord , what is wrong with me?!)

(gulp)

Someone please save me from myself ;-)

reaction

What we learned from this experience

And just say NO to dares...

the tags on this post say it all

Today's Look

2009-05-12T19:25:00.000-05:00

Check out my Give Away in honor of my upcoming 100th post here

Day 1 of my trip!

I had to wear something comfortable enough to drive for a number of hours

Yet cute enough to be in a bunch of meeting with LOTS of other girls
doin' their darndest to be cute too!

Did I mention this was a Junior Auxiliary Convention?

No?!

There was LOTS of cuteness to go around!

earrings - inherited
grey shell - necessary objects
lapel pin - Swarovski
skirt - Kasper
shoes - banana republic

Details

(when my friend saw me she said "do you love america or something?". Which of couse I do but the outfit was looking a little grey on an already rainy day. I threw a little patriotic color in.)

These things look HUGE in my jewelry box

the beauty shot ;-)

But after meetings, we were planning to go out!

So I threw in this little party dress

earrings - Stein Mart ($5 yeah!)
dress - Thakoon for Target
shoes - Target

These are COMFORTABLE $20 shoes!!!
That never happens

And the best accessory for a girl!
A smile with my Pearl!

and a paper sack....

It was Like the Liquor Store knew

2009-05-12T11:47:00.000-05:00

we were coming!

Polly (after my tendency to repeat things like a parrot) & Princess (well because she is)

Check out my Give Away here!

Someone needs to win that adorable personalized clipboard set!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program

.....I mean this lovely $23 combo pack doesn't just happen on a whim!

At least not in our quaint little town.

No we had to drive all the way to Franklin, TN

That's where we went for this weekend get away.

We were attending an Education Conference & squeezing in some fun at the same time.

The plan was to hit either Franklin or Nashville's downtown....

but it RAINED the WHOLE time!!!!

(princess hates rain, but she was a good sport)

So we decided to hit the liquor store and the TJ Maxx instead!

Pearl (LONG VERY FUNNY STORY) with the goods!

We did eat dinner and raid the TJ Maxx, but for now

this is what it looks like when Pearl only has a "travel" corkscrew to open a can of Pineapple juice.

ultimately unsuccessful attempt

but don't worry, we did manage to get our drinks into our new party cups!

More to come, plus the day's outfit posts to come later today!

My Give Away Countdown!!!

2009-05-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

I just came home from my once a year girlfriend trip!!!!

I love my friends!

LOVE THEM!!!!!!

So to celebrate my friends and my upcoming 100th post, I thought I'd do a giveaway!!

And a day by day inside picture book of my girlfriend trip!

Lots of new, inspired outfits!

Inspired my by GORGEOUS, WONDERFUL Girlfriends!

Speaking of girlfriends and giveaways....!

Here is my official first giveaway on Lo Foolery
A personalized clipboard set from Whitney English!

Seventy five sheets of personalized summer note taking!
On it's own clipboard...

to hang from the fridge, put on your kitchen desk,

If you're me, I'd have to hang it from my ear so I could keep up with my to do list...

But that's just me *hee, hee*

Here are the rules,

1. To be entered you must visit my friend's site found here. Pick out something you like copy & paste that product's address and leave it, along with your name in the comments section of thispost. One comment per day.
2. To earn an additional 5 entries, publish this contest on your blog. Yeah!

3. OR for an additional 10 entries, order from my darlin' friend's site! She'll let me know who you are.

4. Contest runs from 10:45am (CDT) Monday May 11, 2009 to 10:44am (CDT) Monday May 18, 2009. I'll draw a winner Wednesday, May 20 and post the drawing via video later that day.
5. Send all questions regarding this contest to lofoolery at gmail dot com No spaces in that
address, just trying to avoid those damn bots =)

One of my favorite friends has started a new business with Paper Concierge
The distributor of my lovely give away prize!
Adorable stationary, embroidered gifts, engraved jewelry, hair accessories, candles, enclosure cards, personalized note sets, etc, etc......

All by reputable manufacturers like Whitney English, Sweet Pea Designs, Heartstrings, Cavallini & Co., Flirtbuttons, Inkwell and, of course, Leap Frog.

Here are some of my personal favorites...see if you can sense a theme *wink*

Can you tell I'm kinda into the whole polka dot thing?!

And on another theme...

Wall Decals

I'm totally going to do one of those in my little girl's room.

Cuz I'm southern like that. We either kill it, stuff it or monogram it, right?!!

and OMG, are these not to scream about?!!

And what girl doesn't fall for the siren song of the...
leopard print

Monogrammed *wink wink*

Now to my girlfriend trip!

So what do all these things have in common

A VERY FUN GIRL's WEEKEND
MORE TO COME
STAY TUNED!!!!

oh and btw if Mr. Mine is reading this blog. This would be a nice after Mother's Day gift.
Size 6 please

Also from my friend's store

Piano Lessons

2009-04-28T12:45:00.000-05:00

When I was expecting our first child, Mr. Mine and I knew I was going to be staying at home with our children.

I never wanted to be a mommy until I met Mr. Mine.

But after we met, the only thing I ever wanted to be was his wife and the mother of his children.

Sappy but true.

Mr. Mine was raised by a stay at home mommy and I was raised by 2 parents who worked.

Both of us turned out ok, but he wanted me to stay home and I couldn't imagine going back to work. There are certainly days when it has an appeal, don't get me wrong!!!

But this is my calling.

But among my other talents, lies a dormant musical gift.

That is not to proud but to say I have 2 musical parents, played violin for about 12 years and sing proficiently (NOT American Idol worthy. You will NEVER catch me doing something like that) but I can carry a tune.

Music is a part of me.

Music moves my soul.

I adore it.

ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!

From classical to hip hop/gangster rap, (although I have issues with some of the language and innuendo. Creativity is something I admire and it can come from ANYWHERE!)

But classical is hands down my favorite.

It is music that regularly moves me to tears, makes my heart ache and gives me joy!

My kids make fun of me all the time when I search youtube for random performances and end up crying in front of the computer. "uh oh, Mommy's going to cry Ninja. Go get the tissue"

This from a four year old!

Sheesh!

I always said that I would again indulge this love with piano lessons. An instrument that has held sway over my affections for years now. Chopin's Noctournes,....gorgeous.

I remember watching my father practice Rachmaninoff's exercises on our baby grand and feeling like his hands were dancing the most incredibly complex ballet!

One day....I would be able to make those sounds.

Mr. Mine's mom had a piano in her living room that sat virtually unplayed his entire life. And this year I was allowed to take it home under the strict condition that I take lessons and NEVER practice while Mr. Mine is home. (He can't stand most music. Opposites attract =-)

Nine weeks ago, I started those promised lessons and once again I am obssessed with music.

I will make memories for them, too

Puppy Collateral Damge

2009-04-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

So this is what happens when you buy too much stuff to fix up some funky stuff on your house.

Your new puppy chews up you cable modem cord and gives you some new funky stuff to fix.

I've propped the cord up and straightened it...the only way I'm on the internet right now.

Cuz cable can't come out to fix it until Saturday!

*&^%$#$$%^$#@@%*&^*$$%^^&^%%&%*((*()_*^&*&^&*%&^**##*?>>>I&%#!!!!!!!!

If he poops in the house today, so help me......

Things that go POP in the night...err make that early morning

2009-04-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

I have to get up to let the dog out to potty at 5am every morning.

This is the deal I've worked out with him.

or maybe I should say he worked out with me.

It's either stand outside for 10 minutes while he pees & poops...

(in that order, with time for visiting with me in between, just in case you wanted that much detail)

or clean the kennel of said pee and poop for about 30 minutes on hands and knees while the innocent Thor baby goes after my Achilles' tendon with his crazy puppy teeth.

Have I mentioned his teeth are sharp...

Anyway, at my 5am wake up alarm, I pull my tired bo-hynie (that spelling is bad) out of bed, throw on my Mr. Mine's big black terry cloth robe (the only one Thor cannot bit through) turn to head downstairs where he is patiently waiting in his kennel....

And I hear a loud POP!!!

What the?!

I turn on our bedroom light, MUCH to chagrin of Mr. Mine and find this:

At 5am, I am now leaping and dancing around for joy!!!

I HATE THIS CEILING FAN!!!!!!

And now it's dead!

It makes a horrible racket EVERY TIME you turn on the fan.

The lamp shades SCREAM middle 80's home design.

and the light bulbs are bare, burning holes in your eyes if you try to read at night.

But it worked, and you can't be too grateful when you own a home and the stuff that you bought it with still work and you can put your money into the stuff that doesn't.

But now it's dead!!!!

And here's my new one!

It's got a remote! Hee Hee!!

Oh and I got a new shower door, a new back storm door, a new bathroom light fixture, set up an appointment to have the shower re grouted and scheduled a time for a chandelier to be put in the dining room.....

(I had permission and now the people at Lowe's love me)

The only bad news is that all that stuff doesn't come in until the 18th, so the guy putting all of it in won't come until the 19th.

So we're stuck with broke down funky light for a few weeks.
Cuz I don't play with electricity
I leave that to someone who's plays with it for money =-)

I can only imagine the bad hair I'd come out with from an encounter with electircal wires!

Oh well, off to workout. I've become a workout junky now that I can't have my morning latte but that's another post =-)

Have a great THURSDAY!!

Meet our "sweet" puppy :-)

2009-04-20T19:11:00.001-05:00

Five weeks ago, our baby we'd been waiting for came home.

We lost our dog Zach suddenly to cancer about a year ago.
Devastated, from the loss of Mr. Mine's dad 4 weeks earlier, this just drove us over the edge.
We couldn't possibly think about a new puppy. Zach was the perfect dog!

I mean he would get a beer out of the fridge for you!!!

Seriously, he was on The Animal Planet doing that particular trick.

I have it on video cassette and if I can ever figure out how to convert it, I'll post it.

He was AWESOME!!!

Well 7 weeks before this day, Mr Mine finally called the old breeder of Zach, and a week and 4 days later this little guy was born!

Thorton BigBadBarron *****

or Thor for short

our adorable baby puppy

(it was a 3 hour drive to get there, please excuse the outfit)

Our kids fell head over heels!

look his first duck!!!!

Get a load of the size of those MITTS!!!

5 weeks ago yesterday

Flash Forward 5 weeks!!!!!!

This child DOES NOT sit still!!!!

Here are my attempts of taking non flash pictures of him.

wiggle wiggle wiggle

so I turn the flash on

AND OF COURSE the next thing he does is shake his head
which would have been a perfect picture without a flash...
All body, blur of a head!

And he's SHARP!!!
Mr Mine is torn up!

Mommy's not stupid enough to get my hands near his fangs

LOOK at how MUCH he's grown in 5 WEEKS!!!!!

I love this meathead!!!

My New Spring Shoes

2009-04-19T13:08:00.000-05:00

I just recently went to my new patient appointment with my "lady" doctor.

The one who delivered my kidlets up and quit taking insurance.

HUH!!!!
What doctor stops taking insurance?!

But whatever, so I set up a new patient appointment back in November for this April...

Apparently she's a GREAT doctor...

You are now thinking to yourself, "Why is Lo waxing on about the gynecologist (a horrible word)"

Well I'll tell you.

After you turn 30 ladies....
ok a little bit older than that, but I digress...

they start measuring how tall you are to make sure us little old caucasian women aren't shrinking due to osteoporosis.

I think I've ALREADY started to SHRINK!!!!

They measured me not at my 5'2" that I've ALWAYS been under the delusion that I am

BUT AT 5' 1/2"

to quote Saturday Night Live

"REALLY!!!!!"

So tall....Really Tall shoes are important to me.

In the south, spring shoes for easter are particularly important.

Never a fan of white pumps (I have some white strappy sandals), I decided to go with the nude trend that running rampant. I fell in love with these beauties at BananaRepublic.com

I had to make them mine

I did actually wear them with my Easter dress, which I somehow did not get a picture of me in, but I wore them out again Friday night with a black linen dress.

A bit of an unusual combo for me, but I think it worked especially since I got busy with the self tanner during my prep for the evening.

The Lord giveth and then taketh away on the boob-age
But hey, I did my pageant pose pretty well!
Happy Sunday ya'll!!!

Hello to All

2009-04-18T12:55:00.000-05:00

So I got sick a couple of days after my last post,

Not end the world sick, but not functioning well kind of sick.

Someone turned on the acid in my stomach and it hasn't turned off since....

so I had a lot of tests done, some in and out visits to the hospital...
I had to get used to a whole new way of eating, drinking...or not drinking :-( (alcohol or caffeine)

and LOTS of new medicine to take. Fun stuff!

One of those new medicines makes me sleep at night!

Unfortunately for this blog, this was the time I usually wrote...you know...while I was supposed to be sleeping!

Anyway, so I'm better-ish. And I'm getting back into the bloggy swing of things

So this is what happens when Mr. Mine is put in charge

Silly, Mommy you can't get sick

Cuz when daddy's in charge things get CRAAAZZZYY!

What's a girl to do?

Get a new puppy

I know, I've completely lost my mind

Happy Birthday to my Ninja...and to me!

2009-02-02T11:56:00.000-06:00

Three years ago I got the best present a girl could have!
I got to not be pregnant anymore.
HeeHeeHee!!!!

But seriously, that was the day Groundhog's Day ceased being a completely ridiculous day
And instead it became the day I had my daughter.
My beautiful precious angel of a girl.
Your sweet enthusiasm for life
Your tiny lovely voice
Your girly-ness from breath one.
You've taught me how to be a woman in a way none other before you.
You taught me to be a mother of a daughter.

Thank you my precious birthday gift!

AC/DC was all that and MORE!

2009-02-01T18:42:00.000-06:00

When Mr. Mine was a wee tyke in high school, (senior year), he saved his money and bought tickets for his favorite band in the whole wide world, AC/DC...

Mr Mine was an amazing football player in his day and played for an award winning team.

After he bought his tickets and was ready to go...

He found out his football team was going to be going to the state championship....

THE SAME DAY of THE CONCERT!

So long story short, he had to give his precious tickets away and has not had an opportunity since to go to one of their concerts.

Well last year was a crap year and we needed to have an amazing Christmas.

So a little bird found out about AC/DC coming to the area...

This is Mr. Mine opening his Christmas present and realizing what it was....

Just in case there was any confusion, that's him crying.

(he said, "ya'll really love me that much?")

Yes baby, we really do.

Sister in Love volunteered to watch the kids for a couple of nights...

So we got to take a little road trip to Memphis TN.

What you think I'm going to reveal my outfit that quickly!
HAAHAAAHAAA!

We stayed at a great little boutique hotel called
The Madison

Historic downtown location just a few blocks from the Mississippi River
And the building was a lovely old bank that has been converted to a 110 room 4 diamond hotel.

Mr. Mine asked whose diamonds the four were from, but I didn't remember.

The lobby looked exactly like their promotional brochure.
Bright and airy
We were late getting there and we had to hurry to get from the hotel to the restaurant for our dinner reservation.
We thought check in was going smoothly until we got to our room...

We had reserved a queen room, not fancy but enough for our one night, limited use needs.

But someone got the bright idea to upgrade our room.....

To a 2 full sized beds suite.

Um...sorry but as nice as the room might be, it's not an upgrade if I don't get to sleep with my husband in the same bed!
NOT AN UPGRADE I TELL YOU!!!!

I was now completely stressed.
Late for dinner and in the WRONG room!

But the people at the front desk were wonderful and put us back in our original room.

Queen sized and smaller, but still very nice.

I wish I had more pictures but we were VERY late for getting to dinner.

We walked to 2 blocks to the restaurant

FABULOUS RESTAURANT

I highly recommend!

Mr. Mine had Shrimp and cheese grits,
I had rare lamb, mashed sweet potatoes with a bourbon pecan reduction!
YUM!
Yeh, no diet for me tonight, which btw I lost about 3 lbs of water weight =)

It's all back now but my jeans felt fabu for a couple of days!
So good I thinking of giving up alcohol for a while....or not!

But definitely not this!
They're famous banana cream pie! OMG!!!!
It was so rich! Oh so tasty!

Anyway so loveMaegan has gotten me addicted to this great blog

Jak & Jill

really cool, very current fashion with photos from a great fashion photographer/fashion stalker
Very fun!
So I got a look at this picture of Rick Owens with his groupies
AND I fell head over heels with the liquid leather leggings on the girls

I won a gift certificate to shopbop.com from the incredibly Style-ish Tiffany
and I ran into these

and I'm just conceited enough to think I can get away with wearing them! =)

Sorry about the quality of the first picture, but it's the only picture I have of the entire intended outfit. It's in my sister-in-love's living room and we were in a hurry to go (late). I thought she was going to email it to me but she got it printed so it's a bad scan.

I'm not this green in person.

*these next pictures are after the show
I'm a little tipsy...ok*

anyone need a dominatrix *snicker snicker*
either that or Mr. Mine was tipsy....
oh my goodness, I look like a bad Guess jeans ad *snicker snort gulp gaffaw*

or we both were =)

Anyway from the moment we got indoors, he demanded that the gray Thakoon top had to go and it was all corset for the concert.

Let me just say.

I did not stand out from a few other outfits!

The first band up was the answer, they were just ok.

Then they transformed the stage in like 3 seconds, okay really like 5 minutes, but it was FAST!

AND it was ON!!!

I couldn't tell you the playlist....

but they put on a GREAT show!
Brian Johnson sounds just as strange and raspy as always

And Angus Young played like his hair was on fire.
It's a miracle he didn't die right there on stage!
He had sweat dripping off of everywhere and blood vessels popping out on his forehead!

And THEN A WHOLE lot of ROSIE just showed up on top of the train!
And her leg kept time with the music!!!

Can you tell Mr. Mine had a GREAT time!!!!

Then drinks after the show at Grill 83 at the hotel and off to bed
*and those silly pictures from above, sheesh*

Tomorrow All will be revealed!

2009-01-31T19:54:00.000-06:00

I want a cookie!!!!

2009-01-27T17:24:00.000-06:00

In order to look AMAZING in my tramp outfit for the AC/DC concert, I'm doing something I've never done before.

*Someone cue the teeny tiny violins*

And don't everyone vomit in their mouths all at once

I'm on a diet.

Ohh boo hoo!

I've never really had to diet before. I've always been pretty active. I ate smart some days, not so much other days.

Moderation has always kind of been my motto.

But enough about how lucky I've been. I know I'm pretty skinny, blah blah blah.

This past year I've been a COMPLETE AND TOTAL COUCH POTATO!

Ah what a difference a year of inactivity can make.

I may still be thin, but none of you, AND I DO MEAN NONE of you would like to see under what I so artfully disguise. I've lost weight but it's because I lost muscle tone.

I'm a bit.....how shall I put this....soft...and stretch marked, and loose, and kinda bloaty.

I promise, I suck in really hard these days.

Anyways, so I know dieting and exercise won't help a whole lot in the next few days, but I'm doing this book by Dr. Jana Klauer called...oh god, this is such a stupid title...

How the Rich Get Thin

Ok I did not go get the big head and think I'm rich and all and this title was talkin' to me.

I got confused on Amazon.

I thought I was getting something called the Park Avenue Diet...another BRILLIANT title
That book is supposed to have a blurb about & by Tinsley Mortimer, who I think is darling!

Isn't she just GORG!!!

Anyway so I found that book and Amazon suggested another and then I got off on some children's book tangent and ended up ordering Bread and Jam for Frances and Harold and the Purple Crayon and then I clicked back over and ordered this one instead of that one.

And I don't like to return things.
It irritates me.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Soooo now I have this diet book and no real excuse to order another one and no initiative to exchange the book.

So I read it and it's pretty good. Fairly standard diet fair.
It does say something that I normally abide by, that exercise is non-negotiable.

The diet is low carb with light protein etc etc for the first bit and slowly adds "good" carbs & what not after you've lost the weight you want.

Another plus, she includes a coffee/latte into her diet.
This is the book for me!

My weight loss goal is not weight loss but more kick my ass in gear.
Eat clean (like I know I should)
Exercise again (duh)

Anyway onto my AC/DC deal...

This diet has a 3 day kick start.
Extremely low carb and high fish and dairy protein and LOW SODIUM for three days
Along with a LAKE full of water
Did I mention I hate drinking water! BORING!!!
and exercise.

It's to be used to drop the bloaty water weight accumulated by alcohol, processed carbs etc.

She said she recommends it for all her Park Avenue clientele that have a dress they want to fit into for a special event.

I'm fairly certain Miss Jana was not thinkin' about slutty AC/DC outfits when she wrote that little blurb, but it caught my attention.

What do I think about this diet after 2 days now....

WAH WAH WAHHH*insert big tears*

I would really like a cookie!!!

*but seriously, it's not terrible. I'm not really hungry, I do miss just being able to eat whatever the hell I feel like. I'll like it in a few days when I don't look so bloated. Which I'm already starting to notice. Which I better be cuz I'm peeing to beat the band. Sorry for being so graphic*

Family Date Night

2009-01-25T10:07:00.000-06:00

Normally by the end of the week, Mr. Mine and I are ready to fly the coop.

But I have a couple of amazingly sweet kids and sometimes I notice this, (Just Kiddin'!)

Actually, they are a lot of fun to hang out with so we try to take them out on a date about once a month, or more often when mommy is in a non-cooking mood!

So chips and dip from Chili's was the way to go!
(That's as much of Mr. Mine's pretty mug he wanted on my blog. I'll have to find a way to sneak a better picture of him later)

And my reward for being my amazing self this week!
heeheeheehee

Is it wrong to toast your kids with that giant a drink???
Lord, that thing is bigger than their heads!!!!
(Daddy was designated driver that evening, lest anyone worry)

Let the shenanigans begin!

And after loading them up on chips and dip, I thought it only fitting to stuff them full of ice cream

They would taste really good for the witch from Hansel & Gretel
date was a success! I bet we'll get asked out again!

Time to get my high maintenance on!

2009-01-23T18:16:00.000-06:00

High Maintenance is not my normal thing!

I would love to be able to do my hair and makeup more often...
but the truth is I like to snuggle too much.

And while I did used to get up early to run while training for a marathon, I'm not really my best until about 10 or 11 am!

I was a really good bartender in my time.
Night is my thing!

Anyway that's a bit off topic!

We have AC/DC!!!!!

And I have to look....HOT!
It's a requirement.

So let the waxing and dyeing and painting begin!

I started with my hair.
Yes, I color at home.
I think I do a pretty decent job of it.

This is what the box said it would look like...

It's a little lighter but I think it ok...sorry for the no makeup...never got to that today.

I do my own manicure and pedicure as well, so yesterday I did that and got the nailtiques going. This is the only thing I have to do consistently or my hands go to hell.
This hand is looking ok.

This hand, I'm begging my nails to grow fast...I had some peeling nails that had to go....
chop, chop!

now onto paint and jewelry
I'm not sure which color will be toes or fingers yet.....
The red is a little darker than it looks in the picture....hmmm
The necklace will be twisted until it's 3 drapes and I'll fix it so it's sits the way I want all night
and the cuff!
I find every excuse I can to wear this. Unfortunately carpool line doesn't call for heavy dress up.
I need a job...ok not really!

this top is Thakoon for Target.
it's a great dress but I really wanted a tunic type top, so I'm ruching the sides.
The drape that will create will look nice with the necklace.
all the clothes.
liquid leather leggings - Members Only from shopbop.com
red satin corset - Victoria's Secret (I'm going to pin the Thakoon top down so some of it shows around the cleavage...I know, I'm Mr. Mine's tramp for the night *sigh*)
wide patent belt - unknown (it will go around the middle of the tunic)
boots - Banana Republic (I was going to wear the Manolo's but then I decided I would have to commit the Hari Kari if someone spilled beer on them, so boots it is)
fur poncho - chameleon (just for warmth before, it folds down really flat and will be in my purse for the show)
purse - target (by some designer that I forget now...I'm liking the designers they have featured at Target right now, can you tell?)

I'm going to do a smoky eye and Crazy hair I think...
don't have to make that decision yet though.
I post pictures of the outfit on soon, but tonight I'm going to eat Chili's cheese dip and have a cocktail so I'll wait until I fit into them again before I subject you to sausage Lo...J/K!)

Happy Friday!

We're moving furniture around

2009-01-22T18:00:00.000-06:00

Mr. Mine does not like change.
Change being inevitable....
I have to come up with creative ideas
to ease him toward ~~my decisions~~ our choices.
So I scale our rooms and scale our furniture (and any future furniture)
Then I arrange it where I want it to go in the room.
My son calls it my "shape super heros"

I am pretty good with moving things around and can see where they are supposed to go and how it will look. Mr. Mine doesn't have this gift, but when I do this, he can "see" where it will all be.
And added bonus, the furniture only has to be moved once.
It is a little time consuming, but so worth avoiding an argument!

The dreaded monkey sofa! Before!

*edited to note - My girl is wearing fairy wings in each picture...different wings...I didn't know she had more wings...she must have grown a different pair...hmmm)

And after I moved everything around.
No more monkey sofas...
Mr. Mine now looks like the cat that swallowed the canary now that those are gone.

there's a couple of things we'll move in a while to fill in those spaces...soon.
And the cable cord is going away as well...sooner.
Ahhh bar access....what is that on my lens?!!!

and the new placement of my secretary...with more rooms to move around
Beware Mr. Mine!
Now I need to figure out how to convince him we need to paint ;o)

It snowed yesterday

2009-01-21T10:27:00.000-06:00

I woke up to a beautiful snow fall yesterday.

It was going to be a wonderful day

Then I took a look at my very sick boy.
He assured me that it would not be that great a day.
He promised.

Then I found about 3/4 of the brand new bottle of Triaminic I just bought for said sick son outside of it's bottle and completely covering the inside of my purse and wallet.
Guess what.
You can wash leather.
And it will still smell like grape kool-aid.

Then Mr. Mine sent this little ditty to me via email.

This dog, ...
This dog, is dog, a dog, good dog, way dog, to dog, keep dog, an dog, idiot dog, busy dog, for dog, 20 dog, seconds dog! Now read without the word dog

I just love that man.

Give a Busy Person a Job & She Neglects her Blog!

2009-01-19T09:04:00.000-06:00

I've been a naughty blogger!

I've been crazy busy and a little boring with only talk of sorting and boxing and blah, blah, blah!

I'll be back in action soon, but for today I have to create a spreadsheet (never done that before, really), make a dinner for someone who won it in a silent auction about a year ago and finally called to ask if I could make it for her today, clean some carpeting, pack more stuff, mop up all the snot my kids are currently sneezing out and a dozen other normal everyday things.

So what am I doing?
Blogging, naturally!

Here's what I'd rather do than anything else today

Sit in my jammies and eat fried chicken! Yeah!

You are Given new eyes each morning

2009-01-11T12:46:00.001-06:00

Sorry I was so down in the dumps last night. The miracle of each morning is that it's fresh and new. For those who don't know, we lost my husband's mother and father within 10 months last year. His mother just passed away the day after Thanksgiving. We are still in the depth of our mourning. They were both amazing wonderful people.

So I woke up today with a fresh night of sleep, my husband, my children, my life and I counted my blessings. Sad days are still ahead. But today I have been given new eyes! It's a beautiful day.
(Now do you understand my bipolar comment. It's exhausting! *wink wink*)

I Wish

2009-01-11T00:38:00.000-06:00

I miss them. My husband's parents.

We are still in the process of splitting up belongings. And that has gone so easily. No sarcasm, it has been such a smooth process. No not a single issue over stuff. My sister-in-love and I have had the strangest most perfect ability to like the things that the other didn't like and vice versa. The emotions are tough, but everyone has been so worried that we would fight over stuff....and we laugh. Not at them, because it would not be the first family that fought over stuff, but that because we both get it.

It's just stuff.

And we will never fight over stuff.

We watched some home movies today. I didn't hear my father-in-love's voice on the tapes, just my mother-in-love's on the ones we watched.

I miss her voice.

I miss her sense of humor. Her laugh.

It was all over those tapes.

There are times when we (my sil & i) are going through their things, that we look at each other and know this is not right somehow. We shouldn't be going through their things. This is someone else's stuff. We're like little kids that the parents accidentally left behind. In a big house full of their things. And now we're carting them off to our homes and using this & that or wearing this or that...sometimes it feels like I'm wearing someone else's life.

I realize that might sound a little weird. But however it sounds, knowing logically what we're doing is something we have to be doing, it feels COMPLETELY wrong.

This is grieving.

There is nothing like it in the whole world.

Your insides feel like shreds of paper flapping around in a strong wind. Frayed at the edges. You are conflicted from the moment you wake up to the time you try to fall asleep. You try to ignore that feeling all day so you can get the work you need to do done. You feel guilty for enjoying the nice things you have been given, benefiting from someone dying.

I know in my soul, to the depths of my being, this is normal.

I hate all of it.

I ache for them to come back home.
To give them all their things back, to wipe this past year away.
To not hurt like this.
Fine one minute, a wreak the next. TO STOP FEELING SO DAMN BIPOLAR!!!! (I'm not bipolar and do not wish to insult anyone who has this condition. My apologies if anyone takes offense to this. None is meant.)

I'm so lucky to have been so well loved, that I hurt so badly now they are gone.

Sorry to bleed all over you all. I just needed to tell someone, that I wish they were here. But I know they are home.
I want to be a child again.
Not the adult that shields their children from all of this.
Thank God, God is carrying us through this.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Thanks for listening.

Ok so I told a story

2009-01-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

I wasn't able to write today and the story I want to tell you all deserves to have some attention paid to it's telling.
We were stuck at my mother-in love's house all day sorting stuff. And will be doing the same tomorrow!
Love and kisses ya'll and have a great weekend. I'll be back with my story tellin' self Monday.

ps. this is the picture I was supposed to use on my Christmas cards that I never made...I thought it at least needed to be seen!

Friday Night date!

2009-01-09T17:52:00.001-06:00

Anyone sensing a theme here?
By day mommy in mommy gear...
by night a double for a Bond Girl for Mr. Mine!

Hee hee hee!

I'm wearing dress #2 from the vote last week for everyone from SITS and new readers!
Yeah Thanks for joining me this week and listening to me dribble!
Tomorrow I'm posting something about my in-laws and their 40+ year love story!
Thanks to all my new followers! Love all of you!

don't you love my model pose
it took about 6 pictures for it not to look COMPLETELY idiotic!
Mr. Mine said "this is the last shot and then we have to go!"

dress - Banana Republic
cuff - vintage
shoes - Manolo Blahnik
crazy look - for my husband for rushin' me. You can't rush beauty! Sheesh!

Williams Tell Anyone?

2009-01-09T10:23:00.000-06:00

So this is the adorableness that arrived in my mailbox yesterday
I won this sweet apple from Style-ish Tiffany
Go by and visit her. She has an amazing blog

Mr. Mine suggested a quick game of William Tell this morning

How could you want to Williams Tell me when I had a hand in growing these cuties!

Hold onto your hats folks!

2009-01-08T17:52:00.000-06:00

Hold on to your hats folks
cuz this is amazing!

get ready to be strong
and hold yourselves together...

You're never going to guess what my mom did again today!

Mommy got dressed! Two days in a row!
Ahh isn't she cute!

But this is even more amazing! She did her hair and put a pretty comb in it!

But this is my favorite part! She's got a bird on her shirt!
We are disappointed though...
We tried to make that dang bird tweat all day, including climb right up on mommy to make him, but that didn't work...mommy made more noise that that bird did!

What stinks about not being able to sleep is...

2009-01-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

....that while most people think it could be useful, i.e. look at what you could do with all that extra time.

True, if you weren't tired. Which you are.

It's not that I can do heavy thinking during this time either. My brain is kind of mush at 2 am...so I sit at the computer mindlessly playing mahjongg.

Well then, just go to bed, lie down and go to sleep.

Except the moment I lay down, my brain miraculously turns on and cannot shut up!!!

Do I think that rolling my socks up vs. folding the top over will stretch out the elastic more ...I like my old cashmere socks I got at Banana Republic better than my new pair, but they have a wear hole in the heel...socks, socks...didn't my sister-in-love name her guinea pig "Socks" (yes I think in quotation marks)...did Mr. Mine feed the guinea pigs today...he must have. There's only one bag of it left Sheesh!

Sleeping pills haven't helped much except to make my brain mumblings a little funnier...id it normal for my face to feel a little funny on these, kinda spinny...I always did like my sit-n-spin...I wonder if I'd still fit on one. oooo...dessert sounds good

Huh?

Warm milk, hot baths, chamomile tea, oat straw tea with lavender (only once though, kinda yucky), no caffeine (Lord, that was bad when I was awake as well. My friends handed me a cup of coffee and asked me to drink it for them), no drinking before bed...

the only thing that's not possible is removing the t.v. from the bedroom because short of going"british" and having separate bedrooms (and I like snuggling too much) my husband has a lifelong love of falling asleep to the t.v. that will not be interfered with. I had to negotiate for the privilege of turning the "sleep" mode on. So eventually it does go off!

Does anyone have the miraculous cure for insomnia caused by silly?

I think that might be what's plaguing me *big grin*

The Birthday of One of My fashion Icons!

2009-01-07T10:13:00.000-06:00

So I have a love of fashion, clothes, beauty, style that passes all understanding!

Love it, just love it!

I adore the classics! And while my little 5'1" body might not be able to get away with it, I love the outrageous fashion as well. I think I love the idea of art on a body. The human body is MARVELOUS! And the human brain is so creative and strives for beauty in so many situations that don't necessarily "need" art, that it leads me to believe that while it may be frivolous, God created us to not just to exist but to LIVE! In this country, in this culture, we are lucky enough to be able to indulge in this art. Mind you, God had in mind for us to be runnin' around stark nekkid, but us fallen children were sewn together skins of animals by God himself. So I'm thinking clothes are okay now. My 4yr old and 2yr old don't feel the same most evenings but I digress. Please don't quote me on any of this for the sake of doctrine...That is not my specialty, being silly, crazy, that's more my forte!

So I happen to have many fashion icons and I thought I'd share.

Below is C.Z.Guest
A New York socialite with a gazzillion dollars, who at the end gardened like a fiend and wore jeans & a t-shirt most all the time. Again don't quote me on facts....I'm makin' it up as I go along. But below are 2 pictures of her in some of her socialite gear. I say what's not to love with the classics and a gazzillion dollars can get you some really fine classics!

A new rising star in the arena of classics is this young lady who running head long into the British Royal family. She's Kate Middleton and I suppose the motto of joining this strange family...did I say strange, I meant....no I guess I did mean strange. Anyway the motto is, Don't wear anything that will embarrass us, unless you make it very old lady looking. That's ok, but nothing weird.
Well so far, she's looked very proper but at the same time kind of pretty and stylish!
Score for the Royals

Ok, she's definitely not into most classics and sometimes she can look a little raunchy, but hey, sometimes a girl has to get her "raunch" on...That just sounds wrong on so many different levels.
AND I am COMPLETELY jealous of her hair! Now in a million years, that would never look good on me, but I can dream....ok actually I tried the hair out one time and when I took the time to do it, it looked decent. But I'm completely lazy by nature and that type of daily grind with the wig-hat was never going to be a successful relationship!
Lisa Rinna

I Love this woman! Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece. Part of the fabled, (I don't know who's fables, but I did like typing that), Miller family. Her dad made a fortune with the duty-free shops in airports. Go Dad! Anyway, she married a defunct Greek crown prince who apparently escaped the country with some of their tiaras intact, so you occasionally get to see her runnin' around in a tiara! I wore one on my wedding day, but my kids give me grief when I try to wear it as an everyday deal...oh well!

But my icon of all icons, is this lady right here!

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy

How I wish this lady was still living to give me pointers (via the Enquirer or People) on how to deal with these fashions today. The shiny layered up stuff that's popular today just ends up making me look like a bag lady. Not so cute!

There's a simplicity to the way she approached clothes.
Always basic, but always done flawlessly.

I suppose being followed by a pack of paparazzi will make a person think a little more carefully about running out the door in your grubby sweats...I wonder if I can hire a few of those. I bet it does a wonder for the ego in the dreary days of winter!

Now some of her evening clothes weren't so basic. But this, camel coat! Ahhh, classics heaven

Well today would have been her birthday. Don't ask me how many. I'm just crazy enough to know that it's her birthday. I'm not tempting fate by trying to remember how old she would have been. No offense to those that do, but I think my computer obsession is quite enough for right now! So here's my attempt at channeling Carolyn Bessette Kennedy for her birthday!
And yes I'm sorry, I'm not wearing any makeup and I'm sorry for it, but the kids were crazy this morning. You're just lucky I dried my hair. So be thankful ;o)

boots - target
jeans - Ralph Lauren
turtleneck - Katherine Kelly (I just stretched out the neck to look for it! You know I love ya'll)
suede jacket - Charter Club
necklace - a mounted Kruerrand (although they might be illegal, shh don't tell anyone)
freckles - too much time in the sun as a child

Don't forget to read about the Junior Auxiliary House of Blessing Raffle

House of Blessings Raffle Terms & Conditions

2009-01-06T21:43:00.000-06:00

This was supposed to post below the other post but you'll have to scroll down because I'm such a blogging genius.

Quick note - I will take these down February 14, 2009. A couple of weeks after the drawing. I don't have any of the answers to any questions you might have about this Raffle. Please address any questions to the Junior Auxiliary of Corinth, 1-662-643-8833 or P.O.Box 2625, Corinth, MS 38835-2625 or email corinthja@yahoo.com Lo Foolery and it's author are NOT associated with this raffle in any way.

Junior Auxiliary of Corinth
House of Blessings Raffle
Terms and Conditions

Thank you for your support of Junior Auxiliary of Corinth through your purchase of one or more tickets for the House of Blessings raffle. The following terms and conditions shall apply to all ticket sales and your purchase constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions.

The IRS has adopted the position that the purchase price of $100.00 per ticket is not deductible as a charitable donation for Federal income tax purposes.
Each ticket constitutes one chance to win the opportunity to accept the prize of a home located at 3804 Cedar Creek Drive in Corinth, Mississippi currently owned by the Corinth-Alcorn Area Homebuilders Association, Inc. Acceptance of such prize must be upon the following terms and conditions, as well as other terms and conditions at the time of acceptance.
Iff any check tendered in exchange for a raffle ticket is returned for insufficient funds, the raffle ticket purchased with such check shall be automatically voided and withdrawn from the raffle drawing, the holder thereof shall not be eligible to accept the prize.
Purchase of a raffle ticket alone does not form a valid and binding contract for the sale or purchase of the prize home. The Junor Auxiliary of Corinth reserves the right to cancel the raffle drawing and rescind all ticket purchases at its sole discretion. In such event, the Junior Auxiliary of Corinth shall give each ticket holder the option of obtaining a refund of the ticket price. Refund of the ticket price shall be purchaser's sole remedy on the event the raffle drawing is cancelled and ticket sales are rescinded by the Junior Auxiliary.
A maximum of 5,000 raffle tickets shall be sold.
If any ticket contains the name of more than one person, the first listed person shall be considered the winner, if such ticket is drawn in the raffle.
A certified public accountant of Junior Auxiliary's choosing shall witness and certify the number of the winning ticket and name thereon, upon written request to Junior Auxiliary.
Holders of ticket need not be present at the drawing to be eligible to win.
This raffle is open only to legal U.S. residents age 21 years and older.
In order to be eligible to receive raffle prize, the holder of the winning ticker must first execute a Winner's Agreement within 7 days of notification such ticket has been drawn. If the holder of the winning ticket fails to execute the Winner's Agreement within such 7 days for any reason whasoever, such person shall forfeit the right to accept the prize. The holder of the winning ticket shall acquire no rights to accept the prize untill he or she has executed the Winner's Agreement.
Upon execution of the Winner's Agreement, the holder of a winning ticket shall be liable for: (i) all federal, state and local taxes due as a result of winning the raffle (note: the IRS requires payment of all taxes assessed on such a prize at the time of acceptance), (ii) all 2009 ad valorem taxes assessed upon the prize home, (iii) insuring the prize home from and after the closing date, (iv) all utilities (including utility deposits), (v) transfer of utilities into winner's name, (vi) all closing costs (including but not limited to attorney's fees, closing fees and recording fees), (vii) title examination fees, if desired, (viii) title insurance fees, of desired and (ix) appraisal fees, if desired.
Upon closing, the holder of the winning ticket takes the prize home as is, where is, and subject to all protective covenants, restrictions, easement and other matter shown in the public records.
The Junior Auxiliary of Corinth makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the title to or condition of the prize home. By execution of the Winner's Agreement, the holder of the winning ticket releases the Junior Auxiliary of Corinth of all liability, claims and damges which may occur or accrue as a result of the drawing and acceptance of the prize home.
Active members of Junior Auxiliary of Corinth and the spouses of active members are not eligible to accept the prize home.

You Could Win a House!

2009-01-06T20:45:00.000-06:00

I knew that would get Everyone's attention!

A big warm hello to all those who are visiting me for the first time today!
I LOVE all my SITS-tas!
And welcome back to all my lovely regular readers.

And it's true, you could win a house.
In the Junior Auxiliary of Corinth's, House of Blessings Raffle

I want to tell you about Junior Auxiliary. I have had the pleasure of membership in this extraordinary organization and the privilege of serving as the Charter Chapter President of my local chapter. This has allowed me to witness firsthand the impact this organization has on their local communities.

The National Association of Junior Auxiliaries, Inc. (NAJA) was organized in 1941 by 100 women representing 10 towns in Mississippi & Arkansas. It has grown to 101 chapters in 7 states in the south. Junior Auxiliaries' national focus is on children's welfare with an emphasis on helping children in crisis.

Care today ~ Character Tomorrow is our national call to action.

Local chapters are required to participate in a national service project call The Child Welfare project. Each chapter is resonsible for choosing a local child that is in crisis and provides that child with any or all food, clothing or shelter in an effort to break the cycle of dependency. This project is REQUIRED to carry on until that goal is met. The Child Welfare project is not the only service that Junior Auxiliary chapters do throughout the year. They support their local communities by performing other service projects throughout the year. The National organization maintains a national website here.

All this takes money and each chapter does various yearly fundraisers. As a former president, I get emails from other chapters to let our chapter know about things the other chapters are doing. Phyllis Rogers, the president of the Junior Auxiliary of Corinth, MS, emailed that her chapter was raffling off a house as one of their fundraisers this year. I've included pictures of the house below and you can visit them at their facebook page to view more.
Here's a little from Phyllis,

The Junior Auxiliary of Corinth Mississippi is embarking on an exicting new finance project this year. We are going to raffle a $220,000.00 home. The tickets are !100.00 each. There will be a maximum of 5000 tickets sold. The winner will be drawn and announced at our charity event on January 24, 2009.

The house is approcimately 2500 square feet. It is in the highly desirable Cedar Creek subdivision here in Corinth. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, including a large master suite. It has vaulted and tray ceilings, hardwood floors, ceramic tile, granite tile countertops, a gas fireplace. custom paint and custom light fixtures. It is on a nice wooded lot near the Shiloh Ridge golf course.

Although we would love to have you win the house and live in Corinth, we realize you probably love your own community. However, even after taxes, you should still pocket a hefty profit is you flip the house. But more importantly, you will be clothing a needy child, protecting a child, teaching a child financial mangement, teaching a child to read, working with special need children or mentoring an at risk child through your ticket purchase. By purchasing a ticket, you agree to the official terms and conditions of the drawing. You can read those here.

Each $100.00 donation to Junior Auxiliary of Corinth can accomplish the following for the children of Alcorn County:

Teach approximately 1300 kindergarten and third grade children how to protect themselves from predators.
Supply an underprivileged school aged child with one week's worth of new clothes and a coat.
Educate approximately 500 high school children about sound money management principles in preparation for life in the real world
Send a special needs child to camp for a week.
Provide weekly assistande in teaching special needs children how to acclimate into all aspects of society.
Make available college scholarships to Alcorn County graduates.
Promote excitement and aptitude about reading to thrid graders at Biggerville Elementary.
Please support our efforts to protect a child, clothe a child, teach a child sound money management, send a special needs child to camp, teach life skills to a special needs child, send a child to college or teach a child to read by purchasing a ticket to the House of Blessings or making a donation to Junior Auxiliary of Corinth, a 501 3(c) tax exempt organization. Do it for the children.

If you'd like to enter the raffle, please write your check today and mail it to my attention at Junior Auxiliary of Corinth, P.O.Box 2625, Corinth, MS 38835-2625. Please include your name, address and phone number, and I will return what will hopefully be the winning ticket to you. You may also puchase tickets by calling 1-662-643-8833 or emailing us at corinthja@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance for participating in this project.

Lo Foolery and it's author are NOT associated with this raffle in any way. Please address all questions to Junior Auxiliary of Corinth by any of the above methods of purchase.

All that legal stuff, you know! Good Luck to all those who participate.

To my readers who can't participate in the raffle, don't feel bad. I would love to see my beloved Junior Auxiliary grow to reach more communities, more states, more children. Consider finding or starting a chapter in your community. And if Junior Auxiliary isn't your thing, just get involved in your community. There are so many opportunities out there. From food banks, to hospice, to animal shelters, to women shelters, suicide prevention, docent at a museum or usher at a theater.

Our communities thrive and grow when you get INVOLVED!!!

Thanks so much for your moment of time!

Love to you all!

The perfect cup of coffee!

2009-01-06T09:42:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd be able to post yesterday. But this is what I came home with last night from a day of dividing and conquering the MILove's home. That and the fact that Mr. Mine MADE me sit down next to him and not blog. I think he's jealous! ;o)

A sad business dividing all this stuff.

Now I have to find a home for all of it in my already packed kitchen...did I mention we're going to have to move! Yeah, I get to pack this stuff twice. And let me tell you, for a woman who never baked or cooked really, she had a treasure trove of every contraption and utensil known to man!

Have I mentioned that Mr. Mine doesn't like clutter? No
Well Mr. Mine HATES clutter. Gotta find a home for it fast!

In order to accomplish my goals, follow my dreams, BEEFCAKE!(is it a little early for Cartman this morning?) This is the elixir I rely upon.

To make the perfect Latte/Cappuccino
First you grind the espresso beans and tamp in the right amount. Sometimes this is hard to do when you VERRA tired, but I soldier on!

Notice the fine pyrex I'm catching the espresso in! When your VERRA tired sometimes you throw things on the floor that really shouldn't go there, like the lovely carafe that came with the machine for the catching purpose!

While I allow time for the machine to build up the steam for the milk frothing, I prepare 3 other drinks. Two orders of chocolate milk for the kidlets and one order of icy cold water fot the Mr. Mine!

Froth milk to the perfect temperature...and try not to burn yourself on the CRAZY hot steam wand!

And Voila! The perfect Latte/Cappuccino. The stuff that keeps me going!

Someone who only needs chocolate milk to keep her going!

What do you need to keep you going?

Have yourself a Merry Little Monday

2009-01-05T07:50:00.002-06:00

Sending Ya'll some bug-eyed Love!

I'll post again, later today. But for now, gotta do the mommy duty of getting kidlets dressed, fed & watered. Then off to the Mother-in-Love's to continue the process of dividing with my sister-in-love. All that's to say that the post might be late today, but check cuz it's a comin'!

But if you like a good laugh, read further down about how stilettos are different than other shoes!

Or if you'd like to see a good way to relieve stress in this down market, check here

Love ya'll, old & new readers!!!

Oh Boy! I'm SAUCY!!!

2009-01-04T16:45:00.000-06:00

How COOL is that!

Huh you say?!

Well that pretty little pink and leopard print icon on the side of my blog isn't just any button.
It's a gateway.

That's right!

A Gateway to Blog Heaven!

At least for me it's been heavenly.

The Secret's in the Sauce aka. SITS is a great little idea of blog comment support started by a couple of good girlfriends who loved blogging and commenting so much they thought they'd share the LOVE!!!

If you like the idea, go give them a visit!

I have found some of my favorite blogs by just randomly visiting.

Love ya'll old and new visitors!

Comments are always welcome!

suit - Calvin Klein
sunglasses - Calvin Klein via Stein Mart (LOVE50% off!)
pendant & collar necklace - vintage
purse - Banana Republic
shoes - Manolo Blahnik
silliness - Gift from God especially for me :o)

Ta Dah!

2009-01-03T23:16:00.000-06:00

Loved the shoes, but read below about how those shoes are...shall we say...
different

Well before I went on my date I had 2 votes for the black dress

I might shoulda put it up sooner, but we weren't sure of the babysitter until late

*hey Lady, you got some Killa shoes*

Now I have more votes for the brown one.
Dinga Dang Dong. I've been dying to wear that one.

Still it's now a happy dress.
Actually I LOVE this dress and I'm so glad ya'll helped me out
Mr. Mine said good choice
....oh and that he's glad I have someone else to ask "Do I look ok in this?"
;o)

Oooo, I could have used some eyeliner
Pictures always lie ;oP

I did have a VERRA good steak
And some great company.
Love that man.

How wearing stilettos is different than any other shoe

2009-01-03T21:12:00.000-06:00

Note to self:

When your husband purchases really beautiful, Italian, hand-made, yummy stilettos here are a couple of things you need to know....

4 inch heels are really tall

said 4 inch heels are surprisingly comfortable....deceptively comfortable

stilettos are EXTREMELY skinny

Walking in skinny heels is okay until you realize you have no idea what you're doing

you realize you look a little like your toddler learning how to walk

This fact is a bit humiliating because you've been walking most all your life, you felt completely competent with walking. Until today, you thought were really quite good at walking in heels...these shoes are in a completely different category. Good lord.

Having a couple of glasses of wine at dinner and later trying to take off your dress in front of your husband on skinny heels while trying to be ....seductive....makes it a foregone conclusion that you somehow end up tangled in your dress, face first in the carpet with your husband rolling around on the floor laughing....Mr. Mine had the gall to say that it was worth the price of the shoes to have mental picture in his head forever.

Men are just plain silly.

p.s. picture will be posted later

p.p.s. of the winning dress, not me tangled up in it. Mr. Mine had the good sense not to take a picture of that.

Decisions, Decisions

2009-01-03T13:54:00.000-06:00

So Mr. Mine has arranged for us to have a date to take my new shoes out to see the world

Babysitter is scheduled

I did my nails

I spray tanned

I'm going upstairs to tweeze my eyebrows...

The only decision I have left to make is the dress to make the debut appearance with the Manolos!

Here are my options
with commentary

Beautiful LBD from Banana Republic
VERY ELEGANT
but the last time I wore it was at a funeral
Is it time to make it a happy dress again?
I don't have a picture of me in it and I am loathe to put it on until I wash the spray tan residue OFF
but this gives you an idea

P.S. I totally intend to stand like this the whole night if this is the lucky dress

Option 2
This, too, is from Banana Republic
It's never been worn and I'm dying to try it out
It has a GORGEOUS Neckline

again the same problem of no picture of me in it and yucky spray tan
sooo....
I think they RUINED the neckline by putting a necklace on this
No additional adornment is necessary to make it pretty
It ends up just looking busy

and Finally
This great dress that Mr. Mine got me as a surprise present at the Ritz Carlton shop in Naples
I loved it and tried it on for him, but he said it was too expensive
So he secretly bought it and had it sent up to our room to surprise me after a day at the beach
*I promise, I don't think they make guys like him anymore!*

this one I have worn before and here's the pic...
although since it is winter I think I'll bypass the blue eyeshadow
It was perfect in the summer
but I don't think it will go with the color I've painted my nails
Rescue Beauty Lounge in Bruised
Mine look a little darker than this...

Do you think you can help me decide.
Decisions are not my forte.

Photo 1, 2, 4, 7 & 8 by Lo
Photo 3, 5 & 6 by Banana Republic
Photo 9 by The Polish Addict

Shoes that come with their own sleeping bag

2009-01-02T21:25:00.000-06:00

After waiting all day for the package to arrive

Then waiting for Mr. Mine to come home

Which happened to coincide with bedtime

and the kidlets had done a really good job of destroying their rooms
which had to be picked up

I got to open my Christmas present

Notice, I could have watered my dying houseplant all day, but in my preoccupation of said package delivery, houseplant's thirty, anguished cries went unheard.
Poor Day Lily.

someone looks pleased

our first glimpse of one another... I wonder, should I have put on makeup for the occasion?

meet my pretty shoes

like my nice purse, my shoes came with their very own sleeping bag.
better known as a dust bag, I think?
I'm such a neophyte...
did you know the soles are...like.... suede!
Am I actually supposed to wear these out in the world?
Like on concrete or sidewalks??!!!!

They fit and feel SOOO good.
Hey mr.mine...

thankyou
loveyou
wifelady

Dear Mr. Fed Ex Man

2009-01-02T12:02:00.000-06:00

******Further Further Update******
Note to self, paying your bills makes you want to reward yourself
AND OPEN THE BOX!!!!!
this is terribly hard....he might be staying out later just to torture me.
Mr. Mine just works that way sometimes, the stinker
can't be too grumbly with him though...I have a box from Berdorf's in my foyer ;o)

******Further Update******THEY'RE HERE!!!!
now I just have to wait until Mr. Mine gets home
.....that sucks

******Update******
Ahhhhh, no shoes yet!
If he doesn't hurry you're going to get to see a picture of a box sitting in my foyer
until Mr. Mine gets home and I get to open it....OH THAT WOULD BE AGONY!!!

Dear Mr. Fed Ex Delivery Man,

This is a picture of my front door.

Do you notice that there is something missing?

Like the box from Bergdorf's that holds the most beautiful Manolo Blahnik's that my wonderful husband gave me for Christmas that I tracked from my email that are scanned into your truck riding around to be delivered to my house today!

Doesn't my doorstep look VERY empty? And may I remind you that if you don't deliver it by the time Mr. Mine leaves for the football game that I don't get to open it until he gets home!?!?!!!???!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That I have to sit on my hands and not tamper with the box or he will send it back!!!!!!! That is the rule. If someone gets an extravagant gift that the gift giver has to present when it is opened so they get to witness the Rapture!!!! BTW, Mr Mine got concert tickets to see AC/DC for Christmas...he cried...TOTALLY worth biting my tongue for a whole month and I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

But THIS!!!! This is torture.....

Still waiting....

what do you do when you can't sleep

2009-01-01T23:49:00.000-06:00

Computer Mahjongg

It's totally my crutch in cases of rampant insomnia

Hope everyone else is sleeping well. I'm off to beat the Ninja level ;o)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T16:29:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year all my lovely Blooggy Friends!

I know I've been a terrible poster and I beg your forgiveness.

We had a crazy Christmas & New Year's week so I decided that I would devote myself to my family and pick up on New Year's Day!

So I love new starts and New Year's day is my Fav!!!!
also the first day of school...
and fall back to standard time...

but I digress!

New Year's IS MY FAVORITE!!!!!!

So here's my list of New Year's Resolutions

Make our bed everyday (check YEAH!)
Blog all weekdays and if I have something to say on weekends (check, omg I'm scared)
read bible everyday (I so LOVE Country Girl's description of her denomination, holy rollers without the snakes, Love her blog). To accomplish this resolution, I'm a subscriber to the podcast from www.dailyaudiobible.com. Love it!
Do my verse memorization on the 1st &15th of each month. I signed up on Beth Moore's blog to participate in memorizing 2 bible verses a month for the year. Love a doable goal like that!
Wear my new Christmas present as much as I possibly can. They're supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I CANNOT WAIT!!!! I still cannot believe that Mr. Mine willingly spent an ungodly amount of money on "jewelry" for my feet!
Drive my new car as much as possible and not feel too wonderful in the leather seats, Santa was very generous this year. (btw, this is not actually a picture of my car but as close as I could find while my camera software is STILL not loaded...I know lazy lazy Lo! But it is my car's model and color)
do my bible study homework...I must not be the worst student in the class (repeat this mantra)
exercise at least 3 x's a week...hahahahaha...ok I'm really going to try...But today is officially a break day ;o)
consistantly use the Flylady system...it seems to be the only way I've figured out how to live without being a complete slob. Which Mr. Mine appreciates.
Convince Mr. Mine that this house is really THE perfect home. (Mr. Mine is now rolling his eyes all over his head thinking, "Woman, I just got you those shoes. Could you please let me find The perfect home and lay off for a minute." To which I say *SNORT*

What are your resolutions?
Love ya'll

Getting Ready for Christmas

2008-12-23T18:44:00.000-06:00

Christmas before I met my Mr. Mine was fun, but it was NOTHIN' compared to the GLUTTONY I was introduced to by becoming a part of his family. My Father-in-Love was Santa Claus. I'm not kidding. And his sleigh crash landed at his house! Every year it took about 3 1/2 hours to open presents. I'm not exaggerating. You literally had to eat before you came over because you weren't allowed to start breakfast until all the presents were opened. If you didn't eat before you came over, you became rather lightheaded at the end. That happened the first year while Mr. Mine and I were dating and believe me, I never made that mistake again!

So this January when he passed away, we knew Christmas would be hard. And of course the last few months have added to the hardness.

So this year we have decided to change it up a bit.

We always had Christmas Eve dinner over at their house and then opened presents the next morning. After presents were opened, the men made breakfast, the women admired their new jewelery (Father-in-Love gave all the women a matching piece of jewelery and he included me that first Christmas when Mr. Mine and I were still just dating. *Big Sigh*)

Anyway, this year we will be having Christmas Eve dinner at our house, go to church that evening and we'll each open presents at our respective homes in the morning. Than we will meet up at my sister-in-love's open the presents we are giving each other there and then going to an open house at Mr. Mine's cousin's brand new home. So it will be different and busy and hopefully not too painful. For those wondering about my side of the family, our parents are divorced and have been for....oh my goodness....18 years now. Good Gracious!!! I've NEVER thought about that but that's a LONG TIME!!!! Anyway, as anyone whose parents are divorced know, the ACTUAL day of Christmas has to be juggled around by each parent and switches back and forth for whatever parent "gets" to have the kids that year. The actual day you celebrate begins to not have as much meaning. I could have Christmas any day and it would be just as good. So for the last 3 years, we've started the tradition of meeting up a few days before at my sister & brother-in-love's home and opening that side of the family's presents. I told the kidlets this year that it is our "practice" Christmas. We would be practicing our opening up presents skills for the big event. They thought that was just the most wonderful idea! Her husband is a 4th year medical student who will go through the process of being matched to a residency program this coming March. I hope they will be close enough to keep this tradition going. I've always thought the idea of traveling somewhere for Christmas sounded fun...anyone who actually has done this and thinks otherwise, don't tell me. Ignorance is bliss.

SOOOOOO...tomorrow I am participating in the making of Christmas Eve dinner. Mr. Mine's Gi-Gi is making the turkey with stuffing with extra dressing on the side and her wonderful squash casserole. I'm making mashed potatoes, a jar of Heinz turkey gravy *snicker snicker*, the ubiquitous green bean casserole, cranberry pear chutney and DESSERTS!!!!! Pumpkin cheesecake (which I've never made before), chocolate ganache tart (by repeated requests) and one of Mr. Mine's clients gave us a pecan pie. I will reload my photography software tomorrow(OMG, it is such a pain in the A** to redo all the stuff on your computer) and put up pictures of our feast soon.

I wish EVERYONE the BEST Christmas. I LOVE ALL of Ya'll!

I've been attacked by a virus

2008-12-19T17:41:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted. Our computer was attacked by a virus and it's at the computer doctor being stripped and burned and scorched. Well you get the drift...

I'm just hoping they can save all the pictures. I will be so sad if they can't. That will totally SUCK!!!! Anyway, I'll be back as soon as I can. And trust me I'm having computer withdraw...It's awful!

Love and kisses,
Lo

Christmas Decorating. Cookies & House

2008-12-13T21:14:00.001-06:00

It's late ...do you know where your children are?????

NOOOO!

Well here's an angry gingerbread man for you!

Well not really for you. For me.

My darling son wanted his cookie man to have hair

Check.

Fingernails

Ok. Check.

Buttons.

Check.

A frowny face.

um...really..

YES MOM!!!

ok...check.

Angry eyebrows!
WHAT...?
Scrunchy, angry eyebrows mom!
ok...check.

Here mom, I made it for you! Love you. I'm going to eat cake now!
............
............well I have no idea what to make of that

Here's what my daughter wanted to make.
She wants you to notice the pink sparkly shoes on her cookielady that are just like her shoes.

she loves it! um, honey, do you like red hots?

uh, Not so much

The next gingerbread man that my son made!

No one Freak out!
Apparently the cookie man was crying because he got hit in the face by a superhero.

I'm just glad the Gingerbread man didn't have a bloody nose.
What ?! you say...
Well yesterday while wrestling with his daddy after he came home from work, he decided to jump on his daddy's head. His knee caught daddy's nose just right and VOILA! Daddy's first son-given bloody nose.

Son came downstairs saying, "Mommy, daddy says he needs you to bring him a towel you can throw away because he has lots of red stuff coming out of his nose, but it's not blood"

HUH!

oops I got a little off topic.

Whatever, he liked it.

What do the kids do when they're hopped up on gingerbread men and mommy's not looking?

rearrange the creche! Those people looked WAY too orderly in there!

I love how the baby Jesus is crammed in the corner and Joseph looks like he going outside to see where that boy has run off to.

Anyway. So I promised pictures of the decorating.
Here's the way the outside looks with our "outdoor" lighting on.
Mr. Mine says next year he wants to start hanging up outside lights.
I said he could knock himself out
Oh wait, maybe his son could. LOLOLOL!!!
He didn't think that was funny...
Our Christmas tree
The dining roomthis picture looks much better when you click on it. It just looks "ehh" like this

And the love that makes it our home

that picture is our first kiss as man and wifelady

Tag Heuer Contest! YAY!

2008-12-13T02:16:00.000-06:00

I've done it...I joined the circus!

Not really, but I did enter a cool contest to win a Tag Heuer watch.

And you my friends could enter too!

Tag Heuer Contest

Then check out all the other cool looks and vote for your favorite.

*Hint Hint*
Here's mine
You Know... in case you were looking
and by the looks of things I can't spell my name correctly and I haven't figured out how to change it...ugh!

Let me know you've entered in the comments and I'll go vote for you as well.

Here's some other FABU looks by some WELL LOVED bloggers on my list of FAVS!!!

Style-ish Tiffany
Lovely Maegan
You know...in case you were interested in voting for them too...*hint hint*
:)

What Do I do when I can't sleep

2008-12-13T00:53:00.000-06:00

I have chronic insomnia.

But do I do anything useful with it...No.

At least not tonight.

It's been two weeks since my mother in love passed away and I'm still a little too messed up to go onto something else in my head yet. But I won't depress you all with the details of my mental roller coaster. We are in the process of cleaning out her house. And that folks is a physically and mentally taxing situation to go through day after day. Just working through it and trying to put in a presentable Christmas for the kidlets. I finally got the tree up (that hurt A LOT mentally and if it weren't for the kids I wouldn't have done it) and with all the seasonal plants we've received from friends and family over the last couple of weeks, it's really kind of pretty in my house. I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow.

Ok, not all of it.

Just the downstairs.

The upstairs is COVERED up with an entire wardrobe of inherited clothing. My mother in love and I were the same size in clothing, but alas not shoes...oh the horror of having to box up 60 pairs of amazing shoes to give to Goodwill. My sister in love and I cried huge tears over that. Ok, they were more than just about shoes, but it's been a tough couple of weeks and crying is just what we seem to do lately.

Well anyway. I have a lot of new, very fine, classic clothing now. Anyone ever heard of the book "A Guide to Elegance" by Genvieve Dariaux. Well now I have the complete ideal wardrobe...just without the shoes...I'll have to have a talk with Santa about that.

What do I do when I'm not sleeping at 1am...I just organized all my turtlenecks, long sleeved and short sleeved shirts according to color.

Lord help me, I think I'm depressed.
I just miss her so dang much.
And going through her stuff makes me feel...
shitty

This to shall pass.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Mother in Love Passed Away

2008-11-28T06:11:00.000-06:00

She left us at 3:00am. She's not hurting anymore and she's surrounded with love.

3:00 AM

2008-11-26T03:03:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry everyone.

There is just nothing else to write about.

The hospice nurses said it would be any day now, but that was three or four days ago.

This is the most frightening thing I've ever seen.

Please don't worry. I'll be back soon.

The Rhythm of Your Everyday

2008-11-15T12:02:00.000-06:00

I begin by apologizing for the sad tone of the last few posts, but that has been my life for a while and try as I might, I couldn't find anything else to write.

But fortunately I don't have to look very far to remind myself that life isn't about taking it too seriously all the time.

Anyone need a four-in-one superhero? Spidy hand, hulk hand, ninja turtle mask & batman wings can put a spring into anyone's step!
And truth be told, I've been preparing myself and my family for these days for a while now. For the day when our rhythm returned. Summer time and no Mother's Day out means no mommy downtime which = no rhythm. Throw chemo in. No rhythm. Preschool starts, oh Lord, mommy just sits still like a vegetable for a while and gets NOTHING, that needed to be done, done. Hey, I was just recharging! ; ) But still no rhythm from sitting still. Two weeks after school starts there was the surgery and all it's aftermath and let me tell you spending ALL your free time going back and forth to the hospital gets less than nothing done. But now she's home and 7 minutes from our house. I can go by and visit and sister in love has moved in with all her family that now includes 3 new guinea pig babies. I promise to put up pictures soon! OMG they are adorable!!! But Mother in Love is taken care of by family and wonderful hospice people and we can go whenever we need or want to. And jury duty is now over. And before I went to jury duty I prepped my home and made everything neat if not clean. My wonderful Mr. Mine being the born neat freak he is, kept everything in it's place while I was gone so I came back to our life with everything just waiting for it to used at it's proper time. The little ones had MDO on Wednesday so I got to work scrubbing away at accumulated grime. It felt FANFREAKINGTASTIC!!!
And to top off our Wednesday, friends had us over for chili. No dinner to worry about! Which was a stroke of luck because weeks of no organized grocery shopping had left us with something along the lines of NUTHIN' to eat.
Thursday, I played with the little ones and made a menu and shopping list for the week. Oh my goodness, I feel it, it's close. Our normal rhythm, oh goodness...maybe just maybe this could be the week...
Friday, I drop the little ones off at MDO with grocery list in hand and spend an HOUR and a HALF grocery shopping, comparing prices, no one to whine for a cookie from the bakery, no one to pull their sister's hair, no one to give the smack down to their brother....OH THE RAPTURE!!!!!

I came home with groceries, cleaned the fridge....

...then the pantry....

I cooked myself a homemade creamy broccoli soup and salad...

AND then felt like making rice crispy treats...yum...

I picked up the kids fom MDO and felt like making a texas sheet cake with them....

This is about the time I start to wonder what kind of Crack I've smoked?!%&!!

But I thank my lucky stars and start making frosting!

Because licking the spoon is something I WILL DO WITH MY KIDS!!!

And I know by the requests for second and third licks...
how much fun-ness we've missed. Well I can make up for lost time!

This is what it looks like when I tell the kids we're having french toast for our NORMAL long Saturday morning breakfast!That's right! I have fans!!!!

Plate full of homemade cinnamon french toast!

And doodling during breakfast! YES!!

dinner is cooking...

And the guinea pigs are fed! : )

Well if I keep this up we'll outgrow being able to do this...
Sweet sweet normal.
I am so grateful.

The sequestering that was and wasn't.....Part 3

2008-11-13T15:59:00.000-06:00

I'm not that cruel....here's the rest

"What follows is 3 HOURS of questions! YIKES!

From the round the room get to know you by the judge,
name
are you employed
marital status
children and their ages
And the dreaded (whatever) age

The two sides got to take turns starting with the prosecution. I got to answer a lot of questions about the nature of my relationship with SusieQ. How were we friends? She's friends with my husband. How long had I known her? As long as I've known my husband, 8years. What kind of relationship did we have? ~~Huh?~~ I know her socially but only around my husband's friends. How close are you?

Now this is where it gets tricksey in my head...
Here's my answer and it's completely true
"Uh well, I don't know, we know each other socially and we're friendly, but it's not like we pick up the phone and call each other"

Now here's why this answer was uncomfortable for me.
I absolutely adore SusieQ.
When Mr. Mine and I first started dating all of his friends warned me that she wasn't nice especially to girls Mr. Mine dated and that she was a hard person and she would let you know she didn't like you from the moment she met you and that in order for me to date Mr. Mine I would have to have her permission first and I wasn't likely to get it so don't get my hopes up.

*big deep breath in*

And that we were going to meet up with her at the bar I worked at and she would come in unannounced and size me up ahead of time and when I met her "for real" I would be subject to any mood she happened to be in and that I had better just get used to it cause she wasn't going anywhere because all of Mr. Mine's friends loved her and she was part of them and if I wasn't a part of "them" there would be no me in this picture.

Honest to God that was what I was told.

Well, she didn't know me and I already knew he was my Mr. Mine and I'm not sure if I've ever told you guys but I was the coolest bartender that TGI Friday's ever saw! Ok I overstate that. But I was Good!!!And any good bartender knows how to be good to EVERYONE at her bar; men, women, college bingers, chronic alcoholics, snotty wannabe social climbers, babies (oh look, it's a baby...at a bar...)WHATEVER bring it on!!! Cause that's how I make my rent (along with the other two jobs I had at the time, but that's off topic)

Well I couldn't tell you if I met her ahead of time, I honestly can't remember her and I'd think that if she was rude I would have but to this day I remember her coming up to me at the bar after work with my Mr. Mine and his friends and just loving her on the spot! And that includes EVERYTHING I was warned about ahead of time. She's VERY blunt, EXTREMELY opinionated, socially DOMINITE and tells it like it is! And I guess I got permission to date Mr. Mine, because at the end of the night, I said to her “You're not at all scary like everyone made you out to be.” She gave me a big hug and said “Not to you I won't be, but anyone who tries to break you guys up better beware”. Like I said, I adore her.

We saw a lot of each other in the beginning, as Mr. Mine and I got married, then she got married, then I got pregnant, then she got pregnant, then I had little boy, she came to see him and kiss his sweet, little head, and a few weeks later she had a miscarriage....

I can't tell you the bitter sad tears I cried for my friend....

All that time she was still mostly Mr. Mine's friend but we were getting closer and the future held only more of that as far as we could see. But after that, the wind just got knocked out of the sails. She didn't really want to talk to me and I completely understood. Here I was wrapped up in a baby scented , blue swaddled craziness of colic and no sleep and bliss etc etc. I wouldn't have wanted to be around that either. She talked to Mr. Mine on and off still but soon she kind of withdrew back into her busy profession and our life had taken a decided down shift in speed. We just didn't keep up the way we used to. Her marriage broke up. She called Mr. Mine and his friends and they helped her sort through the mess and rally around her. I saw her every now and again but always out and not normally with the children of which there were two now. Mr. Mine told me one time a year or so ago that his life was the one she dreamed of having and she didn't know if it would ever happen to her......

So you see, my answer was true as true could be,

now.

But I really think it broke my heart a little to say that out loud and have her hear it. I just know her socially now. I keep up with the basic facts of her life when Mr. Mine and her talk. And while I consider her my friend, it's through my husband that the relationship continues. I would drop everything if she needed me...or wanted me to. But I know if she needs something, she'll call Mr. Mine and feel more comfortable talking to him than she ever will with me. There is a lot of regret over the might have been. It just wasn't meant to be. Very trite words to my heart but it just wasn't.

I wish my answer to that question could have been different.

Anyways....they moved on to other questions and other people. Some of the other questions were mind numbing and others funny, but eventually it ended and I was dismissed along with a lady that had a 5 week old baby and the man with the root canal. They never said if it was because I knew SusieQ or if it was because of my Mother in Love. I'm home and glad I didn't have to still be sequestered or have to decide the fate of that young man in the defendant's chair. And I'm glad to have this blog to talk it through with you all.

The sequestering that was and wasn't..... part 2

2008-11-13T13:57:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, nap time. A miracle to harried mommies everywhere.

Now where was I....oh, right..

So I'm one minute late hauling my rear end into the wait area, thanks to a miracle that was totally undeserved because of the toddler temper tantrum I threw on the way to court, but I digress...

This time they only made us wait 15 minutes before they called the roll and rounded us up into the court room. I was still the second name on the roll call...oh goody. The chances of being on the jury just increased 10 fold. The judge then starts to explain the process of voir dire and told us if we were ever uncomfortable with giving an answer that accommodations would be made for us to answer more privately. "But one exception to that was the hardest question of all", she said, "and that would have to answered with everyone else".

What could this terrible, hard question be?

"you will have to give your age along with everyone else, otherwise this could take all day!"

LOL! Everyone chuckles and we are for the time being okay, not great but at least okay.
She then asks us all to stand and we are formally sworn in, to tell the whole truth...and truth be told, I don't remember what all was "actually" said. If it was "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God" or if the "God" part wasn't included or what. You think I'd have paid attention to something that I was swearing to do, but since I knew the gist, I didn't pay attention. I was busy raising my hand and trying to figure out if I was going to say "yes" or "I do". The answer was my "yes" with a lot of "I do's" sprinkled around. Oh, well.

She then starts to introduce the defense counsel. And WAIT, WHAT'S THIS??!!!

I KNOW ONE OF THE DEFENSE ATTORNEYS!!!!

Oh My Freaking Goodness!!! Ok it was more like OMG! But you get the drift.

After she introduces them she asks if any of us know either of the two. I happily raise my hand along with one other person. Yeah! I am asked my name and to come forward to the bench.

*Gulp*

Ok, when I'm with my friends, I'm extroverted and not shy. Put me in a room full of strangers in a formal situation where you call attention to me and they all stare at you the whole time,
TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY!

Ok breathe,.... "Lo Blahbittiblah" * add a squeak to the pronunciation*...

I climb over my fellow jury poolies, taking my huge purse with me, because what is someone going to do, RIFLE THROUGH THE TOYS AND CRACKER PACKETS IN THE MIDDLE OF COURT!!! I don't know what's wrong with me sometimes...anyway..
I get up with a greeting smile to my friend and go through the little swinging doors (who are they trying to keep out?) and up to the bench. Apparently I didn't go to the right position (there was no big X in tape on the floor) so the judge gently ~~until it was apparent I didn't follow what she was saying and my friend physically place me on the right spot~~ urged me to the correct position in font of her circled by four attorneys a carpeted sub divider "wall" thingy and the court reporter. Cozy wasn't the first thing that popped in my little head. Anyway, later, after watching her do the same thing to a few other people I realized she was putting me where the court reporter could hear everything, big ole DUH for me!

I was a little uncomfortable....

But whatever, the judge asked me : how I knew SusieQ defense attorney?

Lo B: She's a friend of my husband's...

JoeBob Prosecuter (with bad mustache) : A friend of your husband?

Lo B : Yes Sir. (I believe in manners)

JoeBob P : So will this relationship to SusieQ interfere with you ability to serve impartial on this jury?

GREAT QUESTION!!! But do I answer it the way I should, like anyone who wants to get out of jury duty would?

no....that silly judge put me under oath...great...

Lo B : no sir

Judge Lady: You're quite sure it wouldn't be a problem
(I have a feeling I'm one of the few who haven't taken the out)

Lo B : No, maam. It certainly won't make me partial to one side of the other just because I know SusieQ

Because guys, it wouldn't. Period, the end.

This was a Murder in the first degree case, while not a capital case, a LONG time in jail case, where someone a while back had DIED and not because they got old and grey kind of died, someone killed someone.
As a citizen of the United States of America, I take GREAT pride of our justice citizen and as much as I complained about having to maybe serve on a sequestered jury, I feel it my duty to serve. What if I or someone I loved was on the other side of the system. *God Forbid cuz my little tail will not be in jail unless it's a BAD mistake and if it were someone I loved, you'd be certain they would have gotten an earful from me about it*, I would want someone who honored the same system hearing the case.
And whether SusieQ or JoeBob bad mustache presented something it would be my job as a jury to weigh ALL the evidence and make a decision on someone's life and someone's death. And I couldn't make that decision and have it sit in my soul if I couldn't hear and decide impartially. I wish I had thought of what I'm about to say when I was standing in front of the judge, but alas, all my good stuff comes after I've had time to think about it. If I though SusieQ was telling the 100% truth she would need to be sitting in the witness stand giving her testimony rather than as an attorney. Same goes with JoeBob BM.

So Judge Lady tells me to go sit back down. And lugging my big purse with me, I obey.

Then they go throught the rest of the introductions, the prosecuting attorneys, does anyone know them?; no.
The defendant; who honest to God, not being familiar with who's who in the court, I thought was a law clerk. "Does anyone know him?" No

Anyone with health problems or family situations or long standing plans?
Again I raise my hand and this time I'm spared some humiliation by just having to say that my Mother in Love (I said Law, I didn't think anyone would get it or appreciate it at the time) was in home hospice with terminal cancer. And another man stood up and said he had just gotten a root canal and it was killing him. That got some quiet chuckles.

No one was dismissed.

Then they tell us the how's and what's of this voir dire process. There will be 12 jurors and 2 alternates and the alternates would not know they were alternates until the case was finished and the judge had read the appropriate law to us.
REALLY?... hmmm...how interesting.
It serves a good purpose but somehow I thought everyone would know their role.

And that they would call names and we would fill 20 seats and the process of questioning would begin.
Did I mention I was second on the list?
So I haul me and my purse up there, nervous and shaky as all get out!

See part 3

The Sequestering that was and wasn't ...Part One

2008-11-12T10:37:00.000-06:00

As you might be able to tell, I am no longer on jury duty.

The last few days have been a discovery of patience for me. On Monday I reported to jury duty 15 minutes early, with book in hand. An acquaintance of mine had served just a week prior to me and let me know some extra little details about how our county's jury commission was run. Much to my relief, I was told it was a pretty tight ship so bring a book you could get interested in but also put down a number of times. Gotcha! I brought a book I read a few dozen times, (I'm weird like that) Snobs by Julian Fellowes a fiction about the British uppercase and all that. I'm fascinated by that kind of random stuff. Any way, after about 20 minutes, the jury commissioner came in and gave a VERY long but generally interesting speech to those of us who enjoy tedium (another of my oddities, Mr. Mine says I enjoy the most tedious mundane things about government and law). After that one of his assistants gave him a computer generated sheet of names to be called for the first jury pool. I was not on that list. Ok, back to my book. Another thirty minutes pass and he comes back with another computer list and I am the second name on the list! Oh goody! Not only does that mean I'm in a jury pool but I will most likely be on a jury as the first people on the list are the first people to sit in jury chair to be examined for a case. Fine by me. I have always thought serving on a jury would be fascinating and I consider it my civic duty to participate in those few things that our country asks us to do. We are escorted to the criminal justice center so now I know it will be a criminal case rather than civil. Still ok with this. An elevator ride up and another Lengthy wait and we are all seated in a court room. This is where the fun begins! We are told that this is to be a sequestered jury and we will most likely be staying until Friday! Oh LORD!!! Am I a bad citizen for saying, This is really not what I bargained for!!!! The judge goes on to say that we will begin the voir dire (jury questioning) process in a little while, go eat lunch, make childcare arrangements and be back in this court room at 1:30.

The friendly group of people that walked into that court room were now an equally disgruntled group of people walking out.

We all in unison started dialing cell phones and running out to suck down a quick lunch. My sister works close by I called her up and she let me bitch about my circumstances and generally be frantic over being late back to court the entire lunch! BLESS YOUR SWEET HEART, REESE! I LOVE YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
I got back on time and thus began a TWO HOUR WAIT...

I'm not kidding. No one told us a thing about what was going on. We just waited and waited and got more fidgety and irritated. Finally the jury commissioner came up and went into the court room. Five minutes later, he came out and said that case had been settled and we were now a pool for another case.

I cannot describe the feeling of relief from everyone in our jury pool!

We followed the commissioner down the elevators to another court room. We all were seated and the judge began to address us.

"I understand you were all in a pool to be on a sequestered case"

We all nod our heads in perfect unison.

"Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news"

*audible gulp from the assembled citizens*

"but this will also be a sequestered jury"

How could we be this lucky?......

"Please go home. Pack your bags with enough until Saturday and be back here tomorrow at 9am."

We all troop out with the deputy who gives us our packing instructions.

No cell phones
No crime novels (seriously)
no newspapers
no tabloids
no electronics, this includes ipods, Walkmans, portable dvd players, etc etc (OMG)

Well let me tell you this news did not go over well on the home front! To go into much more detail than that would break the confidentiality clause of our marriage and get me a sound thrashing (just kidding, I think)
Needless to say, the next few hours involved me packing (uh, trying to find 6 court appropriate outfits on a moments notice with a wardrobe that consists of mommy gear is not an easy task, folks) and scrambling around in a panic for childcare when all my normal resources are either dying of cancer or taking care of the person who is dying of cancer. I hope no one thinks me too tacky for saying this but that's the brutal truth of the situation. I was OVERWHELMED! Thank God for my sweet friends who so graciously helped out, I cannot thank you enough!

So the next morning does not go smoothly at all. I have to go back to the house twice for forgotten medicine and then for forgotten car seats which left me about 38 minutes for an hour long drive with no coffee (that is a dangerous situation for me to be in) and no extra cash to overnight park my car. All facts I will have to deal with later...
I had a screaming crazy temper-fit with God over the ease of life as of late the entire trip down. Which, by the way, only takes 40 minutes when your driving like a bat out of hell. For everything I said yesterday God, I'm really sorry and I hope You'll forgive me. I was wrong. I am truly blessed and very ungrateful sometimes. I deserve a BAD spanking.

I dash into the wait area one minute late. And for all the stress and high blood pressure I caused myself, probably a good two weeks shorter life span

To be continued, as laundry never stops...

The Justice System is Kicking My Butt

2008-11-10T17:48:00.000-06:00

Guess who has been pooled on a sequestered jury??? Anyone, Anyone...Bueller.

I haven't been chosen to serve but I'm supposed to go back tomorrow with a bag packed for until Saturday....

And I get one phone call to tell my family if I've been sequestered. Funtastic!!!!

Ya'll have a great week and I'll see you as soon as I get back.

Hugs and Kisses, Love and I Mean it!

Lo

Proof Positive that Children can live on Air Alone

2008-11-09T18:45:00.000-06:00

This is what was "left over" after they "ate" dinner

They both kind of looked at me like, "What you expect us to eat healthy food"
Plueezzze!

I swear!! Why am I supposed to feed them?

Well at least the guinea pigs enjoyed an impromptu salad

"Fall Back" Resolutions Revisited

2008-11-09T15:35:00.000-06:00

Every year I make resolutions, I'm all for having a reason to create a clean slate. One of my favorite excuses to make a resolution is the switch back from day light savings to standard time. A whole hour to help all my dreams and wishes for self improvement come true! Whee!!!

So this year was no exception! With this entire hour that I was already accustomed to waking up at, I would be able to wake up at the same time only it would "actually" be earlier. I'd have plenty of time to get showered, hair and makeup. The Sunday of the switch is the one time of year I can guarantee I'll be on time for church!

Could someone please knock on my head and see if it's actually empty??!!!

I was on time for church but just barely... Apparently the extra hour is not a good time to squeeze a home manicure in. Also somehow I forget that my children have NO IDEA about this change the clocks phenomenon. So their regular wake up time of 7am began at a cheery 6am with cries of "chocolate milk, Mommy" all around.

Ok, Day 1 down, I'm still used to the early wake up time. I'll do better tomorrow...

Well Guess Who Stayed up Late playing computer MahJongg?
I really did not need to 400 games of ninja level MahJongg, I mean really!!!
The creators of addictinggames.com should be shot!

Monday rolls around and while the kids only woke up at 6:30am I decided that I "needed" an extra 15 mins of sleep. I'd like to know how I think an extra 15 minutes will leave more "rested" but that was my rationale. We were still on time for school (we are NEVER late for school!) but the only thing I got to do extra was blow my hair dry.

Monday I spent the night at the hospital, there is no such thing as sleep there. Tuesday was the move to home hospice and we stayed late.

Ugh, these Fall Back resolutions are looking a little sketchy now. Oh No!! The Horror!!

Throw in a freebie date night (Thank GOD for best friends!), then a spontaneous stomach virus where all four members of our household took turns puking (or as little girl put it, "I jess keep gettin sick and sick, it's wheelly yucky") , I am now a week from where I started and I can promise you that I am now not waking up an hour early of my own accord....

Oh well, there's always next year....or New Year's or my birthday...who else makes "fall back" resolutions?

Tomorrow I have jury duty and HAVE to be present in court at 8am. I don't think I've been anywhere at 8 am in any kind of condition that could be considered "presentable" in a few years! Yeah for being a stay at home Mommy, You can get everything done in your jammies!!!

Wish me and the entire justice system good luck!

The "I love Ya" Board

2008-11-07T10:13:00.000-06:00

A while back, Mr. Mine's wallet was stolen from his truck during one of his long 4 hour runs. Yuck, I know, but most everything could be replaced and all the random charges to credit and debit cards were refunded. The one thing that could be replaced was the first love note I wrote to him while we were dating. I didn't even know he carried it around for the longest time. He's a sweetheart and has a great sense of humor as he told me me he put where he used to carry a condom around ; ) I know, Charming! Jeez that was probably too much information!!!!

Any way, we were both sad to realize it was gone. Especially since we don't write as many love notes to each other as we once did in the beginning of our relationship. So soon after the wallet incident, Mr. Mine started to leave little somethings on a dry erase board I had on the fridge for the kids.It starts out like this and....

we each add a little something to it while the other isn't looking until it looks like ....

...this
It's time to erase this one and start over, but it's so nice to look at and try to see if the other has added something to the board that day. And with my family situation being what it is these days, I'm trying to start cherishing the little everyday things that make life so worth living.

So what do you do to tell your spouse, kids, family, friends, dog, whomever how much you love them?

Back to Reality, ohppp, here comes gravity... WARNING LOTS OF REAL CRYING WAS INVOLVED IN THE MAKING OF THIS POST

2008-11-06T13:58:00.000-06:00

Lyrics by eminem...

Warning : This is a very sad post and I'll completely understand if you don't want to read it. Hell, I didn't want to write it.

So I've been trying to avoid to gravity of the situation with my MIL for a while now. Tuesday (when they released her from the hospital) was the 6 week & 1 day mark of her stay in the hospital. She's home on hospice. I know how serious it is...she has metastatic pancreatic/liver cancer. This operation was supposed to just be a relatively simple by pass on her intestines and kidneys...as I said before...I didn't even know you could do bypasses on anything other than your heart but obviously you can and that makes sense...You can get blockage or artery hardening anywhere. This surgery was going to save her life for a while. She would be able to eat food again without hurting and not have to do dialysis because she would still have one viable kidney. But they go in and find all these tumors and start removing organs and now we're here today and she's dying. Oh Lord help us all, she's dying.... and my FIL hasn't been gone a full year yet and our dog died 4 weeks after him (my poor Mr. Mine, to lose your daddy and your doggie man in 4 weeks...) and when she dies that means our Gigi will be crazy with grief again (she's lost so many people & her son, my FIL, 10 mths ago nearly killed her).....

I DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS AAAAAGGGGAAAIIINNN!!!!!!!!

She looked so normal the day we brought her home. I thought, wow she's going to get better here. Surrounded by all her familiar sounds, her home, her animals, her grandchildren....but I was lying to myself. The hospice nurse was so kind ya'll. They tell you things the doctors just won't. Like the reason she's not eating, it feeds the cancer first and the only thing she gets is what the cancer doesn't want. The leftovers. If there are any. Cancer is so greedy and so mean. And her body knows it. Her will to live knows it. I've never seen it before but I know it now.

Grief is so heavy, ya'll. And you carry that around. It lessens everyday after the event, but it never goes away again. Once you've grieved, it's there. A pain familiar. Sharp and dull all at the same time. Ready to be brought back out a a moment's notice. It has a taste, acrid in the back of your throat.... And if I never taste it again it will be too soon.

But that is one of the things you have to do. You have the privilege of meeting new friends, falling in love, witnessing the birth of new families by seeing marriages and new children. You have the commitments of your family of childhood and the family you create. And this is the cost. You love them so much. You never think about losing them. And if you ever get a close call or a glimpse of lose, you push it as far as you possibly can from your mind so you can stay sane.

I cannot imagine a world without any of the people I love.

But I know that those days will come.

I know where she is going if she passes away. So I'm not at all grieving for any of that.

It's me and my selfish wish for her to stay and never go away and scoop me up in her big hug and laugh at my stupidness and love on my babies, my sweet children who love her so much and my husband what will he do without his mommy and and and and andandandnadn......bbbbwwwwwaaaaanhhh

And I don't want her to hurt anymore. I love her so much.

Mother in Love is Home & doing well.

2008-11-05T09:59:00.000-06:00

Sorry I was slow putting up comments. I spent Monday afternoon and night and Tuesday all day at the hospital with my sweet Mother in Love (btw Becky :), that is so adorable. I'm totally stealing it!). They got her transferred to home hospice and we were getting all that straightened out until 11pm last night. She's doing okay and I think she's glad to be home.

I hope you all are doing great and I'll post something wonderful tomorrow.

LOVE YA'LL LOTS!!!!

Lo

Favorite Things Tag

2008-11-03T11:28:00.000-06:00

Tiffany at Stylish (LOVE Her!) tagged everyone to share their favorites:

clothing shop: Banana Republic for actual store, The Children' s Place (I'm a mommy with no time) for online

city: It's a toss up between San Francisco or New York

sweets: Mr. Good Bar or a good homemade chocolate cake

pastries: plain butter croissant with....(see favorite drink below)

drink: Plain double shot latte. I've been thinking about doing a whole post on just this dreamy drink

music: I LOVE ALL music just at different times from amazing classical to bubble gum pop!

TV: Mad Men and I'm not caught up at all! And this is so sad but 90210, I'm a complete dork, I know this

workout: Ballet, pilates, running, nervous energy & worrying & compulsive cleaning (wait...does that count)

coffee - High Point Coffee Espresso Roast. They roast their beans in Oxford, MS and I love supporting local home grown businesses

And in the spirit of Bloggy Friendly-ness...

I tag all of you! If you feel like doing this tag, grab it and then let me know and I'll try to link you (if I can figure out how to do that. Anyone who has pointers as to how to do that, advise is always appreciated).

Yeh, I'll admit it...I'm kind of a pyro...

2008-11-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

The Weather has been incredible lately!

And since we're trying to entertain children that have had WAY, WAY too much candy, what do you think we did?.....

Lit a fire, broke out the bourbon and let the children play by the pool.

Hey, we're totally responsible parents!

While we Mr. Mine was starting the fire, we let them indulge in their favorite outdoor past time. Blowing bubbles! Yeah! Can you hear a bit of sarcasm?
I know, I know that it's being a complete spoil sport to bad mouth blowing bubbles, but omg, my kidslike to pretend that they are taking a bath in bubble solution!!! Can you say sticky!!
Anyway, without reservations, I allowed them to break it out and they behaved themselves

Getting the props ready...

rather disappointing results....

still not a whole lotta luck...
oh well, we can find other ways to occupy ourselves.
I mean, how many times in your life can you find a reason to catch a ride on a passing crocodile?

So what's mommy up to while her children are riding crocodiles feet from the pool...

oooo pretty...
fire....

ohhh, ahhh...

I know, totally a pyro...

I mean the weather couldn't have been more cooperative. It rained a few days before, which allowed the chimnea (spelling? hey I'm all for phonics) to soak up some water.

So when it started to roar, the steam started to roll up the sides..tooo cool! Like I've always said, I'm easily amused.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T17:07:00.000-05:00

Just some Pictures from the crew!

My son was Spidy last year...shhh...he doesn't know yet about being different things every year!
btw ...he wanted to be Spiderman when I asked. I promise I wasn't being a stinker.

My sweet lady bug!

DO NOT STICK YOUR FINGERS IN THE SOCKET!!!!

Yeh yeh, I had to get into the act too!

(oohh, that's a whole lotta leopard print. Oh well have to have an excuse to break out those pants once a year)

Happy Halloween! Oh and don't forget to vote Tuesday!

We've been at the Hospital Most of the Day

2008-10-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone ~
We've been at the hospital talking to doctors on and off all day today. So I'm pooped. I'll have something wonderful for you all tomorrow! Hope everyone is having a great night!

xxoo to you all
love you & mean it!

Lo

To Prove I can sew a Little

2008-10-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

My sweet Mother in Heart gave me a stack full of fabric that longer had meaning in her life a few years ago. I cannot throw anything away for fear I may want to use it eventually. And that habit has finally paid off!

I've been spending a lot of time at the hospital with her (btw they're moving her to palliative care. Just keep us in your prayers) But anyway, I've been needing to have a creative outburst!

So I made these cut Holly/Hunter jumpers by Bonnie Blue
Love them love them love them!!!
They are so easy and I've made a zillion at this point

My friend called and we talked about her droppin' by to borrow the pattern and that set me into a frenzy...

Sooooo I whipped out three in a night!

My sweet friend was kind enough to allow me and my kids to invade her house so she could embroider the Boo on the front (actually the back, a minor oops, that we should have been able to blame on alcohol, but alas we weren't drinking, oh well we'll think to that next time)
Anyway the Holly/Hunter is a forgiving design and she suggested I turn it around. GENIUS!!!!

I even trimmed it with cha cha puff balls and added sparkly tights!

I think she likes it!!!!

Window Treatments, ugh....

2008-10-28T10:59:00.000-05:00

I can sew decently.

I'm not independently wealthy.

I have naked windows.

Therefore I believe I can make my own window treatments, because in the south not having window treatments is like.....well it like...having no manners.
It's just not done here.

So here's my bay window in the kitchen (just ignore the kids, they run in and out. Oh and the crepe paper spider webs have been taken down)
Lord I need a new light fixture too, Can You Say Early 80's

then the window over the sink (mess also moves around daily so ignore that too)

and I have since changed out the hideous white knobs but don't have a new picture, please ignore this too!

And here is the lovely pattern I've picked out
I want to do the top right for the bay window and the bottom right for the sink window

Here's my issue:
fabric

I WANT THIS TOILE!!!!!

I think this will be delightful in the center part of the sink window pattern

but what do I want in the back

this which matches but I'm just eeehhh about
And if I go with this I might have to have more of it in bay window.....hmmm

this I like but I'm not sure ....

it would look a little better with this chicken
but this is not my fav chicken!
and the stripes are 18.98 a yard *gasp*

I like this at 9.98 a yard but until I get swatches I won't know what matches what really
It has to match my walls that are a leather yellow and the yellow below is looking a little bright.
And this just looks more like longer curtains to me, like the ones I want to put in the bay...

The bay is really chapping my *^%!!!
I do not know what to do.
Ugh my eyes are crossing!

photos by here btw LOVE this place, great fabric, nice swatches and GREAT customer service!!!!