Different is..

It hit me when he was working out on Sunday. I, along with about 5 other women were watching the group working out. Then the comments about him started. One woman said, "Wow, he looks REALLY good." I just smiled. There was too long of an emphasis on really for me to try to say anything. Another said, "Oh yeah, I can see his strength in his chest muscles when he is doing pull ups, or just walking by me." I watched as she ran her fingers across her own chest for emphasis. Yeah, true, I thought.

I watched and jumped rope and watched some more. His face was sweating and flushed and he was lifting a ton of weight. All I could think of was, "Oh how I love that man."

The women were talking about Tommy. We were talking about the changes people are making to their bodies and lives since they have started working out. Somewhere along mid-conversation, I stopped talking and listening all together and just watched him.

It was almost like slow motion at times. He would finish his deadlifts and turn to walk for a second and then almost as if he knew I was watching him, he would look up at me and smile. A few times I checked to make sure he was feeling ok since he was really sick on Friday night and into Saturday, but for the most part, I just watched.

I don't just watch enough. There is always something going on. A kid to help, food to be made, stuff, stuff and more stuff.

Standing there watching him, all I could do was smile. I had those butterflies in my stomach just knowing when he was done, he was going to walk right over to me and kiss me. Most likely he would hug me, via a grab and tug me close by the butt-cheeks move, and then he would laugh into my neck. We always do this. Somehow today was different.

And different was GOOD!

Christmas Redo's

We had a neighborhood garage sale this weekend. Let me rephrase that, because there is no,"I" in we. I didn't participate. I was beat and lazy. Yep, lazy.. but I did shop. I helped get stuff ready too. Well, not that much, but I helped my neighbor get her stuff out and then I bought some delicious little candle holders from her for a buck.

Well, delicious might be far fetched. They were gold. Old, dirty gold in color. They had wires with crystals hanging off them... Not me at all. But I had an idea with a little vision of what these babies could be. It also helped I had purple and white and gold crystals in scrumptious little shapes. Now I can put one more little check on my Christmas gift-to-get list. Yahoo... $1.80 total, for both, and a little patience. I love them.. and am still convincing myself not to keep them! Is it me or are they not just simply perfect for a woman, with a hot bath, scrumptious bubbles everywhere and a good book waiting for her? I can already see it in my mind!!! I hope she loves them!!!

Whoever she might be!!!

And so it begins..

Our little smooshie-kins wanted to try running club again this year. That is, until they actually had to run. I told them that if they were going to do it again this year... they would not be allowed to quit and to help them run farther and faster, Mommy and Daddy will run with them. Crossfitting is coming in handy dandy I tell ya!



Day two and, so far, so good.

The Road Less Traveled

Most of our weekly schedules revolve around our gym time. We wake to our daily workout. We go to sleep dreaming, anticipating or dreading the next morning. What works for us, many don't understand. Even more criticize it on a regular basis.

Lately I have been harboring my own ill-will towards the gym in general. I finally told my trainer, Jason, about it this morning. I basically told him that I am simply, "Existing," during our workouts. Seriously. I'm not bragging because I am simply sick to my stomach sick with myself, but I'm never at the proverbial bottom of the barrel in numbers or times or weight. I've just been, "FINE," with 3rd or 4th or whatever. Didn't matter. That is SOOOOO not me.

Limitations aside, I have just been going through the motions. Yesterday's workout was 100 barbell thrusters for time. The women's weight was 65 lbs. I chose to scale my weight to 55 lbs for no other reason except the plain simple fact that, "I COULD." I chose the #5 for my rep count and once we started, after 5, I would put the bar down, rest and do 5 more. For no other reason except that, "I COULD." I told Jason that there was only one time that I was even somewhat out of breath and never really broke a sweat. And plain and simple... my 16 minutes was crap. I should have done the 65lbs and I should have put up a sub-13 minute number... then puked. I chose the easy way out. The SIMPLE ROAD.... Problem was, no one questioned it. Not that anyone should have. I chose to take the easy way out. I chose to scale when I should have gone with the prescribed way.

Jason pulled me into his office on the spot. Hit the mouse on his computer and Viola`, produced the perfect article for me. It was as if it had been written because I was in the "suckdom" section of workout success.

Managing your way to Mediocrity

suddenly kicked me in the rear and I, "got," it.

As I opened the door to walk into my workout success of the day all I heard was, "Nice talkin with you." Jason never said a word while I read. Never said a word before he opened the article. Never criticized me for being honest about knowing I am strong but not pushing hard enough to get stronger.

Somehow, it all translated into daily life for me. I know I have just been existing. Not in bad ways. In fact, today, Trish and Meeka joined me and Pudgie for driveway time most of the morning and into the afternoon. We talked at length about, "just existing." It startled me to hear that when some of her friends had made that comment, they filed for divorce soon after or ran off without their families. I am existing in other ways. Not gonna run off without the kids... oh wait, is that an option?

I told her that for a long time I have come home from here or there..bam... the television became Pudgie's babysitter, the house had to be cleaned, this that or whatever just seemed to consume me and the important things were on the back burner. Priorities were somewhat jumbled. It has been going on for about a month and a half. And it stopped yesterday!

I vowed that everyday, Pudgie and I would go outside and play before nap time (weather willing) and have fun with friends and , "DO" stuff. He is only little for another second anyway. I will have to do the dishes and the laundry and the boring stuff that we mom's exist for. That is ok. Because after all was said and done...

I rocked my workout this morning. I blew most everyone away, most boys included, and I felt good about the fact that it is normal to just exist some days...most people don't mind mediocrity but when you take the road less traveled...

You tend to learn to be the leader and discover how amazing you really are!!

Mediocrity isn't for me... I chose a new road today!

One Word.. Just can't do it

1. Where is your cell phone? purse????
2. Where is your significant other? Sleeping
3. Your hair? Short, blonde and dripping wet from the gym
4. Your mother? Cool and Feisty
5. Your father? Awesome and Fun and always willing to help
6. Your favorite thing? LOVE, smooshie kisses and Passion
7. What was your dream last night? HOT
8. Your dream/goal? A day without pain
9. The room you're in? Loft
10. Your hobby? CrossFitting
11. Your fear? Failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? HERE
13. Where were you last night? Cleaning out my garage
14. What you're not? Skiddish
16. One of your wish list items? MMMMMMM.. can't tell
17. Where you grew up? Arizona
18. The last thing you did? Cleaned out my pantry
19. What are you wearing ? Shorts, socks, t-shirt and 4 sports bras (we ran at the gym today)
20. Your TV? BIG
21. Your pets? Pain in my A#$!
22. Your computer? Another pain in my A#$!
23. Your favorite room? My huge spa-like Master Bedroom
24. Your mood? Irritated
25. Missing someone? Always
26. Your car? A big black newly pampered Ford Excursion
27. Something you're not wearing? My wedding ring (We did pull-ups during our workout )
28. Favorite store? The dollar store
29. Your summer? Hotter than HELL
30. Love someone? ABSOLUTELY
31. Your favorite color? hmmmm THAT IS TOUGH
32. When is the last time you laughed? At the gym this morning
33. Last time you cried? Pretty much everyday
34. Who will resend this? Not sure. I get emails instead of comments. Maybe Cindy in Nebraska will finally leave me a comment!!!

I will tag Amber and Trish and Kelly and anyone who may peek at my blog I don't know..... so leave me a comment if you are a lurker like me!!!

Daddy Knows Best

Something is just following me around since we returned home from our vacation to California. I have been keeping watch over my shoulder. It is hiding and waiting and keeping still so I can not actually see it. I can sense its presence though.

The Sunday night we finally made it back home, we discovered that our downstairs air conditioner was not working. Not one to manage without air conditioning... we basically spent the evening with the fans on high and dropped the upstairs a/c lower than normal. Luckily, the temperatures outside were abnormally chilly. Needless to say, the $300.00 I had managed to not spend at Disneyland went directly to my a/c unit. One thought kept steady in my mind... It could have been much worse.

Now, after last night, I am regretting doing laundry at Tom's moms house. Our last night there, I used her amazingly beautiful LG cherry red washer and dryer. They were wonderful. I was amazed at how quiet they were. Tommy and I even joked about needing them because of the fact that Pudgies room backs up to the laundry room and my units are somewhat loud. I even researched these babies when we got home. There was never an intention of actually getting them. At least not right now.

When we sold our old house... my very first house, our washer and dryer went with the house. We decided to buy the cheapest washer and dryer known to man when moved into our rental house. I think that we paid something like $480.00 for both of them. Simple, plain white.. no fancy buttons or bells and whistles.. just cheap, easy and working. That is, until last night.

I went to put the wet laundry in the dryer. Shut the door and bam.... nothing. I heard it turn on. The motor was running but the tub was not turning. My heart sank. I knew what this meant. Tom ran for the computer. I sheepishly admitted I had already researched them and Best Buy was the place to get the new LG's.

This morning I surveyed my neighbors. I even had to ask if I could dry some of our whites at her house as she was showing me her washer and dryer. My house was a complete disaster with jean shorts for school all over my loft. I was nearing tears when I joked with Ruth that I was calling my mom and asking for an early Christmas present. I wasn't really going to do that... I just had to tell her about my BAD luck and figure out what to do with all my wet clothes.

After 5 minutes on the phone with mom... literally laughing at the BAD KARMA that is my shadow lately... I hung up and we made the decision to scrap the gym to go out and spend some $3200 on the LG washer and dryer. Then my phone rang and my dad quickly said..... "It is your belt. The belt on your dryer is broke. Trust me."

Tommy grimmaced when I told him this. His exact words were..."I wanted new S&#T!" That was when we started taking apart the dryer to even find where a belt might be. Unfortunately I did not have the manual for the dryer...only the washer. AGAIN.... Karma.

With my dad already enroute to our house via "Art's Part's," in Phoenix... I reluctantly headed to Costco to feed everyone and salvage some of the day by grocery shopping.

After all was said and done... Daddy was right. The belt broke and it took all three of us to put everything back together right and make it work. Thankfully, Daddy had the amazing parts store right down the street, that stocks everything! Thankfully, Tommy was patient enough to listen to me to get the belt into the pulley system right and thankfully....IT ALL WORKED OUT!

The cost of a new LG steam washer and dryer $3200.00
The cost of a new Whirlpool Elite dryer belt $18.09
The cost of 2 Costco pizza's to feed the boys $21.45
Total amount saved by listening to Daddy $3160.46
The hours spent completing the entire prject as a family...

PRICELESS!

Thank you Daddy!

Thank you Tommy for being willing to go out and buy me such wonderful new toys on a whim, without one single complaint... but trusting us enough to fix the old toy that still has some kick left in her!!!

I love you both!!!

Crossfit...Anytime...Anywhere

I was more or less excited to walk into our amazing gym this morning. Probably less since the workout was going to make me wish I stayed in bed... but... when I saw Tommy was featured on the Crossfit Affiliate page I almost fell over. We both tried the pull ups on the F of California Adventure. He was the successful one!!

Way to go celebrity man!!

Happy Birthday Baby!

It has been an amazingly crazy fun month at our house... and away from our house for that matter. Our vacation time has pretty much come to an end and Daddy will resume his normal work hours and then some today.



Today, on all days, his birthday.



It has been a wonderful birthday month for him so far. (At least I hope it has) It is not over yet.



Happy Birthday doll. I love you more today, than I ever thought humanly possible.



Thank you for being my everything.

Love, DeAnna

HALLOWEEN FAMILY...

I shall not tell

You've gotta wait to see
But a little sneek peek
Of something for me
Costumes and boots
This is costing a ton
For one silly night
Of Halloween fun
The kids have been sworn
To not "accesorize and tell"
We have planned our night out
Oh so well
The trick to all this
Was simply Daddy sayin'
"Mommy gets sexy white boots"
For a night out of playin'

Tricks and treats

Goblins and ghosts galore

Mommy's starting to like Halloween

A little more and more!

Let's see who can guess our family of costumes based on my

ooooh so wonderful, extremely tall and sexy boots!!!!!!!!!

(Just a simple side note...Binky is modeling my boots in these pictures .. I could only wish that my legs were that skinny and these boots only go up to the tops of my calves )

Oh, yeah... NO, I am not going to be a hooker... even though this post makes me sound cheap and easy, seeing as that all it took was a pair of boots to convince me to get into the spirit of Halloween!!!!!! Oh, and one more thing... Binky will be getting boots similar to mine, just not platforms!!!

Christmas..

This is on my mind a lot lately. A LOT.


We will have Christmas at our house again this year. It was decided for me, on Thursday, right after I was told my sister is having Thanksgiving at her house. I love this. I love the hustle and bustle of Christams Day at our house. I love everyone coming over and being relaxed enough to nap when they feel like it and play the Wii or XBOX360. I love that everyone helps themselves to whatever, whenever they want and it is supremely easy. I love to overly decorate my house and overly feed everyone that walks through my front door. I love that everyone knows we always have prime rib with garlic/cream cheese mashed potatoes and that is that. Our main course never changes, just all the goodies that surround it.



I love that Tommy is already talking about my decorating our house. He has come to terms with it over the years. I think he might actually like the 6 or 7 trees I put up for the holidays. What is Christmas without a blue tree for the boys and a pink tree for the girls? I love love that Pudgie will be eyeing the trees and talking about Santa and hopefully dreaming about reindeer and Frosty and Hot chocolate.



I hate that I have been second guessing MY Christmas ideas. I have always known the meaning of Christmas and am trying to pass those meanings on to the kids. I think they are getting the spirit of Christmas and understand that it is about giving... but when you are 7 and 8, unless you force the issue, they really just want to "get" presents. That is ok for now. It will come. I am sure of that.



So, I have been reading blogs about simplifying Christmas, doing things one way or another and changing the way you ultimately, deal with, and, "do," your holiday. I thought maybe I should streamline my way of doing Christmas. Change it up, make it easier. Then I realized... my way of doing Christmas is not crazy or hectic to me. I love the way I shop after Christmas, for gifts, for the next year. I love that I think about things in March that would ultimately be something awesome for someone I love... and tuck it away in my closet.



I kinda enjoy some of the last minute run around things. It keeps me on my toes and lets me get out from under the house and the kids and makes me laugh when I watch other people out frantically shopping.



Growing up, we had a tree that was always overflowing with presents. I remember waking up to sparkle and glitter and magic. Somewhere I think a lot of people have lost the MAGIC that is Christmas. Looking back, I see that I have picked up some of the traits my mom used when wrapping presents. It is amazing how an outfit of pants, shirt, shoes, etc. becomes 10 presents. I do that to this day. I will continue that. That is just me. That is how I like it. That is what makes me love Christmas. Three trees that are overflowing with presents that we are giving to those that we love and a house that anyone can knock on our front door and come in and have a wonderful Christmas dinner. Usually, for those that show up unannounced, we even have Christmas presents for them as well.


I need to stop wondering if what I am doing needs to change or conform or whatever. Our Christmas works for us. We love it. We won't change it. It wouldn't be a Jensen Christmas if we did!!!

Halloween Scrooge

Yep, I think that is me. Officially, I can not stand this holiday.... if that is what it is considered. I think it is fun and all... but I am a

"Christmas Chick"


Take the broomstick and fly right over Halloween..Skip turkey day and move on into Christmas time.


Unfortunately... this sentiment is not being felt throughout our house. In fact... it is just the opposite. Daddy has now become infatuated with our family dressing up together and the kids are crazy in love with this idea. If you can't already guess it... I am seriously groaning over this....SERIOUSLY!

So much so that I went Christmas shopping today... well, and birthday shopping for Tommy too!


Now... if I had my choice... we would be the Incredibles. We have the perfect family for it, although, I hope my butt is not as big as Elastigirls. No, not an option on the table. Not after Daddy started internet Halloween costume surfing. You will never guess what my family will be walking around our wonderful neighborhood as...........................

Cali in a nutshell..

What an amazing 10 days away we had. We are a pretty regimented family so when I told the kids Thursday that we were letting them miss class on Friday.... it was party time at our house. The only catch was... they would not utter one word of complaint that we were getting in one last workout at our gym before we left. They were stoked!

Friday, after our killer 5K run and Row, we slowly packed up the excursion and headed off to Campo to see Grammie and Grampie Alkire. There was only one rule for our entire vacation. NO STRESS TO GET ANYWHERE IN A HURRY. We took our time and made the best of the travel together. Not once did we hear a complaint at all. Thank heaven for DVD players and cards! I thought about packing the Nintendo DS's but forgot to charge them and figured that they would get lost in between places...so I hoped for the best with the little smooshies sitting next to each other. They were angels the entire time!

We were sad that Grampie Ken did not get his deployment orders to go back to Afghanistan. Alas, Disneyland was not an option for him. We spent Friday night at their house and Grammie loaded up with us and we headed to Disneyland.

Grammie Diane and Grampie Frank met us at our condo and we all hit the pool. The anticipation was building and we finally got back to our room to find that Mickey had arrived and left, "Presents," for the kids just like the last time we went on vacation there. Mickey tends to visit the Jensen family regularly since he shops online and gets the same presents (LIKE THE GOLD LIMITED EDITION MICKEY AND MINNIE AND POOH BEAR from the collages) that would have cost $50.00, at the park, for a measly $4.00 online. It pays to stock-pile those kinds of surprises for a year. Mickey ended up showing up to our condo every day that we visited the park... saving Mommy about $400.00 in souvenir costs.

Every day was just a blast. We ate at our favorite "Goofy's Kitchen" twice while we were there and got to ride a lot of rides we had never been on. Grammie Diane and Grampie Frank had to leave on Wednesday so Grampie could have his knee surgery. We were sad they had to cut the vacation short. Thursday brought on new family. Tommy's sister Michelle and her daughter Lexi came up for the night. We has spent the day at Disneyland just the 5 of us so we had a long 10 hours of fun there. We swam and hung out and got ready for a long Friday. We were so sad that the fireworks were cancelled on Friday night but made the best of all of our time with everyone. My poor Binky was devastated when Lexi had to leave after an entire day with us at the parks. Another final trip on the log ride helped her to stop her tears!

Saturday we packed up...or I should say shoved and shoved and smooshed as much as humanly possible into our excursion... and then threw all the kids in on top of it all and headed back to Campo. One more night at Grammie and Grampie Alkires and we finally headed back home to AZ on Sunday afternoon.

I love that my kids got to vacation with their grandparents. That was one of my greatest memories of my Hubba growing up. I know that this will now become a new tradition, since we already started planning next years vacation while walking through Main Street at Disneyland.

We were so lucky to have a safe trip and not one single argument or disagreement the entire trip. As for me, well, I was wrong when I told Tommy that Disneyland was not a vacation. It was a lot of work keeping 3 little ones together but it was the best time we have ever had. It was Pudgie's first real vacation and I am so happy that Tommy decided on this last summer. I would not have wanted to have gone anywhere else.

I am so thankful that Jax was happy to help with Brinkley when we hit a huge crowd. He never once complained that he had to hold her hand and was just amazing when Pudgie was let out of his stroller. I never have to worry when my little helper is on the job!

Now back to reality.
Luggage that needs to be unpacked....
and our down stairs air conditioning unit that is not working
REALITY.......
vacations are wonderful... but still

there is no place like home!!

VACATION 2008

Suffice to say, there is too much to say about this awesome vacation. We were overloaded on our way home with wonderful Disney goodies (The last picture in the collages) and had an amazing time with all of our family that could come with us! Tommy did get in a couple of Crossfitting Pullups on the "F" at California Adventure!!! Crazy man! (My hands were too small to grip...trust me I tried!!)

Disneyland will wait for another 3 years when we go back. On to the planning of the next Jensen Vacation!

It's HERE~

We are off for a week plus at DISNEYLAND and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE and we are sooooo excited!!!!

You know it's almost fall break when....

this is the view into your oldest child's bedroom...just after big brother and little sister finally went to bed, at 10PM... and you just don't even care!!!!!

Anyone thirsty?

You will all think I am nuts. It's ok, my hubby knows I am. He disregards my OCD tendancies and my not so OCD ones, as well. Thankfully he embraces my need to stock-pile for the right reasons. Like, say, 35 cases of Powerade Zero if my groceries are either free or dang near close to that.

Now, in truth, I have to blame this all on my friend Shanen... or hug her over and over until she bursts, just to thank her. She is the one that explained coupon sense to me. Then, my favorite checker at Fry's streamlined the whole process for me and BAM................

Today was the best shopping trip ever for me. EVER......................

Hold on to your wallets............ and Tommy, you can kiss me over and over again...... LATER........ my grocery bill was a little bitty......................

$ 649.52

(Ok Tommy, please inhale...NOW)

At one point, I was actually being paid to buy my groceries. Does that sentence really make any sense? SERIOUSLY. My mom was rather shocked too.

My wallet is proof positive...... I took a $20.00 bill with me today. I came home with $11.35. Yep, I paid a very, "happy to hand it over, in 40 plus transactions".....

$8.65

for all my goodies today. Now some will laugh... but I was actually mad at myself because I would have walked away not paying one single penny... the dink in me forgot diapers for my Pudgie man and I had to fork over $6.33 for a package of diapers (why can't they sell emergency packs of one or two diapers??) and then I had to get a peanut butter and I did not have a coupon for that. There was the additional $2.32. Yeah, I am that much of a freak when I am on a mission like this one. I accounted for ever single cent. The checkers were none too pleased with this chick. Oh well......... So what did I get??????????

20 four packs of toilet paper
62 diapers
lil swimmers
6 bottles of bbq sauce
10 tubes of toothpaste
5 air wick air sanitizers
1 jar skippy peanut butter
32 bottles of shampoo
3 packages of sliced turkey
2 big tubs of omega butter
5 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios
10 boxes of Stackers Fruit snacks
330 bottles of Powerade Zero
16 bags of cat food
6 bottles of dial hand soap...

The list is insanely long so I am gonna end it there..... I couldn't even take pictures of everything since I had to put it into the freezer or refrigerator and did not want to do the work twice!!!

Not soon enough.....

I nearly crushed Tommy's heart a while back when we were heatedly talking about Disneyland. I quickly snapped, "Disneyland is not a vacation. Not only will I have our three kids to babysit all day, now I will have you to babysit too. NOT A VACATION!" He was sad and hurt. Possibly crushed. I have carried the guilt of that conversation for about 9 weeks now. I am so very sorry for those words. I have not felt this bad, about something I said, in a long, long time.

Tommy was not totally understanding that Mommy never, and I mean never, gets more than 10 minutes away from anyone in this family. EVER! I was frustrated and totally not looking forward to Mickey and Minnie and all the junk associated with this, "wonderful and happy," place. Call me a bad mom, a jerk of a wife, a horrible person.... that is me. I don't get 12 hours away to be on "vacation" (at work) from the hum drum of the house and the kids and meals and the dog and the cat and the diapers. Work is never ending..... no matter if mommy has a headache, 40 loads of laundry waiting, calls to return, dr. appointments to make, parent teacher conferences, or back pain that would put every single person I know in the hospital. I was just not excited at all. I grew up taking vactions to Hawaii and Tahiti.

A beach, a book, a beer....I'm there.....

Then, something started to flutter in MY tummy. The weeks started getting closer and the kids started talking about everything they wanted to see and how exciting it is that Grammie Diane, Grampie Frank, Grammie Alkire and possibly Grampie Alkire, were going to share in all this fun with us. I was actually looking forward to this trip. I wanted to take my kids to Disneyland and California Adventure. I wanted to take the tourist pictures of all three little ones by Mickey and Goofy and Cinderella. I wanted to spend an awful amount of money in Goofy's Kitchen so my kids could hug Chip and Dale and dance between tables. I am more excited than the kids now, I think.

It is still, what feels like, an endless amount of time away, before these little munchies, I call my family, go on vacation... but it feels like Christmas in our house. Mommy is happily gearing up for Pudgie's first ever, "vacation." Daddy is boucing around like a 'lil guy as well. Jax and Brinkley have nearly and simply, lost it. We are so excited....

We just wish it was tomorrow.

I Love Lolah!!!!

Call me crazy, call me insane, call me weird.... but I could kiss Lolah smack on the lips after today. I love her. I want to squeeze her until she bursts! Lolah is one of my new best friends. I have not seen her for a while. I actually thought that I had gotten her in trouble a few weeks back. I thought maybe she broke up with me. She didn't. She was just hiding. And she was back and full of sercrets, for me, today.

Lolah is my favorite check out lady, at my favorite Fry's. She whispers sweet stuff to me when I am getting ready to do the self check out. She calls me her exercise arms girl. I call her my angel. We have quite the affair going on.

Today she smiled big when I started getting out my 113 coupons. She told me a secret and I had to revamp all my groceries for the day. She was thrilled. She does coupons too. I love her!

I REALLY LOVE HER!

Today she saved me....

$356.01

Yep, my bill would have been

$413.02

and I paid a measley

$57.01

Seriously, when can you buy 156 bottles of Powerade (even on sale the Powerade alone would have been $78.00), 28 rolls of toilet paper, 18 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, 11 tubes of toothpaste, 6 bag of healthy vegetable chips, 2 bags of sun chips, 2 jars of natural peanut butter, 120 ziploc bags, 30 ziploc containers, 2 big bottles of fabric softener, 4 boxes of breakfast bars, 6 crunch bars, a bag of cat food, cat treats, barbeque sauce, and 2 boxes of dishwasher tablets for that? I paid about 4 cents for each item. Can't beat that with a sharp stick or huge baseball bat! I actually could have done even better, but I was stressing about time...since I did 28 different orders. I will be at Fry's again tomorrow in a hot second. That is, right after I hit the gym. I have a goal to beat today's order...with over 30 individual orders. I am hoping for a little over $400.00 worth of goodies to oogle for around $10.00 to $15.00, because I am too cheap on Monday's!!

Happy Sunday to me!

(DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE LOLAH?)

Divorce~

What an insanely difficult word this is. I never understood divorce. My parents have been married almost 40 years. No one in my family had ever been divorced... they literally died married and that was how life as I knew it was.

I knew marriage was sacred. I never took it lightly. The engagement thing I kinda did. I was engaged 6 times. Ok, stop gasping. I knew that when I really found the right man to marry, I would know in an instant and he would be the one and I would want to marry him, yesterday. This is all neither here nor there.

You see, I married into divorce...literally. It has never bothered me. I just never really understood it. I am much better at understanding it now. For anyone that is wondering, no, Tommy and I are not going down that road. We are perfect (well, in my eyes) and I am one lucky woman to have him. He was married before me. He taught me that marriage is not to be taken lightly and got me to trust in the fact that he did not get divorced to be alone. He married me less than two months after he got divorced and I knew that we were meant to be together forever. Again, this post is not about my marriage.

I have wondered for a long time why women stay in loveless marriages. Why they stay in abusive marriages. Why they let their children see the violence of anger or just plain absence of their husband. Why women allow this is one thing I just can not wrap my mind around. I was that cop that went to these calls and prompted these "tough guy" husbands to go ahead and hit me. I begged for it. I purposely took the guy away from the girl even if my partner was the biggest guy on patrol that day. I tried to get theses stupid men angry at me. I wanted them to throw a punch or get verbal with me. I wanted these jerks to understand that women don't need to take this b-s treament, especially from a dirtbag. Funny enough... none of them ever took a swimg at me, and, they only said nasty things after they had been dropped on a floor and handcuffed. Still this is not about me...

This is all about my sister, my only sister, Kelly, who after too many years of abuse, (that I did not know the actual truth about) found the courage and the strength to walk away. She walked away and has filed for divorce. And I am so damn proud I can barely type without crying.

Kelly and I are complete polar opposites. Kelly married young and had her babies and then moved onto the big career. I was so completely opposite I think my parents wondered whose child I really was. I needed the big career first. Kelly had the big wedding and what I really thought to be, the most wonderful life. She hid things from me. I understand it now. Looking back, I see those things and how they were not all perfect and shiny like I believed, or wanted to believe. I didn't want to see those things in my family. I lived it at work everyday...and it just couldn't happen to my sister.

For a long time I have prompted her to leave. WALK AWAY. Take your kids and leave the stuff behind. Stuff is just, "STUFF." "You can buy more stuff," I would tell her. I tried begging her, pleading and then threatening her. I tried to reason with her explaining to her that her daughters were going to think this is how relationships should be and find some jerk that treats them the same way dad treats mom. Then where would she be? Nothing was getting through to her. She was being the typical woman I had encountered on hundreds of family fights. I wanted to choke her myself.

Then she finally broke down and had taken enough from him. It took a long time but Kelly finally admitted to me that she was embarassed that it had come to divorce. She felt that she was letting our family down. She thought that she was the black sheep that everyone would look down upon and think bad things about. She didn't want my mom and dad to think that she didn't try. She didn't want to let her girls down.

My heart broke for her.

It is a long road that she has been traveling. I think she felt that she needed to travel it alone. I still, am not sure why. We were not raised that way and my parents are not ones to ever let their kids fend for themselves. Thankfully, she has taken hold of help and let us walk with her on her road. It is one hell of a road.. as you can well imagine from my previous post about her truck. We are walking it as a family. Helping her when she will let us.

I am sure it is not easy. If life was easy, it wouldn't be worth living. I am hoping that she understands that we are so proud of her. It takes strength to walk away. It takes strength to admit when you do need help and even more courage to leave a life behind to build a new one! We see the joy in her face. We see calm behind her eyes that used to be filled with anger and uncertainty. We see the light at the end of the long tunnel and we see a future filled with happiness.

We are proud and we are behind you 100%.

99 days baby......

Ok everyone....roll your eyes...cringe a little
not ..
wait..
no...
hang on
just...
hold...
NOOOOO...

OKAY...

NOW!



99 DELICIOUS DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS



I am already dreaming of decorating



Anticipating 6 trees in the house



Anxiously awaiting nights of yummy candles smelling up my bedroom as I wrap presents into the wee hours of the morning



I love the feeling of Christmas in our house



I love giving



I love the planning



I love the wrapping and making things glitter like I have snow inside my house



I love watching the kids dance around like they really do have butterflies in their tummies



I love knowing that this year...Pudgie will "get" Christmas



I love Prime Rib with my family on Christmas



I love all the lights



I love that Tommy never complains that I decorate until I drop



I love that we have blue trees for boys and pink ones for girls



I love that I have a plan for shopping and it shall not include Walgreen's or CVS this year



I love Christmas!



I love that I only have to wait 99 more days until it gets here!!!