Real Quick...

1. It's an amazingly, wonderful day today.  The weather is perfect, mid-70's and sunny.  I'm surprising Annabelle with a trip to the zoo after school.
2. So because of this it will be another day until I post about our trip to New Orleans.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I'll have lots of time to sit inside.
3. Annabelle graduating from Pre-k in a little more than 3 weeks.  I can't believe that her first year of school will soon be over.  She hitting all of these little milestones so fast that I'm afraid that I'm missing them!
4. Plus next week she turns five!   FIVE!  She's turning into such a funny, little grown -up right in front of my eyes.  She tries to use all kinds of big words that she's not sure what they mean but they must be good.  Fabulous and shall and disgusting, there are others but I can't think right now.
5. I'm going to try to get Annabelle in a gymnastics class this summer.  Hopefully I haven't waited too long and the classes are already full.
6. Mark has been working on the deck and is making progress but I can not wait until it's finished.  Three years is a long time to have to wait don't you think?
7. I've started a workout regimen and yesterday was arms.  And holy cow are my arms and shoulders sore!  Today was cardio, 40 mins on the treadmill and a little more than 2 1/2 miles.  I'm a sweaty mess. 
8. I'm going to hop in the shower now and get ready for our fun day.

A Day of Celebration!

***I have been completely MIA the last two weeks.  I haven't written or read any blogs at all in this time.  I thought after getting the week off while on vacation would make me eager to blog, but it didn't.  It has felt good to disconnect for awhile.  I haven't been Fb'ing or blogging, my cell phone has been off.  But I think I'm ready to reconnect.  We shall see.***

The reason for today's post is that it is Mark's 34th birthday!!  He doesn't really care about his birthday, never has, at least for the almost 16 years that I've known him.  He's always very blase about it.  Doesn't want gifts, no big celebrations.  This year he asked for me to make him cheeses fondue and a big fancy salad for dinner.  I bought him a new golf glove and a hobo pie maker.  We don't usually go nuts on birthdays but this seems a little on the light side.  I also know that he'll be happy with that, so that's what counts.

I have known him for almost half of my life and I still love him like crazy.  He makes me laugh and has given me a life that is wonderful and fulfilling.  I hope that I have given him at least this much too.  So even though I know he won't read this, I love you Mark and hope your birthday is special and wonderful and memorable for you!



A Very Happy Mother's Day

Annabelle learned a few Mother's Day songs while at school and was excited to sing them to me over and over and over.  She decided the perfect outfit for singing Mother's Day songs was obviously her new bikini which I will have to return because it is waaaaaay to big on her.  My little girl makes me smile every day and I know that I am blessed to be able to share my Mother's Day with her every single day.  I hope everyone has a very Happy Mother's Day full of love and hugs.

***Sorry for the poor quality, but the digital recorder's batteries are dead so the camera's video had to do.  Oh and I swear the house isn't usually so messy but with packing and getting ready for vacation, cleaning is that last thing on my mind. :)***

Packing:)

I'm getting ready for vacation in a few days.  And baby, I am ready for it.  The weather has been just awful lately.  We'll have a nice sunny 60-70 degree day and then it rains and it's windy.  Case in point, Saturday it was 75 degrees out.  We started working on the deck, got out the swings and playhouse in the back yard, went for a bike ride and a hike to feed the chipmunks.  Today it is 40 degrees, rainy and cold.  What the heck Mother Nature!

OK that was a little bit of a diversion.  I'm packing, for vacation, to New Orleans.  Weather.com says near 90 and no rain for the entire time we will be there.  I cannot wait for the warmth, though I am worried about the sunburn that I will get.  There is no avoiding it for me. So the list is made and the suitcases are out of the closet.  I'm looking through all of my cute skirts and dresses for our five day trip.  I know I'll miss my little girl but I wish Sunday would hurry up and get here:)

Stats

I've been at this whole blogging thing for close to a year now.  I'm not really all that computer literate.  I don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer so I usually do what I need to do and get out.  Check my e-mail, FB, read the handful or so of blogs that I check almost daily, then I'm done.  More than a half an hour or so and I go buggy. 

But recently I was playing around here and found the stats button.  Now I know that I had seen it every single time that I had written out a post before, I just never paid any attention to it before.  But holy moly, I'm hooked!  I love seeing how many views I've gotten and seeing what seems to interest people the most.  I check them almost every single day, though actually not the weekends.  I don't blog or read blogs or even check e-mail and FB during the weekends.  But come Monday morning, and I'm looking it up.  I looked at them right before I started writing this.

I get so many hits for Mismatch Day.  I didn't know it was so difficult for people to put together a horribly mismatched, ugly outfit.  But people seem to need help with this.  And it is weird to me that people in Russia or Indonesia or China are reading something that I've written.  Or that the silly little things that I write, for myself mostly, has been viewed over 1000 times!  It boggles my mind.  I'm really not that interesting, or am I?

Boobs...

they have power. It doesn't matter if your a boy or a girl, gay or straight. They are right there in your face, all the time. I personally think they are completely over-rated, which my husband disagrees with. He is the classic boob guy. But to me, they are just a pain in my ass. They are always in the way. I have a hell of a time finding new bras that fit right and are comfortable. I'm not huge, but I'm bigger than most people realize.

I grew up in a household where boobs were treated as an annoyance. My mom hates her double D's and insists on walking around bra-less whenever possible. She hates them so much that that is most likely why I feel the same way. I see all the little A and B cup bras and I want those, not my D-cups, blech. But boobs are out there all the time. On TV, in commercials, walking down the street.

Every month, I get together with my friends. Eight girls of varying shapes and sizes. At least once every time we get together the topic comes up. When one of the girls mentioned that she was going in for a consult for a boob job, it started all kinds of discussions.  At least two other girls complain about how flat theirs are after breastfeeding two kids and wish they weren't pancakes anymore and hope to get lifts sometime in the future. Two of us are fine with what God has given us and the other three don't really have much to say. But it always is a topic for conversation.

I was worried that my friend (cousin actually) would look weird after she got bigger boobs.  Would they be these two huge balloons on her chest?  I know that she had always wanted bigger ones but was surgery the way to go?  I wasn't sure but I have always been in a completely different frame of mind when it comes to this.  I don't fault her with wanting to improve herself, even if improving means something more radical.  I know that I have friends, at least two of them in the group, that seem pretty against it.  Even to the point that I wouldn't feel comfortable telling them if I was having any plastic surgery of any kind, not that I am.

In the end, she had the surgery and she looks about the same as she always did.  She just didn't have the add two sizes bra and the chicken cutlets and all the other things she used to boost herself up and out.  I was glad she looked like her and that she seems happy with her decision.

But it makes me wonder why are they so important? Is it our culture? Do they have this significance in India or Iceland? I don't know and I don't want to actually do any research on it. But I'm still curious.  Will a new body part someday be the "it" area?  Just like the idea of what is beautiful changes constantly, will boobs someday be passe?  I'm doubting it.

Our Very Happy Easter!

Our Easter was, as usual, very busy.  After the fantastic fish fry on Friday, we had brunch at my Aunt Pattie's house.  We pretty much ate and played and had a great time for six whole hours.  We had frittata and bacon and sausage, pancakes, a chocolate fountain, mounds of fruit and mimosas, plus turkey sandwiches and chicken salad and stuffed shells.  Oh my word I was stuffed.  After all of the gluttony there was an Easter Egg Hunt and egg dying. 

On Easter Sunday we woke up early so that Annbelle could find her basket.  It took her a few minutes to find it but once she did, she was very excited for all of her Bunny gifts.  We had to rush to get ready for church with Mark's parents and brother.  Then we had a Polish brunch at my in-laws house.  Not as tasty as brunch the day before but it's traditional, Polish sausage, both fresh and smoked, ham, noodle salad, and coffee cake.  We also got to meet my brother-in-laws new girlfriend for the first time.  She seemed nice, hopefully he will have finally found The One.  Dinner was at my parents house, with more food and yet another egg hunt.  Those little eggs my mom hid around the basement were full of Squinkees.  Now even more small things to get lost, grrr.  Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it.  It was a busy day but we all had a wonderful time being with the family. 

I hope that everyone had a happy and blessed Easter this year.  I know that we did.