Abby pulled a Britney Spears!

So I love our dinner times when we can all sit down as a family and tell each other about the things that went on in the day. Last Friday nights' dinner was no exeption...

To cut a long story short (or not), I went for lunch at the Purple Foot on Friday with my good friend Sara, actually she was treating me to lunch as a late birthday gift, so while contently sitting there trying to calmly control our kids, I suddenly noticed (when Abby kept throwing her legs in the air), that she had no underwear on, and seeing as I had just picked her up from school, the horrible realization of her having no underwear on all day at school suddenly hit. What her teacher Mrs Cooke must have thought, I'll never know, but I do know that she went to the outdoor playground that day and must have ended up showing her jewels to most of the preschool. Anyhow, I will not take blame for it as every day I get her out her clothes to wear and that morning I had gotten underwear out for her also, she had just forgot to put them on under her dress... who would have known? Its not like I check under her dress everyday.

So that leads us onto our dinner conversation that night about embarassing moments... I guess I made such a fuss about Abby's lack of panties that she became embarrassed... a healthy emotion if you ask me... But to make her feel a little better about herself, we proceeded to remind her of Sam's ebarassing moment last month when he put on Abby's jeans and went to school. You would have thought that between Dave and I we would have managed to catch the fact that they were 2 inches too short and they had bootlegs... but oh no, mornings in our house are hectic to say the least... the blame? well Dave folded up clothes the night before and put the jeans into Sam's drawer and I pulled them out that morning for him to wear, so I guess we are both to blame... why is it we have to blame someone for embarassing moments anyhow?

So the conversation ended with me retelling my most embarassing moment of sitting in a pub with my boyfriend and best friend when I was around 16. Now I wasn't the tidiest or cleanest of 16 year olds, always something better to do than clean, but the night before, I had undressed for bed and dumped my jeans and underwear on the floor, exactly how they peeled off my body... the next day, I pulled the same jeans on and yes you guessed it, I didn't realize that my 'day before underwear' was still in the jean leg, until my best friend Emma saw them sticking out the end of my pant leg at the pub and not so quietly (so my boyfriend could hear) said "what's that popping out of your jeans?"... I immediately rushed to the ladies' and flushed that pair of underwear down the toilet, I just couldn't bear to see them again... of course I was ridiculed all night, and needless to say I never dumped my clothes on the floor again, I did dump my boyfriend though (not because of this)... and to this day Emma and I are still great friends...

So when asking daddy at the table what his most embarassing moment was, it took him a while to respond like he had never had one!!! In the end he recalled a story about once he was in a nativity play and the only line he had to say was "the sheep are getting restless". So all night on performance night he is waiting to say his line and when it finally comes to his moment of glory he ends up saying "the sheep are getting reckless", much to his embarassment. I guess the audience thought it was amusing though.

Hmmm, not sure if this was as embarassing as all our underwear stories (or lack of), but the kids were amused...

Top Ten Things I Like About Myself

OK, so in answer to Erika's tag, here are the top ten things I like/love about myself... which I found a little harder to do without sounding like I blow my own horn! But actually, this was very uplifting to write about and reminded me of all the things I should be more grateful for every day that I probably take for granted!

1) I love that I have found my soul mate in my husband, I traveled 4,000 miles across the world to find him... After nearly 8 years of marriage, we are still as happy as the first day we met, if not happier and are totally each others support in life.

2) I always dreamed as a kid of having one cute boy and one adorable girl, a near perfect husband and a white picket fence... OK so the picket fence is kind of a reddish brown stain, but everything else is right... who says dreams can't come true?

3) I love that I don't see people through color, age, ethnicity or religion... I see people for who they are as a person and am extremely blessed to have friends from Japan, China, Israel, England, Spain, America, Philippines, Germany and Puerto Rico. I cherish my true friends, they mean a lot to me.

4) I love that I have traveled a lot... I had itchy feet growing up, I could never settle anywhere, had to keep traveling. Well all that traveling paid off because not only did I meet my husband, but I became more at peace with settling down and starting a family. Now I have some great memories of the 'places I've been' and the 'people I've met' to tell my kids when I get old and start repeating myself!

5) I love that I am a proud Brit and always will be, but that I have the opportunity to enjoy the more laid back American way of life...

6) I love that I have horseback riding in my life still after all these years... and that I am actually qualified to teach such a great sport/hobby.

7) I like that I like to help people either through actions or words, (and even if they don't want it sometimes - lol) and that I stand up for my beliefs (even if it means I'm backing the underdog).

8) I like that I am organized (if you don't venture into my office) and have a place for everything...

9) I love that I grew up in small very close family and that I now have a wonderful much larger, (but still close) extended family.

10) I love that I am STILL dreaming and continuously believing....

You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek – and almost always achieve – a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Awww Come On....

So Sam has this funny little thing (not quite a tic but close) that he does right now. Every time I say no he can't do or have something, he says "awww, come oooon", which cracks me up so hard I eventually end up giving in. Not even too sure where he got it from, I am presuming school, as that is where we are picking up quite an interesting vocabulary these days.

The other day at the dinner table, Abby was struggling with her food (mainly because she had eaten 2 cookies waaay too close to dinnertime), so when I asked her to eat her mac and cheese (it was a healthier homemade mac, not the processed stuff which she would have gobbled up), she turned around and said "I don't like that" to which I replied "don't like is not in our vocabulary." "Why do we have to eat vocabulary mom" she said... we were all laughing so hard, we forgot all about her uneaten mac and cheese...

Car Flatulence...

Just a quick update on the car situation... I DID sell the Corolla, for the full price I was asking, to the same guy who promised he would come back on Saturday... the transaction couldn't have been any smoother and hopefully that great little car will serve him well, it did great for me...

Anyhow, someone has a very cute sense of humor as the new car we bought has some strange noises occurring when we turn the wheel more than 180 degrees! It sounds like a mix between a duck quacking and the sound of someone passing gas - so if you are ever in my car, please don't give me a strange look like it was me, now you all know... and Jarrett, if you have any crashomatic ideas as to what this could be, I sure would like to know...

Why don't these things ever show up when you are test driving a vehicle???

Inspirational People and Slurpees...

So I was dying of thirst yesterday and decided to venture into 7 eleven to try out the famous Slurpees that everyone has talked about - yes, it's sad, I have lived here 7 years and have not yet tried a Slurpee - anyway I am faced at the machine trying to decide which one to get (I almost called Erika but my cell phone was in the car) and eventually decide on the orange one. So I fill my cup and then realize that it seems to be going down rather rapidly like the fizz is disintegrating or something, so I keep filling. Then I have this brainwave to put the cone shaped lid on and keep filling the cup, just so I get a little more... all was going well and the Slurpee was delicious (I am officially a fan), and I am standing in line waiting to pay and the cashier is taking ages to serve people because she keeps answering the telephone which is ringing constantly, so the lady behind me and I start talking about the slow service and according to her it is always like that in this 7 eleven (the one on the corner of King/Ivy). Anyhow, by this time the Slurpee has decided that it can seep out the edges of the lid (as I had really overfilled it) and down onto my arm and hands. By this time the cashier is ready for my money and I am fumbling around in my wallet, my hands sticking to everything I touch including the $5 note I hand her, which was kinda embarrassing. So I walk out the store and hear my name being called and lo and behold its from a friend of mine, Michelle Annese, who has her own Karate school off of Ohio.

So we sit in her sweet Mercedes SUV, which makes my new Toyota Camry look cheap, and chat about life and such... Michelle is a really sweet person who, with her husband came to Waynesboro to open up a Karate school 8 years ago. They took some huge financial risks to make the school work and I am sure made a lot of errors along the way, not to mention raising 3 children around it all, so it has been a tough road, but their business is at a point where I would say they have the "financial freedom" we all long for. They have worked very hard to obtain this and obviously not without sacrifice, but they are their own bosses, running a very successful school, doing something they both love doing and have watched it grow from nothing. They have recently revamped the whole place too, and it looks fab.

Then there is my masseuse, Ann Coman, who also has built her massage business up from scratch and is also very successful, (she has built her business up in a small room in the Karate school) and has also came from nothing - literally - her and her husband had $100 in their pockets when they moved to Waynesboro, and things went horribly wrong for them both immediately after arriving (long story)... now, she is a flourishing masseuse, and sometimes my shrink!

All around me there are inspirational people, the Golds, striving hard to make their tax offices work while sacrificing all the time, the Lassens, about to finish their education to fulfill their own employment pursuits - and maybe kill a few more mice along the way! My neighbors, Jess and Sonya who have their own successful painting business, even though Jess does not enjoy job, Cindy and Bob Mutscheller who have their own window cleaning business, just to name a few.

Dave and I would love to have our own business and if the opportunity ever came our way, we would definitely try. Not sure if we are as brave as everyone mentioned above to live in debt doing it, which is probably why we don't MAKE the opportunity happen... but for now, it is just nice to sit back and admire others who put so much on the line everyday and sacrifice so much in order to make their dreams happen, you are all very awe inspiring people who I am blessed to know...

A Miserable Night...

So not to try to top Missy's blog about Apsen and the pencil sharpener, but last night after working out, I came home to find Dave holding an icepack on Abby's head and blood everywhere. It turns out she has been testing out her gymnastics out on the couch downstairs and her Star wars somersault did not quite go according to plan, leaving her cutting her eyebrow open on the coffee table and bruising her nose (she was lucky not to break it). So after careful consideration as to what to do, we opted to take her to the hospital to reduce the scarring seeing as the last time she cut her leg open and we took her to the doctors he said "a butterfly bandaid is fine because the wound is on her leg but if the wound was on her face she should be getting a stitch to reduce the scarring".

So off we go to the hospital. Now, Abby is fine in spirit and certainly not concussed but the blood is still seeping from her wound. After doing all the necessary paperwork/insurance discussion at the hospital whilst Abby is still dripping blood, we are doomed for a miserable 2 hour wait amongst children and adults alike throwing up, groaning and looking deathly pale around us. We got in a constant battle with our kids to stop licking the seats and putting their fingers in mouth!

We finally hear her name called and it is like we have just won the lottery, although we still know we are going to have to wait in the next room for a doctor. Admittedly, the doctor was very nice to Abby when he came in, but by this time his humor was lost on me as I just kept thinking "do you know how long we have had to wait" and "if I were getting paid as much as you were, I would be calling every little girl 'as cute as a button' and 'adorable' too. Only to find he glues her wound back together (and half the creases above her eye) with dermabond. Now I have liquid seal at home which would have done just a good a job, it might have stung a little when initially applied, but that sting is short lived in comparison to the sting of waiting 2 hours amongst some of the sickest people in Augusta County, high medical expenses, and a feeling of of being in an overpaid cattle market.

Needless to say when I asked the doctor if liquid seal would have done the job at home, his answer was "Hmmm, I don't know that product, it might have." Skechy answer to say the least... but it does him no good to promote over the counter medications, when we can pay $100 for his drug companies' Dermabond glue, does it?