HELLO 2014!

I'll give it to you, 2013. You were a hell of a year.

In my life, it's been fairly true to form (with a few outliers just to keep things fun e.g. 2013) that the even number years are AMAZEBALLS and the odd number years are JUST PLAIN AWFUL.

This was not the case for 2013. 2013 was pretty darn good all around. And I'm not just saying that because we had not one, not two but THREE awesome vacations to Disney World and Universal Studios. (As I said to Jaws, it's really saying something the number of big vacations taken in our first 17 years of marriage is equal to the number of big vacations taken in 2013 alone!) The vacations certainly helped, but overall it was a good, good year- two occurences of government sequestration/furlough/shut down resulting in a 40% reduction in pay during said sequestration/furlough/shut down notwithstanding.

No joke, I went to go find something on Pinterest to share on this post and I ended up spending 30 minutes there just looking around, and now I can't remember what I was going to add here.

So, 2013.

Does anyone even read my blog anymore? Can you leave a comment if you do? My self-esteem could really use the lift.

Also, Jed's visa for Brazil finally came through and he leaves January 21st.

I did a lot of crafting this year and it was therapeutically awesome. My reading took a hit though, because one cannot craft and read at the same time. This was my favorite piece.

Also, here's a recent picture of all of us.

  

  

     

       

           

     

Dusting off the old blog...

Blogging is *so* 2005, yet here I am. Updating. 2012 went by in a blur of work, school, vacations, road trips, bills, food, and lawn-mowing headaches. The girls experienced their first solo plane rides, I experienced a solid five days by myself, sans children and husband. I read more books in one year that I ever had before, and I got back in touch with my crafty side. I made a goal to have at least one out-of-my-own-house-preferably-without-children-or-husband social event a month, and I think I accomplished it. (This is very big deal for me. Being social is exhausting.) The girls continue to wage war against puberty, peer pressure and preconceived notions. I think they are winning. Jaws is still Jaws. He's not looking forward to turning 40 in November. I make no promises about regular blog updates, other than to say perhaps.

He'll be here all night, folks.

(This was originally written on October 17, 2007, and it *still* makes me laugh.)

Last night, James and I were lying (laying?) in bed, watching Ace of Cakes on TV. The AoC crew is working on a very cool Alice in Wonderland cake. Mary Alice, who is the AoC manager, says that she loves this cake, mainly because Alice in Wonderland is her most favorite book. She lifts up her shirt sleeve and shows of her tattoo, which is a replica of one of the illustrations from the book.

Jokingly, I say to James that I'm going to get something from Anne of Green Gables tattooed on me to show the world it's my most favorite book. Without missing a beat, he turns to me and says:

"Get a tattoo on your chest that says 'Bosom Friends'".

Reason #5284 while I love the man.

Mating Toads Are Stalking Me

~~~ Another flashback post. This one is from August 30th, 2005. I thought it only appropriate to post it on Valentine's Day. ;D ~~~

I kid you not.

For the past two nights, a pair of mating toads have been doing the deed right outside our bedroom window. You know what a cat sounds like when it's in heat? Toad mating noises have a similar, nails-on-the-blackboard, going-to-drive-you-crazy quality. CROAK CROAK CROAK CROAK CROAK CROAK CROAK in a syncapted rhythym for hours on end. James actually went and moved them last night (scooped them up with a shovel) before we went to bed. (I wonder what the toads thought? :P) But SOMEHOW they managed to find their way back to same spot about 3 am. I guess it's their special spot. But I swear, if they are back at it tonight, this will be the last time they get any lovin' near my house.

Say Hello To My Inner Geek

~~~ So, you know how I've been blogging since 2004? I've been amusing myself looking over some of those older entries. I thought I might share some of the choicer bits with y'all here, just so you won't feel left out. ;)

This post was orginally made of May 3, 2005. This is when the girls and I were still living in Tifton until the end of the school year, and James was already here in Albany. ~~~


I was listening to NPR the other day, when a rep from the CDC was on, talking about how they are doing a study of ticks in Georgia. If we find a tick, we can send it to the CDC so they can analyze it.

So today, our dog had this ginormous tick on it. I mean HUGE! My mom pointed it out to me, and I told her we needed to send it in to the CDC. Luckily, it fell off the dog, so I didn't actually have to touch it. I called the number the CDC gave to find out the procedure for sending it in. I had to put in a vial full of rubbing alcohol. The vial I had wasn't big enough. Did I mention how big this sucker is?? (Haha- get it 'sucker'?) So I went over to the Entomology building at the college in town to see if they would give me a bigger vial. The Entomologist I talked to was so excited! He said it was one of the finest specimens he had ever seen. He was so impressed that he asked me for my permission to take pictures of it. (Like I was going to say no.) I even got to help him set up the photo shoot. Seriously, you would have thought it was Christmas day the way this guy was acting.

So now the tick is sitting beside me in a vial of rubbing alcohol, waiting to be shipped to Atlanta. I have to include my name and phone number, just in case they need to contact me. Who knows? Maybe my tick will intrumental in curing Lyme Disease or the West Nile Virus.

UPDATE: About a year ago a letter came to Mom and Dad's house from the CDC. It was the follow-up info on my tick! The letter thanked me for my participation in the study and said my tick was a female, and it was disease free. So, it didn't help cure Lyme Disease or West Nile Virus, but at least it wasn't spreading it, right??