In search of...

.... a husband!

If you know me you know I'm single and have been for some time.  I'm ok with it so don't feel too sad for me!

Because I have kids I feel the need to have some pretty unrealistic standards in place for any future husband of mine.  I can guarantee you will not read about me in the newspaper as the mother of an abused child who "didn't know".

But as high as my standards are apparently my daughter's are higher.  One day she made this adorable list of requirements and I just came across it recently.  I love it so much it makes me want to cry {mostly from laughing} when I read it. 




click on photo to enlarge


You can definitely tell at what point my sister got involved :)

In case you can't read it that well, here are the requirements {I've copied the words, capitalization, punctuation, etc as she wrote it}:

1# Does not smoke. <---- Please no.  It hurts momma's head.
2# Does not Drink Beer or okahalh. <---- Guessing that's alcohol and that's another no.
3# member of the church. <---- We're Mormon so it would be nice to share that with someone.
4# not alergic to cats. <---- Because we have two, but momma's allergic so I guess it's ok if he is too LOL
5# Does not have a Dog. <---- That's a girl!  Momma hates dogs!
6# Have a good Job. <---- Duh.  No explanation needed.
7# loves to travel. <---- Again, way to go girl!
8# is nice. <---- This should be a given, but apparently not.
9# Does not say Bad words. <---- And should be ok if momma does when she drops something on her foot in the kitchen.  Or gets stuck behind a crazy driver.  Or when she's late.  You get the picture.
10# Dresses niceley on Holiday Pictchures. <---- Most definitely,  because if my future husband were to wear shorts and a tee shirt for our holiday pics that's grounds for immediate divorce!
11# Will take us too school sometimes. <--- You know just to help momma out- maybe I can sleep in?
12# gets along with our Family. <---- Awwww!!  But yes, if I want to go play games at my mom's house for a few hours on a Saturday, it would be nice to know that he would be ok just hanging out with my dad or shoot even better, playing games with us!
13# Handy. <--- This for sure.  Momma is not handy!
14. not a Bad Driver. <--- This for sure also.  My babies are precious cargo. 
15 Pacince. <---- To make up for the lack of mine.
16# not Fat. <--- Actually, momma likes 'em with a little meat on their bones... just sayin'.
17# Has lots of money to spend on sisters-in-law <---- Yep this is where my sisters started having a say. Although if he does in fact have money to spend on them, that's cool.
18# Has money to spend on J2 J1 and Jenn <--- Well now this just goes without saying.
19# Billionar. <---- Let's not get crazy now.  Bill Gates is taken, I don't like Oprah, and I'm pretty sure I won't be marrying a Sultan from an oil rich country.


So if you ladies know of anyone make sure you pass his info on ;)

Not me!

Do you guys have the "not me" ghost in your house?

You know the one who goes around and leaves things on the floor, or uses the last of something and doesn't replace it, or who eats the last of something but can never be found?

I know him {or her} very well.  As a matter of fact, I received a visit from him just yesterday.

Know what these are?  Lipstick- or chapstick- marks on my bedroom door about 4 feet 9 inches tall.  That is amazingly as tall as a sweet adorable little girl that happens to reside here.

But she didn't do it.  Nope.  Not her!

And neither did her older and much taller brother.  Not him!

And I know for sure I didn't do it.  Not me!

I'm not sure if I should be scared by this ghost or excited that he was apparently so excited to be in my house he made out with my door.  Hmmm....

The green eyed monster

No, not THAT guy.  He's way adorable though!  And who doesn't love Monsters, Inc?

This kind of green eyed monster...

Envy.

Jealousy.

Let me just start by saying that I am so very thankful for the many things that I have in my life.  From an amazing family, to wonderful friends, an pretty much everything you could imagine in between.  I like to think I almost have it all.

But the internet is a dangerous tool.  Dangerous because it can make you sometimes think that what you have is not quite enough.  Or make you feel inadequate.  Or make you want more.

And I hate that!

But I'm no stranger to this.  And reading blogs sometimes turns *me* into a green eyed monster.  For example, when I see certain blogs where the moms have a bunch of kids and they all seem so well behaved and they do chores and the mom looks like she has it all together, it makes me want that life.  Or when I've stumbled across a fashion blogger I sometimes wish that I was as skinny as her or that I had her fashion sense {and clothing budget!}  And I've been known to long to have the gorgeous crafts and home decor as some of the blogs that I've seen.  Then there is the most ridiculous- the blogs I read where the women engage in avid exercise and I wish that I had the desire and determination to do that myself.

All these wishes then turn into insecurities.  My family isn't good enough, my sense of style is terrible, my house isn't cute, and certainly my body is awful and I could never work out like those girls do. 

Then I remember that because I only have my two kiddos there's only two people to pick up after and they might not always do chores but at least I know they still need me.  And while I may not be dressing like I stepped off the pages of a magazine, I also don't stick out when I go someplace like Walmart and I can shop at a resale shop and not only save my wallet but the Earth.    And I'll take a look at my house and realize it's not a museum and shouldn't be decorated as such but at least it's cute to me and a home for kids.  And the last thing I don't have a bright side to other than maybe I won't develop an eating disorder from feeling like I need to be thin?

So for today I'll hug my kiddos, in my old clothes, on my stained couch, in my creaking house because I have it pretty good... and you do too! 

F.O.O.D

It's a holiday I know.  And what do most people base their holidays around?  Family?  Yes, ok.  But coming in a close second is the four letter word that's closest to my heart... FOOD! {Oh, even better is mixing the two!  But I digress...}

Granted we all love different food items but I can't help but want to share a few things I've discovered recently that I love and aren't too bad for you!  First of all, do you guys like Pop Tarts?  I like the strawberry ones well enough but I mainly like the edges with a bit of the filling.  At Costco the other day I came across these little guys and was sooooooo stoked because they were delicious- and prepackaged in little 100 calorie packs.  SCORE!!

Also, another food I really like are the real fruit roll up type things.  But they're really expensive and I haven't found any in years that I love.  I came across these recently and they are super tasty and low in fat and sugar {so I feel better about eating them}.

Speaking of 100 calorie snack packs, how do you guys feel about those?  I like the idea of someone doing all the work for me and I love feeling like I've "cheated" by eating something bad but in a smaller amount.  But I suppose I could ration things out for myself.

Happy Memorial Day- thank you to all those who served and gave their lives for the freedoms we live!

Boob Tube Babble!

Oh yeah!  This time of year usually makes me sad as all the shows are winding down for the season but thankfully networks finally caught on and now offer summer programming that's just as exciting {hello The Gates anyone?}

~Real Housewives
This week I'm still thanking my lucky stars and Bravo for allowing us the greatness of having 3 RH series going on at once!!  Who could ask for more?  Although I guess I could be greedy and ask for one every night of the week?  OC, it's hard to watch Vicki and Donn's marriage going down the tubes but I really hate that they did a montage of all the bad things he said to her because I remember those clips and she was a b*tch the whole time leading up to every single one of them!  And she works all day- which she reminds us all of every chance she gets- so she has not time to devote to making it work so you can't fault him there.  NJ, I think I really am on Melissa's side in this debate.  Granted Melissa and Joe Gorga were in the wrong for lashing out at Teresa at the Christening but Teresa was being fake and didn't have to choose to incite them.  Also, I thought we got rid of both Kim G and Kim D with Danielle!!  Why the heck are they back?  You know how Slade sticks around the OC like a bad cold?  Same with these two! NY, I guess the ladies are probably contractually obligated to go on these outlandish trips otherwise I can't imagine why they all go.  I could tell from the get-go it was going to be a disaster.  I don't know what the heck is wrong with Sonya but she's gone crazy.  One funny thing was Kelly talking about Sonya's house because I was thinking the same thing!  Can't wait to see how the next few episodes play out...

~Glee
This is one of those shows that somehow I missed out in the beginning and then it got so popular I was boycotting it by not watching it.  But the kiddos and I started watching it on Netflix {what did we do before Instant on Netflix??} and we are loving it- especially me because Lord knows I have been known to belt out showtunes on a whim!  But as we're watching it I am getting more and more uneasy at the story lines.  I'm not trying to be judgemental or preachy because I certainly am no stranger to shows that are BAD *coughDexter/Weeds/Borgiascough* but those are not shows I expose my kiddos to, especially my 9 year old.  I could use it as a teaching tool but then I run the risk of being a nag and I really like to save my speeches for the important stuff.  What to do?!

~Real World
The family drama on this show really has me wondering- coincidence?  It seems about 3/4 of these kids came from broken homes... not just divorced but parents in jail, or on crack, or just flat out abandoned and look what their kids are doing? Selling their souls to MTV for 15 minutes of fame {a little longer if they can go on to the challenges, which I love even more than RR}, drinking until they pass out every night, and hooking up with any and everything they can.  It's really disturbing.  Not enough for me to not watch of course but you know :)

~24
Just finished watching season 3 again and guess what?!  You'll never guess so I'll just tell you... Jack Bauer saves the day.  Seriously!! <3 And I forgot how annoying his daughter is- I like Elisha Cuthbert in real life but her character was on my last nerves.

What did you watch this week?

It's Tuesday, Tuesday, everyone's shopping at Target

You know the Friday song?  Sing the title to that and it makes it fun... I promise!

Ok, so we went to Target yesterday because we needed a few groceries and ended up with only a few things we didn't need.  In the words of the famous and oh so smart London Tipton "YAY ME!"

Since it's thisclose to summer the kiddos need some summer shoes so we bought J2 these adorable sandals.  Also right now Target is having what looked to be like a kid only sale on shoes- buy one get one half off.  We did not buy a second pair because they didn't have any in her size that she liked and I wasn't going to spend more money just to get half off if she didn't really like them to begin with!

We also got J1 these since his were recently broken {if you care to know how they were broken feel free to email me and I'll tell ya all about it}.

And some groceries.  Boring huh?  I went on Saturday to Target with a friend {love ya JP!} and got all the goodies for the blog swap I'm participating in so those were the goodies I'm getting for now. 

What about you guys?  What's in your cart?

I did a bad bad thing...

and I'm ashamed of myself!

I neglected my blog. 

It's still a work in progress, developing every day, every week, and I neglected it these last two weeks.  EEK!  If this blog were my garden it would be DOA {the garden by the way, is doing amazing!}.

Hopefully you all can forgive me.  I'm getting back in the swing of things and will be enlightening you all with my words from here on out...

Oh and I had a friend make this sign for me recently and I still need to finish it but it's such a good reminder!