The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Oh hi! It's me again! I promise I'm going to do better at this blogging thing. It's a 2014 goal of mine which you'll get to soon read about later this week.

The Friday before Christmas was Aubree's Christmas dance. She was beautiful! 

When Brian takes our pic...it looks like I just smacked her and am trying to break my own neck.

Best shot of us and her eyes are closed. I'll take it!

But seriously, y'all, she was gorgeous!

So this year for Christmas we got Flu A...H1N1...whateva you want to call it but I refuse to say I had "swine" flu because I love bacon too much and it may turn me against it. It came with 2 sides...bronchitis and sinusitis!! Antibiotics, steroids, and nasal spray for everyone!

I had my flu shot and I'm glad I didn't pay for that thing! I admit I probably didn't get as sick as I would've without it. Instead of feeling like I'd laid in front of a combine and let it spin me into its headers and spit me out (Lordy she's country and graphic) I only felt like I'd been hit by a Peterbilt (my daddy's a trucker). I didn't get fever until Christmas night and it all started on the Friday before. Apparently being vaccinated can also "mask" some symptoms or whatever. So YAY for exposing errry'body! 

Come sit on your momma's lap and let her breathe H1N1 on you little cuties!

All the delicious goodies I made with my aching flu hands! It obviously didn't alter the taste. But really, I wore gloves. Can't stand stickiness on my hands. Yuck! 

The boys on Christmas night. :)

My dad and Aubree stopped by for a quick minute so she could open gifts and he left me food from my Meemaws. I think they held their breath the entire time!

And the cuties sporting their little shirts the day after Christmas at the pediatrician's office. We never got out of our pajamas on Christmas Day. 

And Lawdyyyy! I don't think we'll be eating Honey Baked Ham for a while here! Love them during the holidays but we've eaten this thing for days! I kept checking the expiration date like it was gonna change. If you're ever looking for a gift that keeps on giving here's another idea!

So, it was not the greatest Christmas ever. We didn't get to spend time with our families. Brian's grandparents and mother were down with the flu too. We also have no idea what the next several months may bring for us so that is sad too. Nobody's dying or divorcing...take a deep breath...but it's not something I will talk about here right now. You understand, right?

I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas and were not recipients of our gift that keeps on giving...unless it was the Honey Baked Ham of course! :)

Mommy's Wish List

In case anyone still reads or is wondering what to get me for Christmas I have been kind enough to compile a list as I battle my lovely night shift induced insomnia. #longestsentenceever

This list is in no particular order. Who has time for that shiz? Ready. Set. GO!

1. 

I think one of these would be spectacular to own but I also noticed this the other day...(see below)

I thought this may be nifty too. Anyone out there own either? Suggestions and reviews welcome!

2. 

This stuff is like magic in a bottle but it's pricey. Great for a mommy stocking stuffer. 

3. 

I'm def not a huge Merle fan. I'm a Clinique gal but I swear by this primer. It's pretty awesome.

4.

For crying out loud...someone please get my special ass a high tech corkscrew. I have broken corks and recently my hubby dropped a whole bottle on the floor trying to open it. #alcoholabuse Btw...said bottle cracked one of the kitchen tiles. 

5. 

I refuse to say how long it's been since I bought a bra for myself. Lawdy! I wear push-ups for obvious reasons. My bras are so old there's no longer a bomb in the shell. Help me, VS! 

6. 

For me there are no other jeans but Silver. I've been wearing these babies since high school. I need some new skinny ones.

7. 

I realize I'm 31 but these are too cute. Blue is my favorite and I'm loving this shade. Size 8! Ha!

8. 

O. M. G. How gorgeous is this?!? Wow!

9. 

The holiday season is never officially here until I'm burning these bad boys. They smell delicious. 

10. 

My favorite. I've been wearing this since high school too. Carter says "I smell mommy" when Caleb gets into my lotion. 

11. 

My friend, Summer, owns a clothing boutique in my hometown. You can find her on IG @ophelia503. I love these socks but this mommy can't pay $28 for some socks! #privateschooltuition

12. 

Really need these tech touch gloves. I'm prob like the only person left that is removing the gloves to text. 

13. 

Steve Madden is my boy. I swear he makes boots just for my feet. I own this style in brown so why shouldn't I have black too?

Well...that was fun. A mommy can dream. Haha! What's on your wish list? Anyone have corkscrew issues too? 

 

Locked Up

Well, it's 2:12 AM and I'm wide ass awake. It could be because I stayed up past midnight and my body thinks I'm at work and it's my lunch time or it could be the large piece of caramel cake I inhaled after the kids were in bed. 

Dear Kroger, stop cutting up cakes you don't sell and selling individual pieces! I lurve cake while watching House Hunters. #oldlady

This morning, or I should really say yesterday morning, I woke with intentions of knocking a visit to the Pumpkin Patch off our Fall Bucket List that we haven't checked a damn thing off of. 

Started out by stepping on a cheez-it as I entered the kitchen that I apparently missed during my evening sweeping session. Lovely. 

Carter, the insomniac, was wide awake and wanted "ceweal" so I went to grab the box from the "pantwy" and it's locked. Yes. We have to keep our pantry locked or else these children would weigh 500 lbs and we would have no food. I am serious. The eldest and youngest of my three are the worst. 

Who the hell invented these kind of locks and keys? Talk about a pain!

Next comes the milk for the cereal and of course the fridge is locked too. Seriously, if it weren't Caleb would drown himself in Capri-Suns. If you're saying, well if you'd watch them you wouldn't have such a problem then get lost! Seriously. 

Yes. This is real life. 

Carter decided he wanted yogurt instead. Ok. So what I just wasted 5 minutes of my life unlocking the pantry door. That's cool. I trusted he could walk to the table with said yogurt...but, no. Next thing I hear is "sowwy, mommy...accidents happen." My floor and wall were decorated with yogurt. 

Yogurt leaves a nice greasy stain on neutral walls FYI. When you proceed to clean the stain with Mr. Clean's BS Magic  Eraser it will also remove the paint. Yay! 

So, next I throw on some clothes and makeup, don't even bother to brush my hair but I did brush my teeth. Dress the kids and head out for the pumpkin thing only for it to be pouring down rain. 

At this point I decided to do what any woman in her right mind would do when dressed with 3 children in the car and nowhere to go... I headed to Target and the rest of the day was all good. ;)

Sounds crazy I know but I promise I wouldn't trade my locked pantry, fridge, and yogurt walls for anything in this world. 

Happy Thursday to ya! 

Coffee and Stuff

So, I've been gone for a hot minute or so. I can't say I'll be able to blog tomorrow or even next month but I miss all my readers...well, all but like one or two. There's always some nosey folks out there. 

My kids have been keeping me super busy lately plus I went back to work full-time and I went back to night shift. Carter started Pre-K and Aubree started Junior High. Little Caleb is into everything which deserves its on post. 

I know...I know. It's was all well documented on IG. 

In other exciting news, I've started drinking coffee. Yes. Never say never. White Chocolate Mocha. I have no idea how I managed to function without the stuff. Well, I take that back. I didn't function properly. Ha! So, leave a comment below if you're interested in flooding my mailbox with Starbucks gift cards. I'll be more than happy to give you my address. 

I also started highlighting my hair again. I called it "Operation I Found a Damn Strand of Gray Hair." Y'all are lucky I have a pic. My friend, Crystal, demanded I send a pic. It is hard to take a pic of highlighted hair when that's what your highlighting. Ha! It took at least 10 shots. 

I still run. Sometimes. Ok...maybe it's been a month. I'll do that later today. No...there's softball tonight. I can't go up there all sweaty and nasty. Damn. Hate when that happens. 

Enjoy your Tuesday. I'm off to find the perfect shirt, tie, and shoes for Carter. He's got Homecoming this week. Tomorrow it's dress shopping for Aubree. 

6th Grade

This morning Aubree will walk into Middle School as a 6th grade student. Where has the time gone? I clearly remember the day before she started kindergarten. My Meemaw told me on the phone that once kids start school they're grown before you know it. She was so right.

Aubree's first day of Kindergarten.

 

I worry about all my kids but she is the one that I worry about the most. Her dad and I divorced when she was 5 and it was ugly. She saw and heard much more than she should have. She is my child that doesn't tell you when she is upset or when something bothers her. She just has a total meltdown out of the blue.

 

She recently went to a summer camp and one of the counselor's told me how loving and caring she was to a child that was a few years younger and was being picked on. She has a kind heart and tends to be nice when she shouldn't. This is just one reason that I am so worried about her going to Middle School.



This pic is a prime example of how sweet she can be. We met this lady on a tour at St. Thomas and Aubree loved her. She just had to have her pic made with her. 

 

I feel like they go from Elementary School with recess and they get to wear shorts and there's little kids there and then BAM...here you go...no more shorts, no recess, big 8th grade kids who are doing whatever kids in 8th grade do these days. It's like a culture shock! I remember those years. They were some of the most awkward years of my life.

 

Her only worry is being able to work the lock on her locker...something else that is new. I am hoping and praying that she will make some good friends and focus on  her grades and balance it well enough to participate in extracurricular activities. I am sure that she will already know a lot of the kids there but the Elementary School she attended has no Middle School so she is going to the one in the next town.

 

I have thought today about when I started 6th grade. I remember that school year very well. I met my husband that year and he was the first boy to call me. I was so embarrassed when my dad came and asked why a boy was calling me. I remember him saying 'boys are gross." Yeah...ok, dad.

 

 

Say a little prayer for Aubree, please. We really need this to be a great school year!

 

Pre-school graduation 

 Loving on Carter

 Diva

 Family lunch. Before Caleb.

 Gatlinburg trip

80's day



Who Am I?

Does that not seem to be the best title ever for the blogger that fell off the face of earth? Yeah...I think so BUT it's because I am doing a link-up with one of my favorite bloggers, Kim! I figured since I am going to just bounce back into your lives that this would be a great way to do so. Plus, even though I said I was going to finish posting about our Vegas trip, let me be honest, I can't remember enough about the remainder of the trip to make a post that would not cause you to start drooling on your keyboard and then hitting your head when you fall asleep. Ha! So...here we go!

List 20 random facts about yourself. (Oh Lawdy...)
1. I only drink water, red wine, or strawberry margarita's. I did try something from Starbuck's the other day because Aubree talked me into it and it was good BUT CALORIES. But for real...I only drink water. No coke. No tea. Just water. Don't drink your calories.
2. I love Fall. It's the best time of year! Boots, sweaters, cooler weather, cotton pickers humming around here and COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!! GO DAWGS!
3. My favorite thing to eat is a fried cheeseburger with cheddar cheese plain on a white bun that is slightly toasted with French fries! Oh yeah!!
4. My first cousin, Nate, is like my brother and I would do anything in the world for him! Well...almost anything.
5. I think The Cosby Show was the greatest show ever!
6. A perfect evening to me is sitting at home and relaxing on the couch with a glass of red wine after I know the kids are asleep and watching House Hunters on HGTV. Yes...I save all the episodes and watch them over and over.
7. I can't wait until Christmas to watch Home Alone so about twice a year I wait until the kids are napping and cook a Totino's pizza and watch it. I pretend that I am 10 again! Best movie ever!
8. I will not go inside a bank for anything! If they can't do our business over the phone and let me sign pick up the paperwork in the drive thru and sign it we aren't doing business. I was robbed at gunpoint in a bank and am scarred for life!
9. I was a Labor and Delivery the first year that I was a nurse. It was what I went to nursing school for...to deliver babies! Well...let me just tell y'all...it takes a special person to deal with all that! Not all people are clean if you know what I mean. Just give me the baby afterwards...mmmmk!
10. The only country music that I like is classic country...like Waylon, Johnny, Merle, Conway and I don't listen to them often because they make me want to go sit in a bar and drink. I like all kinds of music but not this modern country or whatever you call  it. Annoying is what I call it.
11. From the time I was in the 6th grade until the 8th grade the same boy would call me EVERYDAY and say "will you go out with me" and I am now married to him. Haha!
12. I am scared to death of head lice! O.M.G!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even talk about it!!!!
13. When I am upset or anxious I clean! I remind myself of Magda off There's Something About Mary! Yes!
14. It's gotten better since we moved into this house but I am pretty scared of storms. We tend to have some bad ones here from time to time.
15. We had an Ice Storm in 1994 that started in the middle of the night and I lived in a very wooded area. We lost power and my parents put us in bed with them. My dad rolled over and hit his head against mine and that was the moment he realized I was in bed wearing a 4-wheeler helmet. My body may have been crushed by a tree but my brain was going to be good to go!
16. I am a really good cook! I am not much of a baker but I can cook up a delicious and unhealthy meal!
17. I am a complete neat freak except when it comes to my email inbox. Omg! I am terrible. I am so bad about glancing who sent me email and then closing it. It's mostly email from clothing stores. Why do I do this? It's not hard to delete the stuff!
18. I live about 40 minutes from Memphis and have never been to Graceland and I sure don't plan on going either!
19. I am like Kim and so over Aaryn on Big Brother! Candace is a better woman than I!
20. I get terrible motion sickness on rides that spin, rollercoaster that go upside down, or anything rocking on the water ...like can't even lay on a waterbed. Flying on a plane doesn't bother me though! Weird!

Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.
1. Ughh..yuck...losing my children. I don't want to outlive my kids. My fear is probably worse than most because I have witnessed my parents bury their daughter, my little sister, and I witnessed my Aunt, my mom's sister, bury her only son. It's just not right.

2. I am fearful of someone breaking into my house in the middle of the night or hell in the day time. This is legit because of crazy people!
3. I fear a bad earthquake. We live basically on top of the New Madrid fault and I am afraid when she decides to wake up and become active she will be one angry witch. It's been a long time. I just hope I am not at work. Supposedly Downtown Memphis will cave in and The Mississippi River will flood. Yay!

Describe your relationship with your spouse.
We love each other but don't see each other often because of our opposite work schedules. We may argue more than the average couple but it's hard working this way. We make it work though and there is no person I'd rather be with.

List 10 things you would tell your 16 year old self if you could.
1. You are a spoiled brat.
2. Study!!!!
3. Put down the cig! You think you look cool but you do NOT and you smell bad.
4. Stop taking all this boyfriend mess so seriously. In 10 years he won't matter anyways.
5. Be nice to your sister and spend as much time as you can with her.
6. Stop whining about your job at the grocery store. It's not like you're saving lives! Suck it up, buttercup!
7. There is more to life than parties on Friday after the football game and then more parties in the river bottoms on Saturday night.
8. One day you are going to decide to go to college and wished you'd worked harder.
9. You're actually smart so use the brain that God gave you.
10. These are the some of the best and easiest days of your life!

What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
1. My family
2. My job
3. My home
4. Big Brother
5. The countdown to college football!

Ok...so there is more but it just took me 3 days to get this done between working and kids, etc. So that's a wrap. Kim is doing different parts to this and I think it's fun. I just wish I had more time. Boo! I hope that everyone has a great Tuesday!

Hey Y'all

As I lay here doing absolutely nothing but listening to a storm while my kids sleep in I thought I'd stop and say hello to all of you that have so kindly read my posts since I started this blog. 

I finished my posts about our Las Vegas trip with lots of pics on the blogger app and was going to post them over 3 days. Somehow all the posts were deleted except for the titles. 2 hours of work..gone!

I could come up with a million other reasons for my absence as of lately. I love capturing moments with pictures and then sharing them but maybe I do that too much. I need to BE wherever I am and DO whatever I'm doing wholeheartedly instead of taking a pic or updating a status and then worrying how many likes I get etc. Brian and I talked about this while we were out of town. It was like discussing an addiction I have. Crazy! So most of the pics from our trip were taken on his phone and then he texted them to me later when we weren't out enjoying ourselves. He refuses to partake in social media.  

My childhood memories don't involve mom and dad with a phone in hand 50-75% of the time. I can look back thru old pics that had to be developed and tell you a story about almost all of them. 

This blog is important to me and so are the friends I've made and all of my readers. It's also been a small investment. It just seemed like I was constantly thinking of what my next post should be on the blog, IG, or FB. 

So, if you're still out there reading I appreciate it. I hope to get back to it this week but family first! I plan to redo the posts about our trip. It was too grand not to make a part of my diary which is basically what this blog is. I do have it printed into a book at the end of the year. I hope to get back to writing sooner than later.

Thanks for reading!

The Clampett's Go to The Bellagio-Day 2 Anniversary Trip

We were so excited to make our flight to Vegas. We could've cared less that we didn't get seats together because we were so close to having to take separate flights. So what if I sat with a Russian man and woman who were probably talking about me the entire flight! 

The flight was pretty good. We experienced some moderate turbulence over Nebraska but other than that it was smooth and pretty scenic. We had a great pilot that would tell us where we were every now and then and told us when we were flying over the Grand Canyon and The Hoover Dam. 

Nebraska. If I were a Midwestern girl I'd def be a Nebraska football fan!

Colorado

Not sure but it looked cool.

Near the Grand Canyon. You could see it from the left side of the plane. I was on the right praying for people to stay seated because I was afraid of a shift in weight. Haha! 

Grand Canyon vicinity 

Near Hoover Dam

I bet you'll never guess what our first discussion was after landing. Did you say food? If so you're correct! We had to starve for a little while though. We wanted to rent a car and you have to catch a bus at the airport and ride to the car rental place. After we got our Kia we headed to Las Vegas Boulevard. 

Approaching the strip!

We were way too hungry to check in to our room and way too hungry to wait a long time for our meal. In and Out Burger was on my Vegas bucket list so we figured it was a good time for that.

So after cursing our GPS and getting all turned around AND Brian smacking me in the head twice while stretching his arm in that tiny car we found In and Out Burger.

It was PACKED!

But they had a lot of people working there so it didn't take very long.

The best fast food burger I've had. Sorry Steak N' Shake! 

After stuffing our faces we headed to The Bellagio to check in. We weren't sure about parking but were told we would get free valet. We felt like some rich folks! Check in was very smooth. It took about 15 minutes which is not bad around 2:30 in the afternoon in Vegas. 

The room. Beautiful! It was modern and had lots of blue. My favorite color. The bathroom had Italian marble floors and had a separate  shower and bathtub.

 I can't believe I didn't take pics of the room. Here's Brian chillaxin' on the bed.

We had an amazing view. The Bellagio is known for the dancing fountains out front. They go off every 30 minutes and channel 22 in our room played the music they danced to. You can also see them from the strip and the music is played as well. 

Beautiful!

The fountains at night.

We were across the street from The Paris.

The Bellagio

After watching the fountains we started putting our clothes away. We noticed a refrigerator that had small bottles if just about every whiskey or liquor that you can imagine, red and white wine, coca cola, bottled water, OJ...of course we knew the stuff wasn't free. 

We also knew the stuff was probably super expensive. We decided to just set it out on the counter while our wine and liquor chilled for a couple hours. 

Just as I removed the last drink from the refrigerator I noticed a little red light flash under it. "S**T!!!!!" Ummm...yes, this high tech fridge charged you anytime a drink moved. We figured housekeeping did some kind of inventory erry'day and restocked it. Wrong!

I started putting the drinks back...QUICKLY while Brian called the front desk to let them know how sorry we were and it wouldn't happen again! She said she noticed our entire fridge had been emptied and was like $600 but she would clear it for us. Needless to say, we didn't touch it for the remainder of the weak out of fear of knocking something over!

Next were the snacks on the counter. I'm talking $10 m&m's and gummy bears. I told Brian not to touch them but the man would press a huge red button that says do not touch in bold print. I saw him checking it out and he said the tray holding the snacks wasn't plugged in and so he picked up a box of gummy bears and flash goes the red light. Geez! It's The Clampett's go to The Bellagio!

$10 gummy bears anyone?

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. There are 5 to choose from along with a bar and a pool cafe. I drank Miami Vice's all week long during pool time. 

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Battista's Hole in the Wall that my friend, Meredith, recommended. It's just behind the Flamingo and is a Vegas must! My dinner was $24.95 and Brian's $28.95 and included red or white wine, soup or salad, delicious bread, a little short old Italian man that comes to your table and serenades you while playing the accordion, and a cup of cappuccino following dinner. It was wonderful! 

We sat in a romantic corner booth. 

After dinner we were pretty exhausted. We played on the slot machines for a little while then headed off to bed. Our first day in Vegas was great!

Ever had a refrigerator incident like ours? Love Miami Vice's? Ever had In-N-Out Burger?