Sister and I took the children to a hotel an hour from home. We came because they have an indoor pool. And because there is no laundry or dishes and someone else is making the beds! I love made beds. We read magazines, they swim and we all eat. EB and J (Sister's son) were pretending they were vegetables cooking in a pot when they were in the hot tub - gross. H.O. says the painting on the walls makes him really feel like he's at the beach - wonder if I could take him to the Disney store instead of Disney world? This mini trip works because it's a cheap get away that the kids LOVE and all we do is relax! And make sure no one drowns.

Merry Christmas 2010

I sure hope gas @ the dentist isn't a gateway drug...

Dressing For The Season



Shug takes terrible pictures.



My mom always dressed for the season.  She had long denim jumpers with Santa on the chest, sweaters with pumkins and black cats, turtle necks with candy canes or hearts or bunnies all over them.  She always wanted to dress the part.  Me,  not so much. So the other day my dad brought over a HUGE box of my mothers Christmas clothes.  He said he thought me and Sister might like to wear some of them.  Really?  Does he have us confused with someone else's daughters - like the Duggars maybe.  Anyway, I washed all of them (because the smelled like moth balls which is so my mom's style) and when Sister came over we played dress up.  We dressed ourselves in the clothes and then the children. Then Shug took our picture, which we plan to send to my mom's three dear cousins.  These are the cousins that she grew up with and was very close to.   After that I had been unable to figure out what to do with them.  I couldn't get myself to donate them, and I sure couldn't wear them and maintain my hip mom status (in my own head).  I finally came up with the BEST idea ever.  Sometimes I can't believe myself and my great ideas.  This weekend I took them to a lady who is going to make a quilt out of them.  I am going to give my sister the quilt for Christmas.  She will  love it.  The clothes have made us laugh so much.  And now our kids can look at the quilt, we can all lay under it, and the dorky sweet Christmas clothes will stay with us. And there won't be anything dorky about them. 

The quilt lady has great prices, ships anywhere, usually finishes in 1 week and can turn anything into a quilt.  It's not just for dead peoples clothes. Concert tee shirts, college shirts, hats, baby clothes, anything.  I'm a bit obsessed right now with what all I can turn into quilts.

Jamaica: Part 1

This is an old draft I found from 11-2009 and am publishing it now - just because...
Jamaica.  There is so much to say about it I'm not sure where to begin.  First I have to say that since the only person I can be assured will read this is me that I am writing so that I never forget what happened.  There are a few others who sometimes read and I'm pretty sure from reading their blogs that they won't be offended by what I write so here goes it.

We arrived in Negril and went to our first hotel, Blue Caves Castle.   This was a great place to stay while our friends were in town because it was like having your own hotel.  The staff was great, the price was unbeatable, the whole place was groovy and the view was beautiful!   

We had scored Red Stripe and Ganga by this time so it was just a matter of unpacking and getting started.  I must say that my decision to smoke out was out of respect for Jamaica in general...When in Rome! We got settled and started in on the party.  When we were sufficiently out of our minds we headed to Chicken Lavish  for some Jerk chicken. Good food, strong drinks and interesting staff made this a place we returned to again.  We then took a taxi to the beach ($ .60 American) and wandered up and down the beach to the different bars.  When I say beach bar I do mean sand under the feet.  It was wonderful.  In the bars no one bothered us but every time we set foot away from the bar and started walking people came out of the wood work to offer us drugs.  They always went for Mr. Shug first, calling out "Gray Mon" then listing off what drugs they had.  He has salt and pepper hair, hence Gray Mon, but we never figured out what made him get offered more than anyone else.  They swarmed him.  The entire trip it was like this.  We laughed about it a lot (because it wasn't happening to us) and Shug at one point said that a man can only take so much before he breaks down and buys even if he hadn't planned on it.  So that is our lesson in peer pressure, not that they were his peers, but still.  I think he got so much action because he looked like some dude from the 70's looking for a good time. He disagrees. Part 2 coming soon.

Celebrating

What I Am Celebrating:

• A year without cigarettes.   I feel like a total badass! I am amazed and proud and, it seems, a bit boastful!

What I Am Not Celebrating:

• My ass has gotten bigger, my jeans a bit tighter and my face just a tad rounder.  Dammit. 

I had my Well Woman visit today. My doctor was so proud of me for quiting smoking and then gave me a talk about the weight I had gained.  She didn't go for my suggestion of taking up the smoking again to get the weight off.  Hmmmmm...  I then told her I was open to any suggestions she might have other than surgery, working out or cutting back on my intake.  Her response - "Hope you like tight jeans."  What I like is a doctor with quick wit and a bit of sass. 

I also had my mammogram and the last time someone squeezed my boobs that hard I was 15.  I do have to say that it was as good an experience as a mammogram could be.  I'm now in the age category of women who needs to have one a year. 

I'm thinking about adding a section to my blog for all the post that never got published - I have so many that I never finished, or I thought sounded to lame to post, or I got nervous someone I knew would read it, or for whatever crazy reason I more or less chickened out of publishing them.  Maybe I'll call it the chicken files...