This is kind of becoming a weekly update isnt it? I can blame facebook for that. Its so addicting. I just cant seem to get much else done. I read my blogroll.. but then I get lost in facebook.  I gotta get back on this blog thing. Mostly for me.. I love to go back and read old blogs and see what I was thinking ect from time to time.

This week went by so fast! I say that a lot dont I?

I was off on Monday.. So Steven and I ran some errands in the morning.. to the dollar tree and to look at a new mattress at Badcocks. I found my DREAM mattress. That thing is like HEAVEN.. but its ummm $2000. Can you believe that? $2000 for JUST the mattress! Ugh. unbelievable.Crazy. I cooked spaghetti for dinner and went to bed early to read. I have been reading a lot of Nora Roberts books lately (she’s written like a gajillion of them) and have been zipping through the Born in series. Its pretty good.. and DEFINATLY making me want to visit Ireland.

Tuesday I was up early to go to work. I love working 6-10 in early and out again in time to enjoy the day. We did some running around, stopped to see the progress the workmen are making on the new church Youth center, and then stopped at our favorite local cafe for lunch. The Whistlestop Cafe is owned by really interesting people originally from South Africa. The shop is in a 150 year old building with this amazing exposed brick wall.. It is decorated with all these amazing antiques too. They serve GREAT really fun and interesting food. Not typical southern stuff. Its SO refreshing to find somewhere with an imagination. My favorite by FAR is a marinated steak sandwich.They put it on grilled sourdough and serve it with a side salad for like $7. As you know I am a condiment girl and they have this cucumber wasabi  saladdressing that is .. well its just plain yummy.I had planned to get a bunch of house cleaning done that day.. but after eating that great lunch I lay down across the bed and slept until the kids got home from school. I fixed shake and bake chicken and garlic smashed potatoes for super and then Steven and I went to a youth staff meeting at the new Youth Center. Things are really moving forward and we are so excited to see a place for kids to come and be safe and still have a good time.

Wednesday was another busy day. In to work early and then home to finally get the house cleaned. I did laundry all day long! It seemed as if I’d never get through it.  I had planned to attend church wednesday night,but then Steven got a  job call after super and Thing One wasnt feeling very well. So I sent Thing Two with my parents to church and stayed home. I should have gone to bed early because I was up with both girls sick most of the night

Thursday was ROUGH getting out of bed. Between the two girls coughing and cleaning up puke from Thing One (she NEVER makes it to the bathroom. EVER) I was exhausted.  But 4 hours wasnt too bad and went pretty quickly. Nothing about a pot and half of coffee wouldnt fix right? Luckily our Dr was able to squeeze Thing One in for a morning appointment.. although Im not sure what the point was, because the place was JAMMED. Wall to wall people. Sick people. I should have had a mask on. I swear half of Dillon must be sick! Our appointment was for 11 and we didnt even get seen until 12:30. It was insane. I knew Thing One had a sinus infection and wouldnt get better on her own though, so I had to wait to get her prescriptions. She is still feeling pretty yucky today. Hopefully the meds will kick in and kick that infection out! Thing Two wasnt feeling poorly enough to go to the Dr thursday.. but I may wish Id taken her anyway as she is sounding pretty croupy in her lungs today. Monday may find me waiting again :( boo.

Today I kept Thing One home from school again. Her sinuses have had her with a headache almost constantly. Poor baby. Luckily I was scheduled to be off from work. She is old enough to be home by herself, but I am glad I was home to take care of her. She might be 14, but she is still my baby. We slept late and watched television and then when she was feeling better this afternoon we ran to the library.. I have been wanting to read the Ann Rice series on the early life of Jesus and they were finally in. I cant wait to read them. She is a great writer. One of my favorite books of all time is ”Interview with a Vampire” . We stopped at the grocery store and picked up things for pasta salad and baked beans to go with grilled burgers for dinner. I ran home to put everything together, While Steven and the girls had an appointment for haircuts. I toyed with cancelling since T1 was sick.. but she’d been on meds for 24  hrs, so wasnt likely contagious. Our hair lady is awesome and she had the three looking ship shape in no time.  While they were gone I decided to bake some brownies and We took everything over to my parents house and enjoyed an evening over there. We watched Madagascar 2 (eh.. not so much) and lazed around.  ( I also rented Nights in Rodanthe and cant wait to watch it tommorow.. love Dianne Lane. I read the book on our cruise and hopefully the movie will be as good)

Tommorow Thing 2 has a rehearsal for the State Jr Talent competition she is involved in with the church. The event is in Mauldin (near greenville) in a couple weeks and they are wide open with the rehearsals. Then we plan to laze around and watch movies, play mario kart and take naps. We may go out to dinner in the evening depending on how the girls are. I am toying with the idea of going to see “Madea Goes to Jail” in the evening. The girls at work said it was very funny.

Last night Steven took me on the most enjoyable date. Being that I am enjoying a 4 day weekend from work, we decided that we could go out on a school night! It was so much fun.. it felt so naughty and decadent. We even had desert!

We decided on dinner and a movie and opted for Olive Garden. Yeah yeah.. its cheesy and not “real” italian” but I cant help it. I love that place. I was actually kinda surprised that they were as packed out as they were. But we didnt have to wait tooo long.

I had the new shrimp mezzaluna ravioli which is a departure from my long standing favorite seafood portofino… but it was very good.. although as usual when we try something new I like whatever Steven got better. He had the italian sausage version of the dish and I WILL be recreating the tomato alfredo sauce that was on them. Im thinking of making chicken/cheese ravioli’s out of eggroll wrappers. I saw someone on food network do it. ..and the idea has been marinating for a while.

Desert was tiramisu.. love that stuff. Its very easy and is really considered a very common desert in Italy (I had it several times in several versions when I was there.. most memorably as gellato in a gellateria called “Marinelli’s” which is fun for me since that is my mother’s maiden name!) I would make it for home.. but I cant seem to find marscapone cheese or lady fingers here. I wonder if there are online specialty grocery stores that would ship it? Giada  makes her OWN lady fingers.. but I just dont think I am that accomplished as a baker. anyway.. off of THAT bunnt trail.

Because we had to wait for dinner we missed the early showing of the movie we wanted to see.. so we decided to go over to Target and browse a little. I dont get there very often.. which is sad, because  I love all the neat stuff they have.. of course the very fact that I dont get there very often may be the reason I enjoy target so much. We found a  few things.. a SUPER cute “I <3 fashion” tshirt for Thing 2. AND some blood orange soda! I love love love this stuff. Well..  I love love love the world market brand of it. I HOPING that the archer farms target brand is just as good.

The world market brand was orange soda on a sophisticated kick.. kind of bitter and more complex than regular “sunkist” soda… BUT we dont have a World Market here.. only at the beach.. which sucks. The lemon is also delicious as well as the pomegrante. I plan to stock up next time we go to the beach.

After target we almost decided to head home.. but i talked Steven into staying up late and we went to see “He’s Just Not That into You” It was pretty cute. Unfortunatly it has a “cheating” storyline in it and that TOTALLY turned Steven off. He cant STAND cheating movies, songs, shows.. ect. I guess it comes from his ex wife cheating on him like she did.. he is super sensative to that kind of stuff.. SO.. other than my honey grumbling under his breath about cheaters having a special place in hell.. and pretending to “squish the head” of the character on the screen. It was good LOL. I particularly loved Ginnifer Goodwin in this movie. She is hialrious and totally carried the movie. Which is imrpressive with costars like Jennifer Anniston and Drew Barrymore!

We didnt get in until nearly 1 am! I cant remember when we stayed out that late. My mother.. of course was on her doorstep watchful of the things whom I had left to go to bed at a decent hour (Thing One is 14.. QUITE old enough to babysit..especially with my parents just across the street and my couins next door.. and my uncle down the road..)

I think we are going to instititute a monthly “date night” for mommy and daddy. I enjoyed myself so much. Probably not so very late once a month.. but it was sure fun!

I was browsing blogs the other day and came across one (I didnt  mark it for favorites.. DANG!)  where the blogger makes a monthly post of things she is currently loving.. addicted too. like new products, or old ones.. or just stuff she is liking a lot. AND since I am a shameless blog post idea stealer?

Introducing!!! A brand new monthly/bi monthly/whenever I get around to it feature here at IAML. ..

Stuff I am currently addicted too. products I am enjoying, things, stuff, and favorites.

My name is Michele and I am a Diet Coke addict. Im back on it. I did SO SO well for so long. I had weaned myself totally off of it. But the other day I was at the store and was thirsty.. and …I thought.. just one wont hurt. Before I knew it I was throwing a 24 pack into the buggy. SIGH.  I fell off the wagon. They just taste so darn good.. and they dont have any calories.. and and … I just cant help it. SOB!

Febreze NOTICEables.  I am a scent junkie. I love when my house smells good.. I love smelly candles and cleaning products and air fresheners. So as you can imagine I have tried all the glade and whatever else plug in freshners .. I havent tried the wallflowers ones from Bath and body works.. We dont have a B&B here in Dillon and I dont get to town that often… and it would tick me off to have an empty wallthingee and have to wait to refill it. I guess I could order refills online though.. ANNNYWHO. I had a coupon for a free noticeable and picked one up the other day. I LOVE this thing. It has two different scent openings and automatically alternates between two complimentary scents.I tried the Morrocan Bazzarr scent and it smells SOOOOO good. I plugged it in the living room and the scent really travels everywhere in the front part of the house. Ive had it about a month and it’s still going strong. I bought some springy scent set to refill it with whenever this one goes empty.  You can print a coupon at www.febreze.com

Bath and Body Works- Rainkissed Leaves scent

I also love love love smelly bath products. Ive mentioned this scent before but had to throw it out there again.. It is just so good. Clean and fresh and ..well rainkissed I have had TONS of compliments on it..

Raisin Bran Crunch-

This is just plain yummy. I love that it doesnt get all soggy in milk. I hate that about cereal. Its also just a little sweetened. YUM

Nora Roberts Books-

 I have been reading voraciously lately. Last month it was Sophie Kinsella (My enchanting friend Shanny turned me on to her.. FUN reads.) But I have been plowing through the Nora Roberts series. Not brain surgery or anything.. but enjoyable. DEFINATLY bubble bath reads.. which is why I buy them for myself and havent been getting to the library.. although if I continue to read at the rate that I have been lately I will have to head over there. Anyone interested in a book trade?

 Aquafina Hydrating Lip Oil-

I LOVE this stuff. I am not a big fan of lip gloop. I feel all greasy and often lip stuff gives me heartburn. (yeah. weird huh?)  But this stuff is fantastic. Its slickery without being greasy and does a great job of keeping my lips all soft. It goes on over lipstick pretty well too. love it!

What a delightful weekend we had! I just love Valentine’s Day.. love it.. well now that I am married I do.. my sister, who is single. Calls it “singles awareness day”. I totally remember those years when you’d look around and all youd see is COUPLES and thier happy sappy doe eyed looks and it’d make you want to PUKE. The Valentine’s Day right before Caitlin was born was particularly crappy. I was 7 mos pregnant and SINGLE and in a new place away from my friends. UGH. total depression. If I remember my Mom brought me a valentine.. but in that state? Not a lot helps. Little did I know that a year later almost to the day (feb 21, 2001)  I would meet my forever Valentine.

He is such a sweet romantic. We have been kinda spoiling eachother for about a week.. I picked up a Wii game he wanted.. He told me I should buy a shirt I liked ect… and then totally spoiled me with several nice pieces of lingerie for our anniversary (is that a gift for me or more for him?)  So I didnt really expect anything for Valentines..

 Especially since we finally found a copy of MARIO KART and snatched it up. (LOVE THAT GAME.. love it. I am totally addicted.) And we are planning a little mini vacation the first week of April.. I absolutely would have been fine without a specific Valentine’s Day gift… But he surprised me with the prettiest dainty little topaz pendant. Its a perfect ring of tiny topaz stones. I think I am part squirrel.. since anything sparkly makes me giggle and do a happy dance. I love it. I just have to find a chain for it since the one that came with it is like 12′ long. (Who has a neck like that? squirrels?)  

It looks just like this only with a pale blue topaz stone.

We also took the girls to dinner at Outback..yeah not terribly original.. but you cant go wrong with a steak dinner right? We are total carnivores . Although, they have these really good french almond green beans that are YUMMY and they also have a nack with the baked potato. I love when the outside is all crisp and the inside is all fluffy. YUM. (hmmm we may have to repeat that dinner again soon.) I called ahead and almost felt guilty when we only waited about 20 minutes. Some people were waiting over 2 hours! YIKES!!

While we were in town (Lumberton NC) we also went to our favorite tattoo parlor. (where we got our tattoos the last time.. “our favorite” makes us sound like we are ink junkies) I have an idea for another tattoo that has been perking for a couple years. I had a consultation with the artist and he is going to work up some drawings of my design. He seemed to like it a lot and had a lot of good ideas… I love watching an artist pick up an idea and run with it.

Sunday we attended church and did some cleaning around the house and Steven and I had a delightful nap. (intersperced with supreme Mario Kart Battles of course)  Then I had yesterday off  and we ran around and got some errands run. Steven had an eye dr exam and then we came home to order some eyeglasses from www.zennioptical.com If they are as good as the reviews we read from all over the internet I am SUPER excited. We each ordered a pair and a spare AND a pair of prescription sunglases for (get THIS!!!) $68 total !! They are made in china and then shipped here. The shipping takes about 2 weeks, but for those prices? I can wait 2 weeks.

First off WOW. I had like 500 hits on this blog this weekend! I was all excited. Im FAMOUS.. I was envisioning my book deal, when I noticed they were all on one particular post about Holly Madison. Rats. It seems that she quit her job at Playboy. And who can blame her? I cant imagine that being around the mansion and working for Hef has been that much fun for her since they broke up. What with all the new blonde girlfriends running around.  It would be all too wierd for me.. Of course Holly traded on side show for another.. She is now dating wierdo    illusionist Criss Angel

 That guy creeps me out.. or is it the other illisionist? Blaine somebody or other. ew. They are both odd to me.

Anyway. We had an excellent weekend. Friday evening we just hung out around here. I worked a long week last week (and will again this week) and was ready to just relax. We grabbed dinner at our local Japanese hibachi place and then watched the movie City of Ember

The verdict is still kind of out on that one. I plan to read the book by Jeanne Duprau and see what I think.  I suspect that the book is likely pretty good and the movie version was just too ambitious. The movie was spotty in its storyline for sure. But Bill Murray was pretty good as the Mayor of Ember.

    Thing One FINALLY got to spend some time with her mother this weekend. She hadnt seen her since christmas! She was SUPER excited to see her mom.  I usually HATE it when she is gone, but I was actually glad to see her go this time. She had grown so antsy and wierd (she does that when visits go a long time inbetween) that it was miserable around here this past week. Hopefully she will feel better about things. She seemed more normal tonight.

With Thing One gone we took the opportunity to spend some quality time with the little Thing.  I think she really had a good time and she just ate up the attention. It can be sometimes be difficult to balance indiviual time for each kid. I try to keep things pretty even, but lately Thing One has been kind of high maintenance.. so it was good that we got some time alone with the little one. We had aquired some free passes to see Barnum and Bailey’s Ringling Brother’s circus in Florence and decided to make a day out of going to see it. We left early enough to grab lunch at Chili’s before the show.  It really was a fun time.  We got  Thing 2 set up with cotton candy, an icee and a silly clown hat and she was so much fun to watch. I love the way she laughs out loud at things. Not just giggles, but full on belly laughs. It was precious. Can you believe we forgot the camera? UGH I could have kicked Steven! Our favorite part of the show was a french clown who rode an impossibly small bicycle. He was very funny. I also loved the white Siberian Tigers.  The dog act was SUPER cute too. They had these little tiny miniature dauxshunds! I havent spent much time around the breed, and it was neat to see the doxie traits that Paisley has. They were super smart. I wonder if I could train her to do any of those tricks?                                                       

After the show we wandered around the mall a little. It was SO SO crowded though. (Where-ever the recession is? It wasnt in Florence on Saturday. TOTAL MADHOUSE.) The Children’s place was having a big sale so we further spoiled Thing 2 with a new outfit. She got a cute aqua polkadotted skirt and sweater set to wear for Easter.  I wanted to find her something cutesy to wear for Valentines day.. and they had some SUPER cute little dresses into Gymboree but AAK! She has outgrown gymboree!  I was so sad   I have loved thier clearance racks for years. boo. I wasnt sad for tooo long because I found 300 thread count sheets 50% off  at a linen shop in just the right color baby blue for our room! I love 300s. 400 is to slickery for me and 250 gets those little pills in them.  I washed them today and put them on the bed. They are so pretty!

 Anywho, the huge crowds were getting to Steven,  so we made a quick stop at Barnes and Noble to find the last in the “shopaholic” book series by Sophie Kinsella.. but they only had it in trade version.. and I wanted it in mass market to match the others I have. ( I am weird about my bookshelves) I may see if I can find it at the library to read and then grab it at Walmart whenever it comes out in the mass market version for my collection. yeah yeah. OCD. I get it.

Today we attended church and then came home to get ready to go to Pembroke NC to Steven’s cousin Mia’s birthday party. It was HUGE. She has been very very sick with Lupus and had been in ICU on her actual birthday and through the holidays, So Steven’s Aunt’s church recreated a holiday feast and threw her a big birthday bash (she is 20) There were  about 100 people there. The food was really good and I always enjoy spending time with Steven’s Aunts. They are sweet ladies.  I have a tendancy to forget that Steven is part Lumbee Indian. Thing Two and I were the only blonde heads in a sea of beautiful Indian faces. I love the pembroke dialect too. It has a sound all it’s own. Which is really interesting seeing as Pembroke is less than 30 minutes from Dillon.

Tommorow I am off from work and plan to clean the carpets in our living room and hallways. They havent been shampoo’d in over a year! EW! I imagine that they are pretty nasty.  Luckily my Dad has a shampoo-er that I can use.. I just gotta go pick up some fluid for it.

I have friends who do not have children yet…and want them badly (and deserve them)  so I recognize how blessed I am to have them.. so I rarely complain about my daughters,  it just makes me seem ungrateful.. but OH MY GOD. My kids have been such a handful lately. It just seems like one thing after another. Seriously.

Thing One helps me with the laundry sometimes.  I have been teaching her to separate the loads ect for some time and to use the washer. I think its a valuable skill for her to have. Plus it’s nice to have some help. Thing Two is starting to learn too.  They dont have regular chores (except the dishes.. they do the dishes. YES! )  but I expect them to help out whenever I ask.  Anyway, while Steven was in the hospital I asked Thing One to run the clothes. Its been a LONG standing rule that she MUST MUST MUST check pants pockets before loading the washer…. well…. she forgot. And Steven’s GLASSES that had been placed in his pocket the day we went to the ER got destoyed in the washer. ugh. I was a little peeved, but it WAS an accident and anyone can forget right? once.

Monday afternoon I was doing laundry and just had one load left. I heard the dryer cut off and without looking I hollered for Thing One to go ahead and start the last load… without realizing Steven had come in from outside (he is doing some driving for the business… he cant do ANY lifting at all whatsoever.. but driving the truck is ok) and on his way to the shower had thrown his pants on top of the pile.. wallet and CELL PHONE included.  Yeah. Straight into the washer. ugh. We didnt realize what had happened until tuesday morning when I called Steven’s phone.. straight to voice mail. grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Soooo. today I got to buy Steve a new cell. And tommorow we are finally getting around to getting him new glasses.

Wait, It gets better.

   Last night the dog was barking. I mean like really freaking out barking. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up and she was growling and just generally having a cow.  for no good reason…at a suitcase ( This past weekend Steven and I celebrated our 5th anniversary by spending a night a the beach and I left the empty roller bag in the hallway) Paisley would eye the suitcase with huge bugged out eyes and every time she would walk by it she would tuck her tail and skitter on by.. it was so wierd. Finally at dinner last night when she was continuously barking at the offending bag,I asked if anyone knew exactly what was causing the dog to freak out.  Thing Two responds very nonchelantly.

” Ohhhh, She is afraid of therapy.”

hmmmmm. I was almost afraid to ask.

 ”I didnt realize the dog was in treatment.” I reposnded.

“Oh yeah.. I was playing Dr Phil (she says “Dr FEEL” ) and It was my professional opinion that Paisley and Patsy (the cat) need therapy, they just cannot get along”

Over the now ferociusly barking paisley.. I ask “and what was the prescribed treatment?”

“mmm I put ‘em in ’yer suitcase and rolled ‘em around for a while.. it seemed to help while they were in there.. ’cause all they did was lay real still and shake.. like this (to which she begins to tremble all over) But I tell ya’ they were back to fighting again tonight.”

no wonder Paisley’s hair is coming out in clumps.

ugh.