My Sizzlin' Summer Vacation

Kristen at We are THAT Family is hosting a summer vacation memory spectacular today complete with door prizes! Check it out!

Since we haven't been on our vacation yet for this year, I decided to go with my most memorable vacation moment. I thought and thought about which vacation memory stood out the most. There's alot of them 'cause just saying the word "vacation" invokes strange happenings to my family. Let's see . . . should I write about when one June, Rhett and I went to Florida for the first time and it rained 4 inches per day EVERY day we were there, which left us stuck in a hotel room with a broken air conditioner. Or what about last year when we took BFG to Disney and had the absolute BEST day ever as a family. Or what about when Rhett walked down to the beach with a diaper stuck to his backside and he was clueless as it flapped in the ocean breeze and people were pointing and laughing and I was barely able to walk 'cause I was laughing so hard.

I guess I'll settle on a vacation memory that has stood the test of time (20 yrs) and is brought up at almost every major holiday even by family members that weren't present when it happened. Well, one year when I was about 10, my dad took our family plus my cousin to Universal Studios back when it first opened. We went the week of July 4th. So, it was blazing hot and the lines were loooooong. Plus, you have to understand how my dad vacations. It can really be explained in one word: CHEAP! Therefore, all we had eaten that day was an ice cream cone from a gas station on our way to the Universal. While we were in a supercrowded lobby waiting for the Ghostbuster ride, I passed out. Yup, completely blacked out and fell to the floor. You should have seen it. It was like the parting of the Red Sea. Swoosh! The crowd just whooshed away from us. So, there is the five of us with me on the floor. My dad helps me up and is trying to hold me up. But I slithered down to the floor again. Why, you ask? Because my mom had forgotten to pack my dad's deodorant that year and he is so stubborn he went the whole week without wearing any. He smelled so bad when he was trying to hold me up that I blacked out again. I am not joking. It was that bad. I made it onto the ride and cooled off and felt a little better. And believe it or not, I actually got to get a coke afterward. (Getting an overpriced coke at a theme park was a HUGE deal in my family.) None us really know why I passed out and I guess we never will. Later on in my youth, I passed out at another theme park as well. But the first time at Universal, my friends, is what made that vacation a family legend.

Y'all have a blessed weekend!
Mama Said

My Happy Quest

Finally, some time to share my happy quest with you! I'm actually in a very happy place right now thanks to the muscle relaxers my doc gave me to try to ease the pain I've had in my shoulder for years. At the risk of sounding like an addict (I'm not. I promise.), isn't it so cool to legally feel this good? If you said no, you are lying! LOL! It does get old after a while, but I have no problem with kicking back for a few days.

Anyway, I recently decided that I am going to force myself to be happy. Hence, the Happy Quest began. The thing is I really am very, very happy. I'm just not good at showing it. During my prayer journal time, I thank the Lord for my happiness all the time and will just sit in the quiet in awe of the happiness I have that I do not deserve. But in the daily grind, I nag, complain, gripe, yell, etc. What happens? Why can't I get that overflowing happiness out of my body flowing to my family?

Several things went into the decision for the Happy Quest.

1. My friend is going through a terrible time in her life and my daily counsel to her is to be happy and upbeat and not nagging and complaining. Isn't that ridiculous? How can I tell her to do that in the middle of a terrible time when I can't do it during good times? The kicker is for the most part she IS doing it, which makes me feel like a bigger loser that I'm not doing it.
2. I realized that Rhett and I don't have fun anymore. Oh, we love each other deeply and enjoy being together and all that. But we don't just have plain ol' silly fun like we used to. In the past, we've had to leave musuems and planetariums because we were laughing so hard. That just doesn't happen anymore. Part of that is 'cause we are responsible adults now. Part of it is we are set in our routines now. But part of it too is that I obsessively worry about everything which takes the fun right out of everything.
3. I just woke up one day sick of being thirty and walking around here in pain like I'm sixty. I should not be in this bad of shape and I'm tired of putting everything off and living with all this pain.
4. I'm sick of thinking about (okay, obsessing about) my infertility.

My Happy Quest Goals:

• Act/Be happy toward my family.
• Plan fun things for us to do as a family/couple (includes me loosening up). I've been working on this. Last Saturday, I even walked with BFG across an old dam crossing a creek and the three of us walked an unmarked nature trail. This may not sound big, but it was for me. I just knew BFG was going to slip off the dam and crush her skull on the rocks below and I kept waiting for some sicko with a knife to jump out from behind a tree. That's the kind of stuff I battle with in my mind and keeps us from having fun. I've been telling ya'll I am crazy.
• Go to all the necessary doctors and to live as pain-free as possible. Now you see why I've been going to all the doctors? Pray for me that the Lord will equip these doctors and heal my pain.
• Stop letting infertility take such a large presence in my life. I'm just sick of it. I'm gonna have the laperoscopy in the fall. Then, I am just done! It's all in God's hands anyway, but after that I feel like I've done my part. I'm just so tired of constantly thinking when, if, etc. Tired of making decisions based on well, I might be pregnant then. Or wouldn't this be cute if we had a baby by next year. Whatever. You get my drift. And I'm tired of hanging on to all BFG's old stuff for that someday, what if, maybe. I even sold a whole bunch of it at a consignment sale last week. I just want to move forward with the family God has already given me.

Whew! That feels good to let that all out. I'm off to relax with my muscle relaxer now!

Mama Said

Muffin Tin Monday

BFG had a Muffin Tin Monday Supper:

Slice of tomato, boiled potatoes, green beans, ketchup, oven baked Swiss steak, and Hillbilly Housewife's Plain Muffins.

And, yes, to all you oh-so-observant readers, this is different from my menu I posted yesterday. That's because I started with posting the menus I had already tried so I could let you know the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, we are not actually eating the same menu that is posted.

BTW, Kiddio is hosting this week while Katy is exploring her new home in Luxembourg (sp?)!!!!!

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Makeover Week #3: (Watch Out! It's a starchy week!)

Monday-Impossible Cheeseburger Pie (HBHW), Corn: This recipe is kind of quiche-y, but Rhett still liked it to my surprise. Actually, it was to my surprise that is was quiche-y which shows you how much cooking knowledge I lack.

Tuesday-Pinto Beans, Boiled Potatoes, Fried Squash, Corn Bread: Make enough beans and potatoes for Thursday leftovers

Wednesday-Steak (George Foreman is my hero!), baked potato, and frozen veggie medley (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)

Thursday-Pinto Beans, Fried Potato Patties from Tuesday's leftover potatoes, hominy, corn bread: I can't really remember how to make the fried potato patties. I have to call my mom every single time I make them. But I think you kind of mash the potatoes up a little and mix in an egg and a little flour and fry 'em up.

Friday-Frozen Pizza

Have a yummy week, y'all!

Mama Said

Help! I'm Wrapped!

Isn't this just a horrible sight? This is how I left the podiatrist's office the other day. Yup, my feet are completely covered top and bottom from that second strap back. Oh, and excuse the lack of toe nail polish which is a huge no-no in my book. But I had taken it off last week when I was going for a physical because I had just read in some magazine that doctor's can tell alot from your nails and to always take off your polish before you go. And when I took off my polish, I found these little brown spots on my big toe nail that worry me. But I didn't mention them because Rhett told me my list of ailments for my physical was already so long that I was already gonna be "tagged" on my chart. You know like the Seinfeld episode. And apparently the magazine was wrong 'cause the doctor did not bother to look at my toe nails close enough to even find the brown spots on his own. Oh, well. And the podiatrist didn't either. Maybe they're nothing.

The podiatrist visit was really okay other than having to listen to his wacky liberal beliefs like teachers shouldn't encourage children to excel because there are only so many spots in life for high-achievers and how home-ownership is just locking you down in the system and takes away your freedom 'cause renting is so much better. Oh, please! He is a freakin' doctor!!!! Do you think he rents? Ha! How can he believe this stuff??? And why was he telling me? He's obviously one of those liberal elitists I have heard about but never have actually known. And he must have thought I'd be on his side 'cause I made the mistake of telling him I had been a teacher and most teachers are liberal. They are trained to be for those you who don't realize what is going on in your child's school. But little did he know that I am an ultra-conservative traditionalist. In fact, I embrace the whole being home and barefoot and pregnant thing except that now I'm not allowed to ever go barefoot 'cause my feet are jacked.

But I had no idea he was going to wrap my feet up like that. It does feel really good except taking a bath without getting my feet wet is rapidly losing its appeal. So, I was wearing my Birks that day and when he wrapped them, my feet were so tight that I couldn't keep my shoes on. So, I'm meeting my friend for lunch at a Mexican restaurant by the local college campus. I get out of the car in front of all these college kids eating out on the patio and with every step I take, my shoe falls off which made me laugh hysterically adding interest for the looky-loos. Later, I ran some errands while waiting to meet my MIL to pick up BFG and I developed a little 90-yr-old shuffle that allowed me shoes to stay on. It was hilarious! I looked like a burn victim or something. I can barely move and people are being extra nice to me. And on the inside, I'm like zip-a-dee-doo-dah 'cause my feet haven't felt that good in 10 years.

If you have ANY kind of foot pain, I highly recommend seeing a podiatrist. I am kicking myself for not going sooner. Mama Said

One Mole Less

So, today I went to the dermatologist's office for the first time to get a skin check. I have alot of moles and I'm sick of reading magazine articles about skin cancer and then I pour over all my moles and make myself sick with worry. So, I decided to nip it in the bud and stop that worry in it's tracks. Plus, I was really hoping he would need to take the mole on my face off that keeps growing outward and makes me look old. Uh, he didn't.

Anyway, this experience was not a whole lot better than my ob/gyn visit the other day. But I had no clue I should have "prepared" if ya know what I mean. It had crossed my mind that they would need to look at my legs so I wore really loose soccer-style shorts for that. So, I get in there and have to go down all the way to the skivvi*s. No br* or anything which wouldn't have been quite so bad if I had a gown. But no, all I had was paper. Paper, people! One sheet of paper for my lap and some insane-a-man-must-have-invented top sheet with a slit up the back and two armholes. It was ridiculous! Have you ever made a child's costume out of a brown paper bag? That's what this top was like. It was square, had no hope of staying closed in the back or even up on my shoulders, and I was one tear away from disaster. I was terrified to move. One wrong move, one little rip would result in total exposure. Is this even legal? I'm so tired of cost-cutting on very important things like this. Sitting on a table with two sheets of paper covering all God gave me was not okay with me! I guess I should invest in my own hospital gown and start carrying it with me just in case the dr.'s office is so greedy that they can't spend a dollar of the money I pay them to wash a gown.
Anyway, as I'm sitting there I start thinking about how now the doc will definitely see the hula girl underw*ar I have on. Hula girls that have seen better days 'cause the elastic is all stretched out and broken 'cause I still seem to think I can fit into the same size u.w. that I wore before I had BFG. Uh, I don't. And the best part is I had a perfectly respectable, conservative striped pair picked out for the visit. But, no kidding, when I put them out this morning they ripped! And I'm a little behind on the laundry, so the hula girls got an outing and showing today.
Fortunately (I think. Well, maybe not.), the female physician's assistant did all the checking. The doc just looked at my arm. So, she got an eyeful. It may have been more embarrassing 'cause she was like this really young, blonde, beautiful girl who was probably praying that she won't look like me when she is thirty.
So, they decide to cut this one mole off my arm that was no danger yet, but would have to come off sometime. They said they could do it today. I asked if I could get dressed before they did it. They said yes, so I agreed to have it done. I just could NOT have done it in the paper. But, I tell ya', I was just not prepared. I got all nervous and silly-acting, and blabbing. The whole thing was just making me sick and light-headed. I didn't look, but I just couldn't stand the thoughts that they were cutting this thing off of me. Ugghhhh!!! The nurse had to tell me to breathe deep and all that. She thought I was nuts.
I made it through, but when it was done, I did not know who I was or where I was at. And, no, I hadn't had anything other than a shot of Novocaine right where the mole was. The experience just rattled me that much. Y'all, I couldn't get out of the place. The nurse said go left. I went right. The check out desk had a big arrow pointing toward the exit door which also had a big red lighted exit sign above it and I went the opposite way. They had to stop me and tell me where to go. I was a mess. I hope I never have to go back. I am so embarrassed. But at least I got a laugh. I was rolling laughing in the elevator which they probably have tape of and are probably telling my insurance company right now that I have a mental disorder.
And I haven't even gotten to my story about the podiatrist visit on Monday. And believe it or not this is all part of my "happy quest" that I haven't gotten to tell y'all about yet because I'm so busy having adventures with these doctors.
Rattled, but making it,
Mama Said

Muffin Tin Monday (Er, Tuesday): Breakfast Challenge

Here's my late muffin tin! Katy gave us a breakfast challenge this time. Starting at top left: cinnamon toast (cut out with cookie cutters), fresh peaches, mini blueberry muffin, coco-crunch cereal, Barbie princess cereal, and scrambled eggs with cheese. BFG ate pretty darn good. Much better than usual. She ate two pieces of the toast, half her eggs, all of her cereal (both of them), and all of the peaches and asked for seconds. She didn't touch the muffin 'cause she hates those Entenmann muffins. I ate it. I just had to put it in the picture 'cause she was so hungry I didn't have time to fix her anything else. And I refused to take a pic of a muffin tin with one empty.

Check out my new profile pic! That's one of the headbands I won on Katy's blog! Isn't it the best?