Category: Family Stuff

Nov 27

Thanksgiving

In case any of you are still out there, Happy Thanksgiving. I have been MIA for what…three months now. It’s been busy and crazy and I have not prioritized well. Everyone is still alive, I finished all my commitments, I still have my job, and we are all mostly unscathed, so I’m going to call this one a win.

I am super tired and 100% not in a writing mood, but I did want to give a shout out to my parents, as tomorrow is their 40th wedding anniversary. Y’all, that is like…a REALLY long time.

I don’t have much in me tonight – I am tired and carb-deprived and the house is a disaster, and it would take me hours to even attempt to list the things I am thankful for. So in true ADD fashion, I’m not even going to try. I do, however, want to recognize my gratitude for the dedication my parents have to their marriage. Today I’m thankful for growing up in one lovely home. I’m thankful for all the sacrifices they made for us to give us the life we had, which was seriously like the childhood everyone wants. Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom and Dad. I love you both so very, very much.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Aug 23

The 540s

In my Eucharisteo book,

546). Lazy Saturdays
547). Sounds of raindrops
548). Impromptu photo sessions
549). The way she looks at her
550). The sound of their laughs

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551). That smile

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552). Shadow puppets

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553). Pretending to be scared

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554). The way you can see that serious face through her hair

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555). Crazy, humid curls

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 556). The way The Oldest One’s whole body seems to smile.

 

Living the dream? Most certainly. Can it even get better?

Aug 22

And now, a bathroom break (or a break FROM the bathroom)

Hubbin chose our vacation spot this year and I have to completely give it to him, he did phenomenal job. Browsing flipkey.com, he showed me a listing and asked if he was reading it right.

Listed was a “Castle in the Sky“, high in the Smoky Mountains, and located in Sylva, NC. Built on 75 wooded acres, it had exactly what I wanted…a pool. And not any pool — a private pool. No yelling kids aside from my own, a pool that overlooked what appeared to be paradise? And affordable. And available.

So he booked it for the

second week of August. With 3600 square feet and comprised of five bedrooms and as many bathrooms, we asked Jason’s best childhood friend and his family to join us, and they accepted much to our delight.

The drive down was pretty uneventful. We pulled over at an overlook and I offered to take a picture of a family for them, and they happily accepted and returned the offer. So, we posed, our little family of four, and it wasn’t until I got back to the car that I saw this picture and just…laughed. Grumpy Toddler strikes again. That poor woman was just trying to do a good deed and take our family picture, and Grumpy Toddler looked at her like she wanted to burn down her house.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Aug 21

A Bathroom Reno, in GIFs

Contractor Extraordinaire Daniel refuses to to acknowledge his awesomeness, but I came home last night and our bathroom was pretty much done. To put that into perspective, our toilet was in the living room two days before this picture was taken.

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It’s time to cut the modesty, Daniel! His sidekick Tyler also has put in ridiculous hours (I know they worked long shifts while we were gone, and I know at least one of the days they were there from 8AM until 10:30PM. Complete and utter insanity. And I like to follow up complete and utter insanity with gif stories.

I’d give you details, but the bathroom isn’t done and still needs finishing touches. There is an inch of dust over everything (I am not even lying, I mopped the walls last night), and there’s remaining grout work that was curing behind that shower curtain, which will also soon reveal one of the major changes in the bathroom, too. In fact, during that first “Houston” phone call and hearing the words “black mold” and “the standing water under the floor was deep enough to splash”, Daniel adding “but you get your [surprise]” was the only thing that kept me from throwing myself off the mountain.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Aug 15

The Bathroom That Wouldn’t Die

One of my friends said it seemed like Love it or List it and that’s pretty accurate, except Daniel is way smarter than Hillary, thank The Lord.

We were on our vacation paradise when I saw a missed call at 11AM from Daniel, our contractor, which is like…never a good sign when they know you are on vacation on a mountain paradise. I called back, only to hear the words “black mold” (SCREEN YOUR CALLS, READERS) and I almost hit the bricks. It was more involved and luckily we trust him and he’s wonderful, so we put it in his hands. Also, we are six hours from home and that’s the only real option.

He sends me these pictures because I have asked for the worst and he obliged with these:

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At nearly 4PM on Thursday, I get a text that says

Your entire sub floor is saturated with water. Have to pull it all up and replace. The mildew smell is horrible. Trying to ventilate the house as much as possible. Oh remodels…never as easy as you think.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!

Jul 02

A Party Ten Years in the Making

(Written in May – look, I’ve been lazy, alright?)

The Oldest One’s father and I separated in 2005 when she was five months old. Like most divorces, it was contentious, and a lot of bad choices were made on both sides (mostly the in way I reacted to things). I’ll admit that it’s not easy to share custody of an infant, and I most certainly didn’t make it any easier. There were times that it got easier, but mostly it was hard.

Luckily, we both always loved her more than we hated each other, and that has always made all the difference. She’s been blissfully ignorant about the contention at most times (it never lasted long, but, you know, if you don’t get along when you’re married, you definitely won’t when you’re divorced). It got much easier when I met Hubbin and he met the woman I call The Best Stepmother Ever, though I’ll shorten it to Rhea on the internet.

That isn’t it, y’all. You have to click here to read the rest!