birthday wishes

In case you didn't know it, my birthday is 12 days away. And at this point in my life, I don't have an answer for people who ask me what I want for a gift. Funny. As kids we had lists 12 feet long months before our birthday was even close enough for mentioning. And there was no guilt involved. But now, I feel like a jerk asking for things that I want, considering I can't really think of anything in the $10 range that I really would love to have. That's where the guilt comes into my wishing. There are gifts in that range that I won't say no to, or be disappointed to receive, but its nothing I would put on a list of things I really want. My wishlist warped itself from toys, games and fingerpaints to home improvements and gas cards. When did I get so boring?? So I have made up my mind to tap into my inner 6 year old (maybe my inner 16 year old) and make up a solid wish list, even though I know some of it will be way out of my gift givers' budgets. This is just for fun...reversing the boring....taking a stand against lounge pants and scented candles.

1. A big, fattening, chocolatey fudge cake
2. A black Volkswagen Passat with tan leather interior and a sunroof.
3. A (or two, or more) bottle of Grey Goose Vodka
4. A plasma flatscreen TV (and a new DVD player to go with it!!)
5. An I-Pod or MP3 player
6. A closet full of one of everything from The Limited
7. Jewelry. Necklaces and bracelets would be good.
8. A vacation. Somewhere tropical.
9. A puppy. A border collie please.
10. Shoes. Sneakers for running, sneakers for fashion, strappy shoes with a small heel, flip flops...I want 'em all...
11. A kick ass party with all my friends
12. Donuts for breakfast. The jelly filled kind with icing on top that no one carries anymore.
13. A hot tub (and a new deck to go with it)
14. A slip and slide. Those things kicked ass.
15. Cold hard cash for fun shopping!

refridgerator funnies

I love having my fridge decorated with comics... here are some of my favorites:

the labor of love.

congratulations to one of my best friends on the birth of her BEAUTIFUL baby girl. She went through 30 some hours of induced labor before undergoing a C-section. Ugh. I couldn't imagine. I have been blessed with a body made for childbirth I guess. I went into labor with Madelyn at 6 am on Father's day. With that said, my husband was up half the night stirring his famous spaghetti sauce that had about $75 worth of ingredients in it, and I didn't go to bed until about 2 am. I was a week overdue and didn't think she would come until I was induced (which was scheduled for that Tuesday), so we just made Father's day dinner plans and didn't think anything of it. By the time my husband got on his feet and we realized that this was really it, it was about 6:30 or so, and I just wanted to take a warm shower. So while I was in the shower for about an hour, Bob was on the phone flipping out to my mom that I was in the shower and crazy! Hour after hour went by and he kept timing my contractions and asking if I wanted to go to the hospital yet. Right around noon I finally made the leap and asked him to take me, under the condition that we would take the pasta sauce to a friend's house so she could let it finish simmering and then refridgerate or freeze it. That killed him! But he did it for me, what a good man. I didn't want to waste it after all the money and time he put into it!! So we made it to the hospital with plenty of time (in my opinion). I was dilated 8 cm, and my water hadn't even broken. When I was placed on the monitor which measured my contractions, they found that I wasn't even feeling pain through some of them. Until they broke my water. That ruined it for me!! But it took me to 10 cm in no time. The pushing part sucked because she was in a posterior position, which means her nose was facing up, not down. Its not a very natural way for a baby to be born if you could just imagine the way her body would have to bend (kinda like a backbend sort of position), so it took a long time...2 1/2 hours, and broken blood vessels in my eyes, a vacuum and forceps for her... but we made it... she was a conehead and I was a swollen, bloodshot mess!
Then there was Benny. I was having very sporadic contractions with him...I'm talking every 3 hours and then one 45 mins. later, then another one 2 hours later... I didn't think anything of them. Those started at about 5 in the morning...but I managed to sleep in between a couple. They subsided once I was up and moving, so Madelyn went off with Bob's sister to pick strawberries, and Bob and I made plans to go to Sam's Club. Wouldn't ya know it our shopping trip was almost over, and my water breaks while I am in the bathroom (thank god!!). So, once again, I drove Bob nuts and made him pay for the groceries we had in our cart before we left. :D By the time we got into the car, my contractions were right on top of each other. Our neighbor headed us off at the door and put our groceries away while we got our stuff to go to the hospital. Once we got to the hospital, I started to push and delivered him a half an hour later. The drama came afterwards when my placenta didn't want to detach and deliver, so I had to be put under and go into the O.R. to have it removed--but I will refrain from details cuz they are kinda yucky. :)
So, on that note, I would just like to wish all my friends and family a happy belated mother's day... and welcome to the world Princess Brooke!!

damnit....

Well, hello. Its been a while, I know. I am on an emotional teeter-totter these days, things just don't seem to be going my way. When it rains it pours...and my ceiling can vouch for me. Yes, my ceiling... Right now I can say my biggest gripe right now is the fact that I have a damn near brand new roof and the assholes who did the work must have slept, or smoked crack (or both) most the way through the job. I can't even begin to describe the rage I hold for these jerks who, fortunately for them, shall remain nameless. A huge selling point for the house we bought was the fact that it needed little to no work (other than cosmetics)--a 6 year old roof, 25 year warranty on the shingles...yay, right? Not when there is shit underneath it. Wednesday (actually Thursday morning) at about 4 am, I woke up to drip drip ping click, drip drip ping click coming from my husband's closet. I checked it out and found his ceiling caving in and rain dripping in from all around this hole. So the deal is that we have poor craftsmanship under our shingles...the step flashing was put on all wrong and is causing water to leak in under it. A contractor suggested to call our insurance company confident they would cover at least some of the damage. So we became hopeful and took the advice. That was no help. We were told that all this damage was a result of years of leakage and they couldn't cover it because it was not a recent incident from outside damage. So now we have to fork over every last penny its going to cost to replace our entire roof, as I am confident that is not our only leak. We even went to the lengths of calling the incompetent asses who cut corners 8 years ago with this roof, and wouldn't you know there is a 10 year warranty on their work, but lucky for them, its non-transferable to a new owner. Not to mention how fucking rude this guy I spoke with was towards me. So they can guarantee their work as long as you don't sell your house? Cheap if you ask me. Hell, car companies don't even do that and I think they are the cheapest bastards out there. So, now we have this gaping hole in our house and rain is in the forecast for like the next freaking decade. I don't like getting screwed as a consumer. I'd like to believe that there is some kind of company or an organization out there protecting poor unsuspecting saps like myself against rapists as mentioned previously, but I just haven't been so lucky to find them. Any suggestions? Can anyone give me an answer?