Mamas like to boogie, too

OK, that was fun so here I am again playing along with Mama Kat's writers workshop. The prompts I chose are "make a list of things you no longer have in common with your single/childless friends" AND "make a list of things you no longer have in common with your married/child bearing friends" and why you love them all anyway.
These both appeal to me because I fit in both categories at times. I was never one of those people whose life revolved around having children, although I have been married since I was fairly young (22) so I can't really identify with the single life.


things I no longer have in common with my single/childless friends...
1. I can't run off to the beach this weekend to see the Cowboy Mouth show because I gotta take care of the kid. I can't do anything spur of the moment or without pre-arranged childcare.
2. Staying home on a Friday and Saturday night is perfectly acceptable.

3. Sure I like to have stylish, attractive clothes, but if I can't find it on sale at Kohl's or in a thrift store, I probably ain't buying it.
So when we DO get a chance together, we always have fun and I enjoy the lack of diaper/nap time/pre-school talk.


things I no longer have in common with my married/child bearing friends...
1. I still enjoy busting a move at the bars/dance clubs. Have you ever seen the movie "The Sweetest Thing" with Cameron Diaz? Those bars scenes are the stuff of my dreams (and a teensy bit my life 15 years ago).
2. Your kid is cute, but once he/she starts to wail and/or has a category 5 in their diaper, I'm out. You can have them back. Right now.
3. Seeing little newborns does not turn me into mush and automatically make me want 3 more.
But I know that you understand where I'm coming from when I say motherhood is hard and you don't judge me (right?).

Catch Up

So I'm sitting here watching the Grammy's and thought I would stop by for a visit. Might I say, how the heck did Pink do that?? Amazing!
In the past week, the weather has been freezing and it has been gorgeous (65 degrees). In the past week, Steve has been home for 48 hours. He's off again to CA this week. He's gone much of the next few months. It's kinda nice having some time to myself, but I'm not so thrilled about playing single parent. Oh well...
We did finally buy a new couch! From Big Lots, of all places! It's a little more contemporary than my taste, but it's super comfy and was a great deal at $700!Speaking of catching up, I finally went and visited one of my BFFs last weekend. I hadn't seen her in forever so it was lots of fun and fabulous to see her. Here we are imposing our bad habits on Savannah...

I also realized that I had bragged on Christmas in the new house and I never posted any pics. It's only one, but this is my favorite. I just love this angle and how everything looks together. That's the old sofa, BTW...

And I bragged on the Christmas sercys I made for Savannah's class and never shared a pic. Here's that, too...

Otherwise, we're doing good. Hope ya'll are staying warm!

e"harmony"

So I was recruitted by one of my BFFs to help her come up with a "headline" for her online dating profile. She wanted something kinda cute and witty but didn't know where to start. She said that another friend usually chooses song lyrics. That got me thinking.
Here are songs/lyrics that would NOT be a good choice for a dating profile:
"Away ran the children to hide in their beds, for fear that the devil would chop off their heads" Rob Zombie-Call of the Zombie
"U can look but U can't touch" Jump Little Children-U Can Look But U Can't Touch
"That's not my name, that's not my name, that's not my name, that's not my name" The Ting Tings- That's Not my Name
"I got a brand new attitude and I'm gonna wear it tonight. I wanna get in trouble, I wanna start a fight." Pink-So What
"When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell" All american Rejects-Gives You Hell
"Shawty wanna thug, bottles in da club, Shawty wanna hump, You know I like to touch your lovely lady lumps" Lil Wayne-Lollipop
(and my favorite)
"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" Lady Gaga- Disco Stick

from His House to my house

Savannah is fine. I haven't really been able to talk to her, but everyone that she is staying with assures me that all is well. Just as long as she doesn't come home with her aunt's accent and a taste for Old Style beer...

I have totally been enjoying my time. Monday I packed a little bit, went out on the boat that afternoon and later had dinner with my family (left-over wedding food). I don't think I told you Savannah was the flower girl. She did so well!

Tuesday I went to work and had the most productive day I've had in weeks. Things just fell into place and I was kicking butt and taking names! Figuratively speaking, of course. No children were harmed that day.

Then I had a super, amazing, fun, successful shopping trip with mama on Wednesday. I hadn't had a shopping day like that since before Savannah was born. I got a mirror, a chandelier, a chair, 2 shirts, fabric to recover 7 chair seats and a few other little things all for about $65! How did I manage that? Most of it came from thrift stores. I don't have any before pics, however, because I worked like a dog all day! My parents helped me recover 7 seats, sand down the table, I cleaned and painted a chair, painted the chandelier and STILL managed to come home, clean up and go out with the girls!
Downtown they have a Thursday afternoon concert series and 7 of us lovely ladies made a night of it. Only one injury, one lost piece of jewelry and a $200 bar/food tab so I'd say it was a successful night.
Today I'm finishing up the thrift store projects and having dinner with some friends. And I still have 2 days before they get home!!

Picks of the Week

I finally sat down and had some quality time with my camera, my computer and the USB cable. What does that mean for you? An update with pictures!
OK. Here is my hairdo photo. I had another one but the background was too dark and you couldn't separate my hair from the background. Anyway, I think I found the trick today. I like the ends flipped under, not out. It was a little too "shag" looking that way. Not a bad self-portrait if I do say so myself!
We went to Charleston a couple weeks ago to visit some friends who were in town from IL. We had a great time visiting old favorites (did I tell you I lived there for college?) and the weather was not yet sweatin-my-ass-off, so it made for a nice day! This was a really cute pic of Savannah and her Daddy.

The Poultry Festival (aka Chicken Fest) was this past weekend. It was OK. We only made it to the parade and it was less than fabulous this year. IT was also pretty hot so we didn't stick around long. Here are the girls stealing a cool moment in the shade.

Then we went to the zoo this week with some friends. The weather was perfect and the kiddos enjoyed a morning out. Here's a cool pic of the flamingos. Good thing they're so gorgeous because they STANK!

And last but not least, I have a YAGBTS update for you. I saw this painted on the ol' rock the other day and HAD to take a picture. As I was taking the photo, Savannah asks what I'm doing. "Taking a picture of this redneck crap," I said without really thinking. Then from the backseat I hear, "what redneck crap? I want to see redneck crap." fabulous.

Tag-lines and Tan-lines

Steve is out of town this week so I've settled into my "blog groove" for now. Don't expect it to last though, we might be moving in come mid-May.
Well, girls, I've been tagged and chosen. Hmm... sounds more like being out on the playground with my first graders...

First the tag from Nutshell Berry
1.What is your current obsession? Lost and the landscaping. No, it is not a new show on TBS
2. Which item of clothing do you wear often? I try to vary my wardrobe, but black pants are in high rotation now, soon to be replaced with shorts!
3. What is for dinner? we had quesadillas
4. What are you listening to? hum of the computer
5. Say something to the one that tagged you. Mrs. Nutshell is a Low country girl so you can't go wrong there! Plus we have some similar interests. Doc Hollywood, anyone?
6. Favorite vacation spots? my requirement: It must have palm trees and blue water
7. What I'm reading right now? Do magazines count? I am not a book reader. Don't have the patience
8. Four words to describe myself. Southern, tall, loyal, left-handed
9. Guilty Pleasure? this darn blog! Hubs isn't too fond of it but he's learned to accept it.
10. First Spring thing? I don't really understand this question. I plead the 5th.
11. What do you look forward to? Moving into the new house!!!! Pool party! (see below)

Then the semi-tag from April
8 Things...
I'm looking forward to: MOVING INTO THE NEW HOUSE! (x8)
I did Yesterday: had a ham biscuit for breakfast, said "sit down" about 58 times, went into the bathroom at work at a bad time, did NOT give Savannah a bath, moped up juice, thought that my boss was a slack-ass, enjoyed the smell of Gain, fed the dog.
I wish: I was finished with work already (school schedule), I would lose 5 pounds (for the pool party), and I was MOVED INTO THE NEW HOUSE (x6)
Shows I watch: Lost, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, Days of our Lives, Bones, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (twice a day) and most anything on HGTV.

There's a few versions of these one out there so if you have not participated in the past 6 months, consider yourself tagged!

OK. Then Mrs. Savant chose me to host a virtual pool party or something like that. All I know is nobody has to shave to play along so there ya go! I'm making the rest up as I go...
What: Girl's Afternoon at the Pool
When: Whenever you get here
Where: The new house! Or if you can't make it, just come to this blog
Who's Invited: Kelly (Housewife Savant) because she'll keep us entertained with her wit, Andrea (My Chihuahua Bites) because she'll give us all make-overs, Janna (Not Mom-a-Licious) because she needs to get out of the house, Ms. Slacker (Slacker Mama) so we can compile all our Dora/Princess crap to sell on Craigslist for beer money, Lisa (French) because she won't have far to drive and she'll decorate the pool area, TMVM (Tattooed Mini-Van Mom) because she'll be DJ for the day, and S (Ramblings...) because we can pretend we're in college again.
I'm providing the pool, Firefly mojitos, and plenty of Southern humidity. What will you bring?And you're invited too, if you bring something good (;
damn, that's a lot of links....

That place was a zoo!

I now know why that phrase exists. I and apparently everyone else in the surrounding 5 counties decided to go to the zoo today. I had some errands to run first, but I thought an afternoon at the zoo would be fun for me and Savannah. Maybe all the day cares and early risers would be cleared out by the time we got there. Nope. Not even close.

As I was headed into town, I heard on the radio that one interstate was backed up at the zoo exit...at 1:00 on a Thursday afternoon! So, I decided to go the other way. When I got there, there were cars everywhere! On the side of the road, in a dirt lot, in the weeds...I circled the lot and got the hell outta there! Luckily, Savannah didn't mind that we went to the park instead! Here she is with her bouquet of azaleas.

Like I said, the trip wasn't a complete waste. I had 3 things to take back, got some shoes for Easter and and looked at some tile for the house. I'll post an update soon.

Earlier this week, Savannah and I went to visit some friends out of town, a mini-girls trip, if you will. We took the kiddos to craft hour at the museum Wednesday morning. Here are the girls decorating paper crowns- you know, good princess attire.

Afterwards we enjoyed a truly Southern lunch of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Mmmmm... We skipped dessert. I'm holding out for those birthday cupcakes tomorrow (;

BOGOHO?

Steve and I had date night last night. Our friends' church does this once a month and you drop the kiddos of for 4 hours. Our friends and I decided to take turns on date nights and have the girls spend the night afterwards. Great timing since our friends got home from the hospital yesterday with new baby Charlie! So big sis Harper came home with us last night and spent the night. It took them a little bit to get settled, but they slept great and are playing in Savannah's room right now, knee-deep in princess clothes.
How did Steve and I spend our 4 hours? We went to a bar and then went to the mall. Exciting, I know. But they are both things that are much more feasible without Savannah, so that's what we did. We bought a few things, but I have to say, I didn't see as many fabulous deals as I was expecting. In fact, there is an advertising tactic out there that really annoys the crap out of me. And I completely blame Payless Shoes.
Once upon a time, if someone advertised "Buy One Get One" (now commonly referred to as BOGO), it meant just that. If you bought one item, you got one item, FREE! When the hell did BOGO start to mean "buy one, get one half off"??? Ugh, excuse me, that would be BOGOHO! Not quite as catchy, now is it? I guess if you put Payless and BOGOHO together it sounds more like a discount hooker and not about cheap footwear...
Still, you see BOGO all over the place now and rarely do they actually mean "get one free." It's false advertising, I tell ya. If they just marked everything 25% and left it at that, it doesn't sound as tempting, does it?

Bust a move!

I woke up this morning expecting to find a winter wonderland outside. After all, they had already cancelled school and much of the South had already been blanketed. What did we see out our window? Nada. Nothing. Zilch. All that fuss and no snow. Oh, well. I'm not turning down a free day off of work!

We had a great weekend. Friday night we took in the Playhouse Disney Live show featuring Mickey, Handy Manny, Pooh and the Little Einsteins. Pre-schooler heaven! The show was cute and we managed to escape buying any crap souvenirs.

Saturday night my cousin hosted a beer and wine tasting party at his house. Sounds classy, right? Initially it may have been, but add some country boys, one Yankee, some dance music and enough micro-brew beer and you get this:
A dance move gone wrong... It really was a lot of fun! We got to try some new beverages, catch up with old friends and get our groove on. We plan to make it a regular event.

Hope y'all had a great weekend, too.

Cupcakes, Facebook and Exes

So it started out like any other Thursday. I was at school and getting my things together for the day when Cupcake (the friend, not the dessert) emails me about Facebook.
Now, I am not a big fan of Facebook, but it has it's benefits. The hubs has an account that we "share." That basically means I can look at and be friends with people I want but still remain somewhat anonymous. Score! The profile is all him so unless you know my married name (which is very uncommon) you can't find me! Neener, neener, neener!
Anyhoo- Cupcake emails me and tells me that a mutual friend was found on Fb by my ex-boyfriend. Holy Guacamole! While one of the smartest people I've ever known, he's also probably one of the most messed up. I have not heard from or seen him since Christmas Eve 1996 when he showed up at my house. In the past 12 years since, he could have been a drug dealer in California, he could have been elected Mayor in Maryland, he could have been in jail in Florida or he could have been a poly sci professor in Tennessee. Any of those things were quite possible. Turns out he is an elementary school teacher about to take a job in Korea! See, I told you- anything was possible!
Then, another friend posts these hi-damn-larius pics from high school. Let's just say I have my shirt tied in a knot, Daisy Duke style in one of them. Nice. So I had to email 2 more friends to tell them about that.
So I'm all giggling to myself, trying to concentrate at work, thinking about old times. Cupcake and I are emailing back a forth with snarky comments (some of you may be asking, "why don't you just text?" to which I say, "I'm at work, I don't get cell reception there," and " I don't text. I don't care. Just call me or email me dammit."). It all made for a fun morning and I was in a great mood.
Then, the kids had to show up, all crying and bleeding and puking and fighting and crying some more and being stubborn and junk like that and, for fun, throw in a teacher having a meltdown. Such a buzz-kill...


On a different note-I wanted to give a little shout out to Bliss Cupcakery. If you know my neck of the woods, it's a new Cupcake place in town and they are delish! Very similar to Cupcake (the bakery not the person)in Charleston. I'd even say Bliss was a little better! Here's the red velvet one. Mmmmm...
I also tried coconut, white chocolate raspberry and lemon curd. And probably gained 10 lbs. thank you very much.

Week in Review

We've been busy lately and that's why I haven't had a chance to post, but I have pictures so that makes up for it, right? So here's why I've been missing lately:
-Thursday: Big fight with the hubby. I considered signing up for "Wife Swap."
-Friday: Wet, cold and nasty out, but I managed to go get a haircut and run some errands.
-Saturday: No, my dears, I didn't mean "blue" as in baby, furniture or paint. I mean the blue Wiggle: Anthony! We went to see the Wiggles last weekend. It beats the heck out of Dora and besides, my friend won tickets, so we went for free! It was a cute show and the girls had fun.

What I want to know is what did this guy do to deserve being drug to the Wiggles? Is his collar "popped" because he's that cool or is it to hide from anyone he might run into there?
-Sunday: church and then lunch at Grandma's. Steve left that afternoon for Boston for a few days.

-Monday thru Thursday: work as usual. Had to suspend one kid. Had to kick out another one.

-Wednesday: USC vs. Clemson ladies basketball game. I soooo did not want to go but it ended up being an OK time. Clemson won (yeah!) and Savannah loved seeing Cocky and the other mascots. Cocky even picked her up and danced with her for a second.

-Friday: went out with my pal Jenn to see a band play. Actually, it was the lead singer of our fav-o-rite band who are no more (sniff). We had a great time, but stayed out too late! Dang, I'm getting old.

-Saturday: left to visit friends and hit a sale! Quoizel had a close out sale and we scored a stained glass panel ($50), a hanging light fixture ($50), some under the cabinet lighting, and 2 towel bars. I've seen similar panels for around $150 and similar fixtures for around $230. Score!

We also went to see some Christmas lights. It was a drive-though event, but you could get out and roast marshmallows, see some artwork and a giant Christmas sand sculpture. Here are the little girls...

and the big girls...BFFs!
-Sunday (today): We went to church, ate lunch out, then headed home. Tonight there was a community Thanksgiving service and a reception afterwards.

Whew! I think that covers it. Oh, some of you have asked about the house. It is coming along quite nicely- despite the fact that someone stole 30 buckets of sheet rock mud!! Anyway, they started to brick up the house this week (view from the back yard).

Sheet rock is up and finished also. I'm not sure what's next but probably cabinets and/or paint. We're also ordering appliances. I haven't heard otherwise, so move in date is still planned for sometime around February. We'll see...

Well, that is all for now. Let me see if I can go catch up with some of you people and your blogs!

Rock the Boat!

We voted today, despite the lines, yucky weather and taking Savannah along. She kept saying, " Can I take dis on the boat?" "Yay, we're goin' on a boat ride!" and then I figured it out. We told her we were going to VOTE, but she heard BOAT. Yes, that may have been more fun, but not today, boo.

It wasn't too bad. We stood in line for an hour and 45 minutes. Savannah behaved pretty well. She socialized with the other kids there and even entertained everyone with a brief dance performance. That's my girl!

On a separate note...We had a girls shopping trip the other day with our friends Amy and Harper. After almost 4 hours, the girls had been pretty good, but they were reaching their limit. Our last stop was Ross' shoe department. Amy was on the hunt for the mate to a boot and I was keeping an eye on the girls. They found themselves a half-empty shelf and proceeded to sit down and pout. They made up a little song, something like, "This store is no fun, there's nothing to do," And of course I had my camera...
How stinkin' cute are they?!?

Halloween low-down

We had a pretty good Halloween, which included plenty of treats, chills and frights: treats - the humongous pile of candy Savannah racked up; chills - the fever induced kind from some of us being sick over the weekend; frights- me being scared that Savannah or I will be sick next!
Our church had their Halloween party Wednesday, which was good because we weren't so hurried last night. My whole family was there and we had fun "trick or treating" and playing games.
Friday, Steve wasn't feeling too good so he stayed home while me and Savannah made the rounds. We made a few stops to see some family and then we went to our friends' church festival. There were so many people there! They had games, a super slide, a bouncy house, food, fireworks, trunk or treat, and a DJ. But what did my little ladybug tell me? "I just wanna swide (I just want to slide)." The girl knows what she likes!
Afterwards, we stopped to get a sandwich and then we were home by 9:00.
Tonight, we were supposed to have a birthday dinner for my brother at my parents' house, but my dad was really sick last night and mama's sniffles haven't gotten any better. So, we are postponing that until maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the festivities...

Savannah's "scary" face

Posing on the porch.


Playing the "Go Fish" game at church

My niece, Grace as "Gabriella" from High School Musical (the wig was a trip!), my niece Madeline as a spider and my Savannah as a ladybug

Riding the "train" with our friend Harper as Fern from "Charlotte's Web"

WTF?

They were having a sale at White House Black Market: pants were HALF OFF! ha!

This is from our fabulous girls trip back in January. The girls and I were shopping that day and we went into White House Black Market. The sales lady asks if she could put all of us in one big dressing room and she'd bring us stuff to try on. Well, next thing you know, it's the 4 of us and enough items to clothe the Gosslin family 3 times. I was mostly trying on tops, but then the girls wanted me to try on this dress. It was January and I had on boots, which were damp from the rain and jeans and I didn't feel like taking off so I figured I'd just drop my pants and that would give the same effect, right?

Take a look-see!

As requested, pictures from the earlier post:

They weren't making out, I swear!

Thhhwwwpp! I mean, "cheese!"

A and I totally owe L $20 each for the awesome lap dance.

New house! Yay!!

Labor Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was more like Labor weekend. We were so busy and so exhausted by Monday that Savannah fell asleep at 6:30 and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning! It was really all fun stuff, though.
Friday evening we went to a housewarming/pool party for some friends. It was laid back with lots of good food. C is a master griller- no kidding- I think he has won awards. We were there until the wee hours of the morning. Saturday I picked up around the house and that evening some of us went out downtown. We saw a concert in the park and shared pic-nic foods. Afterwards we hit a few bars. We had a great time dancing and whooping it up- some of us had a REALLY good time and managed to rip our pants...I SWEAR it wasn't me...honest! That was another late night. Sunday we slept in but still made it to church and lunch at mama's. Monday Steve and I spent some major dough on house stuff, but we got some great deals so that is good.
The house is coming along nicely. It's actually been moving kinda fast the past 2 weeks. I'll have to take a pic soon for you.
Hope everyone stays safe this weekend. I know Hanna is going to knock into somebody on the coast.

Ramblings...

I feel the need to catch up here, but also feeling a little lazy so we'll see where this goes...
Had a good time out with the girls this weekend. We had great fun singing along with Steve C and the boys at Tommy Condons. Apparently we made quite the impression on the guitarist (which ain't saying a whole lot) because he professed his lust admiration of us several times. It made our week when we all got to come on stage and sing the Unicorn song with them. Yee-ha! Saturday was shopping and stuff. We had drinks with some friends and then Cupcake and I hit the town hoping to get our groove on. Sadly, we did not b/c our fav party town sucked! Either there was no dancing, or there was a massive line or we got there too late. We would say it's b/c we are getting old, but we know that CAN'T be it...
I arrived home Sunday afternoon to a huge mess, which I had to help clean up, courtesy of my slack ass husband. Enough of that...
What I thought was progress in the potty-training has, after a week, resulted in as many accidents as successes. On Monday alone, she peed/pooped in the library, Goodwill AND Wal-mart! So my plan B is to ignore all potty talk. That's right- no mention of pottying, no big-girl panties and no potty-seat. It worked for a friend of ours so we'll see if that has any affect.
I crossed a few more things off my summer to-do list which is good because this is my "last" week off before going back to work. Actually, I will work most all of next week, be out of town most of the next 2 weeks and THEN back to school with a regular schedule. I'm working on the rest of the list, but still, I'd say I've done very well! That's about all I can think of for now. I'll also have a house update soon.
TTFN! (too tired for now!)

WTF? blast from the past

I'd thought we'd have a little photo memory from 2004.

Here's me and my pal A at her bachelorette party. What's that in our mouth? A peppermint penis, of course! We had such a good time that night! We were winding down at this point. We're getting together again this weekend. We won't be up to anything quite so rowdy, unfortunately, but I'm sure we'll have fun!