REJUVINATE.CULTIVATE.CREATE

Last week was one of those weeks when I really liked my job. I tend to always like my job and most of the time love it but last week there was no question. I attended an event with Moen, one of our vendors, called Moen Inspire. I had attended before so I was prepared ahead of time for the "treat" that it would be. Moen does a great job of mixing fun with  information. So while we were attending mini "lectures" all day they were very enjoyable and informative and the setting of the resort in New Mexico was really beautiful.

We arrived Wednesday and because I had computer problems I spent an hour and 45 minutes in my room with the Dell technical support getting my laptop straightened out. But I didn't let that ruin my day. I made my appearance for Diet Coke hour (that's my cocktail of choice) promptly at 4:30. That evening we did an ice breaker. When you have 250 people there from all across the country, it had to be really cool or it would flop. And the creative genious that thought this one up should get a raise. It was so fun. We were broken off into groups based on whatever trinket design you picked up at the door on your way in. On "GO" each group was revealed their "fashion style" and we had one hour to take any or all of the components on our table that followed our theme, make an outfit, choose a model for the outfit to fit and select an MC for our catwalk. Our theme was Hippie Chic. I guess I wasn't in the team spirit because I didn't even take a picture of our cute little girl and her adorable outfit. We used a shower curtain to make a skirt. We used a beach towel to make a fringe vest. Of course since we are in the plumbing industry we had to incorporate some plumbing aspects into our outfit. We had a really cool guest, Carter Oosterhouse from HGTV,  that kicked the event off and then walked around admiring all of the work. I don't think he was stealing any of the ideas  for his shows though although I was AMAZED at the creativity.

After our hour we headed into the next room to experience our own "Project Runway". Each model had appropriate music and walked the catwalk while the MC talked about her outfit. There were two other judges that frankly we didn't care about who joined Carter in narrowing down the 20 or so models to just one winner....SPORTY! I wish I had a picture because it was this girl who totally sold it on the catwalk as a boy football player. She packed stuffing in her pants to make her look "thick" and her butt was nice and round. My favorite was the bride though. It was a guy who came out in this tafida wedding gown dancing and turning and the audience is laughing so hard when he has a wardrobe malfunction and his dress is coming down on one side. He had one nipple showing and still strutting his stuff. We were in tears.....I know you just had to be there.

 These pictures were taken on day 2 after he did his keynote address. The group picture is my co workers who joined me on the trip. 

The next evening they bussed us out to this amazing Equestrian Ranch. The veiw was amazing and the grounds were gorgeous.

As you can see we experienced the Indian culture including a little hand massage therapy....I think that might be American culture that they stole from us. HA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

A few days late. So this year I became one year closer to 40. It was kind of a big year in my mind which means next year may be difficult and the next might be down right depressing. The problem is I feel 27 and sometimes may act like I'm 20. But my body and obviously my calendar (and my kids) remind me that I am far from those ages.

Oh well....more wrinkles, more rolls, more aches, more memory lapses....there is NO escaping it. I might as well embrace it.

NEED A LAUGH?

This has nothing to do with my family....sorry.

If this doesn't make you laugh out loud then we probably wouldn't be friends! Look at the girls face trying to catch her friend falling.

I know I'm mean....sorry I can't help it.

BINDER

I created this artwork in Photoshop one afternoon, uploaded it to a site, and was shipped a binder within a week that was so darn cute it made me want to go back to school.....

just so I could have the binder.

While it's not near as durable, it still looks cute. And it was cheaper than a normal binder so even if I have to order her another one for next semester, I think it's cute enough to do so!

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES

So on our Labor Day trip I made careful note of the things that came out of the mouths of the two 3 year olds that were accompanying us. Hudson and Layne (my Cousin Mark’s little girl). 3 year olds are full time comedians if you ask me.

Hudson as he sat on the toilet in Jason’s Deli

“Mommy, I gotta hurry so the big fat man doesn’t get my milk”

Layne as Hudson passed her in the house naked

“Hudson you need to put your clothes on because I don’t want to see your vagina”

Christina to Hudson as she herded him upstairs

“Hudson are you ready to go to bed?” to which Layne quickly stopped her with, “No, we are going to watch a movie like Rio. So don’t you be telling all these kids to go to bed”

My mom (and Calli. And me) would frequently call my Aunt’s dog a he. After every time, no matter how fast the reference was, Layne would say “It’s a she”

And one final one that didn’t happen at the lake house but is worth noting. Hudson was up at Wes’ office and had to go potty. Peggy, his secretary, took him into Wes and said “Uncle Wes, Hudson needs to go potty will you take him?” Of course Wes jumped at the opportunity to help his little nephew out and they ventured to the men’s room. Only Hudson pulled a little surprise on him when he got to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and said “Uncle Wes, I have to go poo-poo”. I’ll let you imagine Wes’ face on your own.

LABOR DAY JAUNT

Wes, Scott and Colson decided on their annual Labor Day trip to Oklahoma to get their deer feeders ready for a Fall hunt. My aunt had invited us up to the lakehouse so my sister and I decided to take the rest of the kids up there for a relaxing weekend lakeside. We headed up Friday after school and Hudson's nap and arrived late on Friday. By the time we all unloaded, visited a little with my mom, aunt and cousin Liz, and climbed into bed it was 12:30. My sister, Calli and I got up to go shopping at the outlet malls because we love large crowds and crazy shoppers on holiday weekends.

Calli was very excited about the weekend because Aunt Carol had told her that she would teach her to ski. She was ready to get back and get on the lake so she could learn how to jetski (as she called it). After the outlet malls, we decided the lake was still full of too many people to be on it, so we went to The Lodge for a swim. I was the genious who brought three swim bottoms but no tops so I had Camden duty on the side of the pool and as you can see from this picture, that was hard.

Calli was persistent in knowing what time it was and what time we'd be taking the boat out. My aunt, I think, was getting cold feet and doubting her boating skills. She asked me to got over to The Lodge front desk and see if they had any private lesson openings that evening. Lucky for us there was one open in about an hour.

To say she was excited is an understatement. To say she was nervous is a lie. She jumped in that water fearless, listened to every instruction intently and got up on the second time on the big long stick they use for teaching people and the second time doing the real deal. And because I'm a NICE mom, I'll share with you the bloopers before you see her success.

So she did great with our instructor Max who I thought was a Senior in college but turns out was a Senior in High School. When we got back to the lakehouse my aunt asked how the instructor was. Calli immediately chirps "He was smokin'!" My aunt, immediately taken aback, questions "He was smoking?" By her surprised look I knew she was thinking in the literal term as in he was smoking a cigarette. So I immediately corrected her line of thinking by telling her that "no my 6th grader was saying he was smokin' hot...as in good looking". We all laughed. But noone denied her statement.

She was anxious to get on Aunt Carol's boat only we had a few difficulies with one boat and so she decided we'd just wait until the morning and take the other boat out. You can imagine the excitement that excuded as she bounded out of bed on Sunday. We got the boat all figured out and Hudson, Lane, Calli me and my aunt left the dock headed to find a smooth part of the lake to see if Calli could duplicate her experience yesterday and was a legitimate water skier. I was a little nervous as I observed the many people on the lake and even more nervous when my aunt lifted up the rope attached to boat and it had no handle. She pulled out a different rope that she thought would be better (but was really too short) and it too had no handle on it. Luckily we had a handle but neither one of us knew how to tie it to the rope. Calli didn't seem worried at all, she just wanted in the water so she could show off.

I tied it the only way I knew how, attached it to the Mercedes Benz looking emblem on the back of the boat the best way I knew, threw Calli in the water and watched out of one eye as my aunt took off. While she didn't get up on the first try, it wasn't because the rope snapped or my aunt went in reverse instead of forward. She got up quickly after that, ventured outside the wake and even gave it a shot on a slalum.

And Hudson would clap with glee when Calli got up. He'd say "Yay Gotchie". And Layne would mimic "Yay Golly". After a while, she was tired of watching and decided to rest her eyes for a little bit.

I love this picture of Layne who is obviously very irritated by something in her suit.

We had a great time and I think the boys had some fun of their own.

CHEF CALLI

Calli really enjoys cooking. I'm really going to try and nurture this this year and let her cook a few meals a month for us. When she goes over to my mother in laws, who likes to cook, they enjoy cooking together. And because she also enjoys food, she likes to eat something and then rant and rave about how good it is, asking for the recipe and hyping it up to me so I'll get the recipe and cook it.

I'm not really into cooking. There are so many other things that I would rather be doing than cooking. I don't think I really enjoy food either. I just eat for survival. Granted, if you looked at me, I need a lot for survival, but that's just because of what I eat. I appreciate junk food and processed food. 6 course gourment meals don't really excite me.  And when I cook, I only promise that it will be edible. Don't expect me to open up my own restaraunt.

Anyways, Calli decided she wanted to make my moms Chicken N Rice. All by herself. I went to the gym. She cooked up dinner. I liked that trade off. I came home from the gym and it was about 10 minutes away from being served.

Colson can't quite figure out why we are taking this picture. He says we eat every night, why do we have to take a picture.

**SIGH**

Over the years my son has done things that really make me go "Hmmm". But it's not really hmmmm as in the thoughtful let me think about the answer it's more like a Hmmmm WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? He's always been destructive and the words out of my mouth are usually "What made you think that was a good idea". Of course we have the time when he tied the dogs to his bed so they would sleep with him. And then the time he decided to document the loss of his first tooth on his bed. And then we had an incident with a rubber band and an animal that I've never spoke about on here and will keep it that way for fear of fierce hate mail.

And here are a few more recent ones...

I got a new car. Calli threathened Colson with his life to keep it clean. I laughed under my breath but appreciated the stern talk. Colson decides to take a styrofoam cup and rip it into what seemed like 6,000 pieces but was probably more like 600. What did I say? "WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?" And I should point out that he still tries to do this act of wreckless behavior only I've learned how to NOT tune out the ripping of styrofoam.

Colson found a screwdriver one day. He decided it would be a good idea to unscrew the light fixture plates just a little bit. He thought that would make the plate fall off when you flipped the switch. He also did this to the door jam where in the garage and for about 2 days I couldn't shut the garage door. And then I realized what was wrong. What did I say? "WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?"

A few weeks ago Colson was hanging out at my in-laws. She noticed that the door knobs in every room, closet, bathroom, etc were all sllippery. She asked Colson if he put anything on the door knobs. He quickly ran to get the jar of vaseline that he had used. What should she have said? "WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?"

And finally, the night before school, Colson was getting all clean for his first big day at school. I walk into the bathroom where he was taking a bath and notice the water was milky looking and he had a razer in his hand. I asked "Did you shave your legs?" Eventually admitting it I said "WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?"

His answer? ALWAYS "I don't know" with a big shrug!