March 7, 2010 by Miss

I will always remember that…

… it was raining the day you were born.

… my night nurse loved The Simpsons and was illegally downloading episodes the night you were born.

… they brought you to me in a “Property of the U.S. Navy” onesie.

… you had big feet from the start and while you looked just like your dad, you got those from me.

… for the first 2 weeks, I couldn’t look at you without crying because you were that beautiful.

… all I wanted to do was touch your hair, and your cheeks, and hold your little hands and feet.

… you helped me get current on all after dark infomercials. And you never let me buy anything!

… you always hated being on your stomach, which is why you have a flat spot on the back of your head to this day.

… you had THE best baby laugh I’ve ever heard. You laughed with your entire body and I always laughed with you.

… you were never scared of baths and you would open your eyes super wide in shock when I poured water on your head. Then came the laugh.

… you had so much hair, you got your first haircut at 3 months.

… baby shoes never fit your fat feet. Not only were your feet too big, they were too thick. Also, you would kick off every pair of socks I put on you.

… you were mischievous from the start and 9 years later, you still are. I see that glimmer in your eye and I know you’re up to something.

… you have never been one to dwell. Yes, you get mad. Yes, you threw tantrums and you pout. But you are quick to forgive and you never hold things against people. You’ve always been able to move on quickly, in case you miss a moment to laugh.

… you’ve always been my protector.

… you need to sit next to me in restaurants.

… you aren’t afraid to hold my hand at school (yet).

… you usually pull my arm up so you can snuggle under it, no matter where we are.

… you love. You laugh. You have compassion for others, especially when they are smaller than you.

… you are you. You are who you want to be and you express that in your music, your clothes, and in the jokes and stories you tell.

You’re 9 today sir. You made me a mother and from the start, you’ve been changing my life every single day. You’ve made me see the world differently, how amazing and beautiful it can be and you’ve shown me how quickly it goes by.

I love the boy that you are and who I watch you becoming. You make me so proud to be your mom.

Happy Birthday dude.

February 22, 2010 by Miss

A couple months back, I got this really awesome box of stuff from a really awesome chick. It was full of all these little random things, each of which I enjoyed.

That awesome chick was Kat from Drawing Cowboys.

And an idea was born.

The Dollar $tore Challenge

It’s really simple. If you like shopping, then you’ll absolutely love this.

All you need is $20 bucks, a few more bucks for shipping, and a local dollar store.

Kat and I are collecting names and addresses of people who are interested in playing along. If you sign up, all you have to do is spend 20 bucks at your local dollar store and ship it to the person we send you. In return, you’ll be getting a box too. If you are like us, you know how many hidden treasures are available at dollar stores. It may cost only a dollar, but its actually priceless…. er something.

Ok so, we’ll be taking names until March 1st. That’s exactly one week from now. So if you are interested or you have any questions, or are just as excited as we are about this, leave me a comment and let me know. Make sure you leave a valid email address too so I can get you hooked up with the info that you need.

So! Care to take on the challenge?

WE DARE YOU!

UPDATE: We’ve had an awesome response and are done taking names! Thanks to everyone who is participating!

January 27, 2010 by Miss

At Disneyland of all places…

Wordless Wednesdays

January 13, 2010 by Miss

And we are barely even 12 days in…

Now that I’m not working, the things that annoyed me before, that I could easily ignore because I was distracted from them, are now in my face like, all day.

Enjoy!

~ Fan Pages on Facebook - Guess what? If I wanted to follow your blog’s fan page on Facebook, I would. I would have the first time you asked. I mean, if I don’t I might miss something right? Because your blog is already in my reader and I already follow you on twitter where you spam us every time you write a new post. Your fan page is totally going to give me new information, on top of my following the “real” you on Facebook too, where your twitterfeed is hooked up and you are probably using the NetworkedBlogs app. Guess what? Saturation is complete. No, I promise, it is. I don’t think I need to follow your fan page for you to know I support you. Plus, truth be told, you probably don’t read here and you certainly don’t comment so being your “fan” is low on my list of priorities. Oh and? This is a big one - if I unfollow your fan page, don’t re-invite me. You haven’t even acknowledged my presence in the better part of a year so um, yeah I don’t think so.

~Momspotting - For those not in the “know”, Sprint or some other crappy phone service sent free phones and a chunk of change to some bloggers in exchange for them tweeting about how they use technology in everyday life with their families or something. It’s pretty mind numbing. “I sent a text to my hubby to pick up tampons for me on the way home and I didn’t even have to leave the couch! #momspotting”. I’m totally not kidding. When is that shit going to end? Obviously you are using technology. It’s 2010. Half of us have phones that can access everything our computers can. This thing isn’t breaking any ground here.

~ Foursquare - Go check it out. Go check it out and if you can come back here and show me a GOOD reason why anyone would actually need to use this website, I’ll write a retraction. I’m serious. Basically, I can go to McDonalds and become its Mayor. AND let you know that I’m mayor of McDonalds on Facebook AND twitter and who knows where else. Excited??! Some places offer you free stuff like wifi and potatoes if you are the mayor. Hey! Guess what! I don’t fucking care where the hell you are and I certainly don’t want you to know where I am. If I did, I’d say “I’m shopping at Fresh and Easy bitches!” in 140 chars or less. And know what? It would be exactly the same. No wait, not true. I wouldn’t get a fake badge. Foursquare is completely worthless. Prove me wrong.

~ Words with Friends - UGH. Ok before you iPhone people start spouting off that I have iPhone envy, let me say this: I DO. iPhones are cool. HOWEVER, you are sacrificing good customer AND phone service and I’m not down with that. AT&T sucks major dick and every single one of you with iPhones know that is the fucking truth. Your phone is cool, that isn’t what this is about. This is about me having to see every damn few minutes “I’m so and so on words with friends! Come add me!” I dont know if the app tweets that for you automatically or what but it’s annoying. Also annoying? “.@iPhoneuser totally kicked my ass using ‘rodent’ on Words with Friends today! LOL haha OMG”  or “did you know that WWF won’t take ‘asshat’ as a real word? I totally would have beat @alsoannoying if it would! LOL OMG”. Knock that shit off people. We get it, you have iPhones and are playing Scrabble with them. CONGRATS.

So there you have it. Look at it this way, I have a lot of time on my hands so it’s probably not me, its you.

January 6, 2010 by Miss

Wordless Wednesday

January 5, 2010 by Miss

Sorry y’all but I had to do it.

While some of you may have been listening to Madonna, this is what I had in my Walkman. Earbuds? Hell no. Headphones bitches.

Please tell me you watched it all. Please. The cat is RAPPING. That is fucking bad ass. (And you’ll never realize how awesome you were in the 80’s until you are quoting those rap lyrics, by memory, with Heather on twitter.) Paula was ahead of her time. Also? I love her hair up in that high half pony tail. And I may or may not be rocking her bangs. Today.

Ahem.

Paula had it going on. Don’t lie to yourselves. In 1988, she was totally 80’s hot.

January 4, 2010 by Miss

So here I am, going on and on about how 2010 is going to be my year and how I can make it into whatever I want it to be and blah blah blah…

I got laid off today.

Not exactly what I meant 2010. Not at all.

Truth be told, I hated my job. I loathed my job. Just this morning, as I was walking up the stairs, “I wish I didn’t have to go in there” ran through my head. The last time I said that was at a job I had 5 years ago that was awful. To be honest, this job wasn’t as bad but it was still pretty terrible. “New (bitchy) management” had no clue what she was doing. She attempted to make us exclude our previous manager who knew the business inside and out and when we did have a question, she would just end up asking the other manager for the answer. It was pathetic. She completely fubar’d an otherwise good (time consuming, but much more logical) filing system for one she thought would save time. It didn’t. I would know, I was in charge of it. Stacks and stacks of paperwork filled my cubical.

I had recently gotten a raise. Finally received a review after it was long over due. I didn’t mention it because well… it was for 12 cents more an hour. That equaled 400 dollars more. A year. 400 dollars more a year. That isn’t even a car payment. They paid me just enough to show up, but no where close to enough to give a shit about that place.

Regardless of all that, I stayed because it was work. Because I got a paycheck every two weeks.

And now, I have no idea where my income is going to come from. That? Is a shitty feeling.

I’m hoping that this is the opportunity I need to really push myself to have a better life. I need to provide better for my son and one of my biggest goals this year was to move back out on my own. Maybe this is a jumping off point for that. Right now, I have no real plan or answers. But I have an amazing support system who is already helping me get in gear to find somewhere that can help me achieve these goals.

I’m thankful, I’m blessed, and things aren’t quite as scary as they were this afternoon.

January 3, 2010 by Miss

Two newest members of the family

Blue Moon - New Years Eve 2009

A Princess walking her dog.

For more Weekly Winners, go visit the lovely Lotus.

January 2, 2010 by Miss

The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.
-David Russell

Have you ever used the term “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it?”

I’ve used it in many different ways. Sometimes it’s very effective. It gets the job done when calming a person and their “what if’s” down. Hell, it has calmed me down when I’ve given myself pep talks once in awhile.

The start of a new year, the start of a new decade brings me hope. In the last decade, I’ve had amazing things happen to me. Some of them were devastating, some were incredible.

I graduated from high school. I graduated from college. I became a mother. I was suddenly responsible for the LIFE of another human being. His survival depended on me. You will never know the weight of that responsibility until you become a parent. You will also never understand it’s enormity, or its breathtaking beauty.

In the decade we just closed, I lost myself. Time and time again. I rediscovered who I was as a woman, as a friend, and as a lover more than once. I learned that everyone who comes into my life, be it for good or bad, can teach me something important. I figured out that instead of settling for ok, I am allowed to have amazing, that love in every connotation knows absolutely NO bounds. I’ve found so many blessings in so many unexpected places and I’ve finally learned how to recognize them and embrace them.

You have no idea how lucky I am. Sometimes I have to remind myself and every single time I make that realization again, I’m blown away.

It’s 2010. The start of a new year, the start of a new decade. Every day I’m going to remind myself that I can do anything with the day ahead of me, that it’s only up to me to make the rest of my life something amazing.

Can you imagine what this decade will bring? The possibilities are so open and so endless that it takes my breath away.

When I’m reflecting on this decade, in 2020, I want it to be beautiful.

I know it will be.

Because that bridge is here, and I’m crossing it.

January 1, 2010 by Miss

2009. It’s kinda general knowledge that 2009 sucked. When I look back on it now, it doesn’t seem all that bad but that’s because I have a terrible memory and I can only really recall the second half. Or maybe I blocked the first half out. Either way, I’ve said goodbye to 2009 and I’m very much looking forward to 2010.

Bring it on.

Here’s our Year in Pictures.

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