Wordless Wednesday {Daddy is Hilarious}

* Thank you all for your sweet anniversary wishes yesterday!
** NAME! THAT! ROLL! Round 4 will be up tomorrow. Probably around 8ish. Make sure you come and guess!!

Lucky Number 13

Today is my anniversary. A dual anniversary to be exact. My dearest husband and I have been together for 13 years, and have been married for 9 of those. Because I am the greatest girlfriend ever, I chose to get married on our dating anniversary. Only one date to remember!


It was a long 13 years ago that I sat in the corner of my closet on the phone with him and decided that we would be together. Officially. It was only two weeks later that he said "I love you." It just popped out at the end of a phone call and I could tell he totally hadn't meant to say it out loud. At that point though, he had already decided to marry me and had even told his mother that he was going to (the night of our first date) so he had been thinking it the whole time. A short two and a half months after that we moved in together. Yea...livin in sin!


And then there was lots of in school, out of school, job changes, apartment changes, city changes, but never he and I changes. No matter what else was going on, we were rock solid. And a month after our 3 year anniversary, at Thanksgiving dinner with my family, he proposed (I'll do that whole story at Thanksgiving). 11 months later, 9 years ago today, we got married. The wedding was a comedy of errors that you can read about in my guest post here...it involves safety goggles...seriously.


I can't say it's been an easy 9 years. That would be a complete lie. We've dealt with every end of the spectrum; deaths and births, unemployment and deep pockets, infertility and the greatest gift in the entire world. Through all of that there was always love and friendship which magnified the joy in the good times and blunted the blows of the bad times. So I just have to say...


My Husband,


I love you.
You are my favorite.
You are my best friend.
You are the most amazing father.
I am the luckiest girl in the world that you are mine.


Happy Anniversary beloved.

**I meant to edit/refine this and add a bunch of embarrassing pictures, but instead I got a migraine and went to bed. Sorry it's so text-y and random...

Monday Minute 10/4

And here's another Monday Minute with the new host Christy.

Questions:
(1) What's your biggest pet peeve?
Stupidity. And I don't mean those of lower intelligence or education. I mean people who are straight up dumb asses. You can be a genius and still be a total dumb ass. Oh, and people who drive in turn lanes. It's a TURN lane not a drive until you freaking feel like it lane.


(2) Describe your first kiss. (Ian's suggestion, thank you Ian!)
First smooch was as a result of Spin the Bottle. First "real" smooch was during a football game my freshman year in high school. The boy wanted to go on a walk and our stadium was across the street from a cemetery. Very romantic. He went all out and almost drown me with the extra saliva. Needless to say I was not swept off my feet.

(3) Describe the drunkest night of your life (or at least, the drunkest night you can remember).
I actually talked briefly about this in my all embarrassment version of 7 things here. But here's the recap...a million and a half years ago at college, Middle Sister and her now husband came to celebrate my birthday. We went out and things got rowdy. I ended up on hands and knees behind the big front of campus college sign puking for all I was worth. Middle Sister decided that was a good time to show me how she could still do the running man. And that's when the vom came out my nose. Good times.

(4) What's the last movie you saw and what did you think of it?
I just watched Love Happens. It was on HBO. Yeah...that's really all I can say about it.

(5) Do you prefer taking a bath or a shower?
That depends, but for the most part showers. The only time I take baths is if I'm staying someplace super nice and it has jets and fancy smelly salts. I can't remember the last time that happened though.

friday

1) Red Dress Club

The assignment:
This week's meme is going to be something a little bit different.

Below you will find two links to photos. Your assignment? Chose one. If you're a fiction writer, write a piece inspired by the photo. If you're non-fiction, write a piece on a childhood memory the photo inspires in you.

Remember, your post doesn't have to be a literal translation of the photo.

The Result:

Madge knew she shouldn't have gotten so excited. With all the blue bloods around it was bound to cause some issues, but damnit She's Coming Around The Corner was...well...coming around the corner. And she had some serious dough on that pony.

She hadn't intended to gamble at all, but that bastard Howard was after her again about the shopping. She never bothered him about the other ladies, and oh there had been a lot of other ladies, so he should keep his gob shut about the shopping. After all she could have spent far more on her race day outfit. She could have spent far more on everything and they still wouldn't be even.

It had taken weeks to find just the right dress, jacket and hat. She had started at the high end stores, of course, but found nothing that suited her. Then by sheer coincidence she had stumbled on this delicious little gold number that came with its own jacket at the gently used store. She was only in there to get her Christmas gift for Helen St. Briggs. Helen thought she was better than everyone so it entertained Madge to give her used gifts.

As she was rifling through gaudy baubles a little shimmer at the back of the store caught her eye. The dress and jacket fit perfectly and then just down the street she found a to-die-for hat. It was meant to be.

Just as She's Coming Around the Corner was hugging the inside turn going into the final straightaway, she began to overtake Buck Naked from behind. And Madge couldn't help but scream like a mad thing. She stopped to take a great gasping breath and in that instant she heard it. Helen's nasal whine and it was close.

Madge turned and was shocked to find Helen right behind her in a hideous green jacket and black hat that didn't match at all. Helen gave her the faintest of grins and said, "That's a lovely dress Madge. It looks just like one I gave to the charity shop last week. Of course mine had a tear in the collar."

Madge smiled tightly as she turned back to the race. Then she glanced down at the broach pinned to her collar...hiding a small tear. "Son of a bitch..."

2) Name! That! Roll! Round 3 may have been too easy. Here are the current standings:

14 Points - Jackie at The Mathey Family
8 Points – Cris at Jus Keep Smiling
4 Points - Yours Truly Dear at The Mundane Adventures of Miss Jess
4 Points – Kayla at and Potato Makes Three!
3 Points - Her Momma at Finally Mom
3 Points – Elise at Little Sprout Growing
2 Points - Angela at Life with Lane
2 Points - Emily at Wife, Check. Mom, Check. Now What?
2 Points – Ian at The Daily Dose of Reality
2 Points - Christina at And for good measure…
1 Point - Aims at The Mom Who Stayed Sober

And here's the uncropped picture. You were all right...it's her chunky little side.

I'm debating whether to do 1 or 2 more rounds. What do you guys think?

NAME! THAT! ROLL! {Round 3}

Let's go round 3!

Here's how to play: I will be posting a series of cropped pictures, each featuring a specific set of rolls. The first 5 people to guess the location of said roll correctly will be given points. The first person to guess correctly will get 5 points, the second will get 4, and so on. At the end of the series the player with the most points will receive a fabulous surprise package from me and Pie.

Here are the current standings:
9 Points - Jackie at The Mathey Family
5 Points – Cris at Jus Keep Smiling
4 Points - Yours Truly Dear at The Mundane Adventures of Miss Jess
3 Points - Her Momma at Finally Mom
3 Points – Elise at Little Sprout Growing
2 Points - Angela at Life with Lane
2 Points - Emily at Wife, Check. Mom, Check. Now What?
1 Point - Aims at The Mom Who Stayed Sober
1 Point - Christina at And for good measure…

And here's the new photo...

Wordless Wednesday {Flying}

PS - Be sure to come by tomorrow for Round 3 of NAME! THAT! ROLL!

Joyful Heart

Rebecca (aka Country-Fried Mama) is hosting an awesome and beyond important carnival today. Please take a second to read about it and then link up!

About this blog carnival: “The world I want for my children” is an effort to support The Joyful Heart Foundation, which was founded by Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay to help victims of sexual assault mend their minds, bodies and spirits and reclaim their lives. Today, the foundation is at the forefront of an effort to end a disheartening backlog of tens of thousands of rape kits in labs across the country, a backlog that contributes to a rapist’s 80 percent chance of getting away with his crime. The backlog and its detrimental effects will be the topic of an SVU episode on September 29th.

Please help us raise awareness for this important work. What kind of world do you want for your children? Write your post and link up here.

*****

I sincerely thought I would sit down and knock this out. There is so much I want for Pie that I thought I'd have too much for a single post. Turns out I want so much that I can't even smash it into rational thoughts. But I'm going to try...


The world I want for my daughter is:

• one where the fact that she is in a family created by open adoption is looked at as awesome because she has so many people to love her instead of something weird and different
• one where the fact that she is multi-racial (though she doesn't necessarily look it) is a reason for celebration instead of ridicule
• one where she can date/live with/marry anyone she chooses. ANYONE. Any person of either gender and of any ethnicity and won't face discrimination because of her choice
• one where she could work at a fast food joint or be a doctor and either way her contributions will be valued
• one where the size of her house, the emblem on her car or the designer of her clothes is not the determining factor of her worth
• one in which she feels as safe and secure as she does within my arms

This list is really just the tiny, tip of the iceberg of what I want for her. But ultimately I want this little girl to be happy.

And I hope against hope she never has to deal with sexual assault...like I did.