Housekeeping. You want me fluff pillow?

I'm doing some housekeeping/catching up today...here we go.

The lovely Sara at Everyday Life with the Nevilles tagged me...

1) Would you ever skydive?
Yes, but I'd probably tinkle in my pants a little.

2) Do you prefer baths or showers?
Showers. I like the theory of baths, but then I start thinking about sitting there in your own filth-water and the constant fight to keep the water warm. Then it just seems like too much work.

3) What is the best vacation you've ever been on?
My honeymoon. It was the best week of my life. I've had some really fun, fantastic ones since...but that's the tops.

4) How do you and your hubby (or boyfriend) celebrate anniversaries?
We celebrated our 4th anniversary by getting married. Our standards have dropped off considerably since then. :) Now it's usually a card and extra kisses.

5) Have you ever had sex in a public place? If yes, where?
I have family that read this so I'll say no, in fact I've NEVER had sex. I have proof...my baby is adopted! See?! Completely asexual!

6) If you could be one person for a day, who would it be?
Maybe Oprah. I'd like to see what it's like to know so many famous people and have more money than I know what to do with. Or better yet, Stephenie Meyer...a published author with more money than I know what to do with. That way I get the cash without people knowing that much about me.

7) What is your favorite color and why?
I don't really have one. My clothes fall into the black, gray, blue, green category. Though I have lots of purple things, including (at my desk right now) my ruler, post-its, stapler, pencil and cell cover. Hmmm...maybe purple?

8) Is there anything that really scares you?
Not being able to move past this point in my life. As many things currently that are wonderful (Pie namely, and you awesome dudes) we're struggling to make ends meet. Like just about everybody, the recession has kicked our butts and the stress is no fun. And the added stress of really wanting a different career doesn't help. It's terrifying to think that having to fight this hard to stay above water will last too much longer.

Sara should have asked me how cute I think her Hudson is. The answer is VERY. And now for my 8 questions.

1) Do you have any tattoos? What/where?
2) Where were you born?
3) What was the first drink you had legally after turning 21?
4) Which side of bed do you sleep on (if you were standing at the foot of the bed)?
5) What is your favorite curse word?
6) What is your favorite band from the 80s? Bonus points if it's a hair metal band.
7) Do you believe in ghosts/ufo/the supernatural?
8) Who holds the #1 spot on your freebie list? You know what list I mean {wink, wink}

Now I have to tag 8 more bloggy wonders to participate in this activity...

***AND***

My bloggy friend Cris at JUS KEEP SMILING passed this award onto me. Thanks mama! If you don't know Cris, take a second and check her out!
The Rules:
• Thank the blogger who awarded it to you.
Check, But I'll say it again...thanks Cris!!

• Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words.
Processing my life in words

• Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance.
I'm going to cheat on this one...see below

I'm tagging and passing the award onto the same spectacular 8 ladies. Woo hoo! Double activities...how's that for multi-tasking?! And the ladies are:

Mrs Gloves at A Grande Life
Heather at In The Land Of Crazy
Kristi at Live and Love...Out Loud
Tiffany at Mom-Nom.Com
Michelle at Momma's Pixie Dreams
Nikki at My Fantabulous Wonderful Life
Brandi at My Three Bubs
Emily at Wife, Check. Mom, Check. Now What?

***ONE MORE***

I think I may have missed following back some of my new friends, if I have let me know in the comments and I'll remedy that today!

Monday Minute

Who was your high school Sweet Heart?
No high school sweetheart, I was too cool for serious dating then. Heh. But I married my college sweetheart.

What is your favorite vegetable to eat?
Hmmm, since I'm a vegetarien this one is hard, but I'd have to say roasted or grilled broccoli

Do you plan on dressing up for Halloween, if yes, what do you have in mind?
No dressing up for me. Pie is still too littel to go out, so we'll be manning the door. I am looking for her costume though...

Are you a reality show junkie? If so, what is your guilty pleasure?
Sadly yes. I have a bit of a problem. Currently my favorites are Teen Mom, Top Chef and Project Runway.

What year did you graduate high school?
Oh god...this is going to make me feel old. It was 1995.

Woody's Roundup, but with fewer cowboys

1. The Red Dress Club strikes again...

This week's prompt for Red Writing Hood is based on dramatic entrance, courtesy of Webook. Write a short story based on this prompt:An art opening at a lavish downtown gallery. A car crashes through the plate glass window. The driver's door opens, and an eight-year-old girl steps out.We're looking forward to seeing how everyone handles the same exact opening!

Okay...so here's the result.

An art opening at a lavish downtown gallery. A car crashes through the plate glass window. The driver's door opens, and an eight-year-old girl steps out.

She crushes out her cigarette with a custom made Louboutin flat and says, through a final exhale of smoke, “Doesn’t this place have valet parking? I can never get these stupid things in a space.”

Starr E. Dreams has certainly never failed to make an entrance, and tonight was no different. She is Drew Barrymore the 2010 Edition, but no one expects her to turn out as well as Drew. She’s a wild child with an absentee father and a fame-whore mother. She had no chance.

Despite people’s skepticism, Starr E. Dreams is her real name. None of that Demetria Guynes turned Demi Moore business for her. And to make sure no one ever forgot it; acquaintances, co-workers; even friends and family were contractually obligated to call her one of three things. Acceptable names were Starr, Starr E. or Starr E. Dreams. No other iteration would be tolerated, and you can bet her mother would have you in court for breach of contract if you tried.

Her mother, one Roberta Nelson, had tried desperately to be an actress. She gave up 10 years of her life to waitressing and casting calls. The closest she came to a big break was the time she was almost an extra on CSI. She showed up for an open call and they took the first 100 people. Guess who number 101 was.

Roberta decided after “selflessly giving up her own flourishing career for motherhood”, as she was often quoted saying in interviews that if she couldn’t make it one of her kids would. So when her baby girl was born the dream began again. She was determined to have this baby not only succeed in the business, but exceed those who came before. Roberta was determined for Starr to beat Tatum O’Neal’s Oscar win at 10. She only had a year and a half left to make it happen.

Starr had certainly been working hard since her debut in a creative reimagining of Peter Pan. She played Wendy, a little girl with Dissociative Identity Disorder whose primary other personality was a little boy named Peter who never grew up. She also had to contend with her personality, Tinkerbelle, a transvestite hooker with a heart of gold. It was gritty stuff. Surprisingly it was not well received.

She followed that star-turn with a creative reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. She played Dorothy, a little girl with Dissociative Identity Disorder whose primary other personalities were a scarecrow, a tin man, a lion and a wizard. This film didn’t do that well either.

Her mother was certain the next film would be the winner they were looking for though. Starr was all set to do a creative reimagining of The Breakfast Club. She would play Claire, a little girl with Dissociative Identity Disorder whose primary other personalities were a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Roberta felt certain this would draw in Starr’s fans as well as their parents, who were hopefully fans of the original movie.

Starr looked around at the storm she had created. There were flashbulb lightening bolts and thunderous shouted questions. She froze for a second and then said the first thing that came into her mind, “seriously people…can someone clean this shit up and get me a martini?”

2. The lovely Sara (who spells her name correctly) at Everyday Life with the Nevilles tagged me. I seriously need a few days to think of some more questions to pass on so I'll be doing this one on Monday! I feel certain some weekend margaritas will help.

3. And to start your weekend off right...a happy girl...
Have a great weekend one and all!

I do, in fact, kick ass...

So it turns out that I'm awesome. Kidding, kidding! But silly Alltop has decided that I'm cool enough to be included on their site! Suckas!

You can find links to my site (and lots of other great ones) here.

I'm feeling very dorky and proud about this...

*****

And just so Salt doesn't miss her 'daily adorable baby dose'...

Wordless Wednesday {Profile}

Oh happy day

It is Husband's birthday today. I though long and hard about what to get him and...SURPRISE...this is it! His very own blog post!! I know some of you are wondering how I can afford to be so extravagant...but it's worth every penny for the one I love. I hope he loves his present (because it's all he's getting).

So to my sweet Husband...thank you for being my best friend, my favorite husband (heh) and an amazing father. Oh how I love you. Happy birthday Pants.

A minute or two...

*Favorite 80s flick?
Anything with the brat pack...of My Chauffeur (anyone who knows this movie is my new best friend)

*One genre of music needs to be banned.
I'm not a fan of rap or country, but there is occasionally a song or two that I'll like

*All time favorite candy?
I don't think I could pick, hence my giant bumper :)

*How 'flawed' is your driving record?
I've gotten three tickets since I started driving. That's it, so pretty good.

*What was high school mascot?
Hornets

*What color socks are you wearing?
None. I'm not a big sock wearer.

*****

Today's the last day for Husband's game collection auction. If you're interested go here.

100d - {Wrap up}

1. So I'm wrapping up the week of the 100th post. If you want a recap you can:

• Learn a bunch of random stuff about me here
• See pictures of Pie here, and
• Read our adoption story here.

If I missed anyone's suggestions or you want to see something else, just let me know! Alright...on with the show...

2. Blog Hop Friday, New Friend Friday and Friendly Friday Follow...


Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!

New Friend Fridays is hosted by The Girl Creative and Trendy Treehouse.

Friendly Friday Follow is hosted by Toddler Awesome.

3. The wonderfully sweet Kayla at and Potato makes Three! passed this award onto me. Oh how I want to snuggle her Potato!!

I'm passing this one onto:
Chelsey - The Paper Mama at ♥ the paper mama (gorgeous pics, gorgeous baby)
Tiffany at Mom-Nom.Com (redoing her life and taking us with her)
Erin Wallace at Dropped Stitches (simply beautiful August break)
Sara at Everyday Life with the Nevilles (It doesn't hurt that we have the same name, but her Hudson is cute, cute, cute!)

4.This one is for gamers and wives/girlfriends/friends of gamers. Husband is selling his video game collection (an impressive one at that) to raise money for us to start an at home business. If you're interested take a look at the eBay listing...please and thank you :)


5. Hey...you...yeah I'm talking to you...what up? Hope you all have a great weekend!

100c - {Decision to adopt}

Alright, so this one may be a long one...you've been warned.

When I was little I never dreamt about what I would be when I grew up or what my wedding would be like. I dreamt only of being a mom. I wanted lots of babies, and I wanted to stay home and take care of them. I never even figured a husband into the equation, it was all about the babies.

Fast forward and I eventually figure out a vocation might be a good idea. Though I still had babies in the forefront of my mind. So I decided on teaching. That why I could be home with the babies until they went to school, and then once they did I would have the same schedule.
Somewhere in there I met Husband. After our first date he went home and told his mom he was going to marry me. He told me the next day. I thought he was crazy...turns out he was right. By about our second week together we had our children's names picked out. Thankfully he wanted a big family as much as I did.

Fast forward again and we're getting married. We want a honeymoon baby. We did not get one. Nor did we get a baby in the following 8 years. During that time I had several doctors tell me my girl parts are broken. I apparently only have one ovary and have PCOS to boot. Good times. So the end result of the broken bits, is that without some pretty serious medical intervention there would be no baby for me. Talk about a kick to said broken bits.

As we began discussing our options, adoption came up over and over again. It was something we had discussed even before we knew about the issues because my brother's children are adopted. Watching his family grow when it might not have otherwise, was beautiful.

We looked internationally and found that we either didn't meet the country's requirements or couldn't come up with the country fees. We looked at agencies to help us, but again came to money issues. We then turned to the foster care system. People kept telling us it was the back door to adoption. It wasn't.

After that we went to hospitals, attorneys, friends, friends of friends. You name it, we did it. And when all of that didn't work, we gave up. For a really long time we didn't talk about babies. I thought about it constantly and more often than I'd like to admit, cried myself dry over it. But mostly we worked really hard at being okay with never having kids, with it just being the two of us. Wow...I just got all teary-eyed thinking about that again.

Then out of the blue, Husband goes into a restaurant to pick up some dinner and runs into an acquaintance, we'll call him D. He happens to comment that D appears stressed. D says I am, my girlfriend is pregnant (Husband is the first and only person he tells about the pregnancy). D then jokingly says, "You want a baby?" Husband says, "Yes actually, we do." At this point we had been involved in the adoption scene for about 3 years.

So Husband comes home, tells me this crazy story and says I'm sure we'll never hear from them about it again. We were wrong. We got a text just after midnight that night saying D had talked to his girlfriend and they wanted to talk to us about adoption. They came over a few days later and we talked for hours. The following Monday we were at the attorney. Then 7 weeks to the day that Husband ran into D, our sweet Pie was born. I was in the delivery room, I cut the cord.

I knew I would love an adopted child as if he or she were my own, but I had no idea what the depth of that love would be like. Pie has changed my life, changed me. I don't take a breath that isn't somehow lacking if it's not full of her scent. I don't have a thought that doesn't somehow circle back to her. She is amazing and complicated and the greatest person I've ever met. I am honored to be her mom.

PS - If you want to read the details of Husband and I meeting go here. If you want to read Pie's detailed birth story go here for part 1 and here for part 2.

100b - {Pie pictures}

Picture of the little love...the black and white are from last week.

...and here's Pie from start through last week. Oh how she's grown...

100th post - {Woo Hoo}

Today is my 100th post. Who'd have guessed I would have that much to say?! I asked a week or so ago what you guys might want to see and got some great answers. I'm going to try and get them all in this week...it's the week of 100! So to start are some random facts about me. I was looking for something cool with 100 questions, but even I don't care that much about myself, so 50 it is:

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?

Same place I am now. Sitting at my desk at work.

2. Who are you in love with?

Easy one...Husband and Pie

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?

Yes. I used to work in daycare. Things happen.

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

Yes. Post-its and a Sculpey space ship I made.

5. When is the last time you went to the mall?

In April to get Pie's Easter Bunny picture. 6. Are you wearing socks right now?

Nope. Flip flops baby!

7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?

I'm not sure anymore...hang on...KBB says it's worth about $9,000

8. When was the last time you drove out of town?

In July. Went to Topsail Beach, NC from Atlanta.

9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?

HAHAHA...no.

10. Are you hot?

Without question...I kid, I kid

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?

water

12. What are you wearing right now?

Does this question come with heavy breathing? I'm wearing a black jersey dress from Old Navy, with a white tank under it so as not to display the goods at work and a green short sleeve cardi.

13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?

Car wash...working at the car wash wash

14. Last food that you ate?

A Fig Newton...yum

15. Where were you last week at this time?

Predictably I was in the same place. At my desk at work.

16. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?

For me? No. I bought Pie some pjs last night.

17. When is the last time you ran?

Intentionally? Oh oh...across the parking lot last night.

18. What's the last sporting event you watched?

I inadvertently saw some golf a few weeks ago.

19. What is your favorite animal?

Penguins. They were a theme at our wedding. I'll have to show you the awesome, custom invite sometime. 20. Your dream vacation?

Any where with white sand, blue water and free booze

21. Last person's house you were in?

My own. If that doesn't count I was at the rent's house yesterday.

22. Worst injury you've ever had?

Car wreck that I had to be Jaws of Life-ed out of. Doctors thought my neck was broken, they couldn't find one of my vertebrae in the x-rays.

23. Have you been in love?

Absolutely...madly

24. Do you miss anyone right now?

Absolutely...madly. Husband and Pie. I hate being away from them.

25. Last play you saw?

I can't think of one. I used to see them all the time in high school and college. Husband is not a big play person. Though my niece is in them all the time. If I can ever figure out a babysitter I'd love to see one with her in it.

26. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?

I've been with Husband so long, I couldn't even tell you anymore. All my lures are long gone!

27. What are your plans for tonight?

Snuggle Pie until she goes to sleep, fold some laundry, go to sleep myself. Whoa...I am exciting.

28. Who is the last person you sent a MySpace message or comment?

Never had MySpace.

29. Next trip you are going to take?

Probably the family vacation to the beach next year.

30. Ever go to camp?

Day camp and sleep away. I loved and hated both. I had my first "real" boyfriend at sleep away camp. He let me wear his Swatch...yeah...it was serious.

31. Were you an honor roll student in school?

Yup. I'm a nerd.

32. What do you want to know about the future?

Do I have any more children...do I ever have a job I love...do I ever publish anything? I'm sure there are more, but those are big ones...

33. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?

Nope. Not much of a perfume person. Though I do sometimes use the body sprays from Bath and Body Works...little bit of smell that wears off. The Wild Honeysuckle is my favorite.

34. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?

I have to go for a check-up next Tuesday.

35. Where is your best friend?

At home with Pie

36. How is your best friend?

Anxious for me to come home. And tired...we're so tired. Damn teething!

37. Do you have a tan?

Never. I'm ghost pale. I have two colors...see-through and lobster red. Though I did get a spray on tan for my sister's wedding. I looked ridiculous.

38. What are you listening to right now?

Pandora Radio (which I love) my Ray LaMontagne station.

39. Do you collect anything?

Pounds on my ass? Other than that, no.

40. Who is the biggest gossiper you know?

My company's receptionist. If you want the world to know something, tell her.

41. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?

Hmmm...it's been awhile. The last thing was a ticket for running a red light. I argued, but no go.

42. Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?

Yes, it's fizzier that way. But I don't drink soda anymore.

43. What does your last text message say?

"K. I'll grab her on my way home" Pie is going to hang out with my sister this afternoon. So I was telling Husband that I'd pick her up when I leave work.

44. Do you like hot sauce?

Sometimes. I'm not really a spicy foods person, but every once in awhile it's good.

45. Last time you took a shower?

This morning

46. Do you need to do laundry?

Yes...she answers with much dread

47. What is your heritage?

Irish/English

48. Are you someone's best friend?

Yes. Husband's

49. Are you rich?

Not even close

50. What were you doing at 12AM last night?

Trying to get Pie to go back to sleep. Damn teething!

And if you just can't get enough of the random crap about me you can read more here, here, here, here, here, and for my all embarrassment edition here.

Random questions...

I'm beat from the weekend, so today I'm going to steal a post from James Lipton...

What is your favorite word?
hopeful (I'm sure that will change to mama once it gets said)

What is your least favorite word?
moist (seriously...what a gross word)

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
possibilities (also long walks on the beach, nice people and puppies)

What turns you off?
close minded people (also hairy backs, liars and mean people)

What is your favorite curse word?
it changes constantly, but at the moment it's a pretty tame 'balls'

What sound or noise do you love?
just about any noise Pie makes, especially her little, old man laugh

What sound or noise do you hate?
the alarm clock, good god I hate that noise

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
anything creative, especially author or artist

What profession would you not like to do?
anything to do with crime scenes, I find them fascinating but only in theory

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
well done, want to give it another go?

Made it through another one...

1. Friday Follow, Blog Hop Friday and New Friend Friday...

This week Friday Follow is hosted by someone. The FF is being funky so I'll try to update this in the morning.

Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!

New Friend Fridays is hosted by The Girl Creative and Trendy Treehouse.

2. Still scary...

The assignment: Craft a piece of short fiction featuring the dialogue between two people arguing. Focus more on the spoken language and less on setting details. Think "Hills Like White Elephants" by Hemingway.

The result:
"I need you." It came out as a whisper. Like even my body knew it was a betrayal.

"Yep. Ineedyoutoo." A dismissal. A rush of words designed to shut me up. It is his favorite trick. Simply repeat the last thing he heard me say and, oh look at that, what a great conversation we're having.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yep. I heard you."

"Well, do you..."

"Look there's only 5 minutes left of the game. Can't we talk about this after it's over?" He's annoyed. I shouldn't have started this now. But his distance, his lack of concern, has flipped the switch and now I'm pissed.

"After the game there will be another 4 hours of the next game, then 2 hours of highlights, and another hour of random channel surfing. This is important! You can't just SAY you hear me...you have to actually listen!"

"Give me a break! Don't start your - I have a psych degree that was a total waste of money so I'm going to force my 'knowledge' on you and have some deep conversation about hearing versus listening - crap. It's all the same." His sing-song mocking does it. I actually see red. I want to cause him physical harm...my eyes unconsciously drift below his belt.

"Oh so now you're pissed and you're just going to walk away,' he yells, "that's really mature. Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Away from you." I say, already across the room with keys in hand.

"Really? I thought you 'needed' me."

I am stunned. I am frozen in my place. I knew he could be an ass, I knew he could be thoughtless, but cruel? Never. At least not until now. The keys leave my hand as if they have a mind of their own. Headed directly for his unguarded man bits.

3. And last but not least...reading is yummy! Have a great weekend and if you're in this part of the world stay dry!

Two parter

I won! I won! I won! I actually won something! And that something is some BEAUTIFUL earrings from the crazy talented Kristen at 3 Little Birds boutique. Just check out the adorable packaging...

...and the amazing earrings! They are perfect. Very simple and could easily be for something dressy or totally casual. I love stuff like that!

Take a minute to go check out Kristen's blog and follow, because you can get all kinds of tips about sales and giveaways and you can see her adorable Kailey. Then go check out her shop that is full of so many wonderful goodies that it's hard to decide what you want. (The answer is EVERYTHING!)

*****

Kim at Chubby Cheeks Thinks thought of me when she was passing out awards. Can you believe it? Yeah...me either! This is another case where I'll tell you to go check someone out and I promise you won't be disappointed. Let me do a quick run down for you...Kim has:

1. amazing giveaways - check
2. a hunky tattooed husband - check
3. gorgeously gorgeous babies - check
4. sweetness to spare - check

Go now! I'll wait to do the rest of the requirements...you back? Good. So now I have to tell you 7 things about myself. These are getting hard to do...you guys already know so much! But here goes:

1. I'm a vegetarian. No red meat, poultry, seafood, pork (meat of any kind) or products that include any of those things (like stocks). And I have been since I was 11.
2. It's a mild pet peeve of mine when people call themselves vegetarians, but still eat seafood or poultry or pork. That's not a vegetarian. That's someone who doesn't eat red meat.
3. I can flip my tongue over but only to the left.
4. I've had the same nightmare since I was a little kid. It's me taking care of some kids and we're hiding in an attic with parts of the roof missing and bats flying over head. I'm trying to keep them quite and we're all terribly afraid but I'm not sure of what. I have it every couple of months and every time I wake up freaked out.
5. I pop my knuckles and neck constantly. If I could afford to have a chiropractor follow me around, I'd be in heaven.
6. I'm very, very, VERY claustrophobic. To the point that if Husband has his arm around me at night and it feels like I can't move I start to freak out.
7. I have two tattoos (that link and look like one). The first of which my mom came with me and lied about my age so I could get it. I'm currently trying to decide on my next one. I want to get some Pie related tattoo. I'm thinking a carnation since it's her birthflower. I just can't decide where to put it. I also will eventually get an oak tree on my hip...that's a story for another time.

And now for the passing on. I'm passing all three of these to each of the following lovely ladies...

Dawn at The Girl Creative
Lara at Momma Drama
Kayla at and Potato Makes Three!
Cris at GOODEness Gracious
Brittany at Unexpected Surprises
Jessica at Mommy's Sippy Cup
Mrs Gloves at A Grande Life
Alisha at Dell.icious
Jayme at The Random Blogette
Taylor at mitchell, party of 3.

Congrats ladies!!

Wordless Wednesday {Close}