home, sweet home

well, its true. i am home. i am trying to be sad about it, because well, i am. i mean sad to be done with vacation and sad to be bakc to the real world. but it really is nice to come home. after 18 days it is wonderful to sleep in my own bed again:)

i have missed you all, and will be trying to catch up on all of your blogs! thankyou to everyone especially the rambler! i didn't quite make it to 25 comments, but largely in part to her i did make it to 20, which is double anything before! thankyou to everyone who stopped by, and i will be sure to make my way to all of your blogs!

i have a bunch more pictures to post, but haven't loaded them yet. and so many things to tell you, but i also have so much laundry to wash! thankgoodness i have a wonderful husband who cleaned every square inch of our house before we left, so that is done. but some groceries might be good at somepoint....

i also saw that my son got a hold of this blog some how and i would like to respond. so for your reading enjoyment....

dear dominic raife thomas andress,

(yes i used your full name so you will know i am talking to you and not some other dom that you like to blame things on)

anyway,
we are back from vacation now. yes,i am sad to be done, and i know you are too, as evidenced by you crying before bed. that really made me feel bad. it also let me know that you did in fact enjoy yourself, which at times was hard to discern due to the scowl on your face.

it is true i am the luckiest mommy in the world to have you as my son. i know you are already aware of this since you are right, you ask me every day. i am certainly super lucky that i got to take you to disney world 3 times. that is 2-3 more times than pretty much everyone we know. lucky me.

i am sorry about the frustration showing on my face. i have always been so good at hiding it in the past. i guess i figured that since you have no problem always letting my know exactly how you feel, in public and in private, i thought we were being more open. i especially love how "open" you were at the pool when you loudly announced to me that you were currently "dumping" in your swimmy diaper. i know you really have no control over your b.m.'s, and i know we have taught you that you shouldn't be embarrassed about it, but i must say, i think we misled you somehow about how to let us know you needed to be changed....

i laughed when you mentioned the sleeping in. i realize you are going by the clock, however i would like to mention to you that it really isn't sleeping in if you stayed up until 1 am letting your dearly loved son swim in the pool and then had a midnight (2 am ) snack on the balcony of your room. sleeping until 10 am is only fair. (plus mommy needs lots of rest so i can prepare my brain to answer all those delightful questions you ask me one right after the other)

i really did have fun with you on our trip, always making sure you got food and drinks, always making sure you got to do everything you really loved twice, spending money on all the things you wanted. asnwering very important questions about why the animals would drink dirty looking water, and also why do the workers clean up their poop.

me and daddy we live to get up early and trek around the themes parks, take you out to dinner, take you for midnight swims, let you stay up late to play with your newest toy and then hear you whine before bed because you didn't get to do everything you wanted to do that day. we never mind hearing it.

oh yeah, and i almost forgot, those maraca's we bought? i really am sorry but somehow they seemed to have gotten lost on the trip home. but i did manage to find a much quieter better sombrero from mexico. hope you didn't need those maracas for anything....

i truly do love you son. even when you stomp your feet like you are 2 years old.
mommy

now, i feel much better.
ladies, it has been an exciting few weeks. i still haven't forgotten my pay it forward ladies, i will get your stuff to you:)

hope everyone's week started out well!

jineen

a mish mash and a letter from dom

i recieved these two awards from Janana Bee, and i was so excited! she has an awesome blog and you should definitely check her out! plus she friended me on facebook:)

you know i love all of you, and so feel free to take these awards for yourselves:) i will pass them onto everyone who is reading this!

i am lovin it down here in key west, and i have to say i am not holding back on the amount of liquor i am consuming, nor the time in which i start consuming it.....(don't worry i am being responsible, i have a kid....i know)

i will take some good pictures today and tomorrow and post them so you can see how fabulous it is, until then i thought i would do something else, just so you don't get too tired of looking at pictures:)

i am setting a goal to get 25 comments on this post, which would be more than double the comments i have ever gotten, go ahead whore me out to your friends if you want:) (and also coming soon part 2 of my kid story) ....

also, alittle bloggy love for just a chic, she is a strong, caring, loving, f*ck off woman!

just a little note from my 7 year old.....

Dear mommy,

hi, its me your son. i know that you always wanted to be a mommy and that you prayed that God would put me in your belly. i know you are definitely the luckiest mom in the world to have me. I know this because i ask you every day.

i also know that this is my third trip to disney world in the last 3 years.

but....there are some things that i want to talk to you about.....

and mommy? please don't make that face. i can see when you are frustrated with me, and quite frankly? it makes me upset. you see mommies are never supposed to be frustrated. and i feel like you should know that by now.

also, this whole sleeping in thing? it might fly when you are working, but on vacation? nope. please get up a little earlier so i can get some breakfast before i begin my day of playing and relaxing.

another thing that has been bothering me.....every time i want to get in the pool, it takes you so long to get ready. i do not feel like waiting for you to put on makeup to get in the pool. you already have a husband- named daddy- and no-one cares about if you look fat. why do you always talk about it? (for that matter, why do you make daddy check your butt every time you wear a new outfit?)

moving on..... i know that we stayed in a suite in animal kingdom lodge, and went on a special penguin tour and theme parks and character breakfasts and a midnight swim nearly every night, but you know what mommy? that's your job! you must make sure i am having the time of my life. and today when you told me that this part of our trip was for relaxing because we did so much at disney? i did not approve of your tone. God gave you a son so you could make that son happy. so do it.

and one more thing.... when we took that very long walk today "to see the sights", remember when we saw that lighthouse, and you wouldn't let us walk in it. i am still pissed about it. i might be smiling right now, but don't think for one second i have forgotten that you told me no. or that you continued to drag me down the street. or that you wouldn't let me cross my arms so everyone could know i was mad. i will be remembering that the next time you have a headache. oh yes, me and those maraca's you bought me....we will all be "remembering".

well, mommy, i do love you, and if you could just work on those things i listed above, i think we will get along just fine.

now, i am off to play!

your son,

Dominic

(i will answer him in a future post)

hope you are all having a great day!

jineen

oh my goodness, i am in love...

.....with Florida! i swear, we have now been here over a week, and i am looking at job postings for nurses down here.

i know, i know, you all probably feel that way while on vacation....

but i can't help it...

so maybe by now you are all tired of me rubbing salt in your nonn-vacationing wound posting so many vacation things....but i am gonna do a quick recap since monday....

tuesday morning, we had breakfast and this guy showed up.....

and this guy too......

we walked around the polynesian for a while.....and posed along the way...

after breakfast we took a walk...

and we lounged in a hammock ......

while the fat kid did this....

we spent the rest of the day at the pool, which i am having trouble getting pics loaded.

wednesday, we went to sea world and made a new friend....

and fed some hungry sea lions....

each day, when we get back, dom's two favorite sleeping buddies are there to greet us:)

and i guess thats it for now cuz i can't get any more pics up now....hope you ar all having a great week......

thanks for your tan thoughts, though you may want to stop sending them so much, i am burnt:(

love to you all!

jineen

i want to live here....

so, the weather, the sunshine, the family time, all of it, i want to stay here forever. i guess everyone feels that way on vacation. i am sleeping well, feeling well, hell even my skin is clearer. (my acne hit my on my 26th birthday this past year and i swear it won't go AWAY!)

anyway, i will step away from the way i have been doing these vacation posts to approach another, more interesting subject. i must forewarn you tho......i hope i am not offensive about what i am gonna write, but i have to get it out. i missed mama loco's pissed off post, but if i didn't i would have written about this...

kids.

yeah, i know. we all know they are sniveling, whiny, needy little they are precious gifts from God. but sometimes wheni happen to be on vacation, enjoying my family and our time together i wish there were no other children. anywhere within 50 miles of me.

why? well, let me start by saying, my child is certainly no angel. somedays he makes me want to pull my hair out and run away screaming. however.....i always make it a point to make sure other people aren't feeling that way because of him.

you see, i understand that other people don't have children and so maybe they don't want ot hear mine whining. i get it that not everyone thinks my kid syas and does the most cutest, adorable things. i realize that allowing my child to run around like a mindless idiot is not conducive to everyone enjoying themselves.

sadly, i have discovered that not many fellow parents get those facts. they allow their children to push, shove and scream to get their way. they think their child should be the only one at the front of the line at all times. they even let their 6 year old push their 2 year old in a stroller down a hill in a crowd of 150 people without a care.

when you pay $150 extra dollars for a private tour of penguins because you know they are your sons favorite animal and some spoiled rotten piece of shit 5 year old 5 year old girl is whining the whole time once she's had her turn to pet the penguin that everyone else is taking too long. her parents were disgusted. oh, but not with her. with us. for taking too long. i wanted to reach out and trip them while they walked. i also wanted to not go to jail.

trust me, i am not the parent of a perfect kid. i know it. but....as a parent i do feel it is my job to keep him from disrupting others who don't love him the way that i do.

maybe i should have said my complaint was about parents.

anyway, we did have a great last two days, yesterday we sat at the pool for hours and then today we went to seaworld, and had fun petting penguins! out to dinner, where we stuffed ourselves with mexican and now we are gonna go see the animals at night!

i got my very first award ever the other day from just a chic and i screamed in my chair! ( i love that freakin woman!) here it is...

ok, now i pass it onto 8 people......

shannon: she is my running inspiration

shauna: this girl never has a bad word to say, i won my first ever prize from here, and she is always cheerful!

janna: she is my first facebook/blogger friend!

megan: i call my kid fatboy, she calls her kid chunky monkey, i love it!

melissa: i'm pissed off and you're fixin to hear all about it. 'nuff said.

another megan: she is a reverse poligamist....ha!

cammie: i know justa chic already tagged her, but she was the first blog i ever started to follow and there is something about that i just can't forget:)

kristina p.: she wears NOTHING under her snuggie!

ok, there are so many more reasons why i love these girls, but i am tired, and the wine bottle is begging me to finish her up......

so, i will leave you my dear friends, my in my starting to be tan self and you in your still winter weather skin.......

jineen

the magic continues

first i want to say thankyou to all of you:) you are so positive sharing in on my excitement and i am so grateful for that!

now......let me catch you up on all the warm, sunshiney fun we've been having!

so on sunday we made our way down the interstate to cape canaveral to see the very last nighttime shuttle launch.....ever!

going.....

going.....

gone!

in the morning on monday, we took a boat ride......

to a far-away land, where prince charming showed us his castle

prince charming fought the evil emporer zurg to protect us....

then we met up with some friends......

things got scary for a moment when we ran into some heffalumps and woozles....

but then prince charming called in a rescue via one little elephant with very large ears.....

he treated us to a peanut-free snack.....

we had a mommy-son ride on a classic part of disney....

we searched and searched for the perfect family picture place.....

when the day was done, we took a boat ride across the moat....

and were blessed with one final beautiful sight:)

hope you are all starting the week out well:)

jineen

the surprise:)

late thursday night we packed up and took off! for the next 16 hours, we saw a lot of this.....

and this.......
and this......

and this weirdo who tagged along, he had no idea where we were going, no idea we were on vacation, just willingly got in the car and off we went:)

along the way there were some funny sights, but i couldn't resist taking a picture of this place (which i did not stop at)


and we saw this sign too......which caused me to laugh


but then finally we saw this....

which is the one we were waiting for! ( i know, it's far away) it tells me we are finally in .......

FLORIDA!!!

yup, we packed our bags, tossed the kid in the back and headed to florida for 16 days! family, disney and key west are on the itinerary and i am sooo.....ready for vacation! and a tan!

today my husbands aunt jan watched our little one, and we headed to epcot by ourselves to walk the countries.
we had fun in mexico......

and had yummy mexican food!




and had prosecco in italy....



and pinot noir in italy.......



some of us got jewelry in moracco......

and some of us really were a kid again in japan.......

but my date was cute, so i didn't make fun of him for climbing on toys....


then i started to get drunk had one more glass of wine in france....


thought of cammie when i saw this.....



we had a fabulous time:)







and then someone got tired....





so we headed back. the kid was waiting for us and we got to spend some time with family we don't get to see often:)

we check into animal kingdom tomorrow!

send me your tan thoughts so i pick up some sun quick!
love to you all! (esp. you shauna! i won something from her:)


jineen

family quirks and period underwear

so i have been noticing things going on around our house and i am wondering should we hide and never share these things.... or maybe everybody has weird crap that they do in their own home.

what am i talking about? well, i am sooo glad you asked!

take this for instance....

why does my kid, who sleeps like the dead..... actually look like he's dead? (he's not, don't worry) but if you look closely you can see the eye near the top of the picture is slightly open and if you were to catch him this way in person, you would be able to see that eye moving back and forth in his head. sadly, it appears i am not one of those doting parents who looks at their angelic child sleeping thinking about how peaceful and beautiful he is. nope i much prefer to analyze how creepy he looks.

next up? toilet paper!

that picture is a typical, everyday toilet paper roll. and yes i know that there is lots of dust and grime in the picture as well. we are re-doing the bathroom. once every 6 months or so we finish something in there. (with all the pooping going on, it's hard to find time to do anything else in there anyway.) so i use the toilet paper from the roll, probably much like all of you. my husband? nope. no toilet paper roll for him. he prefers to keep his toilet paper stacked and ready. reaching in front of him to access it.

yup, thats his skinny little roll of toilet paper in the front of all the other toilet paper, across from the toilet. we do not share toilet paper. a bed? yes. toothbrush in an emergency? yup. toenail clippers? check! toilet paper? not on your life.

someone in this house has 2 bags. large bags. and she keeps them protected whenever she goes out. and the shields that protect them need to be hand washed. and then laid out to dry. and she doesn't want them drying unevenly. so she subjects everyone else in this house to this....

food is next, and while there are many bizarre things we do with our food, i think the picture below quite nicely describes the way our son absolutely defiles his food when he thinks there is something unattractive about it. then he makes it all pretty and eats it. this usually involves lining it up in a perfect row and then eating it bit by bit. this poor piece of pizza never stood a chance.

we've kinda been in the process of remodeling each room in our house, new walls even. the kitchen has been done for over a year now and last winter we found the perfect bistro table to go in there. i love it! i stained it myself. and put it in the kitchen my hubby had worked so hard to redo. and we thought it fit perfect. sadly, we still have not seen fit to buy any chairs. so our poor food mutilating child must sit there like this.....

and now on to the peroid underwear.c'mon ladies, you know what i am talking about. those few pairs of underwear that you only wear during your period because a) you couldn't care less if they get stained and therefore ruined, because quite frankly while you are draining of your life sustaining serum for a week, you really don't feel like grabbing the shout to scrub the dirt out, and b) the tampon/maxipad combo required on those first two days is accomodated quite nicely in those granny panties with the extra wide crotch.

yup, my husbands first clue that i am about to get my monthlies isn't tears, fits of rage or bloating. he knows because i make sure all my period underwear are washed and laid out nicely for the grabbing.

these undies have been with me longer than the others, and they might not have a bow or scrap of lace in sight, but they are wonderful in their own way. they carry me through those first few days when natures gift won't stop giving. they support me when i literally pour myself into them.

they are my friend when after bleeding for 5-7 days and i still don't lay down and die, i throw them in the back of the drawer and forget about them, until next month...

well ladies, i am off to bed. been up for going on 24 hours now, and got most of my to-do list done. (i can't lie, hubby did most of it....) and i will awake before dawn tomorrow to prepare for the surprise!

love to you all and i won't forget to do the post i was tagged in later!

jineen