Tag, now I'm it.

Ok, so my good pal Erin has tagged me with a Meme and since I don't have time to upload all the pictures and write all the posts that I have, here goes...

7 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

Skydive (which I'm aware might actually cause me to die-so maybe I'll save that one for last)

Visit Paris, Rome, London and Branson.

Go on safari.

Scuba dive.

Know that I've made a difference.

See my children succeed happily.

Make my parents proud.





7 Things That Attracted Me to My Partner

His sense of humor.

His kindness.

His good looks.

His morals.

His work ethic.

His ability to name every show, movie, or commercial even the most obscure actor has been in.

His collection of tennis shoes.






7 Books I Read Over and Over

Ummm, errrr, I'm not sure that I've ever read the same book twice. Does that make me a bad person?






7 Movies That I Love

The Princess Bride

To Kill a Mockingbird

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Shawshank Redemption

Young Frankenstein

O' Brother Where Art Thou

I could really go on and on...





7 Things I Can't Do

Say "social security" successfully in one try.

Stay up past midnight.

Watch scary movies.

Stand Owen Wilson.

Grow my hair long.

Touch, be near, look at, talk about, or listen to someone else talk about snakes.

Sleep with my feet (or other body part) hanging off the bed due to the thing that lives under my bed. I'm convinced that there is something.

Make a grammatically correct post-not even to save my life.

29 and holding...

Setting fashion trends year after year since June 21, 1977.

Baby Hypnosis

The captive is trying desperately to escape from this babygate prison. He wants you to look deep into his eyes...deep into his eyes...you are getting sleepy....sleepy....sleeeeeeeepy...YOU NEVER MIND THIS BLANKIE SOAKED IN ETHER...sleeeeepy....sleeeepppppyyyyy...

The Best Care in the Air

Chuck and I flew Midwest Express on our most recent trip and let me just say, I loved it. I was in airplane heaven, I tell you. I loved it so much that I took pictures, while actually on the plane. Yes, Chuck was embarrassed but he's getting used to it. So that leads us to my latest entry entitled...

Why I Love Midwest Express or Why I Stopped Complaining About the Little Extra We Had to Pay:

#1- They have big leather seats with adjustable headrests.


#2- Those headrests fold open so I can sleep without resting my head on the stranger next to me.
The photo that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures but trust me, you would have been impressed.

#3- They have footrests!!! I could prop my feet up!!

The photo that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures but trust me, you would have been impressed.

#4- They gave us warm cookies!

The photo that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures but trust me, you would have been impressed.

So needless to say, next trip, we are definitely flying Midwest Express again and that's great news if you happen to sit next to me and don't enjoy drool on your shoulder.

Chains of Water

Today the captive finds himself in a pool of cold water. This must be a form of punishment after his failed attempt at escape the previous day.

The captor paces aimlessly back and forth in the yard behind him, forever pushing a loud machine while creating paths in the grass. If the captive times his escape just right, he might just succeed at this attempt.

As if the captor sensed his plot, the ultimate in torture begins.

There is nothing worse than bubble torture. The escape plan will have to wait for another day.

Chase's Life Lesson #1

Lesson #1- Cats make excellent pillows...



especially if the pillow is a willing participant...



and declawed.

The Beginning of the End

I will keep you updated on the enemy's progress.

Hello. My name is Paulie Walnuts and I am a tail biter.

Imagine you are a kitten named Paulie Walnuts. Your life is good. One minute, you're minding your own business, happily enjoying a romp through your home and an occasional nibble on the end of your tail.

The picture that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures. Trust me, you would have been impressed.

The next minute you find yourself at the vet's office and he saying that you need part of your tail amputated. You aren't quite sure what that means but man...you are getting sleepy. Then you make it home, rouse yourself out of a drug induced coma, decide to go for a little tail nibblin' and...what the f*#k? You find a plastic tube over the end of your tail! And it's shorter!

The picture that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures. Trust me, you would have been impressed.

Paulie Walnuts needs a drink.

The picture that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures. Trust me, you would have been impressed.

Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck...

Chase and Ashtin visit "Pa" at the fire station. "Pa" promptly puts them to work. Don't worry, they put their helmets on once they got to the fire.

Why I love my friend, Holly...

She's got fashion sense...



She knows how to party...



She's not above public humiliation...



She's trusting enough to let me near that awesome necklace that she knows I'm willing to steal off her neck...



But mostly because she's beautiful inside and out...



Congratulations Holly and Kevin!

It's getting deep in here.

So it's probably been pretty obvious that I've been having some writer's block lately. But never fear! I decided to reach out to some friends and get some ideas. One suggested a meme- which is, thank you Leen, "an idea that is spread from blog to blog". Well, I liked that idea and decided to steal it, er, I mean USE it. So I googled and thanks to Curious as a Cat I decided on this question:

If you could only repent for one thing when you die, what one thing would you choose?


It really got me thinking because there are so many things in my life that I've done that I partially regret and I know were "the wrong choice". Things like leaving college, not studying harder, borrowing money, spraying bug spray in my little sister's mouth...but really all of those things shaped who I am today and I must say, I'm pretty happy with my life. I have a decent job, a husband that I adore, a fabulous son, I'm healthy, and I have good friends. Sometimes I think, even IF I felt badly enough to repent some of those things, I don't think I would. What if one of those relatively minor things completely shaped my life and I don't even know it? For example, if I had stayed in college, would I have met my husband? Would I have made these great friends? Would my sister be able to keep mosquitoes away with a deep exhale? The answer is likely, "no". So how can I regret those things?

However, there still is one thing I wish I hadn't done and would repent for because deep down, I regret it terribly. When I was a teenager, I treated my family like crap. Yes, it's true. I was selfish, thought the world owed me, and it completely revolved around me and my wants and needs. **Contrary to popular belief, that is no longer the case.** Now, I wasn't flat out disrespectful or hurtful, by any means. But just the lack of compassion for my family members when they probably really needed me, is enough. Those years just seem like such a black hole when I look back. I think about the relatives that I've lost recently and how much I would give to get those years back with them. It seems like such a waste. There's not many things that I hate more than wasted time. Life is just too short.

So that's my repent-what's yours? Pass it on.

Ramble on

**Disclaimer: This post will probably be very boring but I just have had no interesting inspiration lately so if you would like to just skip to the cuteness at the end, I wouldn't blame you.

What is it about the weather getting warm that makes my schedule break loose? It's like this every year. The sun comes out for a minute and suddenly my schedule is full every day of the week (or at least the weekend). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. But I also enjoy things like...oh, I don't know... sitting down? Writing in my blog? (I know, I've been a terrible writer lately) We have and had something officially planned for every Saturday from the beginning of May until the end of June. Between barbecues, holidays, birthdays, vacations and just parties in general-we are booked!

Speaking of vacations-we leave for Orlando next week. My oh so fabulous friend Holly (she lives in the Virgin Islands) gets married next week and I am in it! This girl has us partying nonstop from Friday to Sunday. Seriously? I don't know how I'll keep up. Chuck and I will be the ones to go home early every night-I'm embarrassed to admit. We are lightweights. There I said it. It's true that 4 years ago I used to drink 3 nights out of the week. But now? Maybe once a month. Maybe. If I get all wild and crazy and feel like a beer. So I'm expecting to fully embarrass myself on this trip-in front of all of Holly's friends. Yes, after 3 drinks-I'm done. I know you can't wait for pictures.

Also while in Orlando, we are going to squeeze in a trip to see The Mouse, of course. The dilemma is, I'm not sure which park to go to. Chuck and I were just there 2 years ago and went to 4 of the parks. We really enjoyed all of them and can't decide whether to go back to one that we went to last time or to go to one that we didn't make it to. There is even one that I've never been to-Epcot. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.

Did I mention that I totally screwed up our plans and came damn near a nervous breakdown last week? Oh yeah, it was great. So our plans since the end of February (or March-whenever it was)or so have been to head to Orlando on Thursday, do all the rehearsal parties on Friday, wedding on Saturday and head home on Sunday after checking out and returning our rental car. Well, late last week, I got an Evite inviting me to the rehearsal dinner on Saturday evening. After peeing my pants and saying a few prayers, I asked Holly what day exactly her wedding was on. You guessed it. It's on Sunday. So after scrambling to change our flight and hotel and car and babysitting arrangements and dropping a considerably large additional amount of money, we are now coming back on Monday-which should have been our plan from the start. They say that you should really pay attention to details but I just don't have time for that rubbish. *flips hair*

So to summarize, summer=busy, Orlando trip=drunk, The Mouse=dilemma, trip planning =nervous breakdown, Tiff=goodbye.

Cuteness to make this post actually worth your time:

Going to my happy place.

The photo that was previously displayed here has been removed to make room for new pictures.

Orbs. I see orbs.

Hi! *waves madly* I'm back! My trip was wonderful! My mother, my sister and I went to Georgia to visit family and do a little Savannah sight seeing as you might remember from here. The trip was great, my great aunt was fabulous, the weather was perfect, the food was to die for and the shopping was decent. I'll be giving a more in depth review later this week but let's just cut to my favorite part of the trip...the ghosts.

We went on a ghost tour while in Savannah and let me just tell you, it was creepy. At the time it didn't seem too bad. Mostly though, I think it was due to our tour guides. They were a little on the cheesy side. The thing is though, now AFTER THE FACT when I tell people about it and SHOW them what I have, I pee myself a little.

The tour started on a trolley that drove us around Savannah at night. The tour guide told us all about the man who killed children while he was alive and then even after he had been executed. It wasn't a pleasant story. This was all on our way to our first destination, Colonial Park Cemetery. Here are a couple of pictures from that stop, which I will be coming back to momentarily. *insert eerie music here*

This was our ghostly tour guide through the cemetery. I'm still a little suspicious of the woman in the polka dotted shirt. That shirt is just too ugly to be from this dimension.


And this is a terribly dark picture of the cemetary itself. Yes, I know it's too dark to see, but I'm coming back to this in a minute.



So after the cemetery we boarded back on the trolley and headed for the Sorrel Weed House. The story behind this house is basically the woman of the house found her husband cheating on her with a servant. She immediately ran up to her second floor bedroom and flung herself from her window, plummeting to her death. Two weeks later, the servant was found hanging from a rope tied to a tree in the back yard. Was it suicide from her guilt? Or was it murder by ghost? Mwahahahahahaaha!

Don't let that innocent palm tree and sunny sky fool you, it was down right evil in the dark:



We were told that the Sci Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters had taped their Halloween special here just last year. They caught the screams of the woman on tape, even though you couldn't hear a thing in real life. "Electronic Voice Phenomena" is what they call it and it was C-R-E-E-P-Y. They of course played it for us in the dark creepy house and whether or not it was real, I do not know but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. So, I'm going to go with, yes, it was real.

After the Sorrel Weed house we got back on the trolley, heard some more ghost stories and then headed back to our stop. We quietly got off our trolley and headed back for the car.

Once safely back in our hotel room, I got out my camera and took a closer look at my cemetery pictures. Yep, you guessed it. Orbs. I have orbs in my pictures. Now I thought surely there were water spots on my camera lens and I just didn't notice them earlier. But no, I went back through all of my pictures, even the other night time ones and guess what. No orbs.

Same pictures as above, just lightened with a few arrows that I drew:




So if you want to believe that the orbs showing up in only my cemetery pictures and nothing else is a coincidence and nothing more, so be it. As for me, I will be hiding under my covers at night. Just to be safe.

Quick Note

-leaving for Savannah Saturday
-working my butt off since I'll be out all next week
-hella busy
-will be back after trip with pictures and stories (unless something really interesting happens before then (don't count on it))
-i promise it will be a lot more interesting than this

Blog-O-Rama

If you haven't noticed before, I have a bunch of blogs (and other websites) that I'm particularly fond of in the left sidebar. Dooce, Miss Doxie, and Amalah round out my top 3 favorites. However, a friend recently recommended a blog that I've been reading and it is just hysterical. It's called The Amazing Adventures of Overshare. It's written by a woman who has this coworker, who she calls "Overshare", that gives way too much information about her personal life. If you get a chance, you should check it out. Start here**. October is the beginning, so you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom but it really is some entertaining stuff. Hell, check out all these blogs. You'll soon learn how I REALLY spend my workday.

**For my technically challenged friends, if you click the underlined text in yellow-green, it will take you to the website. *smooch*

Don't let the pained expressions fool you. They loved every second.

So what mothers in their right minds would dress their sons alike and force them to sit on the lap of a huge white rabbit for more than 5 seconds? AND expect them to smile? AND sit still? AND not smack the other child sitting in said lap? AND not dirty their outfits that they are expected to wear 2 more times in the upcoming week?




Oh, right. That would be me and my sister, Mandy.

HAPPY EASTER!

Big Blurry Baby Head

He sees what you are eating and wants a bite.

Moments in the sun...

Please meet my tongue, "Abby Normal".

I went to visit my dentist yesterday and he told me something interesting about myself that I didn't previously know. My tongue is a freak. I've been living my entire life without a care, as if I didn't have a freakish tongue. I feel like such a sham. Today, I am coming out of the tongue closet however. I HAVE A GEOGRAPHIC TONGUE! There I said it. Before you recoil in terror, let me please state that it is not contagious. So feel free to be near my tongue. It is however, fairly rare as it is present in only about 3% of the population.

Geographic tongue is basically...ok, you know how YOUR tongue is covered in small bumps? Mine is too but mine fall off sometimes. I said they FALL OFF! Not while I'm in public or anything, like ya know, I've never had to apologize for my tongue bumps falling onto the floor to a coworker or anything. I'm never aware that it's happening, just occasionally I have these bald spots on my tongue that's sensitive to hot, cold, spicy, and taunting. It's called "geographic tongue" because it kind of looks like a map. I would post a picture but I just can't seem to find one that doesn't make me want to throw up. Tongues are by nature, a little gross.

So there ya have it. I have a geographic tongue. So, next time you see my tongue, please remember, no taunting. He's sensitive.