Cj’s World

2012-02-16T14:58:00.001-06:00

A friend of mine is going through the process of finding the right preschool for her daughter. I found out she is considering the same preschool both of my girls attended and loved. As we were comparing notes I was reminded of a story. Gen was probably 3 years old at the time and we had just moved to Kansas from Alabama. Picture a little girl with long blond curly hair and a slight southern

What Is This Thing You Call 'Normal'?

2012-02-14T09:09:00.005-06:00

"Just because you are dressed crazy doesn't mean you get to act crazy. " These were my words to Syd as I dropped her off at school this morning. She tells me "Yeah, I know" but I know my words have already gone out the other side of her head. Yesterday I described Sydie to someone as “creatively unique.” That’s loving mom code for, “that girl is out there flappin’!” Today in honor of Valentine’

Scruptious Indulgence

2012-02-13T09:23:00.000-06:00

Those are the two words I would use to sum up my weekend. To our demise, Daniel and I love to cook and thus LOVE to eat. A year ago this week we were in the French Quarter so to commemorate we made Muffaletta's, a classic New Orleans sandwich. You start by roughly processing pickled Italian vegetables, green olives, kalamata olives, capers, pepperoncini, fresh garlic, and a little olive oil.

2012-02-07T16:16:00.006-06:00

I felt like ass all weekend with sinus issues, a headache, and body aches. The only thing I wanted to do was lounge on the couch with my blankie… oh, and install my new dishwasher. Ironically, installing the effing dishwasher ended up consuming all my lounging time thanks to outlets that have a mind of their own. It wouldn't work plugged into the outlet under the sink but it would work sitting ON

2012-02-06T08:38:00.002-06:00

Cell phones have amazing picture quality. I love this pic of Gen and the detail; right down to the sparkle in her eyes.

Something to Wine About

2012-01-30T12:28:00.003-06:00

I wonder, at what point does one become a true Larryvillian. Is it the moment you smoke your first blunt or is it when you’ve been invited to your first alternative lifestyle party? Well if it’s the latter, I’m official and I have no idea if there were illegal substances present. We were invited by a woman Daniel works with to their annual red wine tasting party. There had to be at least 40

2012-01-23T12:04:00.004-06:00

I hate wasting a weekend and by that I mean not accomplishing something productive. I was bummed because Daniel needed to go to Western Kansas for three days. His dad was having some surgery and he needed to be out there. Since I’m not allowed to use the table saw in his absence I decided to see if Mom wanted to come spend the weekend with the girls and me. Turns out, she DID! She got to

2011 Desperate Housewifes of Pheasant Season shopping trip

2012-01-19T13:50:00.002-06:00

Although I'm not a "housewife" the girls still included me in their KC shopping adventure. The "naughty girl" in this pic was not part of our group. She was actually one of the volunteers from the Hypnotist's show and she kept following him around like a puppy. Do you think it had anything to do with the fact that every time he touched her hand she had the sensation she was having the "Big O"?

Let's Get Cookin' on a Makeover!

2012-01-17T12:15:00.002-06:00

My latest TV addiction is “I Hate My Kitchen” on the DIY Network. I too have a kitchen that puts the *ugh* in ugly so for the past year I’ve been searching for cost effective ways to make it more modern. This show gave me an amazing facelift idea for my drab cabinet doors and I had most of the material on hand from another project. I used bead board on the inserts of my doors, siliconed the

It's cold. Wear Your Damn Coat.

2012-01-13T12:16:00.001-06:00

Why is it that when a child turns a certain age they automatically think it’s okay to wear shorts in the snow and that they no longer need to wear a jacket? Hellooo, don’t ask for that shit on your Christmas list then if you aren’t going to even entertain the thought of wearing it. Geeez. This topic was the cause of a major mom meltdown in the car yesterday on the way to school. It was 19

2012-01-09T16:03:00.005-06:00

I'd have to change the name of my website if I failed to acknowledge that for me tonight is the game of all games; the BCS Championship between Bama and LSU. I spent my first two years of college at the University of Alabama and that, compiled with the nine years I lived there and some pretty effective brainwashing was enough to install a lifetime allegiance. Tonight's game is the reason I

2012-01-08T20:39:00.000-06:00

December is always a mad scramble so thankfully both of the girls got a reprieve from softball practice. That break came screeching to a halt this weekend with three practices in three days. *ugh* Gen is getting a tough lesson in conditioning. Her coach is focused on making them stronger thus making them better players. For the next couple months they will spend time every Saturday and Sunday

Long Lost Pics from December

2012-01-08T18:59:00.000-06:00

Zona Rosa in December She's laughing... not crying. Those ARE the boots she wanted. Sharpies to Gen is like The Ring to Gollum. "My precious!"

2012-01-05T10:27:00.005-06:00

The holidays are over, the tree is packed away, the ornaments and garland are stored for another year and the house is back to boring. *sigh* No, seriously I couldn’t be happier. I had more guests than usual over New Year’s so that was cool. A girlfriend I hadn’t seen in nearly two years out of the blue sent me a text requesting a play date/sleepover. We spent the evening catching up over dinner

Over the River and Along the Interstate....

2011-12-28T12:02:00.004-06:00

... to Grandmother's house we go! It dawned on me as we were almost to mom’s house Christmas day and I missed the turn that I hadn’t been to Clay Center since June. Six months and I had spaced off how to get to my mom’s house. Yikes! Of course I didn’t offer that little tidbit up to her. I didn’t want to hear, “Yeah I’m always the one who has to come see YOU!” That arrangement has worked

2011-12-21T11:07:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week I took the girls shopping after work for their dad. Unfortunately it had been raining steadily all day and it was cold. Not the most opportune time to shop but oh well. We left a video game store right behind an older woman who was using two canes to help her walk and she was moving preeeetty slooooow. It was still raining and by then it was dark and instantly I thought of my

Four Days to Go

2011-12-20T12:38:00.001-06:00

In three consecutive days we made two trips to Overland Park and two trips to Kansas City. One would think with the plethora of stores and malls at this end of the State that shopping would be easier. Not so. Maybe I’m too picky or nervous about getting the wrong thing… or both. It’s also hard helping someone else shop. We found a great little place in Overland Park called Park Place that

Your a Mean One Hazel Grinch

2011-12-15T21:42:00.003-06:00

Even Hazel is excited for Christmas. (In a Grinchy kind of way).

2011-12-12T12:40:00.001-06:00

I must have a terrible sense of time. That's the only explanation for why I thought I'd be able to decorate for Christmas, make some crafty things I've been wanting to try, run kids to all their activities and still have TONS of time to watch movies and drink coffee and cream martini's. Yeeeea riiiight. I didn't anticipate having to go to three stores to find one important element of the craft

Check the Tape

2011-12-06T11:16:00.002-06:00

If I NEVER needed to go to another Wal-Mart EVER I’d be so incredibly happy. Unfortunately I don’t see this happening. “Damn you Sam Walton!” Back in October I ordered a cabinet/bookcase online from Wal-Mart because it was not offered in stores. After waiting three weeks for delivery they told me it was lost and refunded my order. I’ve looked all over and just didn’t find anything I liked as

2011-12-05T09:03:00.000-06:00

This is what a softball team looks like when they clean up. Not too shabby.

2011-12-02T10:13:00.001-06:00

Thanks to the girl’s weekend shopping trip last month I got an early start on my Christmas shopping this year. The girls and I took my mom over to Legend’s last weekend and I had to take them to Charming Charlie. It’s such a cool store but I walk in and am so over stimulated I just go completely blank. Shopping with a teenager is such a beating too. Everything I picked up and said “Ooooh, look at

Burns My Butt

2011-11-29T14:57:00.005-06:00

By now if you are even mildly informed about the goings on outside your picket fence you have heard about the Shawnee Mission teenager who Tweeted negative remarks last week about the Kansas Governor. The more I heard the reports the more I wished I could tell that girl to tell all those men to go to hell. That republic D-bag does not deserve any form of apology. If anything I would have offered

Lazy Holiday

2011-11-29T10:23:00.001-06:00

This was the first Thanksgiving I’ve ever spent without my girls and surprisingly enough I was not a complete boo-hooing sniffling mess. They went with their dad for a few days while Dan and I went to Western Kansas and then we met back home to spend the rest of the weekend with my family. Mom came and stayed with us over the weekend and together we introduced Sydie to my all-time favorite game

Fixin' To Hibernate

2011-11-21T13:37:00.003-06:00

I don’t know a lot of people who get excited about composting or building a water collection barrel but I do. If I could install big ol’ solar panels on my roof or have my very own mini windmill farm I’d do that too. So when my energy company installed Smart meters that allow me to go online and check my energy usage down to the hour, I was ecstatic at the potential of this new gadget! Okay so a

Girl's Weekend

2011-11-14T11:02:00.000-06:00