I said Yes....

It was perfect... 

An overnight stay in a luxury hotel. A concert outdoors in the evening.  An exquisite dinner, and back in our suite a tender, sincere request to grow old with me and to make a family with my kids and I.  He picked out the perfect ring and it's exactly what I would choose for myself if I had every ring to choose from.

I cried...  I asked, "are you sure?"  and then when he was done laughing at me he gave me the sweetest kiss I've ever received.

How could I say no?  I love this amazing man.

Count on Me - for Ethel...

There are no other words... Count on me, cause I count on you...

Happiness, Take II

This weekend will be BLT and my second anniversary. 

Wow - two years and he's still here?  I jokingly asked him if he realized I had FOUR kids... that none of them really belonged to the neighbors even if they did spend half their time over there! He said he was aware... so what can I do? The damn fool, LOL!

I think my oldest, Chef, summed it up well.  Chef and I went for a walk last week and during a semi serious conversation where Chef asked me why I had stayed married to the X for so many years when he wasn't nice to us (wow, was that a hard one to put into words... sometimes I don't know myself.  That was a pretty deep, honest conversation to have with your teenager)  Shortly after that conversation Chef said, "BLT must REALLY love you mom, cause uh.. well we're just a lot."  lol... Chef didn't elaborate on what we (the four kids and I) were a lot of.  I think it's just that we're a lot of everything in general!  LOL... a lot of noise, expense, emotions and work.  We're a lot of energy and on occasion having so many females in one house means we are a lot of drama.  Yep we're "a lot" to be sure.

So here we are... two years after starting our relationship, over seven years as friends.  I can't think of anywhere else I would want to be, or anyone else I would want to be with.  I'm very lucky to have a second chance at happiness.

Girls will be girls

My oldest two girls both wanted to dye their hair.  I've been saying no for quite a while now, but I decided what the heck.

They want to express their individuality a bit...  so here we are.

One with dark cherry red/burgundy color all over and the other with bright fuchsia streaks in her dark hair. I don't love either one, but the girls seem excited about it.

And what the heck... It's only hair.  I did it for them myself so all it cost me was 20 bucks and a couple hours of my time tonight.  We had a few glitches, as I am not a trained hair stylist, but we figured it all out with a little patience and in the end, no harm - no foul.  Now lets see how long it lasts before they want something new. 

I may have started something here, girls can be fickle creatures...  but at least they're happy for now!

Shocking Truths

Several things lately have kind of shocked the crap out of me...

1.  It's so much easier to find people on the internet than one would think.  Find a FB page, or a twitter account, an email or even just have someone's personal information and BAM - I suddenly know more about you than you would like. I'm reading your personal thoughts, I'm finding out where you've been and what you've been doing. Considering my X's penchant for cyber stalking this just gives me the creeps.

2. People will say things on line that they would never say in person.  People will be ruder, more obnoxious, and in general over-share because they have the anonymity of the internet.

3. I should know this... and honestly, I should know better...  But number three is: Liars Lie.  They do it over and over. They do it even when they've been caught in the lie.  It's their "go to" problem solving skill. It's the way they avoid responsibility and accountability.  Don't EVER expect the truth from a liar. 

4. Nothing you own is worth what you think it is.  Not your house, not your car, not your most prized possessions. 

5. I should also know this... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I forget this one often, but damn it's so true.  I like to call this the peopleofwalmart.com theory.  I actually went to ol' Wally World recently and saw this principle in action. 

Anything shock the hell out of you recently?

Zombie Toe

Double post...

I haz zombie toe of death. 

I dropped a log on my big toe (I was wearing flip flops) on Saturday and broke it. 

It is black, blue, and a lovely shade of lavender.

It hurts like hell.

I looks like hell.

I'm not happy.

From the corner of my eye...

From the corner of my eye I saw movement... I looked over my shoulder, and where once stood my little girl a nearly full grown woman looked back at me.

When did that happen?  It's a little distressing to be honest.

She's changed so much in the past two years.  If her father ever earns back the honor of being in her life he's got a huge surprise in store for him.

She isn't a little girl anymore.