Karen’s Party

Last night was the cocktail party at Karen’s house.  I was very excited but Röbert just about ruined my fun by talking about saving money and budgeting the entire day.  So tedious.  I decided I had better not wear the new dress I bought on Friday, so I took something (also new, but sort of looks like something else I used to own) out and put it on.  When Röbert asked if it was a new dress I said, “No.” and was able to take the moral high ground all night.

I think I looked pretty great.

This dress was less expensive, but still looked fabulous!

I couldn’t lie about the suit I bought for Röbert to wear, since he knew it was new, so I told him I had gotten it on sale at Sears.  LOL!  Men can be so gullible.  He still didn’t want to wear it (too flashy), but he looked very dapper.

I actually bought the suit at a very prestigious men’s shop in town!

When I got to the party I was surprised to discover that I was the guest of honor!   Karen is so grateful to me for finding Beefeater and she even wanted to get a special picture of us together.  Unfortunately Beefeater kept cowering as if he was afraid of me.  So strange.  We did finally get a cute picture together.

Beefeater and his hero!

I don’t remember much of the night after my second mojito, and I woke up with a terrible my grain again.  Today I just took it easy and let Röbert play Papa Bear!

 

 

Some Good News At Last!

I know a lot of people have been really worried about the Sullivan’s dog, Beefeater.  We sure were!  I felt so helpless because Karen and I have been goin’ thru a lil’ ruff patch. Anywhoo, I went out for my power walk, as per usual, yesterday and guess who I ran into?  A certain special dog!  I brought him right over to Karen’s house and she was absolutely delighted.  We hugged and cried and made up.  She mentioned that Beefeater didn’t seem to be in any distress at all. It looked as though someone had taken VERY good care of him.  I agree.

Besties once again.

She mentioned that she and Mitch are having a little get together next weekend and invited Röbert and I to join them.  I am certainly looking forward to that.

Before all of the excitement with Beefeater yesterday morning I was a little upset.  There was a blogger do I wanted to go to in Atlanta this weekend and when I mentioned it to Röbert on Thursday, he claimed we couldn’t afford it.  Well, later that day I went to buy something at the luggage store and I found $100 in my purse, but no credit cards.  This is highly unusual because I never carry cash and have lots of credit cards.  I guess we must have plenty of money because banks and stores are always offering me more cards.  I am sure they don’t do that for poor people!  I had been looking for my cards everywhere and I finally found them when I went to get  some breakfast bars for the kids from the freezer yesterday morning.  The cards were frozen in a solid block of ice!  I was furious!

Then I walked into the kitchen and the corner of our kitchen table leg was all chewed up.  That was when I decided to go on the walk to find Beefeater.

Moments before I found the chewed up leg.

Now Robert says we can’t afford a new table either.  I can’t live like this!  It is one step from being homeless.  We will see what we can afford this week!

Back to School Fun

Today was the back to school pool party for the whole school.  I decided Merlin would not go because he is so clumsy and always tripping and would probably end up hurting someone.  Starling had a marvelous time with her friends though!

All smiles! That’s my girl!

I decided that instead of letting Merlin read a book in the car, he would probably be fine at home alone for a few hours.  We’d already tried it a few times this summer and he hasn’t burned the house down yet, LOL!  Just try to imagine how disappointed I was to find him jumping on the bed in the guest room when I got home!  That boy is a handful!

Naughty as always!

I have decided I am a photographer and maybe since my Mommy advice thing didn’t pan out (I had lots and lots of clients VERY interested, I just kept forgetting to think of good advice) I will be a professional photographer.  If you need a family photo, I am your girl.  I took a few of Starling and Hummus for a portfolio of sorts, but I think anyone who has seen my blog knows that I am no amateur!

Naked pictures are so artistic!

Of course I couldn’t use Merlin because of that blasted knee bandaid!

Oh, and by the way haters, I don’t need to hear about how I am “exploiting” my children by posting naked photos for perverts to look at.  I am their Mom and I know what is best FOR THEM.  I will not tell you how to raise your children, so don’t you tell me how to exploit mine.  Stepping off my soapbox!

Röbert is Home!

What a week it was with Röbert being away until last night.  I am exhausted and have a my grain.  I let him get up with the kids this morning and I slept in.  When I got up he had let Merlin and Starling dress up in some kind of crazy get ups!  What was he thinking?  I took a picture.  I wish that I had gotten a lot more wall in it.

Can you believe it?  Starling liked those ugly things and was mad that I threw away the gift her father had bought her.  What to the ever!  I sent them up to change and walked into the family room.  Hummus was out of his car seat for some reason and trying to crawl on the sofa.  It was so cute so I did get a picture.  I was checking my phone to make sure I had a good one and the clumsy little thing fell off the sofa!  What was he thinking even being on it in the first place?

What can I say? There was blood everywhere, I was crying, Hummus was crying,.  Thank goodness Röbert was home to clean it all up.

I went upstairs to recover for awhile and when I came down Merlin was running around like a crazy man!  I need a vacation from summer vacation!

Next week I have Starling signed up for a wonderful art camp with her best friend.  I think I will try to find some sort of program for Merlin and Hummus too.  Merlin is a bit old for the day care on Main Street but I may see if Mrs. Watkins will take him for a week or two.

I think I need a glass of wine now!

Beach Day

I have been so horrified about the whole bra “thing” that happened in San Jose.  I can not imagine what went on that I ended up removing my clothes and actually LOSING my bra.  Ugh!  Mortifying.  But last night I decided to make it up to Röbert (even though he will hopefully never find out about the bra thing) so I sent to kids to bed extra early and guess what he found when he got home from work?

Rowwrrrr!

This morning we decided to head over to the beach for the day.  Merlin just wanted to wear a junky looking swim suit, but I like my family to look nice at all times so I got him dressed up and we headed over to what I like to call paradise.  LOL

 

One of my take aways from the conference is that I need to take more time for me so I brought my friend with me to watch the kids so I could relax and enjoy myself.

After a lovely afternoon Röbert and i headed off for some cocktails at the waterfront.  My friend was more than happy to take my lil’ angles home and get them cleaned up and fed and put to bed.  What a great way to unwind.

How do you rewind after a crazy week?

OMG! OMG! OMG!

OMG!  Emergency!

So, while it may seem to some that our marriage is perfect, sometimes Röbert just gets the teensiest bit angry with me.  This week would be an example.  When I called to let him know I was in San Jose, he had already apparently heard about it from my parents, who I guess are also somewhat annoyed (it is like they are missing the love your grandlittles gene or something!)

Röbert and I in a happier moment!

In the end, after a very frustrating conversation he agreed that I should stay because I promised him that I would learn so much during the convention, make lots of important connections, learn to monetize (love that word!) my blog and probably get some sponsors!

Well, ugh.  It turns out that I had so much fun that I did not make it to a single session, meeting or speaker.  I did go to a lot of parties, the details are a little fuzzy to me.  The people I met, while a lot of fun, also all ended up having blogs with a similar following to mine (2 page views a week, more or less; one from my mom and one from my dad).  Also, no sponsor.

I may also have implied that I had purchased a nonrefundable round-trip ticket (I bought one way) because i thought with the money all my roommates would reimburse me for the room before they left, I would have enough to get home.  Well, I woke up this morning and everyone was gone, no cash or checks left for the room and when I went to the front desk the room charges were all still on the card I found in Röbert’s sock drawer!  And someone had bought a lot of minibar candies and room service and watched porn! OMG!

So now I need to try to get some sponsors before I go and I don’t know how that works.

#golf #titleist OMG!  #sponsor  Maybe someone will at least send me some free golf balls to give to Röbert or something!

#starbucks #Peets #Idon’tcare #coffee

#DavidTutera #weddinggown  I swear, I will wear one of your super sparkly poofy gowns to run errands if you will just help out a gal with whom you shared a special moment this weekend!

Do You Know the Way?

I have recently decided to take my blogging habit a little more seriously and what better way to begin than attending a blogger convention on the other side of the country?  I mentioned to Robert that I was going and he was not supportive AT ALL!!  I was shocked.  He said we can’t “afford” it.  I pointed out that he takes business trips all of the time and we seem to afford those just fine.  My blog IS my business and he needs to recognize that.  Well then he said that my business has approximately zero views per day.  Okay, he has a point, but how in the world could I ever get page views without traveling to a convention, staying in a hotel and hearing experts speak about branding and monetizing my blog.  I am sure this trip will pay for itself in wonderful sponsorship opportunities.

So I left the room and went to cry in my bathtub.  While I was in there Hummus came in and pulled himself up on the wall and stood!  So adorable!

I waited until Robert was gone for the day and I drove the kids over to my parents.  My Mom was surprised and said something about weekend plans but I am sure they can figure it out.  Grandparents just love spending time with the littles, right?

I drove home to quickly pack up.

Then I was off to the airport!  Did you know that it can be very expensive to book a last minute flight?  It really can, but so worth it.  My flight was filled with people who obviously don’t know as much about travel as I do, but I was excited to be off to my dream destination, San Jose!

When I arrived I was surprised to discover that there was no car waiting for conference attendees.  We had to find the hotel from the airport on our own.  When I rented a car several lovely ladies who were heading my way volunteered to keep me company in the car. Such fun!

We got to the hotel and I couldn’t believe that there were no rooms available!  What now?  Would I have to fly all the way back across the country?  Luckily one of the gals I had driven over with had a room, but had lost her credit card.  I had a credit card Robert had left in his bureau so walla, we were in.  It turns out that she is sharing the room with a number of her friends so we are sleeping 6 to a bed. Funnnn!

We all wandered down to par-tay, but my friends disappeared.  I was able to enjoy a great sunset on my own!

 

Saturday at the lake.

As you might have guessed, Röbert and I had words last night but I thought we had it all settled until I was trying to sleep in this morning and I heard someone outside in the garden.  It was Merlin, with guns!  I was so shaken!  Röbert acted as if it was fine.  Obviously I had not bought them, Robert brought them back with him from Tulsa and said he thought they would be “fun”.  Well, I let him have it!  I told him that the absolute last thing that boy needs is any more fun!

I took the guns and threw them away and then ran upstairs to weep.  No one understands me! I could tell Röbert felt bad because he suggested we go out to the lake for the day.  So I put on my “country” clothes and a happy face.  As soon as I got there I went for a nice long walk.

When I got back I felt refreshed and renewed!  Röbert had just finished rigging up the sailboat and he and Merlin were off!

Poor Starling had a headache so I gave her and Hummus the tiniest bit of Benadryl and let them take a nap on the lawn.  I took a canoe out by myself to get some much needed me time!

The boys were gone a long time so we headed home a little bit late.  I needed to take a bath and relax after my stressful week so I asked Röbert to make the kids something for dinner.  Knowing him it would be something disgusting so I simply asked him to make something healthy.  My bath was interrupted by the most horrible screaming downstairs and what did I rush down to find?  He had put the baby in a dirty bib and served everyone steamed heads of broccoli!  I nearly started screaming too.  I told them to eat up, as that was dinner and then sent them all upstairs to bed.  What was he thinking?

A Special Weekend!

I don’t know about you, but three day weekends are always a little special chez us! Even when the weather is bad (it wasn’t this weekend!) or the hubby is cranky (he *mostly wasn’t this weekend!) we are all just so filled with the joy of being together as a family that it is always fun, fun and more fun!

 

It started on Friday when baby Hummus and I ran down to wait for the big kids to get off the school bus.  We were so busy trying to get a good selfie that we nearly got run over by the bus.  That bus driver sure was angry.  But Fiddle dee dee is what I say!

 

Starling was so excited to tell us about the class field trip that she had taken to the aquarium!  She is such a smart little girl and had learned all sorts of amazing facts about fish.  Did you know that all species of clams MUST live underwater their WHOLE lives?  Yup!  You could have fooled me!

Meanwhile, Merlin was just a bundle of energy!  He was running around like a crazy man until Starling ended up tripping him by mistake.  Poor Starling was beside herself.  Merlin had a cut on his chin but I sent him up to his room with a wad of toilet paper and comforted Starling.  That’s what you get when you run around like that!

 

 

On Saturday our neighbors all came over for a barbecue!  Röbert was out back manning the grill when I caught this photo of us enjoying ourselves in the living room.  I was so embarrassed that everyone saw my house when it was such a mess, but that is how it goes when you have three young children and are as busy, busy, busy as me!

Röbert was up early the next morning to go fishing with his uncle!  They caught a lot of fish and, perfect hubby that he is, he cleaned them all himself!

The next evening Starling and Merlin caught fireflies out back…

 

While Röbert and I relaxed in the hot tub!

I hope everyone else had as blessed a weekend as we did, with our three lil’ angles!