Birthday Girl

Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am 36 today! Happy Birthday to me! I feel the same as I did at 26! Mainly because I was on the downhill to 30. Now I am on the downhill to 40. That sounds so weird to think I'll be 40 in 4 more years. 40 IS OLD!!! It's a lot! Like 40% off on a sale is great... 'cause it's close to 50% off. I guess that means that 40 is real close to 50, which is why 40 is so scary! I did not celebrate my 30th birthday. I will celebrate my 36th birthday today though because not being 40 is something TOO celebrate! I am going to get my hair-cut. I am having a nice dinner tonight, of which I will make Steak and Fresh Gulf shrimp with Baked potatoes and salad. I will also attempt to re-create a dessert I had on the cruise called Chocolate Decadence. If I doesn't work it will be okay because it will AT LEAST be something chocolate AND not CAKE! I plan to try and go to the movies, but if not Borders bookstore will do. I am also going to be doing something soon that will be life changing for me. And if you want to know what it is you will just have to stay tuned.

PUNCH BUGGY!!!

I like to play a game in the car with the kids called Punch-Buggy. Whenever you see a Volkswagen bug you say "PUNCH-BUGGY! It doesn't matter if it's a new bug or one from BC...it still counts. We used to say "PUNCH-BUGGY! - NO punch backs -because you were allowed to punch the person next to you LIGHTLY. However we had to fore-go that part of the game because Matthew took it as his license to knock the crap out of anyone within arms distance, so now we just say PUNCH-BUGGY! and leave our hands to ourselves. Ashley is the one who got us started on this game when we drove up to Georgia/Tennessee a couple of summers ago. It was a long drive and they were bored so all I heard was PUNCH-BUGGY! every few miles and then someone would get punched and a fight would break-out... Ashley also taught us another game. This game doesn't have a name per-say but you get yourself in full view of a BIG TRUCK and pump your arm wildly like you are trying to do arm fart. The main objective of the game is to get the trucker to blown his horn when he sees you. When a trucker would blow his horn at the kids, they would act like they had accomplished a great feat. Slapping hands, -ALRIGHT!- ...high fives. Matt still likes to try this game with the truckers here at home and I have tried to explain to him WHY truckers going down Hillsbourgh Ave in traffic won't do this but he remains firm... Anyway this game with PUNCH-BUGGY is like breathing with me now. I really don't WANT to play it, but when I see a Beatle Bug car I just can't control myself ...I MUST SCREAM -PUNCH-BUGGY!!! Teresa went out with me one Saturday shopping and it like to have drove her crazy. When Lana mentioned she might go with me to pick my mom up in Georgia/Tennessee, Teresa warned her ahead of time. "She plays punch-buggy and if she gets to talking too much she doesn't pay attention to where she is going and you might end-up in another state..."
Now that my mom is down here she is having to get used my Punch-Buggy ways. She jumped the first few times I yelled it...but the other day she said "Must we play THAT game? I told her, "well... I was thinking of changing to a different type of car." With that she took me completely by surprise and yelled, "JEEP!" Matt was the only one with us and he had been listening to our conversation. He saw a jeep and instantly jumped-up and yelled, "JEEP!" All the way home they both screamed "JEEP"! I almost had an accident! And what's so great about Jeeps? I don't even have mine anymore?

First Snow

While we were up in Georgia/Tennessee it snowed... This is good and bad. The children had never seen snow and they were very excited about it, Matthew even got in his first snow ball fight! Katherine and I had gone over for the evening to Tom & Tracey's to visit and see Pumpkin/Dooley (one of Patches puppies). Tom & Tracey were the ones who breed beagles (Snoopy was a Beagle) You can view their website here www.soundsofthesouthbeagles.com . Anyway, Tracey went to let Dooley out to pee and said, "We've got white!" I stood Katherine outside and took her picture which is what you see above. It was really coming down but it didn't show up very good. You can only see the snow starting to lay on the deck. Roger & Matt were with my cousin Amy and some others at a GIG her husband Mark had with his band. Mark plays the drums for a Christian rock band. Mark is a business man by day and a drummer by night. Their band's name is "Evidence of Faith". Some of their music is pretty hard- it reminds me of when I was younger... They've got one really good song I like called "Stop and Pray" or at least I think that's what it's called. ANYWAY... When the show was over they came out to WHITE! Amy took a picture of Matt with her camera phone and as soon as I get it I will put it on flickr...
The bad thing about snow in Georgia/Tennessee is that it gets cold enough to snow then the temperature rises just enough to melt than it drops again and freezes to make ICE. All the northern states deal pretty well with the winter months because it is mainly just snow, not ice. Georgia/Tennessee does not deal with ice well at all. When I was in school I used to turn on the news every morning before school to watch the SNOWBIRD REPORT. If they even thought it was going to snow we got the day off. Schools don't want to deal with taking kids home on Black Ice. When we lived in Georgia 6 1/2 years ago Roger didn't BELIEVE in ice. If he didn't see it, it didn't exist. I told him to slow down and BELIEVE ,have FAITH, but he wouldn't. I told him we were going to SLIDE but he told me to RELAX. We slammed into the curb... Black ice... not a good thing. Especially when you are moving your mother's stuff. Thank God Sunday morning it had melted.
I am a true Floridian now. I HATE THE COLD. It gives me a headache. I got sick on our drive home PARTLY due to the fact that we did so much driving and it was so cold. Remember, I said PARTLY. The rest was a woman thing. I threw-up in a TACO BELL bathroom and this time it had nothing to do with the food because I didn't eat there-just used them for their facilities. I couldn't even fake I was better when I got to the outlet mall right outside Macon- Georgia to shop at the Gap & Old Navy Outlet. It was REALLY HARD to pass up getting shirts and pants for $3 bucks. It was so bad that we ended up stopping and getting a room at a COMFORT INN in a one horse town 80 miles north of Valdosta. I was ALSO traveling with a 6 week old beagle puppy Tom & Tracey had me to bring home. A couple that purchased him was driving to our house from Orlando to pick him up. His name was SAM. He was so CUTE! When we got home, I picked up Patch and Bartholomeu from Lana and Teresa's. Bartholomeu ran up and smelled Sam's Kennel. Sam barked and Bartholomeu jumped like he had been shot!
Can you believe I am going to attempt this drive again at the end of next month for Hayden's christening? I have lost my mind...
But I'll be there
Puking
and cold
with Bells
On my toes

Smells Like Home

We moved my mom back down here from Tennessee/ Georgia (whatever you want to call it, it's right on the boarder) over the weekend and she brought a table that used to belong to my grandmother. I can't imagine it SMELLING but when I walked in the door tonite it smelt like my Grandmother's house(her name was Mamaw and she went to Heaven 3 years ago) I think God put that smell here, because it was comforting and I liked it. It's cool my children will smell it too. My house smelling like a Grandma's isn't so bad...I expect I'll be one someday. I wish I could describe it for you -maybe a mix of coffee, old home, country cooking and love.
Yes, love does have a smell and it comes in different forms... We all have things that give us the warm fuzzies when we smell them. Perfume, a roast cooking, cinnamon from Christmas...
For Bartholomeu it's eggs. He knows I love him when I fix him eggs...
... and I feel loved by him when he has gas sitting next to me at Mamaw's table with a straight face...

Multi-Talented Bartholomeu

Multi-Talented Bartholomeu

I am writing this for my friend Tracey. I am going to Georgia soon to get my Mom and going to see her. She was concerned about me coming to her house because she has 6 kids and she thinks it's messy. I laughed when I heard about that... I NEVER STOP CLEANING. WANNA BET? Call me on the phone sometime.

You: "So, Robbin, Whatcha doing?"
Me: "Cleaning"
(Yes, I am multi-talented. I can clean and talk on the phone at the same time. Roger said he was going to by me a head-set. Roger's cousin Eva is super multi-talented. I remember when the kids were little and she got her first car with a stick-shift. I died laughing when she told me, "I am so good at this now, I can shift the gears, eat an egg McMuffin and smack the kids(figuratively speaking) all at the same time.")

Tracey, I have 3 kids,( really 6 since Roger can't pick up his clothes and Gabriel is 2 kids in 1) and 2 dogs. When I get up in the morning I never know what I will face. Bartholomeu has chewed up one of my lovely windowsills and the kitchen blinds. I am not worried about the blinds as they are cheap Wal-Mart ones that cost like $3.56 a piece. I know this because I replaced them 2 weeks ago and then Bartholomeu did it again. I have started replacing the blinds in the house with wooden ones. I need to go to Wal-Mart and buy some $3.56 blinds like I buy toilet paper. I THROW THEM BOTH AWAY WHEN THEY LOOK LIKE CRAP!
Roger is multi talented with wood putty. I know he will fix the window in no time flat. I am not in a hurry though because Roger's patience will wear thin if Bartholomeu does it again, so I want him to GET OVER IT FIRST. Roger won't fix it again and again...
Kind of like my cousin Amy's van. She is leasing her van and bumped it and her husband Mark got it fixed. Amy did it again. I saw it back in September and asked when they were going to fix it. Mark said he was waiting till the lease was up and then he would get everything fixed... Maybe he thinks the multi-talented bodyshop guy will give him a multi-discount for the multiple marks from Amy's Multiple accidents...
Anyway, Tracey, These are the multiple reasons why you shouldn't think twice about it...
Did you know that I really talk like I write in these blogs? I skip from subject to subject without shuting up, kind of like a tree. I start up the tree and then go down a branch, see a limb and go up the limb before I even finish going down the branch... you know when you start talking to someone at the same time they start talking to you and you both keep talking to see who will shut-up first? I am the one who doesn't shut-up. There has only ever been a couple of people who beat me at this and I was truely SCARED of them! There must be a name for this...maybe multi-versed?

Surfing USA!

I did my first big job Saturday night where I actually printed the photos myself! This was my prop Katherine is standing on in the picture. I ordered the backdrop, Lana made the surfboard for me and I burned the mid-night oil Friday night painting it. It seemed to be a pretty big hit. I hired Teresa to go with me and after the night was over I think she would have preferred to have her finger nails pulled off one by one than to ever go with me again to do a job. There was IMMENSE pressure to get the pictures printed and since it seemed to be the main objective of everyone there to get pictures- we were SLAMMED. (In a good way!) Teresa's face was literally red. At the end of the evening she said she liked her job in orthopedics and would run the other way if I even mentioned another photo job again! -SAY CHEESE!- I said, "So what if I call you and ask you to do a job with me and your broke?" She replied, " I'll go to a CASH ADVANCE."
Have any of you ever heard the term "IN THE WEEDS"? When servers at restaurants get slammed with a bunch of tables and get behind (with people whining for their drinks ect...) They say, "I'M IN THE WEEDS!!!" Well that is what we were- IN THE TALL, TALL WEEDS!
In the end, Katherine sold $45 in her bracelets and we packed up everything and I paid Teresa. I guess she wasn't expecting me to pay her so much and she said, "I didn't do it for the money-BUT next time I will!"
SPRINGBREAK at CLEARWATER HERE WE COME!!!

Introducing HAYDEN JAKE P!

Hey everyone this is my little Godson Hayden! He was born on February 1st in Oak Ridge, Tennessee at 1:23 PM. He weighed 7 pounds 3 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Roger and I are going up for the christening towards the end of March. I feel like I am the Brady Bunch now. I have 6 children in my life that are my EVERYTHING...Katherine, Matthew, Gabriel, Nicole (my step-daughter), Ashley (I call her my niece, but she's really my cousin) and now Hayden. I have other children I love also in my life too. But my heart was invested deep with my Brady Bunch.
I am trying to win the Godmother of the year award too - something I won't be illegible for (and was pointed out to me by Teresa) if it gets out that I forgot Hayden's oz's weight. I couldn't remember if he was 2oz or 3oz... I REMEMBERED everything else -Heck, I can't even remember Matt's birth oz- it was 13oz or 15oz and he come out of my own body. (Kat & Gabe were the very same- less to remember) I can't remember if Nicole's birthday is the 17th or 18th of October ( I always guess the 18th) and Roger is NO help with that. He can't remember what mine, Matthew, or Gabriel's birthday is. The only date he remembers is Katherine's because she was born the day after his birthday. You could even ask him when Christmas is and he will tell you "the end of December".
I think we just need to grade this whole thing on a curve.
Like the time I got pulled over for going 10 miles over the speed limit and the cop discovered I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I got 2 tickets and filed to go to traffic court instead. When I went before the judge I said, "I might not have had MY seatbelt on BUT I had 3 children in the backseat that ALL had theirs on. I paid $20 for both tickets! Grading on a curve is a good thing!
Work it baby... work it...
Oh, I for got this was about Hayden...
uhm...don't worry... he's going to be like the puppies... way to much information...

Things I have heard

Gabriel doesn't have much to do with conversations, BUT he does talk. For instance this morning he looked at me and said, "PICKLES, ONIONS, LETTUCE all on a SESAME SEED BUN."
Some other things I have overheard:
"Your killing me SPONGE BOB... You REALLY are."
When he is playing the Gameboy I have heard him scream, "GET OFF OF ME!"
He refers to himself as a third party. When he wants something that Kat or Matt have he will say, "Give it to HIMMM!"
"SHUT- UP!" Drag it out----(Just to hear himself say it. -He heard this on the Movie "PRINCESS DIARIES")
Gabriel's speech therapy is at St. Joseph Hospital and we have to go up an elevator to get to the office he visits. As soon as he sees the building he will tell me, "Push the button" about 10 times before we actually get to the elevator were he can do it. If there is one available that people are getting on, then we have to wait till all the elevator doors are shut so he can push the button and it light up.
When driving past Taco Bell he will scream, "TACO BELLLL" and cry and get out of his seat. This is only if he notices since he is usually playing the GAMEBOY or watching his VIDEO NOW.
He likes to say, "I said NO!
Humm- Don't know who says that in my house...

I AM GOING TO BE A GODMOTHER TODAY! Did I mention that Lucie Bug is the one giving birth?

Lucie Bug had to be at the hospital this morning at 5:45 AM to be induced! I can't wait! If you've been reading this blog you know that this will be our (Roger & I) Godchild.
I called her on her cell phone at 6:10 Am... What's the big deal? Gabriel got me up at 10 till... Knowing that someone else was actually up and breathing at the time to made me really excited to call them... Bobby her husband answered the phone and said they where in the room the baby would be born in and Lucie was in the bathroom changing.
Lucie is notorious for being grumpy in the morning (if I believed in reincarnation I would say that in her other life she was OZZY OSBORNE when he bit the heads of chickens)She got on the phone and said," I will call you back! I am not supposed to be talking I will get in trouble! CHILLLLL, you are 25 and your mom's not coming to spank you with the belt!
I have talked to Bobby (her husband) a bit ago and he was still calm, cool, and collect while a nurse was in there checking Lucie...
Okay, Let's call Lucie live...
Dialing the number...
Hello? (Bobby answers)
Hey... am I the only person to call 3 times this morning?
No
You mean to tell me there has been one other person that has called more than me?
Yes
Who?
Everyone
Everyone who?
Everyone is here. (What does everyone being there have to do with topping my calling rate?)
Who is there?
My Mom, Lindsey, my friend, Lucie's Aunt... She is getting her epidural right now...I'll have her call you back...
Okay
Bye

YOU BETTER HAVE HER CALL ME BACK BOBBY!!!
After all, I am the GODMOTHER!!!