(insert clever post title here)

I am so tired I can't even think of a decent Friday Fragments post title.
My week began with a sick kid (Elayna) and was just very hectic in general. My sleep schedule got messed up over the weekend and never did recover. Then we had doctor appointments and other fun errands as well as the usual work schedule....
yeah. I'm tired.
At least Elayna's feeling better now. Happy kid = Happy Mom!




We had Asian Night at the Dysfunctional House last night. I blogged about it over at Southern Loving....check it out, it was fun!




It has been extremely hot lately....record breaking temps.
The meteorologists may not know why, but I certainly do.
It's because of this:


Tim Tebow signs with Jockey

*SWOON*



I seem to have been saying this myself a lot lately....



Seriously, why is everything Mom's job?
We came home...FROM THE STORE...and Elayna went into the bathroom and then called for me to bring her some toilet paper. Now I buy this stuff in bulk, I HATE running out, but I knew we were low and needed to replenish this weekend. But did anyone (who had been awake all day while I slept) mention while we were AT THE STORE that we were OUT of TP??? And guess what....we were out of paper towels too.
We had NOTHING in the house to wipe our behinds with.
I managed to find some napkins for Elayna, then we loaded up and went BACK to the store.
*sigh*




I'm off to float in the pool all weekend and (hopefully?) relax!
Have a great weekend and visit Half Past Kissin Time for more Fraggin' Fun.

Wordlful Wednesday, A Little Late

I am fortunate to have two Snail Mail Pals, and one of them lives in England. She also has a daughter the same age as Shelbie, so they are pen pals as well.
They sent us these adorable gifts last week.
My Snail Mail Pal, Lindsay-Ann from The Cross-Stitch House, sent me a postbox keychain. It is so cute!



And Lindsay's daughter sent Shelbie this adorable panda key chain. Shelbie loves it.



And someone asked about Meep recently, so I snapped a pic of her with my cell phone.
She has barely grown at all! She's going to be tiny like her Mama, I do believe. Her Mama is so small, I honestly thought she was a kitten.
Meep is precious and sweet, and still just LOVES Elayna. She purrs 24/7. We love her!

For more WordFUL Wednesdays visit Seven Clown Circus!

Randomosity

* The kids are back again, and you sure can tell from my house! It's a wreck. And I had it looking so nice over the weekend (ya know, while there were no children there!!)

* And they are such little consumers! We're out of everything already.

* I will have two extra kids over tonight. Because, you know, I'm crazy and stuff.

* My youngest daughter (nine years old) is so much like me, it's scary. She told me that a book she recently read had SO many errors in it. Spelling, grammar, etc. Honestly, we can't help it; that kind of stuff just jumps out at us!

* She and I both love the library, too. Today I'm checking out two books of poetry so that we can start reading poems together.

* I'm making my oldest son read To Kill a Mockingbird. It's just one of those books that everyone needs to read!

* I'm off to finish cooking a delicious dinner, which I'll be blogging about over at Southern Loving tomorrow!

For more Randomosity visit The UnMom!

Have I told you lately that I love Fragging? and you?

I'm going to start my Fragging on a serious note.

First, I want to thank you all who left kind & supportive comments on my Pour Your Heart Out post. It was hard to write and even harder to hit "publish", so your support meant a lot to me.
Second, I want to direct your attention to two amazing posts that I read this week.
The first one was at If Mom Says OK. If you're not already reading her blog, you are truly missing out on a gem. She blogged about the gulf oil spill in the most eloquent and touching way.
The second one was from the Queen of Fragging herself, Mrs 4444s. It's a post to herself as a child, and it is heartbreaking and uplifting all at the same time. It was inspired by none other than If Mom Says OK. {I told you she was amazing.}


Alright, enough of that serious stuff.
We have a new guy at work, and on his first night, he asked me if I'd ever seen the show "Las Vegas". I told him no, and he said that I remind him of one of the girls on that show. I was a little nervous, being that it's called Las Vegas; was it all about strippers & hookers? But they said it's about casinos. So I googled the show.

Here's the cast:



And here's me, eating dinner on vacation, clearly looking all kinds of crazy hot:



I think the new guy needs glasses......or to lay off of the crack-smoking!





I'm pretty sure I've mentioned here before my feelings about Change. Basically, it makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb. I'm just not a fan of it. To the extreme.
So it drives me batty when changes happen that are beyond my control, and that's what's happening at work right now. Several of my co-workers are leaving. Moving away, graduating & starting their careers, having babies, etc. It's all happening in a short time period. So I'm going to be all out of sorts. And yes, I know I should learn to better adapt to change.
And to that I say....bite me.

Have I told you lately that I love this crazy man?

I wish you a wonderful weekend!
Visit Mrs4444's for more Friday Fragments.

Don't Wake Daddy

You’ve heard of that game, Don’t Wake Daddy. Fun, good times, right? That was the story of my childhood….only, it was not fun. It was just life.
For as long as I can remember, my dad worked a job that he hated. I don’t mean it had its ups and downs, I don’t mean it was tiring or frustrating. I mean, for whatever reason, he utterly and passionately hated his job. When he got home, he walked in the door every single day in a foul mood. He sat down in his Chair (he has always had a Chair, and nobody else was to sit in his Chair) and basically didn’t want to be talked to or otherwise bothered. He got up only to eat dinner, and dinner time was only for eating. Not talking or heaven forbid, goofing around.
But weekends were the worst. My dad got up and sat in his Chair, and then proceeded to doze off and on the rest of the day. And beyond anything else, we were NOT to wake Daddy.
He was not a very deep sleeper. We had a screen door that liked to slam. And phones that liked to ring. And…we were children. So of course, there were times that we Woke Daddy. And we faced his wrath. My mom just tiptoed around him and tried to be sure that we didn't make noise.
That is the predominant memory I have about my dad from childhood. We didn’t do much as a family, except visit relatives several times a year. Weekends were not for fun. They were not for outings. They were not for family time. They were not for making memories.
They were mostly for Not Waking Daddy.
This is just one of the things that I try to do differently as a parent. I want to make memories with my kids. I want weekends to be for fun family times. I like quiet, and Lord knows I love sleep. But not at the expense of family time; not at the expense of my kids being kids.
I will also never work a job that I hate. I won't do that to my family.
I don't mean to complain, or imply that I had a horrible childhood. But more and more I find myself reflecting on things like this and I have a need to write about it. So I'm going to write about it here, and maybe it will be a good outlet for me.

For more Pour Your Heart Out posts, visit Shell @ Things I Can't Say.

The Adventures of the Crazy Couple

Once upon a time, there was a Crazy Couple. Generally, they have a lot of fun together, laughing and joking and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
But car travel.....ah, car travel. It can really bring out the worst in Crazy Couple.
So, on this fine sunny day, the Crazy Couple was traveling in the Big City. The Crazy Couple are small town folk, and they aren't familiar with the Big City. But they were on a mission. They got directions from handy-dandy CrapQuest, and went off on their way!
And promptly got lost.
"Oh Em Gee!" said Crazy Chick. "We are effing lost, and Kind Friend is waiting for us, and we are gonna be Sofa King LATE!"
So Crazy Dude suggested Crazy Chick get out the trusty map. They found an alternate route than the one suggested by CrapQuest, and off they went. And they did pretty well, until they approached Unknown Street. And although Crazy Chick assured Crazy Dude that they needed to turn LEFT, Crazy Dude was quite certain that they MUST turn RIGHT. So Crazy Chick ever-so-sweetly said "Okay fine whatever. Kind Friend has probably already left anyway and thinks I'm some internet psycho."
The Crazy Couple bumped along down Unknown Road and soon, Crazy Chick spied a colorful sign. It said "Go Go Girls! ALL NUDE!"
"Hmm," said Crazy Chick, "It's a strip club. Oh look! They're hiring!"
Crazy Dude laughed and kept on truckin'.
The further they drove, the older and more run-down the buildings looked.
Then they saw a sign for a place that said they sold "Beer, DVDs, and Jewelry".
Odd, thought Crazy Chick.
They discussed turning around, but even that was a slightly terrifying prospect. So they kept going until they saw yet another strip club.
But it wasn't until they approached this intersection that Crazy Chick put her foot down.
"That's IT, Crazy Dude, turn this car around NOW!"
Because really?? This sign has to tell you SOMETHING.


Seriously, I could not make this up! And you know what else? If the Crazy Couple had just turned LEFT on Unknown Street, like the Crazy Chick suggested? They would've gotten there a lot sooner....and a lot less traumatized.

The End!!

Weekend WrapUp

I haven't done a Weekend WrapUp post in forever! It's about time I get back to it.

On Saturday, I got some retail therapy. John and I went bargain hunting! I found some great deals, mostly on stuff for the house. It was a blast, and definitely helped pull me out of the funk I mentioned on Friday.

On Sunday, we caught up on some household tasks that needed to be done....it's amazing how quickly you can get behind by being gone even for just a few days! And then having all the kids home all week, including an extra kid (Shelbie's friend stayed with us almost all week).....all that adds up to a mess!
We also did some grocery shopping, had lunch with my son at the fast-food restaurant where he works, and got the ingredients to make my own dish soap, thanks to Heather from Gerber Days. {I so love her blog!}

Anyway, I also did some baking, but this time....it was for my dogs! You can read all about that over at Southern Loving.

It was a great weekend, although it ended too soon!
I hope you had a great one, too.
Link up if your blogged about your weekend!

Funky Friday Fragging

The Good: It's FRIDAY!

The Not-So-Good: I've been in a bit of a funk this week. When I mentioned it on Facebook, many of my friends said they felt the same way. I don't know what it is, I'm just "meh".
I'm hoping the weekend will make it all better!
I still need to finish uploading all the vacation pics. I just don't seem to have time for anything this week!

The Good: I did get this uploaded - the pic of me and Kristin, from The Goat!



John and I met Kristin at The Brick in Jacksonville, Florida. We were a little late. Like, an hour. We got lost, and ended up in the ghetto, but that's another story for another blog post.
{It was mildly terrifying. I'm still twitching a little.}
But Kristin waited patiently for us. We had a great lunch and talked non-stop!
I absolutely love meeting blog friends. I hope to meet up with Kristin again....if I ever work up the courage to visit Jacksonville again, that is! LOL

The Not-So-Good: My retirement plan has went down the toilet. John and I always said we'd get an RV and travel after we retire. After visiting Jacksonville and dealing with that traffic, I don't see any more TRAVEL in our future! (kidding) (sort of)

The Good: We had a great week with the kids this past week. We had an especially awesome time with the girls in St Augustine last weekend after the softball tournaments ended.

The Not-So-Good: They go to their Dad's this week and will be gone an extra weekend. It will be fun for them; they're going to their step-mom's family reunion. But I will be a bored lonely mom once again!

The Good: We're going to my friend's daughter's 1st Birthday party this weekend!

The Not-So-Good: I have been looking at my kids' baby books this past week and I want them to be one year old again! =)

The Good: My dear sweet husband gave me a new nickname last week.

The Not-So-Good: The new nickname is "Her Royal Meanness"!!! (but the funny thing is, I LOVE IT!! Muah ha ha hahaaa!)

OK, I know there's more I want to say, but my brain is calling it quits. It's done; it's over it.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend! For more fragging, visit Mrs 4444's!

Signed,
Her Royal Meanness

Whooooo Am I? #3

This is the third post of my Whooooo Am I? guest post giveaway. If you have no idea what's going on over here, click the link and join in the fun!

The first thing you need to know about me and my blog is that I am a completely random writer. So many of us say that, though. We're all ADD adults. I wonder why. Perhaps it's because we have too much to do, too many things to say, and not enough people to listen to us. Have you ever noticed that EVERYONE wants to talk, but no one wants to listen? And that's why we all have so many blog posts and so few comments.

Now, more about me.

I love coffee. I love sugar. I love sleep, but I rarely get enough. That's because I have 3 little girls, 2 of whom have major sleep problems. Last night, they all went to sleep in their own beds (well, Jordan was on the couch) but somehow ended up in my bed. The only member of the family who did not sleep with me was my husband. Something's not quite right with this picture.

So you're probably still reading because you want to win a prize, not because my life is riveting. How about some clues? I'll make it easy on ya.

Clues:
I have a giveaway on my blog that has already ended but I haven't made the time to choose a winner yet.

There is some seriously awesome music that plays on my blog. It's all about Jesus. I love Him.

I often go to my blog because I think I need to express something. But once the page loads and the music floods over me, I realize that I really need to hear something ... Him speaking to me.

My blog is my refuge. It's one of the few places I'm able to meet with the Lord. The rest of my life is so loud. I need to go somewhere peaceful, restful, quiet, and refreshing from time to time so that I can block out everything else. I find exactly what I need when I hang out on my blog, just listening, reading, and looking. It not only enables me to put my life on a page, but also to read back over my life and see who I am through a reader's eyes.

I have 134 followers (give or take a few), but probably 10 or so actual readers. Want to be one? I prefer the latter to the former. I'd rather be read in actuality than followed in theory.

I love my husband.

I love my girls.

But they do make me a little nutty.

I used to be pretty cool, but I don't feel very cool anymore.

I think I'm an artist even if I don't have much time to BE one.

I'm a Texas girl married to an Alabama boy. Guess what. He won. We moved to Alabama 2 months ago. We've also lived in Louisiana and Mississippi. What's next? Georgia? Florida? I'm so sick of moving.

My blog roll is extensive. Would you like me to add you? Comment here and tell me why I should. Tell me why you're awesome. :)

I think I've made it pretty easy for you to find me. Happy hunting!

So, do you think you know who this poster is? I love reading about her adventures with her girls. If you think you've got it figured out, drop me an email!

Whooooo Am I? #2

This is the second post of my Whooooo Am I? guest post giveaway. If you have no idea what's going on over here, click the link and join in the fun!



Whoooo am I?
I'm a wife, a daughter and a friend and most importantly to me, a mommy... a cancer living and cancer surviving, and a lover of life who discovered blogging and love it and all that comes with it! It's my world, my life....pieces of me....exposed.
My children are the most important part of me and my life. I never thought I would ever have what I have today, doctor's told me it would never happen, and I will do anything and everything in my power to protect them from the evils of life while they do not have a voice of their own.
I'm philosophical about life yet my expertise is in the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
I have never been as emotional as I am now, since my children were born.
I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am the bleeding heart that a lot of times is suckered. But I love to volunteer and dedicate myself to the causes that mean the most to me.
I want my children to be surounded with the people who know and love me and them best, for fear that I can't be there to tell them myself.

And most importantly, I believe in Miracles.

If you think you know who this guest poster is, send me an email.

You may find some extra clues to the identity of my guest posters in the blog buttons under "Love.These.Peeps!" in my sidebar, or maybe on my BlogFrog or other widgets. Maybe. Check it out. ;o)

{I took a picture of the prize package today.

And left my camera at home. Because I'm brilliant like that.
But I'm going to TRY to get it uploaded for tomorrow's post.}

One more thing: I have one more Mystery Guest Poster lined up for tomorrow,
but I would LOVE to have at least one more to post on Thursday. Anyone interested? Shoot me an email sometime today, because after today I won't be on the computer much till next week.
xoxoxoxoxo

Whooooo Am I? #1

This is the first post of my Whooooo Am I? guest post giveaway. If you have no idea what's going on over here, click the link and join in the fun!


What a novel idea Cyndy had! I am so excited to be a guest author on her blog. I wasn't quite sure what I should blog about so I stared at my computer screen with pursed lips and furrowed brow trying to figure out what to write.

Then it dawned on me... I'll write about the "blogosphere". What an amazing phenomenon! I'm sure you will agree! After all, you make it what it is. I "follow" a lot of blogs and feel like I'm visiting someone's living room. Every blog is decorated in a way that shows the author's taste... not unlike the living room in her home. The blog posts are also things that are near and dear to her heart... just as a conversation in a friend's living room. Throw in a few pictures, again just like her living room. It's can also be a very intimate thing, her blog ... yet it can reach millions of readers. I've read blogs that chronicle devastating illnesses as well as every Mom's nightmare, the death of a child. I've cried for children I will never meet and marveled at a Mom's strength... not only to try to grasp and "live" through that unfathomable grief but to write a blog post that a Mom like me will read and carry in my heart. Wow!

My blog is pretty lightweight compared to some but I love it. Sometimes I have a certain topic in mind. Sometimes I just start typing and see what comes out. I've surprised myself... a post starts out one way and, by the time I've finshed writing it, it's nothing like I thought it would be.

I love the blogging community. I have made friends who I've never met, but, with whom I share a great deal... be it my three favorite things or an idea that makes me reflect and think.

I absolutely adore reading the comments that my readers (not as many as Cyndy, but, it gives me a happy jolt every time I see my follower numbers). It's still thrilling to me that you actually read what I've blogged about and then to take the time to write a comment... well, thank you! It makes my day, really.

I hope you have a nice day!

Have you figured out "Whooo Am I"? I'll be there for you if you figure it out! Maybe you weren't born to follow, but I hope you'll follow me once you figure out "Whooo Am I"!

Ok friends, if you have any idea who this may be, send me an email! Remember to look for clues...and read between the lines!

Whooooo Am I?

While I'm away on our Softball Vacation this week, I'm going to have some guest bloggers.

Now, you've all read posts from guest bloggers before. It's a fun way to meet new bloggers.
But there's something different about the guest posts that you'll see here this week.
You won't know "whoooo" the guest posters are.
You have to figure that out on your own!
They will leave clues as to their identity/blog in the post, and you will have to use your noggin and figure out who they really are.
You may find them in my followers list; they may be a frequent commenter on my blog. They're all winners, of course! They love words & books, like many of us bloggers. They love their miraculous children, both boys and girls...like most of us parent bloggers.
You can always just google them too!
Of course, there's a prize for your efforts. I have put together a prize package. I don't have a picture yet, but it includes a reusable shopping bag, note cards, stationary, and other fun stuff. It's a VERY cute design that will remind you of me, and if you like my new blog design...you'll love it!
In order to win the prize package, you must correctly identify all of the mystery guest bloggers. If more than one person guesses all of them correctly, I'll draw a winner at random.

The contest will end next Wednesday, July 14th. Good luck and have fun!

*ETA* Blogger seems to be eating comments today. I'm still getting them in email though, and hopefully it will be fixed by the time the first "Whooooo Am I"? post appears!

I thunked a thought!

I've mentioned a time or two or seventeen that we're going on a Softball Vacation this week.
So since my laptop has leprosy or something, that means I won't have much internet access for a few days.

Do you know what that means?
Good, because I don't have a flipping clue.

Or wait, maybe I do! It means I need guest posters.
To be more specific, I need four guest posters and I need them STAT. Because I have this super cool idea, only I just thought of it, and I want to do it this week.
So if you can write a guest post, and want to participate in something FUN, email me quickly!

{comments closed!}

Independence Day

War terrifies me.

When I think of those whom I love who are in the military right now,

I feel queasy just thinking of what they are facing.
But I also feel very, very proud.

I found this picture on a website and there are

several more very cool patriotic photoshopped pics. Check them out!

Wishing you a wonderful Independence Day.

Have fun, and remember what it's all about.

Fragments de Friday....

.....from the Casa de Dysfunction!

There you have it, my lame attempts at remembering High School Spanish.



So...what do I have to tell you about today?

As you may have guessed if you read Monday's post, this week has been stressful. Aside from the usual annoyances I have from other doofballs in my life, now I have Pretend Mom coming out of the woodwork and it's just worrisome. I have been biting my nails all week. I don't bite my nails!
I really don't think Christina will push the issue of getting involved in Andrew's life.....she has a short attention span and will probably move on to something else very soon. And we have plenty of legal recourse in keeping her away, including testimony from Andrew's therapist.
But my mind, it worries.......



Anyway. Fortunately, we have a happy distraction coming up -Elayna's softball tournaments! Next week will be a short work week and then our Softball Vacation will commence. We just learned that we will have at least one day with no games at all, so we will definitely find some fun things to do on that day. I think we'll have a great time. I just wish my oldest son could come along, but he has to work. I probably won't be online much at the end of the next week. Don't worry about me too much; I'll just be lounging on the beach.

I think a little R & R is just what I need!

Also, this weekend our town has a huge Independence Day celebration. We'll be helping out in a booth to raise money for the softball team part of the day, and enjoying ourselves the rest of the day! One of my friends is planning on meeting us there, and of course since it's such a small town we'll see tons of friends there. I recently read in the newspaper that our little town of approximately 7000 people attracts crowds topping 30,000 people for our fireworks display.
It rocks!

If I haven't been by your blog lately, it's just because I'm behind, as always usual. Both of my computers decided to take a poop at the same time, so it's hard to find time to get online. Don't take it personally! It seems like everyone is online less during the summer though. They're out having fun in the sun!
OK, I have done enough babbling for one Fragalicious Friday. Enought about me, tell me about you! What are your plans for this Independence Day weekend?

I hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day, a wonderful weekend altogether, and don't forget to visit Mrs 4444's for more Friday Fragments!