I'm getting older by the minute

My oldest baby girl is 16 today.

16!!

It's hard to believe that I have a kid that old.
and that

a.) I was only 3 years older when I got married
b.) I was only 4 years older when she was born

I think I'll just put her in a little bubble and not let her out.

To celebrate her birthday we are going to San Francisco tonight with 2 of her friends. They are going to a concert and we'll be spending the night in the city. Hopefully it's as fun as it sounds!!

Natural Is Scary

When I was a little girl my mom used to always tell me "less is more" when it came to make up. That always stuck out in my mind so I always tried to go with more of a "natural look" Just some foundation, powder, eye liner, mascara, a little blush and lip gloss on occassion. If I was getting really primped up I might put on a little bit of eye shadow, but not much.

Pretty much everyone I know and have hung out with wears make up. To me it's just part of being a girl, trying to look nice and your best face forward.

When I started working at my job I was really surprised at how many women DO NOT wear ANY make up. I'm not talking old married women either. These are cute, single gals. But they are all so PLAIN looking.

Maybe it's the nature of my job. I work for a "conservation" agency which is pretty much tree hugger central. I didn't plan out to work here, it just kind of fell in my lap so I don't have the mentality that someone that picked this profession would have I guess.

You know, kind of hippy-ish, down on the farm, maybeimalesbian type.

It's really kind of a culture shock sometimes.

Especially when we are discussing wardrobes and someone shows off their "natural" legs. Now I've seen hairy legs before but they were always on a man. The rule of thumb has kind of always been that if you wear anything but jeans, you shave your legs.

Not quite the case here.

So how about you? Do you shave and wear make up on a daily basis?

Somethings should maybe not be DIY

When Scott and I first met and started dating his hair was a little long and shaggy. That wasn't really a big issue since it was the early 90's and we were young. When it started to get REALLY long he decided it was time to go see his mom. Why? Because his mom cut his hair.

So we trek over to his mom's house and she pulls out her hair cutting kit. Which consisited of a bunch of pieces of cardboard that were measured out in 1", 2", etc pieces. When I saw that I looked on in horror and thought WTF seriously??? Who cuts their hair by holding up pieces of cardboard?? Do they know Supercuts will cut your hair for like $8 or something (back then).

Anyhow, she cuts around his head and eventually she's done. I think that was the last time she cut his hair because I was laughing at him so hard.

The next time he needed a hair cut he wanted me to cut it. I cut it a few times, not really knowing what I was doing. Until the day I really fucked it up and he went to work and everyone laughed at him.

He wore a hat for awhile and then started going to Supercuts to get his hair cut.

So fast forward a few years and my friend gives me some hair cutting clippers to use for Trevor. "It's easy" she says. Well I didn't really believe her so they sat in the drawer forever.

Until last night. Trevor's hair was getting so long and we just haven't had the time to stop in to get his clipper cut. We were talking about the clippers and he said he wanted me to do it.

So I did.

I was about half way into it and he tells me "I look like an idot!".

bwaahahhaha

It really wasn't that bad though. I might even be able to get the hang of it with a little practice.

And if I get some cardboard I can measure to make sure it's all even....

What a fun weekend!

Friday  was mostly a party day at work. It was the last day for one of my co-workers. She's been here for quite awhile so there was a big good bye party and pot luck. It was a lot of fun!

After work I picked up the kids and we went over to Jessica's softball game. It was over by where I grew up and my mom & brother's houses. After the game we went and hung out at my brother's house for awhile so the kids could play and I ended up not getting home until around midnight!

Saturday morning we had to get up early to go to Trevor's t-ball game. When we got back I took the kids and went down to the annual car show that they have out where I live. We spent all day down there. I have a nice farmer tan sunburn to prove it.

I need the taxi sign on the top of this car!

My favorite

                                               Trevor posing (he's not really leaning on the car)

Eventually everyone was worn out so they went home and I came back to hang out with my friend some more. I think that's the most I've hung out with non family members in a long time. It was a lot of fun and whew a few good stories to tell!

Sunday I was just going to clean house but then my brother invited us to come over to swim and have dinner. The whole family came over and we had a nice time hanging out although the water was pretty cold so the kids didn't stay in the pool for very long! We didn't stay too late because Jessica's friend had to be home at 8. We got home and I was in bed at 9!

We were all up nice and early and ready to go this morning. It was so odd for a Monday morning!

How was your weekend?

I found more pictures of the car show on flickr

O'Neal I love you!

Did you all watch the Biggest Loser last night?

I was crying early on when O'Neal was doing the push ups like the "young guys". I was thinking

GO O'NEAL!!!

Look at how far he has come!!

And then, when he fell during the challenge, I was like OMG!! I thought for sure he hurt his head, got a concussion or something. I was really hoping that wasn't going to take him out of the game. I mean he was doing SO WELL!! And where the hell was the guy that was supposed to be holding his rope??

I was glad he came back so quickly from the hospital with minor injuries.

But then his brother died. How sad!!! Poor guy!! It's like when life hits you it has to hit you HARD. Much like real life I suppose. I'm glad the trainers worked with him a lot with trying to help him work through his grief. When he broke down I was in full on crying mode.

I'm so glad he didn't end up under the yellow line!

What did you think about the show?

Crooked Trees

Yesterday I went to Home Depot on my lunch break to pick up some tree stakes. My mom had given me a few little trees that had come up in her yard (Privets, the same as what I have on the side of the house) and I planted some in my yard and 3 in the empty lot next to us. (I checked with the lady that "owns" it and she didn't care) I still have one left that I will probably just give it to the neighbor if I don't kill it first.

Hopefully the ones I planted will take

I also pulled out the crooked stake and the one that came with the tree on my leaning tree. I couldn't put one back since I'm not tall enough. I'm thinking I might just leave it out and see what happens. Normally the wind blows to the left and that's the way the trees lean around here. I'm thinking mother nature might straighten it out.

This one is crooked at the base, probably should have paid more attention to that when I bought it. Not quite sure what to do about that one either.

Garden Update

I have one more spot in my Pay It Forward. Just leave a comment on that post if you'd like to participate!

We had a pretty nice weekend. Saturday I played around in the yard a bit before going to a "grown up" birthday party. Sunday was more playing in the yard. Here's some pictures!

I have baby birds in my tree!

Really need to fix that tree stake, the tree is holding it up.

Don't my kids look like they are wondering WTH their mom is doing?

I probably should have taken these before the sun was blazing in the west.

African Daisies and my little area I still haven't finished

We need to do some kind of weed killer along the road. Round Up scares me though.

Alyssum is coming up all over.

Grenada Blanket Flower

Pretend this is sideways Margarite Daisy

Blue Hibiscus

Allure LIght Pink Zonal Geranium

My ground cover is really starting to fill in! Blue Star Creeper and my gladiolas are working their way up.

I planted a few baby trees later and some sunflower seeds.

Paying It Forward

My friend Barb over at Tinksquilts did a Pay It Forward post awhile back. I had totally forgot about it when I got my package in the mail! Look at the cute stuff she sent me!

 

Barb is totally talented. She's an awesome quilter and makes and sells cute stuff on her Etsy Site

So now it's my turn!

How it works:

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. If you are one of the first three to make a comment, you are a winner! And you then agree to post this challenge on your own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

A Squeeked Out Birthday Party

In between Easter and Vegas (and work and everything else) I had to squeek out a birthday party for Melissa. She wanted a sleep over in the tent outside. I made up some cute invites and had her take them to school with her before spring break started. Hardly anyone RSVP'd as usual, but she did end up with 3 girls coming over.

We had nachos

And pizza

and wine (well maybe just me)

and they got to act goofy

and have cupcakes

And 2 out of three of them were gone by 10:30

(I put 9:30 on the invite for pick up time, because I'm mean like that)

I think she had fun.

I Went To Vegas, Baby!!

The last time we went to Vegas was in 2008, just Scott and I on an anniversary trip. This time we went with 3 other couples, my brother, Scott's niece (who is my brother's girlfriend), my other brother and his wife, and then some friends of theirs.

Like usual we booked our trip through Allegiant Air. SUPER cheap trips people! It was such a great deal that's why we went when my brother invited us to go with them.

We left Sunday afternoon. My mom came to take care of the kids and the puppy so I had the house all cleaned up and most of the laundry done before we left (because I knew she'd clean if I didn't, which is nice but I didn't want more work for her). When we got to the airport everyone was in the bar already getting their drink on (except for my brother's friends they came to Vegas the next day). It wasn't long before we were on the plane and then landing (it's a one hour plane ride). My brother had his first time in an airplane and my parents didn't lose all their children in one airplane crash.

When we got to Bally's we were booked into seperate towers from my brothers somehow, which sucked but oh well. We had a better view.

Apparently they had a view of the roof.

The first thing we did was find something to eat. We ended up at one of the hotel's little restaurants, The Tequila Bar & Grill. My brother ordered the nachos appetizer. The waitress said it was big. Apparently she wasn't lying!

It came out on a plate the size of a turkey platter! Needless to say he didn't finish it (or make much of a dent!). It was a little pricey to eat dinner there, we spent $50 on dinner. Later we saw that we could have had $1 margaritas and $1 tacos instead of our $15 pitcher and more expensive meals.

After that we met up with my cousin Al and his girlfriend. She is from Vegas so she was going to take us around a bit. We quickly all decided she was slightly crazy. She took us to a little bar that was packed and Scott and I decided to bail since we were feeling a little uncomfortable.

We headed over to NYNY to get our big drinks like we got last time.

We decided that we'd drink them on the way back to the hotel. This is us about 1/2 way down the street

Feeling no pain.

We made it back to the hotel room and relaxed a bit (watched Shrek of all things) and then had some "alone time" and crashed out at 10ish. Great first night in Vegas eh? 

We woke up the next morning around 6 or so and then got showered, dressed and went out looking for somewhere to eat. All the buffet lines were super long and we ended up over at  Bill's next door. The service was great, the food? Not so much. I wouldn't recommend them.

After that we wandered around a bit and ended up over at Caesar's Palace which is pretty beautiful. Eventually the group met us over there and then they all decided to eat there so we just played some more.

This isn't a very great picture but they have this HUGE aquarium over at the Mirage. That's behind a counter of some sort.

Later Scott and I went over and refilled our cups and then hung out at NYNY a bit.

All these screens? They really play with your head when you've had a BIG drink!

After that we met up with everyone at this outside bar/club and me dancing my drunk ass off. I seriously never dance and now I'm wondering why not? It was soo much fun. Scott of course wouldn't dance, which sucked at first but then I just went in and danced with other people in our group and it was all good. 

Here's the group while we waited for someone that ran up to their room.

 

 

Yes, those are slot machines lol. I had a temporary panic attack right after this when my driver's license wasn't in my pocket. I found it a few minutes later on the floor under where I had been sitting. Can you imagine how much that would suck to lose in Vegas when you have to have it to fly home? What would you even do? We stayed up pretty late that night, we hit the Tequila bar when we got back for tacos and a margarita for me. Followed by more slot machines. I think we went to bed about 4:30!

So of course the next day we slept in pretty late. We all went to breakfast at a buffet at Planet Hollywood. It was really good! We all split up a bit after that and my sister in law got her nose pierced. I didn't get a picture either darn it.

Later that night we met up to go to the Tournament of Kings. We almost didn't go because we didn't know if we really wanted to spend $100 on dinner and the show. After we were all their getting our tickets it was more like $140 after their "taxes" and whatnot. We were going to back out but my cousin decided that he wanted to give us $40 to make up the difference so we'd go. That was rather nice of him!  My brother's friends decided not to go because it was too expensive too, and that was actually the last we saw of them until we got on the shuttle to go to the airport.

The dinner was pretty good and the show was interesting but not really my "thing". Although the topless guys in leather pants made it worth it! Yummo.

Here's a way too close to my neck picture of us before the dinner.

A blurry ring.  (Maybe for mother's day I'll get a camera?)

After the show we went up to the casino where my brother sat at a bar and played video poker while we waited around for my cousin to come back from somewhere. We seriously probably wasted 2 hours watching my brother play video poker and waiting. Eventually my cousin showed up and then he was gone again and we were waiting again. He finally got back with his crazy ass DRUNK girlfriend. He was totally smashed too so they were quite the pair. We all finally made up our minds to go to the MGM to see the lions. I swear it was like an act of congress to get over there with everyone. We finally get over there and the lions aren't there (it's closed) and we've lost 1/2 the group again. I was really starting to get pissed off.

My SIL wanted to go to the Stratosphere so we finally decided to quit waiting around for the other brother and my neice and just go.  We found a taxi and hopped in (cousin and the crazy chick had to take another taxi), and finally got over there.

See that red thing up top? That's the ride she wanted to go on. Freaking crazy isn't it? It's like the drop zone only backwards. We went up to the viewing area but Scott and I didn't want to go on the ride. Cousin Al and the Crazy chick went on all the rides which I can't believe they didn't puke on because they were crazy scary.

Here's the view from the viewing area.

The shiny things in the middle are cars on the strip.

After that we played the waiting around game again. About an hour later we finally were together with Cousin Al and Crazy chick but then we seperated again to take a cab back to the hotel. Darn.

We got to the hotel and then kind of hung out a bit with everyone playing different slot machines and gambling. Everyone was ditching the Crazy girl. We finally went to bed at 3:30ish.

Got up the next morning and we had breakfast at Sbarro's with everyone (buffet line in the hotel was too long and there wasn't enough time to go anywhere else).  Then it was back up to the room to grab our bags and check out.

See you next time Vegas!!

Melissa's Birthday Dinner

(I just noticed I never hit post on this!)

Yesterday (Thursday) was Melissa's 9th Birthday! We went out to Applebees for dinner (her pick).

Mini Me and Scott

Birthday girl, me sporting my new hair cut and Trevor who stopped playing his DS for 5 seconds.

Anyone else notice that when you turn 11 you have to pay the adult price for most things?

Easter Catch Up

A little Easter catch up!

Dying Eggs, notice no big sister :(

Why do kids have to grow up?

I was so tired the night before Easter I went to bed around 8:30! I woke up with a start at 6:45 and realized that I didn't ever put the baskets together and Scott was still sleeping so the bunny had NOT hid any eggs yet. Did I mention Trevor was sleeping in our bed? I poked Scott awake and whispered to him that the bunny had dropped the ball. We jumped up and Trevor woke up and went to the bathroom. We ran out and did super quick basket assembly and egg hiding and got back in just as Trevor was leaving the bathroom. I guess it's a good thing he takes so long in there!

Shortly after everyone was outside looking for eggs (big kid included!)

It was nice that we had so many more places to hide eggs this year with that big garden out front!

I don't know what Melissa was doing here but she looks pretty funny!

This was before he had found his basket. The bunny usually leaves them on the kitchen table but HELLO that wasn't possible so they were hid on the side of the house. I had told him he must not have been good enough to get a basket. Such a mean mom lol.

They found all the eggs pretty fast. I think next year I'm going to do some plastic ones to make it last longer. Usually we just do the real eggs.

We were having family over at 1:00 for a bbq. The weather was so icky. Cold, windy and rain was on the way so we ended up all having to squish into my little house instead of hanging outside like we usually do.

Look at my niece, wasn't she cute all dolled up!

Jess said they had to get a new mirror picture. It won't be long before Adrian is posing with her I'm sure!

Since Melissa's birthday was less than a week away we did her "family party". She made her cake herself!

I can't believe she is 11 already!

How was your Easter?