It's tough being a girl!

Since I have the big 100th birthday celebration to attend I figured I'd better be looking good for the one million photo's that will be taken. This is a 3 day event mind you, so I figured I'd splurge...I bought a couple new outfits for the occasion, I got acrylic nails and a French manicure done (a first for me on the acrylic), and then I got my eyebrows waxed (yet another first).

Shopping for the perfect outfit(s) was no easy task. I don't think I've had a tougher time dressing myself since my wedding 12 years ago. But I was finally able to find the perfect attire for the big occasion. I ordered a $35 shirt online & they ripped me off and charged me $15 to ship it with in 2 days. It arrived in a plastic envelope bag that was about 8x10. $15 for that! Whoa!

I got my nails done at one of those nail places where you can't understand a word the workers are saying. They do a great job and it's cheaper than going to a spa for them to do the same thing, but then you get to deal with the "get to know you" speal they do. I know they don't give a crap about how many kids I have, what I do for a living, or how long I've lived here. And quite frankly, I'm not comfortable in discussing my life story with a total stranger. Just do my nails, pay attention, and I'll pay you. That is exactly what the Chinese women at the nail salon do. I couldn't understand a thing they said, but my manicurist knew exactly what I wanted and I don't even speak Chinese!

While she was doing my nails she looked at me and smiled and then pointed to my face and said "we do eyebrows too".

I said "No, that's ok, just nails."

She frowned and said "Oh no, eyebrows very bad, we do eyebrows too, it be pretty."

So ok, how can I argue with that? I've never done much with my eyebrows except brush them or trim them so they don't look like a cavewoman. So I said "How much?"

She said loudly, "ten dollar!"

I said "Ok, we'll do eyebrows too." After she did my nails she sat me in the eyebrow waxing chair. I was suddenly nervous. Was I going to walk out of there with any eyebrows? I looked at the other women around me and theirs were painted on. But it was too late to back out now. I was in the chair. She wrapped a towel around my neck and put a head band to hold my bangs back. She dipped a stick in the wax and put it on my eyebrow. I jumped a bit. OUCH! Wax is HOT! I wasn't expecting that. So she said "Wax too hot?" I told her I was ok, which was a lie, because I was indeed ready to go running out of there.

Then she put the paper on there patted it down and RIP! OH MY LORD! OUCH!! I jumped a bit. She showed me the paper and there they were, my eyebrow hair. Ok, I still had some left. Then she put more wax on them. More paper and RIP! once again. YIKES, take it easy woman! This hurt more than the first strip. So of course I jumped higher. I could feel my eyebrow tingle and start to go numb.

Then she went to the other side and repeated the same steps. I jumped higher each time she ripped those little eyebrow hairs out. It hurt worse with each rip. And now both sides tingled and went numb. I could feel them start to swell. She grabbed a mirror, and said "Look, you pretty now!". Wait a minute...I'm pretty NOW? Wow, that pain and torture only cost me ten dollar!

When I was done I had great nails and great looking eyebrows. I'm pretty now! So I got out my check book to pay her. She said "No check, we like credit card" I told her, but I have a check, it's good. She said "no check, we like credit card". Ok, I'm not going to argue with a Chinese woman and her hot wax. So I gave her my credit card. She charged the correct amount, I gave her a tip. Then she said "Ok, you done, you can go now".

It was great. It took about 1 hour for the whole procedure. I paid half the money I would have than if I went to a higher profile salon. I didn't have to tell her my life story. Nor did she tell me hers. And when I left I was very pretty, which is the same outcome I would have gotten most anywhere.

Boys of Summer

My oldest son has been having a great summer so far. In fact we've hardly seen him. He's been riding his bike. He's been over-seeing the construction site down the street. I'm sure those construction workers are about ready to put him to work since he's there observing so often.

He's been riding around with the other neighborhood boys. And doing God knows what else. He told me tonight they were smashing ants with firecracker poppers. I think the boy needs a GPS tracker transplanted in him. But I am happy for long range walkie-talkie's. He does stop in from time to time to let us know he still lives here, he'll grab a glass of water, and back out the door he goes. "Going back to Luke's house!" He shouts as the door slams shut.

It is nice that he's getting out and about, instead of sitting in front of the idiot box all day. So I should be thankful for that. And here I thought he would go stir crazy this summer by not having enough to do.

I make a tasty meal...

For a sneaky spider that is. YUCK! Some creepy crawly spider decided to make my ankle as a snack. I woke up all itchy on my ankle. "Don't scratch your bug bites! They'll itch even more." That is what my mother always told me. Well...she was right! This pesky spider, took about 10 bites off of my ankle and calf. And itch, did they ever.

At first I thought maybe I'd picked up poison ivy or some other kind of itch weed, but it didn't spread. So I came to the conclusion that I was a spider snack.

Statics say that people eat an average of 8 spiders every year in our sleep. Well...all I can say is I hope I ate this one in my sleep. Because it certainly deserved to be eaten after trying to make a meal out of me.

The very thought of all this just really creeps me out. I'm not a big fan of spiders anyway. I know spiders are good because they eat mosquitoes and other little nasties like that. Charlotte the spider in Charlotte's Web is a very tender, all knowing, talented spider... awe she's so cute in the movie. But I don't think a spider gnawing on my leg is very cute, charming, or good.

I have killed many a spider in my life time. I usually go running and screaming away from them, but I have faced them alone and had to fend for myself. Spider death by fireplace iron, spider death by Aqua Net hair spray, spider death by big shoe, spider death by big wad of toilet paper, and spider death by broom stick. All are tried and true methods of killing spiders.

I hope the spider that chomped on me got his in the end. Because I certainly don't want it coming back for seconds.

Tough Guys Wear Pink

As my husband would say "You'd better be a tough guy if you are going to wear pink!". I bought my youngest son a pink t-shirt with that saying on it last week. He was SO excited, he could hardly wait to wear it. I told him I had to wash it first and then he could wear it.

The next day he told everyone, and I do mean everyone, about his new pink t-shirt. He made sure to tell them all that his dad is afraid of the color pink as well. My husband thinks that any guy wearing pink is going to get beat up or something. He thinks it's such a bad thing.

When Sam got home from school after a day of telling everyone about his new pink t-shirt, he immediately asked me if I had washed and dried it yet. I informed him that indeed I had. He came home and made sure it was ready to go for the next day.

The next morning he squealed with excitement about wearing his pink t-shirt. He showed it off to everyone, and I do mean everyone. They all adored his pink t-shirt that says "TOUGH GUYS WEAR PINK" written in band-aids. (Truly fitting of the boy!)

I asked Sam at the end of the day how his pink shirt was received. He told me all about how everyone liked it. I asked him if any one teased him or punched him for wearing it. He looked at me and said "NO!", like "what are you talking about mom?" I figured no one would. I mean you'd have to be pretty evil to want to beat up Sam. Everyone loves him.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...Oh MY!

Today I took the kids to the MN Zoo for the grand opening of "Russia's Grizzly Coast" exhibit. It truly is an amazing exhibit. We spent 2 hours in it. It was really neat to have such an up close and personal experience with the three bears. We didn't see Goldilocks though. Guess they ate her.

I am glad we bought a zoo membership this year. I have decided to buy one every other year. It really is worth the money. Two visits and you've paid for it. The new exhibit sure does do a lot for our zoo. It puts the zoo into a whole new class. I would definitely have to say one of the top 5 zoo's in the country.

The kids and I had a really good time. The hubby stayed home. He got some yard work done, so we left him alone with that. No one wants to help him with that and I'm allergic to it all anyway.

Momzilla

Beware...when I am tired, allergies flaring, and had enough in one day I turn into MOMZILLA!

Yesterday my allergies kicked in full boar. My head was throbbing, my nose was running, and I was tired. I'd been looking at Excel spreadsheets all day, so by the end of the day my brain had checked out and I was ready to go home and take a nap. But the oldest cavechild had his last swimming lesson of the season to go to and also attend his baseball game.

So I emailed my darling husband and asked him politely if he would take his beloved child to swimming and baseball. His reply...."Whatever...yes". So I replied back to him "Never mind with that attitude." Of course he had no clue what I was talking about, so I had to explain to him that I was merely asking a small favor, not asking him to part the Red Sea. So to just forget it and I would suffer through and take him.

Needless to say at home, he got the silent treatment. I ran Kevin off to swimming. On the way into swimming I have to walk by about 10 purple lilac bushes. I am highly allergic to lilac's, especially freshly blooming ones blowing in the breeze. Not only do I have to walk by them on the way in,but also on the way out. So I mumble swear words towards my beloved under my breath.

I get my son to his baseball game after swimming is over. We get to the field and guess what? Well, there is nothing better for an allergy sufferer like myself who just inhaled lilac's but to inhale freshly cut grass on the huge soccer and baseball field. What a great idea! Let's mow the grass on a windy day that my allergies decide to kick in on and I'm already crabby and feeling like crud. So again I mumble so not so nice words towards my beloved husband under my breath.

We get home and now I'm really miserable. So I make sure to kiss the kids good night, give the husband the silent treatment, take some Vitamin C and Mucinex, drink a cup of Chamomile tea, and promptly go to bed.

I woke up this morning and Momzilla had vanished. I think my husband is happy about that. But he does know me well enough not to speak until I spoke to him this morning. What a smart man he is!!

My allergies are still giving me troubles, but at least I was able to hide indoors today, which kept Momzilla away.

Cave Invasion

Last night there was a cave invasion. I baby-sat a friend's little 3 year old girl. She is so adorable. It was good to have another female in the house, even if it was short lived.

My boys acted like the end of the world was near. They shut themselves in their bedroom hiding from her. TAKE COVER, IT'S A LITTLE GIRL!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!

At bed time the boys were worried we were going to keep her. Sam asked "Are we going to keep her forever?" Kevin said "I hope not, I don't want a little sister!". Boys, geez...she's spending one night! LOL...You'd think an alien had just landed.

This morning she convinced Sam to play outside with her. They had a good time. Kevin still avoided her. After they were done playing, I painted her toe nails, painted her finger nails, and put her hair in pony tails. Her daddy came to pick her up, and I told him she could come over and play with us (er....me) anytime!

Blog Slacker

Forgive me Blog, but my last blog was over 2 weeks ago. Yes, I am guilty of being a Blog Slacker!

Since I got home from Montana, I have been busy running kids around, keeping up with my kick ball team (we still haven't won a game yet), and going out of town (yes, again).

Baseball season is kicked into high gear. It's definitely a much different game these days now that the kids are getting older. The kids have to pitch and they are learning to slide and steal bases.

Swimming is coming to an end. Each boy only has one lesson left.

Only 2 more games of kickball. Please let us just win one game this season!

Over Memorial Weekend, the family went to our sweet escape. Grand Marais, MN. Minnesota's own little paradise. Shhhhh! Don't tell everyone, we'd like to keep it paradise. It is always so nice to get away. I had no internet (again), but I suppose if we made the kids give up cartoons for 3 full days, I guess it's only fair for me to give up the internet. Well, not really, but that's how they saw it.

Today we are off to the Zoo. Should be fun.