I had plans...

big plans. Plans to tell you all about going to watch Kansas perform on Sunday at an outdoor concert. Plans to talk about my 40 mph frontage road. Plans to share some new music. Plans to contemplate the upcoming first day of school and the end of summer. Plans - lots and lots of plans. It was going to be a really really good post - really, it was! BUT you know what - I'M TIRED SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TIRED! Seriously tired.

So guess what you aren't going to get any of the riveting scoop - at least not tonight. Okay fine, I'll post a couple of pictures from the Kansas concert (yes, yes, yes, they are of my kids) and I'll share the link to this rockin' song (no, no, no, it is NOT some sappy love song - I mean that fact alone should be enough to take you to the link and make this a great post - trust me - you'll like it - I promise. Have I ever steered you wrong before? I mean sure that was that Taylor Swift incident but I warned you before I even let you take the trip to You Tube so you have to believe me on tonight's song - history has proven I'm trustworthy :-))

Okay. Here you go. Posting the pictures and song link will take way more time than I was planning on spending here tonight - but for you - I'll make the sacrifice.

Pictures:






Song:

Here you go - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

TTFN and enjoy the song - really listen to the song. REALLY!

Something about James...

Have I ever mentioned James, our friend and adopted family member?

It is because of Alex and the many wonderful things he has brought to our lives, not the least of which has been the opportunity to meet some extraordinary people, that we know James.

James was hired as a caretaker for Alex for after school care and has ended up as a part of our family. Alex adores James and I think the feeling is mutual. They've listened to hours and hours of music, gone to countless movies, taken numerous swims, jumped on the trampoline and eaten at McDonalds more times than I even want to know and they both come back from the adventures with smiles on their faces. Unfortunately for us, James wanted to continue his education and left to attend school. Alex was sad, I was sad, the HotY was sad and the girls were sad. James' last day was not a happy day in our household. BUT James, being the kind of guy that he is, kept in touch, taking Alex out at least once a month and IM'ing me whenever he sees me on Facebook (we won't talk about how often that might be...).

James recently was hired for his first teaching job in our local school district -
5th grade. He will be a wonderful teacher - and lucky for us he will be teaching in our neighborhood school so he will be around and hopefully we will see him often. We are all so excited for him. It makes me happy to see him succeed even though I would still like to see his smiling face every day after I get home from work - but that would just be selfish. That and asking him to clean the house - selfish - not that I wouldn't ask but I'd KNOW I was being selfish (James, you know that was for you ;-))

TTFN... and consider yourself lucky if your kids have James for a teacher

ARE YOU KIDDING ME...

Seriously - this has to be a joke. Have you seen the new line-up for Dancing With The Stars? All I can say is YUCK!!!!! There is not one single "star" on this list that I can get excited over - NOT ONE - and that includes Donny Osmond, I never did like him OR his purple socks. PLEASE (now Shaun Cassidy was a completely different story - but moving on...).

In case you missed the big news here it is: DWTS September 24 line-up; entertainer Donny Osmond; singers Mya, Macy Gray and Aaron Carter; actors Melissa Joan Hart, Debi Mazar and Ashley Hamilton (son of George); models Joanna Krupa and Kathy Ireland; reality stars Kelly Osbourne and Mark Dacascos ("the Chairman" on Food Network's "Iron Chef America"); mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell; professional snowboarder Louie Vito; Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin; former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin and the 62-year-old former congressman from Texas.

Now see, don't you agree with me?????? Sad, so very sad.

TTFN... I'll just be over here, filled with disgust, trying to write a letter to the casting director of DWTS :-)

Have you seen my dog???

Seriously. All we do is chase the dang dog all over the neighborhood calling her name and stopping neighbors and strangers asking for a clue to her location.

Autumn BOLTS out of the door whenever she gets the chance - and with three kids in and out and in and out and in and out fifty million times a day lets just say we're looking for the dog A LOT! Callie, our first dog, was not a bolter. As a matter of fact she never left the yard - really. She was the perfect dog. Callie was a lady. Autumn is a party animal. I'm not kidding. The more people the better as far as she is concerned and there is nothing worse then not being with her "people". Sit down for a moment and she is bounding into your lap. Time to go to bed and she hops on the bed and snuggles her 30+ pound body right smack next to your butt. Try driving with a big dog glued to your side resting her chin on your arm. It isn't easy. And she doesn't move. Not if you push her, not if you shove her, not if you give her a nudge with your foot she.is.immobile. 30 lbs of dead weight. BUT she is turning into a very good dog. Now if we could only get her to stay in the yard and stop mutilating the Barbie population that lives in our home...

TTFN... oh and some day soon I'll provide visual proof of the Barbie carnage we've got going on - it isn't pretty but a least no one has been decapitated.

There will be NO MORE FREEZIE POPS…

Seriously. They are nothing but trouble. I really should have known that before I purchased the super economy pack at Sam’s Club (Syd is still lamenting the fact that I would not purchase the Orange, Root Beer, Seven-Up flavored freezie pops - but they were half the quantity at twice the price – I may be frivolous but I am NOT stupid). But, not knowing any better, I bought the freezie pops. It has become a huge regret.

My kids cannot open those darn freezie pop plastic tubes so I am continually opening them and spilling freezie pop juice all over my shirts (like this surprises you). Every child within a mile radius of our home knows about the abundance of freezie pops in our freezer. Last night the child visitors of our neighbors’ were ringing the doorbell asking for freezie pops (really). There are freezie pop wrappers everywhere. They can find the freezie pops but they can’t find the garbage can??? AND my kids continually forget to close the deep freeze door after the frenzy of foraging for freezie pops. So after finding the freezer door standing open ONCE AGAIN I have decreed there will be NO MORE FREEZIE POPS (well for at least the rest of today – have I mentioned our air conditioning is broken???)

TTFN… and if you are looking for freezie pops do not ring my doorbell, I stopped answering about 24 hours ago...

And now for the rest of the story...

More vacation photos - I bet you were expecting something big weren't you :-) No big news from me today. Just that big pile of laundry waiting for me to get off the computer (I read some poem about being grateful for the laundry as it indicates you have the means to clothe yourself and family - yep I'm grateful - just ask me...). Okay, here they are - more pictures.

The Party's over...

in more ways than one.

Did I mention I was going on vacation with my entire family (yes, that's my parents and siblings and my family and their families) we were a party of 15.

These family vacations always sound like a great idea in theory - and it was a pretty fun time but you know sooner or later someone was going to get crabby. Yesterday was my day. I got some news Tuesday which could drastically change life as I know it, all in the context of one email. I can't say much more right now as I don't have the full details but I'll give you this hint - right now you can color me BLUE.

And speaking of blue - swimming pictures - there is a lot of blue. Hey I know it's a stretch but I had to find some segway to moving on...

SOOOO - all in all it was fun. There was sun. There were water sports and sandy beaches and cool breezes off the lake. There was shopping. There was nothing that resembled camping. The vacation was good - most of the time - except for those crabby moments - but really other than that - it was good - seriously.

I had intended to write more but I'm still in a fuzzy vacation brain state of mind. Tomorrow there is laundry and getting back to the real world. The party's over - SERIOUSLY :-)

Well, maybe I am a little bit like her...

I think I have mentioned this before - and if you know my mother you know it is true - but my mom can't stand things being the same for too long. She will wake up in the morning and decide that a room that was perfectly fine the day before needs to be repainted, or redecorated or rearranged or rewhatever. Seriously, she will decide to paint and have the job done before she has changed out of her pajamas. Me, I like to sit on things a little while. I HATE it when I don't think I have made the most perfect choice. That there may have been a better choice. That if I had it to do again I'd have made a different choice. Never mind that nothing has to be permanent, in my mind there is only chance - get it right or you're out (I know I know - it explains a lot). BUT sometimes, just sometimes I will do a major thing on a minor whim. Today was one of the days. I started out with the intention of REALLY cleaning the downstairs bathroom, as this is primarily the "guys" bathroom I usually let them do the cleaning - but their idea of clean and my idea of clean - vastly different. So while Alex and the HotY went to see some World War II B52 Bombers which were being showcased at our local airport I decided to tackle their bathroom. As I was spraying and wiping and disinfecting I noticed that the wallpaper was peeling in a corner. This is wallpaper which has been in place for approximately eight years. It's nice tasteful wallpaper - but wallpaper none-the-less and really, I was tired of it. So I started picking at that little corner and before you know it I had torn off an entire strip of wall paper. So I started on the next little corner - and BAM another strip of wallpaper gone. I was methodically working my way around the room, truly not thinking that much about what I was doing when the phone rang - it was the HotY wondering if I thought it was worth $850 to take a ride in a B52 Bomber - well of course it is not - Holy Bananas you had to call to ask THAT question??? So we got that business straight, I hung up the phone, took a step back and looked around the room. WOW, I had almost completely stripped all the wallpaper. And I did it on a whim. There was no pre-meditated thought involved. No second guessing. No wondering what the right color for the walls will be once the paper is removed. Nope, just tearing and admiring how much bigger the room looked without that green paper on the walls. This is just the kind of thing my mother would do, maybe I am a little bit like her after all - DO NOT TELL ANYONE!

TTFN... if you need me I'll be at Benjamin Moore trying to decide on paint - don't look for me anytime in the near future this could take awhile :-)

I'm glad THAT wasn't my mistake...

So that concert to be given by David Garrett in a small community near me - not so much. There is a theater by the same name in St. Louis which is where the concert is REALLY being held. Many of the on-line ticket vendors incorrectly listed the concert. OOPS! And I thought I could screw things up :-)

My girlies are with my parents for the next few days. I miss them. I always think I want a little peace and quiet but when that happens - it is not all that. We had a girls night out last Friday and I got a few cute pictures of them while we were eating.





I love those sweet faces!

Crazy busy with signs, and work and getting ready for vacation. Maybe that is why I can't write. I have too much to do :-) But you know this blog thing - it's a great procrastination device - but don't tell anyone :-)

TTFN...

Oh, and I'm on Twitter now (amgrimm1). I KNOW. I have so little to say - but it has to do with Etsy. I can't explain it but really the Twitter thing - it wasn't my idea - REALLY! Trust me. And I'm not advising you to follow me because if you think this blog thing is lame I won't even get into the banality of the Twitter...

How much is too much???

So I am not really a concert going girl - unless it is an outdoor concert. There is something about listening to good music under a clear sky with a warm breeze. But there IS a concert I'd really like to see - David Garrett - have you heard of this guy? I hadn't until just a short time ago and now I'm very intrigued. I love the violin - and the way he plays is beautiful. Look him up - even if you don't like the violin you'll be glad you did (well if you are a female anyway). Here's a nice clip of him giving a little background on his life. Anyway he is coming to a smaller community near me - but the tickets are almost $400 each. WHAT? WOW! That might just be too much - even for a girl who doesn't get that caught up about money. Oh and just for listening pleasure - listen to this. It is so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes.

So in other news, I've been out of sorts - I just can't get into a writing mode. I know it's all been a little flat lately - sorry. I'm trying I really am. Don't give up on me 'cuz you know that's my biggest fear (well after that fire thing anyway) - people giving up on me - seriously :-) Now you know my secret...

TTFN...

What about the tinker the tailor and the candlestick maker…

So I’ve been checking out wedding blogs lately (hey I never get tired of looking at pretty dresses and gorgeous jewelry) and I’ve noticed something - these weddings are over the top gorgeous, fully coordinated and EXPENSIVE. Doesn’t anyone throw together a wedding with six months and five thousand dollars anymore? Sure, the new wedding look is simple and understated yet elegant – but, trust me – not so simple or understated or cheap (but definitely elegant).

It takes a lot of time and money to put your initials on every solid surface within spitting distance, to pull a few flowers from the garden to make an “informal” wedding bouquet and to stand on the corner of a city street so a journalistic photographer can take a cool picture for your wedding album (I won’t even get into the goodie bag deal – lets just say the only goodie I ever took home from my wedding going single days was the best man).

(image provided by Zinke Design)

Don’t get me wrong. I love looking at these weddings. I love seeing the gorgeous brides in their Vera Wang wedding gowns and three carat diamond wedding bands showing off their custom designed table centerpieces and the candy counter treat table. BUT, where is reality? Where is the college loan debt? The rusting car and studio apartment? The borrowed veil and quarter carat diamond? The pimple on the chin and smeary mascara? The REAL people REAL wedding? Does it no longer exist? Is everyone marrying a doctor, a lawyer, a swindler or a saver? What happened to the tinkers, the tailors and the candlestick makers??? Seriously. I want to know. Where have all the real weddings gone???

TTFN…

Disclaimer: This blog was not written to offend any brides that have held or will be holding an awesome wedding. Seriously I love you - it gives me something pretty to look at. This blog was written in jest – and a little envy - but mostly it was written in wonder. How can there be so many fabulous weddings when there is so little fabulous money????

And if my reference to the doctor, lawyer, tinker and tailor sound familiar – well of course it’s all in a song

Say it with pictures...

we had a nice 4th of July weekend with my family at my parents. Swimming, s'mores, fireworks, camp fires, sun and fun all with running water and indoor plumbing. Please explain to me the allure of camping when you really can have it all in your own backyard :-) Seriously...

Here are some pictures to enjoy. Can't think creatively tonight. Stimulation overload ;-)

It isn't always a BIG thing...

Okay in the entire scheme of living, dying and surviving this is one of the most trivial things I have had to say in a long time - but sometimes you just have to take a minute to regroup and focus on the non-important things.

Last night I watched The Notebook. I know some of you are probably die hard Notebook fans, having watched the movie over and over and over again, but I have only seen it twice (including last night’s viewing). It isn’t that I don’t like the movie – I do – especially the scenes where they were young and romantic and living life in a simpler time. But there is SOMETHING that bugs me about the movie. It bugged me the first time and it bugged me the second but I didn’t know what it was until I was watching the end of the movie last night. It has to do with the casting of James Garner as the “old” Noah. Why would they cast James Garner in this role? There is nothing about him that resembles the actor (and I’m ashamed to say I don’t know his name – this is the kind of stuff I have my friend Amy for – she’ll know the actor) that played the young and blond and baby-faced Noah. I know people change as they age but this was a complete miscasting as there wasn’t even a passing resemblance between the two actors unless someone had some really bad plastic surgery along the way. So I find that disappointing. It makes the movie a little disjointed for me. I’m not sure who should have played the elderly Noah. Maybe Robert Redford or Michael Douglas. What do you think?

So there you go - my big concern for Monday, June 29, 2009. It’s been a pressing issue and I’m so glad I finally got to voice this major life disappointment – aren’t you glad you stopped by today :-)

TTFN… Who would play you in the movie of your life – young and old???

No, I have not been eaten by a dog...

for those of you who may have been worried about me as I have been absent since my last post.

THE DOG has been to puppy preschool and is doing much much better. The trainer assured us that she was not aggressive and her attacking me is a sign of affection. I had a chat with Ms. Dog and informed her I was not at all thrilled about her own special PSA's for me and we seem to have come to an understanding. She is still not completely cured from showing me the love but it is much, much better.


The girls are spending the next six day's with the HotY's parents. I miss them already although they called within two hours of leaving so Lauren could tell me about stopping for ice cream and stubbing her toe - full details. The girl is a chatter.

Sydney is still pining away for Wyatt. The other day she told me she wanted to send him a post card. When I asked her what she was going to write she said "Dear Wyatt, I love you. Syd". I said "what if you say 'Dear Wyatt, I hope you are having a good summer. Syd'" She replied by saying "okay okay okay, Dear Wytt, I hope you are having a good summer. I love you. Syd".

No post cards have yet been sent :-)


We spent Father's Day with my parents. It was a spontaneous, surprise visit. Alex loves to swim so he was in fish heaven and between swimming and playing in the dress-up clothes the girls did not want to come home.

I know - this post doesn't have much flow or humor or even self-pondering - but I included pictures so that's something - right??? I'll try harder next time - I promise :-)

Pictures - enjoy.