Friends...Words of Wisdom

There's a lot you can do to help a friend through hard times. There's also a lot you can do to make things worse.

Malia

Mattel is obviously running out of ideas

Have you seen this? What will Mattel think of next? Are they seriously running out of ideas? I mean, a dog, where you have to clean up it's poop. Blech!

Malia

The Flowers

I have run into my first mishap with planning this whole wedding/renewal shebang. I want these flowers.

My mother doesn't. Guess what, it is not her shin dig. I pained through magazines and books, websites and E-mails trying to figure out what kind of flowers I wanted. My eye kept going back to these and then I had Wade choose his top five from my stack of 100. He chose these as his number one pick also. So, my mother and I met with the potential florist yesterday and I figured out that my mom can really grate on my nerves and she wants this thing more than I do.

We pretty much do not have the same taste in anything. The florist said that the cala lilies are expensive, about $8.75 per flower and that she does not think that she can make silk ones that will match the roses. I explain that we can do more roses than cala's, that is fine with me. Well, my mother chimes in that I can put some white ones in there too and that will help with the cost. Well, that is not what I want. I personally, think that the white will not go well with all this purple and then, boom, white. I just don't like it. That pissed her off, she then began to huff and puff and blow all my excitement down.

Next thing, I was talking about the ribbon that would go around the maids' bouquets and that I would like something sparkly, because, you know, I like things that sparkle. Mom mentioned to the florist that we could get the rhinstones that go in the flowers. The florist stated that these cost about $65 for 25. I said, "Well, we don't need to get them if they are that expensive." Mom says, "If I am spending this much, $65 is not going to matter. Well, hello, I think I would want more than 25. I wouldn't want them just in my bouquet, I would want them throughout. In my opinion, it would look funny to have them only in my bouquet and nowhere else. I don't think it would flow well.

Well, I haven't even looked at cakes yet, I was trying to concentrate on the flowers and get that done first. The cake can come later. Sure I have seen them and said, "Yeah, I like that one, but I never said, "That's the one!" She starts talking to the florist about the flowers on the cake and THE KIND OF CAKE I WANT! I told her, "I haven't decided on a cake yet, I haven't even really looked!" My mom says, "You said you wanted that one in that book, you said that was the one and that was it!" Hello people, NO I DIDN'T!

I mean, come on! This is ridiculous. It is not your event mom, you don't get to make the decisions here!

Oh, and then!...the florist was asking what color I wanted in the mother's corsages, but...she wasn't looking at me and asking me...she was looking at my mother and asking my mother what color she wanted. Uh, exscuse me...don't I get a say in that? Of course my mother wants WHITE ROSES! Hello! There are not going to be white roses ANYWHERE else in that wedding. Nowhere! I chime in and say, "No, the same lavender." My mom argues, "Well, fine, but just so long as you know that you are get to have to get with EVERYBODY (seriously, how many people are going to have mother's corsages) and make sure they color coordinate their clothes with the lavender roses. Really? Is that what everyone does? Do they say, "Oh, I know that my corsage is going to be green, so I can't wear royal blue! I mean, really, whatever! She says, "Well, are you at least okay with baby's breath?" Well, no mother, I am not okay with baby's breath, I want it to look like Barney came in there and bled his purple blood all over the damn place and you know what, YOU ARE GOING TO JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT!!! UGH!

Turns out that the lady is going to cost more than what they originally told us at that lovely Marlow House, so that will be more stress added. My mom is saying that she can do some of the decorations, but people, I am going to have to tell her, fine, but if that is what is going to happen, then you are going to have to go with what I want without getting pissed about it. How in the hell do people handle this crap?

Malia

Another Installment of "Kid's Say the Darndest Things"

Yesterday, while riding back home from having pictures taken by Rachael, Jackson whined, "Mom, my leg is burning." "Hmmm...", I said. Dylan though, he had the answer, in a very serious, diagnostic voice, he wondered aloud, "Well, I hope that it is not because you are turning into an alien." Jackson looked very worried.

Today, while Wade was allowing Jackson to watch some kind of horribly violent movie that I would not have approved of, Jackson shreiked in disgust after some kind of monster ripped the skin from a man's chest and then crushed his skull, (that's right, he won the father of the year award), "Ewww, I saw his belly bones!"

Malia

Smell My Finger

This sweet little girl

.....>yep, that one .....>

the one made of sugar and spice and everything nice....She walked into the office the other day with her finger in front of her face, just walking, then all of a sudden, a puzzled look comes over her face. She looks at her finger, looks at me and says, "Mom..smell my finger." She proceeds to move her finger in the direction of my nose and I, being the obediant mother of the cutest two year old in the world begin to oblige her request while asking, "What's wrong with your finger?" Just as I begin to inhale, she says, "It was in my butt."

Photo courtesy of one awesomely tall and talented, Rachael Thackston.

Malia

Already?

My son...the dramatic one....Dylan...I never thought I would have to deal with this so soon.

There we are...driving home from school and the boys are asking me what we are having for snack. Well, just earlier that week, I had taken it upon myself to put us all on a more healthy lifestyle and I have made out menus for breakfast, lunch, AM snack, PM snack and supper. This shall all go into affect starting Monday...so, don't mess with me...I will be without Coke, sugar and anything good to eat.

Anyways, there we are...on the way home from school and the boys are asking me what they can have for snack. "Can I have Spongebob fruit snacks? Can I have three peices of candy? Can I have a soda?"

Being the new good mom, I say, "No, I am picking your snack today. We are going to start eating healthy. I am putting everyone on a diet."

Dylan says, "A diet!!! That stinks! You don't get to eat good food on a diet! (This should all be said with a high-pitched whine)

Me, "Dylan it is good for you."

Dylan, "Ugh, You can't put me on a diet!!! IT'S MY LIFE!!!"


Malia

A Renewal

Some of you know about my "not wedding" situation and some of you don't. Basically, I didn't ever get to have a wedding. If you want me to explain in more detail, let me know, and I will go into the whole speil.

For my nine year anniversary, my mother and stepfather gave me a wedding magazine. With a lot of skeptism, I went along on the ride. Well, now the down payment on the venue has been placed, so it must really be happening.

I invite you all to check out our wedding website, even though it is a renewal, at Maliaandwade.weddings.com. Sign our guestbook.

We will be having the ceremony at The Marlow House, which is a beautiful Victorian era house, built in 1887. I want this ceremony to be as close to traditional as possible, even though this wedding, is as far from traditional as I can imagine. I am leaning towards a Victorian theme even. I am so excited.

I haven't picked out the first stitch of anything, not color, though I am leaning towards a purple, not a bridesmaid, not flower, just the place, that's it. I have a lot of planning to do before May 26, 2007. The main thing is the dress. I have the dress. The dress that I never got to wear. The only thing surprisingly that doesn't fit in it, is the top. I have to get to work on that, but I am just too damn tired to hit the gym when I get off of work. The rest of the time I have Emma. I really want to be able to wear that dress. The photos are equally important to me, as a matter of fact, probably the most important to me. The place is beautiful, my children are going to be gorgeous and my husband is going to be handsome and I want every moment captured on film, so that I can relive it time and time again. Lord knows I have waited long enough. I haven't made the guest list. Oh, we do have a caterer! Woo hoo. Only because it was included with the house. Anyways, I encourage you all to visit the websites and give me any ideas you may have. I promise to keep you updated as soon as any details come in.

Malia

Day One

Another first day of school for us, one in Kindergarten, one in second grade. This was not only a new school year, but a new school, so we were all a bit nervous. We had met the teachers at open house, which I think I told you about, so they seemed pretty nice.

Well, of course, you can't go to school in the morning and not be running late, right? I mean, you all do that, right? Right? Well, mom and I had been up until after 2 a.m. Sunday night, because she was making gorilla bread, which, according to Paula Dean, kicks monkey bread's butt, and we agree...I was watching my Tivo'ed So You Think You Can Dance...I mean helping her make it. So we had a good reason to be running late, like dad didn't have the boys take showers the night before while mom was working, so mom had to take care of that, unknowingly this morning.

We had our gorilla bread, still warm from the night before...on the go. We pulled up to the school with five minutes to spare, which kind of sucked because it was like, "Here is your class, honey, remember that nice lady you spent five minutes with the other day? Good. You're cool, right? Okay, see ya later then." Turn around and leave. Kind of made me feel bad, but I wouldn't want them being singled out as the late kids the first day of school.

They seemed to have liked it. After I waited in line to pick them up for 35 minutes, that's right, hope they have that fixed by tomorrow, I pull up and see Jackson working the ladies and Dylan looking worried. Once in the safety of my car, they both expressed that they had good days, but Dylan thought being a car rider was "hard" because he didn't know where to go. Poor guy. Always worrying. Jackson said something about the three girls he made friends with. They compared notes about the playground, rattled off what they had for lunch and somewhere in there, I think they both mentioned that they had fun. This relieved me. This relieved their father, who was a military brat and has poor memories of having to change schools about the same time in life.

Tomorrow, I unfortunately have a meeting to go to, which will not allow me to drop off or pick up my children from school. Hopefully, my mother will be able to fill my shoes and adequately corral them to their classes. Dylan offered to walk Jackson down. He is so sweet. I am excited and think it will be a great school year. Hope all of yours was equally good today.

Ask me again when they get their first sad face or F and I will tell you how the school system is failing them.

While I am bragging about the boys, take a look at how big this girl is getting....


Malia

Potty Training again...

We are trying it again...this time with a little more success. She has gone peepee in the potty several times, but no poop. She went all day while we were running errands, she did wet in her pullups and make the princess hearts go away at all. As soon as she goes all the time in the potty, we can have a pee party and yes, you are all invited.

We had Open House last night and the boys got to meet the teachers at their new school. They seemed very nice, but I was a little concerned when Dylan's teacher said, "We haven't yet decided which reading program we are going to use....no, we are not going to use Saxon math anymore, we haven't decided how we are going to do the math yet." Hello people, school starts Monday! Shouldn't you know how and what you are going to teach the children? I mean I don't have a degree or anything, so I could be totally wrong on that one.

Speaking of degrees, I have decided that as soon as my co-worker and friend, Devin, finishes school, which should be in May, I am going to start back and try to go to West Georgia and get my teaching degree. I am excited and I plan to get it done so that I can have a freakin' career and I can quit worrying about the money.

Now, another school-related note, I keep hearing complaints about the kids clothes being so hard to find to go with dress code. Some examples were buying jeans without holes above the waist and that they were so hard to find. People, Levi's, which I believe are still cool, are available at any Target, department store and even Wal-mrat now. Then I have heard complaints about not being able to find loosefitting shirts for the girls. Puhlease!!! Either get a larger size if you feel like you can't find that style or hey, there are plenty of styles of shirts that are loose fitting! She will live if it doesn't say GAP! Oh and they can't find shorts that aren't too short for the dress code. So...if you seriously can't find shorts long enough...put them in capris. Thanks, that will be $100.00.

More later...maybe.

Malia

Crap!!!!

(The F word is going to be used just a little in this post....sorry ahead of time.)

You are not going to believe this. I actually started this post prepared to tell you that my car was broken...AGAIN. We had just spent $1360.00 on the car to have a head gasket replaced for the SECOND time in a two years. I then had to take it back because after they had torn it to peices and rebuilt it, it was idling funny. They decided it needed a new battery. I went and spent another $53.99 on a battery, but that didn't fix the problem, so I took it back a third time. They then told me that I needed to let it run at the same speed for at least 10 miles and this would reset the battery and also that I needed to add some fuel injection stuff. Did that. It runs better, but not like before. So, Sunday, after church, we headed to Super' Target' to buy some prayer journals. About the time we reached our destination, the car started running hot again. Now, when I first took it to them, I asked them to figure out what was making the car run hot and causing the head gasket to blow. I am thinking now that obviously they did not do their job. So yesterday, I took it across the street to the grocery store and it started running hot again, so I took it straight to the shop, left it running and took Emma and I inside and explained the situation. He said that they would look at it immediately. A few minutes later he comes out and tells me the head gasket may be blown again and that I should not have run it hot. Basically, he was getting onto me for something I didn't feel I had done. When it ran hot, not in the red, just hotter than normal, we took it straight home and I did not drive it again. He basically continued to blame me until he made me cry. I went outside and called my stepfather who knows cars better than I and about that time Wade showed up. A much nicer man then came out and explained the situation to us. He explained that the water pump was now leaking, which was a direct result of running the vehicle hot. I got a little bit hot myself then and told him again that I DID NOT run the damn car hot. He begins to explain that when it ran hot the first time, the damage was done because it can weaken the bolts, belts, blah, blah, blah, blah. My thinking is that if you know that it can happen, why didn't they check them to see if they had been weakened. Anyways, I was probably their worst nightmare, a blubbering girl who was in hysterics with her daughter who wouldn't shut up! So, my stepdad said, "Yeah, their right, it is probably the water pump!" The mechanic did tell me that the head gasket was not blown, they didn't think." Well, halleluah for freakin' small miracles!!!

So, that is what I was planning to blog to you about, but Wade just called and tells me that I am going to hear some news that I am not going to like. I am thinking, "What? Did someone die?" No, guess who's FUCKING water pump has gone out in his car?! UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE!!! I have no fucking money for this shit. So here I am, blubbering like an idiot again with my mom telling me that this is just life and it will all be okay! YEAH, WELL FUCK YOU!

Belated July 4th

Fourth of July was uneventful with the clan. The boys were not even with me and I had to work. The boys spent the night with my friend Devin and her son and they shot off their own fireworks. So, when I got home, Emma, Wade and I shot off a few so that it would feel somewhat like the Fourth to me. I actually did all the shooting and I had never done that before. Fun! Happy Belated Birthday America!

Get Dunked...

At work, I was coordinating a fund raiser for The Children's Miracle Network. For the final day, we rented a dunk tank, but I had it for the whole weekend. So, I towed it on home and me and the fam had some fun.....

No He Didn't....

See this man? I know, it is not a good picture, but I didn't want him to know that I was taking his picture, you know, like I was making fun of him on my blog. Let me set this up...Wade and I are sitting at the QT. We are sitting there discussing what he is going to get me to drink and we see this strange man walking up the sidewalk. Now, there is a QT employee and his girlfriend standing on the sidewalk talking while he is washing it off. We both noticed the man. We look him up and down. He has on a white page boy hat, a red 70s style western shirt with white detail and then....then, as you move on down, he has on short, like to the bottom of his booty cheek, chrocheted pink, orange and yellow shorts....that's right, crocheted. shorts. Not only that...but, you could see his wad. HIS WAD! As if that wasn't bad enough, yes, there is more, you move on down his body and he has matching crocheted socks with black sandals on. People...it was over 90 degrees that day. Now, around his crocheted shorts, and I believe you can see the two liter bottle in the picture above, he has a tool belt. The tool belt holds various items, a two liter soda, some pens, some tape, etc. I have now seen everything! The QT employee and I look up at each other and he shakes his head as I laugh. We wait for the man to come back out of the store, just so that I can take his picture to show you.

We have quite a few characters in our small town, there is Ms. Jessie, the crazy black lady in Hiram with her buggy, tamborine and stick. She likes to point and preach/cuss/yell at you as you drive by. I fear for her life. There is the Danicing Man seen in Dallas and Hiram with his IPOD on, always dancing and I mean getting it! There is Preacher Man, he comes into Kroger at least three nights a week always preaching about Jesus and how Kroger is going to Hell. I guess he is spreading the word and that is all that matters. Now we have The Walking Man, he in his crocheted shorts, whom I have now also seen in my store, wearing the same ensemble. He is seen in Dallas. People, don't drink the water here.

Malia

A Day at the Park

I joined Wade and the children at the park, usually Wade takes them while I am at work, so they showed me the ropes. We had initially gone to the Park of Dreams where Dylan proceeded to pitch a fit about sliding down the pole. See...he is not one to take risks. He is very level-headed and just takes things in stride and walks a straight line. So, it just is not logical to him to throw yourself onto a pole and plunge to the ground. Meanwhile Jackson takes a running jump onto the pole and plummets to the earth. I spent about five minutes with Dylan trying to force him down the pole. I gave up, but was determined that he was not going to. So then, Wade took over. I heard a lot of arguing, a lot of screaming (from Dylan) and a lot of yelling (from Wade). Finally, he went down the pole. Then there was a lot of "you did goods", "we're proud of yous" and such and such and so on....

Then....they all circle around me and want to show me a new park. "Okay", ...So, we begin to walk, and walk and walk and walk. My cute sandals were rubbing blisters on my big toe and I was starting to get dizzy. Finally, we come to a teeny, tiny little contraption of a park and the children start running everywhere saying, "Look mom, here it is!" "This is it, huh?" Wade then begins to make fun of all of my complaining. It was a lot of fun though. They got to see me run, which they find funny. We played hide and seek, freeze tag and Wade and Emma played "Catch me daddy". That's the one where he chases her and she acts all scared. I was glad I got to go and that they invited me.

The Gifts

Jackson had asked for Floam about six months ago when it first came out. (Gasp! I just realized I don't have a picture of the birthday boy on his birthday! For shame!) Anyways, this is what we got him, which was a shock to my mother. Emma has already discovered the Floam...and so has dad....

Two days in a row

I am off of work. I love having two days or more off in a row. It seems like I can get so much more accomplished. I wind up at the store anyway though. I should just move in there.


Malia

The Shadow Family

Malia

I Finished the Cake...

It took three weeks, but I finished it.


JUST KIDDING

I finished it two days after his birthday and I learned a very valuable lesson. Read all of the directions before you start a recipe. I had to make a run to the store a total of three times in the middle of making the cake. I had to stop several times because many steps included refrigerating a portion of the cake for several hours. Hello...the child got his cake TWO days after his birthday...TWO DAYS. So, without further ado...here is the cake.

So They Say It's Your Birthday...nah,nah,nah, nah, nah..

We celebrated Jackson's birthday and today, it was my turn. I had some surprising birthday wishes from people I didn't think would remember, including my brother, (shoot, I forgot to get his picture!) I figured it would pretty much be just another day since I had to work and since my birthday is kind of overshadowed now that Jackson's is right before mine, but I had some very special friends who made it a birthday to remember, from serenades over the intercom at work (several actually), to pizza, cookie cakes, gifts and surprise visits. Thanks to all who made it a special one. Love ya.


First, I ran some errands and then I had lunch with my friend Devin, my children and her son Braedyn. We ate some wonderful mexican food with lots of cheese dip, salsa and chips.

Being that it is now 1:53 a.m., I am going to put this day to bed. I will post more birthday pictures tomorrow, promising it will flow better, but for now, I have a headache. Hope you all had an equally wonderful day.

Malia

HNT 5