Did I Hear Someone Say BUNNIES?

Meet the newest members of our family. Top is Amanda (full name: Amanda Keys). Middle is Daisy (full name: Lazy Daisy). And the bottom is labeled "Bunny Butts". Aren't they the sweetest things ever?

We had asked our neighbor to care for them while we were gone last weekend. She was more than happy to accept. She said she likes animals more than people (said she was joking). She is definitely an animal lover, though. We knew they would be in good hands. We got her a thank you card and a $25 gift card for Applebee's to show how much we appreciated her help. She called later, "You're in trouble now (uh-oh). You were not supposed to do that. I'll accept it this time, but I don't want you doing that again. I believe in neighbors taking care of each other."

So throughout our conversation, I told her that I believe the same. And if they ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I like the feeling of knowing that the people next door are willing to be there for you and not expect anything in return.

Now I need to start planning that neighborhood bonfire/barbeque so we can get back on the good list with the "STAY OFF OF MY LAWN" lady. It's worth a try.

How 'Bout a Ride?

Some words of wisdom from my husband:

I was checking my calendar to see when I would get my monthly visitor.

Hubby: Do all women keep a "calendar"? (yes, he's still clueless)

Roxanne: I think so. Most women want to keep track so that they don't get caught off guard. And it helps to plan around trips and such.

H: There's things that men don't need to know about. That's one of them. It's like going to an amusement park. When you go to one, you don't want to pick up trash, lube the rides, or cook the food. You just want to go, pay the price, have fun, and leave.

(This is where both of us are cracking up at the comparison and he starts to get really punchy.)

H: When the ride is shut down, you want to ride something else. Sometimes you know a ride's gonna make you sick, but you get on it anyways, it makes you throw up, and regret having "ridden" it.


So, for those of you that didn't get that........women are amusement parks..........and we are not to bother men with the cleaning schedule or when the ride is shut down. I guess next time I'll post a sign on the bedroom door when my ride is back in working order.

Flip a Coin, Take a Trip

That sounds like the name of a country song, doesn't it?

Thank y'all for your wonderful advice. I actually took everyone's to heart. Bearette, I did a mental coin toss and decided that I would be dissapointed if it came up to stay home. So, when hubby got home today, I talked to him further about it (since he's the one that's stuck at home making the moolah for me and the kids to frivilously spend AND taking care of our new bunnies which I have yet to show you pictures of). He had no hesitation as to whether we should go or not. I guess this is my last little fling before I have to become a responsible financially contributing member of the family again. When I called my mom to tell her we were coming, she was quite excited. My bro-in-law not so much. Not that he doesn't want us to come visit, but he always gets stuck with their massive amounts of kids while I sneak off with my sis to go galavanting all over town. Well, actually we usually just go to the grocery store or to Target or to take my kids to their friend's houses. But we have tons of fun along the way!

So, in 3 days I will be bookin' it up to Cleveland at O'Dark thirty in the morning for our 6am flight. I can't wait to tell the kids.....they will be soooo excited! We are going to get there just in time for our annual family camping trip. This is something that we started 8 years ago. We choose a different spot each year, sometimes close to home, sometimes a 7 hour drive away.

I'm also hoping to drive to Pooroville to visit with my grandma (who is not getting any younger....she's 89), my brother his wife and 3 boys, cousins, aunt, and uncle. Shall be fun for all.

SIDENOTE/RANT: I freakin' HATE the airline ticket websites!!!!!! I spent literally hours trying to find a good price for the days that we wanted to fly. I ended up going through Cheap Tickets.com even though they pissed me off the most. When I punched in One Adult ticket, the price came up $496. When punched in One Adult and One Child, the price was $526. And finally, when I punched in One Adult and Two Children, the price was $556. What the hay? So, basically they punish you for buying more than one ticket by adding $60 bucks extra per ticket!? I could not find any way around this, believe me I tried! They won't let you purchase individual tickets for minors online, you have to do that through the airline. We considered purchasing 3 seperate adults tickets and then playing dumb when we got to the airport...."Wha? There must have been some sort of computer error. These are obviously children, NOT ADULTS." So, I had to resort to giving in to the evil airline empire because I waited until the last minute (again) to make this trip and the airport where we need to go is small and always costs lots of money to fly into, no matter when you go or how far ahead you buy your tickets.

I will leave you with this: while I was selecting seats for each leg of the flight, I commented that it doesn't really matter which kid get's the window seat on their boarding pass. They can switch mid-flight if they choose. My lovely, yet morbid, husband replies, "The seat assignments are just so they know who's who among the charred remains. Maybe you shouldn't tell the kids that when they're changing seats." Yeah, I think I'll keep that one to myself. There's my peaceful mental picture to focus on during take-off and landing.

I almost forgot to mention: We get to visit Skippy!!!! The kids will love it. My sister sent a letter from Skippy and a couple of pictures awhile back. Boy, he sure has grown! For those of you that are newbies, Skippy used to be our dog. That is until we decided that we didn't want our house and ALL of it's insides torn and chewed to shreds. We didn't want to turn him into an outside dog or confine him to a cage, soooooo we sent him to CA to my sister. He seems to be doing quite well, gets to go to the beach, and has LOTS of attention with 7 kids hounding him all the time. I think he's got a pretty good life now (and our house isn't getting chewed to shreds). I guess some people are cat people and some people are dog people. Unfortunately, our daughter is an all animal people and she is still not over us sending Skippy away. Maybe a 3 week visit will last her for a while. Either that, or she'll be trying to smuggle him into her suitcase!

Just Asking for Some Help.....HELP!!!!!

Question:

If you had a choice to book a flight and leave within the next two days to go visit family and friends for 3 weeks, but it will cost you $2000 plus to do so......

OR

Sit at home and wait for people to call that need your services so that you can finally start making money to put INTO the bank account........

Am I Doomed?

The following is one of those chain letter emails that shows "proof" that you will have bad, evil luck if you do not follow the instructions to a "T". Well, I never send them along and I don't think anything bad has happened to me yet. BUT THIS ONE HAS ME SCEERED!!! ;) I hope a piano doesn't fall on me today. Or, God forbid, I walk under a ladder while opening up an umbrella inside my house and accidentally break a mirror which causes me to swallow the wad of gum I was chewing. Maybe the fact that I'm "sending" this out to more than 10 people, I will be safe. It DOES state that I'm to EMAIL it to at least 10 people, so we'll have to see. Enjoy!

Read Alone.....

Especially the Poem

I believe whatever God has in store for

us will be for us.

The poem is very true, unfortunately.

Make sure you read the poem!




CASE 1: Kelly Sedey had one wish,

for her boyfriend of three years,

David Marsden, to propose to her.

Then one day when she was out



to lunch David proposed!

She accepted, but then had to leave

because she had a meeting in 20 min.

When she got to her office,

she noticed on her computer she had some e-mail's.

She checked it, the usual stuff



from her friends, but then she saw one

that she had never gotten before.



It was this poem. She simply deleted it

without even reading all of it.



BIG MISTAKE! Later that evening,

she received a phone call from the police

It was about DAVID! He had been in an accident



with an 18 wheeler. He didn't survive!



CASE 2: Take Katie Robinson She received this poem

and being the believer that she was

she sent it to a few of her friends but



didn't have enough e-mail addresses to send out

the full 10 that you must.

Three days later, Katie went to a masquerade ball.



Later that night when she left to get to her car,

she was killed in that spot by a



hit-and-run drunk driver.



CASE 3: Richard S. Willis sent this poem out

within 45 minutes of reading it.

Not even 4 hours later walking along the street

to his new job interview with a really big company,

when he ran into Cynthia Bell,

his secret love for 5 years. Cynthia came up to him



and told him of her passionate crush on him

that she had had for 2 years.

Three days later, he proposed to her and they got married.

Cynthia and Richard are still married

with three children, happy as ever!



This is the poem:

Around the corner I have a friend,

In this great city that has no end,

Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,

And before I know it, a year is gone.

And I never see my old friends face,

For life is a swift and terrible race,

He knows I like him just as well,

As in the days when I rang his bell.

And he rang mine but we were younger then,

And now we are busy, tired men.

Tired of playing a foolish game,

Tired of trying to make a name.

"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim

Just to show that I'm thinking of him."

But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,

And distance between us grows and grows.

Around the corner, yet miles away,

"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."

And that's what we get and deserve in the end.

Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean.

If you love someone, tell them.

Don't be afraid to express yourself.

Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.

Because when you decide that it is the right time it might

be too late.

Seize the day. Never have regrets.

And most importantly, stay close to your friends

and family, for they have helped

make you the person that you are today.

You must send this on in 3 hours after reading! the letter

to 10 other people.

If you do this, you will receive unbelievably good luck in love.

The person that you are most attracted to will soon return to you.

If you do not, bad luck will rear its ugly head at you

THIS IS NOT A JOKE!

You have read the warnings, seen the cases,

and the consequences.

You MUST send this on or face dreadfully bad luck.

*NOTE*

the more people that you send this to, the better

luck you will have.
! SMILE, even through your tears!!!!!

My Baby Girl

Nine years ago at 1:05 am just after the smoke from the fireworks had cleared, my baby girl was born into a tub full of warm water. My little water baby. Sometime during the morning of the 4th, I started to feel those familiar pains in the back. We headed to the local mall to cool off and so I could walk to help progress my labor. We walked, and walked, and walked. My contractions became a little closer together (not much though) and so we called the midwife. She said she would meet us at the birth center to check how far along I was. It took all day and all night of small, bearable contractions to convince my little girl that it was time to come out and meet the world.

After a while of hanging out at the birth center (and walking up and down the cement stairs outside to get things moving along!), we walked over to the bowling alley next door. It was smoky and dingy (what one isn't?) so we headed back to the BC. Our midwife suggested that we go home and wait it out there where we would be more comfortable. It was a 45 minute drive home. About 30 minutes later I soon realized that I was in "transition" which means that you need to get the heck out of dodge. During the whole ride back to the center, I was at the point of wondering if we would make it or not. Hubby was quite nervous, running red lights and all, but luckily it was late at night and there were virtually no other cars on the roads.

Midwife helps me down the stairs into the hot tub room. I step into said hot tub only to discover that it was extremely uncomfortably hot. She runs back upstairs and quickly comes back with 2 trays of ice cubes that she drops into the water. I get in the rest of the way and figure out that leaning forward against the side of the tub is much more comfy than on my back. I still remember this one minor detail: while I was doing my heavy breathing (which by the way comes pretty naturally and you probably don't need lessons to do), I distinctly remember drooling all over the floor. Anyhoo, after a few good pushes, the midwife tells me to reach down and I'll be able to feel the top of the head. I was confused at first.....what? you want me to grab my own baby when she comes out? I soon realized that she was just giving me the opportunity to be the first to touch my child as she entered the world. I'll never forget that feeling. Ooey gooey baby head. It was THE best. As soon as she came out, the midwife lifted her to the surface and laid her on my belly, still halfway in the water to keep her warm.

When I delivered the placenta, the midwife allowed me to see it also. This is something that I didn't get in the hospital with my son. It might seem insignificant to some people (or WHY in the heck would you want to look at something that disgusting), but for me it was monumental getting to see what had supplied my child with all the nutrients she needed for the last nine months. I was then walked over to the couch to sit and nurse her for the first time, just minutes after she had been born. As she was having her first munchies, hubby brought me a bagel and juice, and then she pooped in my hand. It was a very touching moment. Bobby, who had just turned 4 years old, had been sleeping on the other couch in the room. He woke up in a daze and asked his new baby sister, "Wanna play trucks?" It was so cute. He was still pretty wiped out, so he fell back to sleep. My mom laid Jesse down right next to Bobby and we have the cutest picture of them sleeping side by side (I'll have to post it when we get our scanner working again).

Happy 9th birthday, Jesse!

Wierd Dream

This is a small portion of a dream I had last night:

I'm in a Taco Bell trying to order some food to bring home to the family. It seems that I am in NYC because outside there are extremely large buildings everywhere I turn and inside the place is suddenly filled with police officers and firemen talking of 9-11 activity (as if they are currently happening). The building is literally packed with all of these men towering above me (and I'm not short at 5' 9 1/2"). There was A LOT of testosterone flowing in there. I turn my head around and notice that Christopher Reeve is right beside me beginning to give some sort of speech to the crowd. He then stands up out of his chair and begins to kick his legs up in the air doing some sort of River Dance moves. As he's doing this, I am thinking that this cannot be real. It is some sort of special effects. That's when I notice Tom Cruise eyeing this special effect with great admiration.

I finally make my way over to the counter to place my order. The lady at the counter listens to my requests, smiling politely, but not pressing any buttons on the register. She fills a bag with a bunch of pastries and says, "Have a great day!" I tell her that this is not what I ordered. She said, "Don't you know who I am?" "Ummmmm, no." Apparently she was a famous singer years ago that knows a friend of mine that just recently married (I actually do have a friend that just recently married). She started talking with me about my friend and I was thinking, "is this lady gonna get me my food or what?"

I woke up before Christopher Reeve was done with his River Dance.