Julie the Journey vs. The Semi...

As you've probably already guessed, Julie (my 2009 Dodge Journey) did not win after taking on a Semi Truck.

But, Tara, you ask, why would you take on a Semi?

Well, I wouldn't.  At least, not intentionally.

This week, you see, I am on vacation.  I didn't go anywhere, but needed to use the time before the end of the year, lest I lose the time.  This tends to happen every year to me, and I happily take a stay-cation by myself for a week.

Today, the big plan was to catch up on my school reading - I did.  I'm only half a week behind now.

I also was able to finally beat Tom Morello in Guitar Hero - on Medium (not easy!).

Feeling good, I made plans to meet up with a friend to have lunch and do some Christmas shopping.

I was almost to her house, when I got off the express way.  I was on a 6 lane road (3 northbound lanes, and 3 southbound) that is highly traveled by truckers.  I was in the far right lane, and there was a trucker in front of me.  He had his turn signal on to turn right, but had just turned onto the road.

He was partially in my lane, so I stayed behind him. Then, he pulled completely into the middle lane and was stopping.  I wasn't sure if he was lost, trying to change lanes, or what he was doing, so, having a free lane ahead of me, decided to get around him to give him the space he needed.

That's when he turned right.  From the middle lane.

I slammed on my brakes, but was not able to stop in time to avoid his trailer.  It hit me, pushed my side mirror into the window, shattering my window.  Also, it pushed me into a curb, blowing out my passenger side front tire.

I'm ok.  He's ok.  There were no passengers.  The truck had little to no damage.  It may have a green paint chip.  However, mine is at the shop. Non-driveable. 

The truck in the background is not the truck that caused this damage.

That's one blown out tire!  Crap!  We just bought new tires, too.  :-(

The mirror apparently decided it was too cold outsid and jumped into the car.  Like the glass pieces all over?

Man!  That glass got EVERYWHERE!

NOW there's a dent - stupid Chevy dealer!

So, I guess we're not trading it in anytime soon.  Oh, and yes, I did have my camera with me today.  The friend I was meeting with gives me good blog stories, and I thought I may need to have my camera in case a good story happened and I needed pictures.  Hmmm....I guess it did.

This just gives me that much more to be thankful for.  For not being hurt in this crash.  For not hurting anyone else.  For nice witnesses providing phone numbers and making sure I was ok.  For good friends forgoing Christmas shopping to traipse around waiting for cops, getting some lunch, getting a rental car and helping me clean the crap out of my car.

I am thankful because it could have been worse.  But it wasn't and we are alive and well, and sooner or later I will get all of this glass out of my hair.

Hey! It's okay Tuesday....

I'm linking up with Amber at Airing my Dirty Laundry, One Sock at a Time. 

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. They have a section called Hey, It’s Okay and will list a bunch of things to be okay about. You're welcome to join in and do something like this on your blog. Doesn't have to be on a Tuesday either. If you do it, please link up and make sure the link is to your Hey, It's Okay post!

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To not have taken a shower until after noon yesterday.  They call it vacation for a reason, people.

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To not have my Christmas decorations up outside.  We'll get there, I hope.  We didn't get them up last year, but hopefully, we will this year.

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To want to eat Fritos.  They are crunchy, salty, oily goodness.  They cause breakouts and multiple chins, but they are so yummy and tasty.

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To be behind on my school work.  I need to catch up on about four chapters of reading as well as get my project done.  It's a 10-12 page research paper.  I'm planning to finish it this week.

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To have spent an hour or two playing Guitar Hero last night.  Yes, I am five years behind on my gaming, but that's ok too.

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To have purchased and downloaded the song S&M to my ipod.  As long as my kids don't hear it, I'm good.

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To be overly proud of my three-year-olds potty training skills.  She is currently the master of her domain.

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To not have perfected that stupid apple pie.  It's still too liquidy and this recipe mocks me.  I will perfect that friggin' pie!

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To always want to win.  I won't even lose to my kids.  I warn Olivia when we play Uno that I play to win, and I always win. 

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To not want to give the dance class instructors' gifts.  I mean, it's a nice thought and all, but I am paying a whole lot of money for these girls to dance.  Why do the instructor's need an extra gift?  They don't even shower before class.  Shoot.  If I'm gonna give them anything, it should be shampoo and a loofah.

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To miss my family, especially around the Holidays.  I can't travel to New Mexico, Mississippi, Kansas and elsewhere, no matter how hard I try.  It stinks when you know other family members are getting together and celebrating, and you can't be there with them.

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Being Thankful...

So begins the Holiday Season of 2011.

I thought I should write about what I am thankful for this year.

I am thankful for the health of my family, for having a job, for a husband that is a wonderful helper at home and a great provider and blah blah blah.  Of course I'm thankful for these things.  But, what I'm really thankful for are:

That the bug my kids picked up after Thanksgiving only lasted 24 hours.  Nothing says "Thanksgiving is great" like ending the night with a vomiting child.  Mia ended the night at Laima and Jeff's by throwing up all over herself, their couch, their floor and Tony.  Awesome.  Then, she threw up insider her jacket on the way home.  Then again in bed.  And again in bed.  And again in bed.  Awesome.  By Friday night, she was feeling good again.  Then, Saturday afternoon, after a nap for Olivia, she came downstairs and decided to throw up.  She missed the toilet, but made it to the bathroom - whoo hoo!  I'm thankful that my husband was able to clean up chunky hot dog vomit from the bathroom floor when I was unable to.  Then, Olivia threw up again, in the bathroom, and again, and again, and again.  We sent her to bed, where she threw up again.  But, she didn't tell us, just climbed to the top bunk.  Tony decided to give her a bucket, after we changed her sheets and she threw up again.  I'm thankful that my husband cleaned up Olivia's vomit from the bathroom floor, the toilets, the bucket and the carpet.  And I'm thankful for a front load washer that has been running most of the long weekend.

I am thankful that my kids are not very observant.  Tony and I are terrible at hiding things from the kids and lying to them.  This means that being Santa is a hard thing for us.  Black Friday shopping at Target, I was able to pick up a cute little kitchen for Mia.  While grabbing this large gift and putting it in the cart, Olivia asked if she and Mia could go to another aisle.  I jumped on this and told her to keep an eye on Mia.  I called Tony and grabbed the box and hid it under my other stuff in the cart.  Then, I went to find said children.  I stroll down two aisles and find Olivia, but no Mia.  "Where's your sister?"  "I don't know."  PANIC!  "WHAT?!  You're supposed to be watching her!"  I stop myself from running up the aisles, but decided to go back the way I came, and found Mia in the next aisle over from where I had been, playing with Elmo.  Thank goodness!

Next, as we were checking out, I sent Olivia to the Starbucks to "look at mugs for Daddy."  The checkout lady liked my technique.  This actually worked, although Mia totally looked at the box, but didn't say anything. 

Even after these two somehow had not figured out what was in the cart, I had the kitchen in the back of my car, hidden.  So, when we went grocery shopping, we had to block the girls from looking in the back.  Somehow we did it.  I should probably learn from this and get it out of my car.

Also, we decided to finally get a Wii.  Tony left it in the garage, in a red Target bag, right where we walk by.  (I should probably tell you that we rarely use our front door, but walk in and out through the garage).  Olivia was curious, but since she wasn't feeling well, not too curious.  So, last night he goes to bring it in, thinking Olivia is upstairs.  She was not.  "I should just plug it in to the TV and see how long it takes her to notice."  "Well, considering she's right there in the dining room, she might notice," I say.  He leaves the bag in the kitchen.

Now, Tony and I are playing Rummy and Olivia is watching.  We tell her to go to bed, but she doesn't want to.  "You know, I can call Santa and tell him not to come," I say.  "You don't have his number, Mom."  "I told you, Olivia. When you go to the hospital to have a baby, they give you Santa's number."  At this, I catch Tony smiling and cannot hide the smile and laughter that come bubbling up.  I try to hid it by taking a drink of water, but am laughing so hard I have to spit my water back out.  I don't know how much longer we can keep this Santa Claus thing going.

I am thankful that Olivia does very well in school.  I met her teacher this past week, and she had a glowing review for my daughter.  The teacher especially commented on her writing skills.  The teacher said she thought that Olivia will definitely do something in journalism, but she doesn't know what.  I wonder where she gets this writing bug from.

I am also thankful for the blunt honesty of my kids.  They tell me that I'm fat and need Proactiv.  There is nothing better for your self esteem than having kids.  Thanks, girls!  I hope your kids are just as honest as you are. This example of Olivia's writing and drawing skills has been on our fridge for awhile.

In case you can't read this, it says, "I love my family because they take care of me.  They make us food so we don't die.  Love, Olivia."

Maybe she'll write and illustrate childrens' books.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm giving myself a bit of a blog break for the Holiday.

Have a great day, eat lots of turkey and pumpkin pie and enjoy these pics.

Mia giving some daddy love in a photo sesh.  Daddy did have to trick her to feel sorry for him, hence, the sad face pic.

Teaching them to clean my house.  Did you not have kids for the free maid service?

Mia showing off her climbing skills.  She is NOT supposed to be on the top bunk.



Misadventures in Car Shopping...

You may (or may not) have noticed that I have been a little absent with my blogging.  Nobody's fault but mine.  I have been a little overwhelmed, and have been feeling less than creative.  Blogging is something I enjoy, though, so, I'm coming back.  At least a little.

Over the last few weeks in October, my husband and I decide we would try our hand at downsizing our gas-guzzling car.  Also, we were experiencing intermittent non-starting with my lovely '09 car.  The issue was more that the car maker did not know what was wrong with the car, than just the starting problems.  And, because Tony is a mechanic (Automotive Technician - sorry babe), he was checking out what consumers were saying about this particular issue.  It seemed that this issue was happening to lots of people who were spending big bucks to fix it on guesses from the Dealers.  These guesses were not panning out.

So, we decided to start looking at cars.  One Saturday, we checked out the Chevy Cruze Eco, the Toyota Camry and Corolla, the Nissan Rogue, and the Honda Civic and Accord.  The Thursday after that, we found ourselves at Mazda checking out the Mazda 3.  This is where the trouble began.

Side story - at Toyota, they wanted to check our trade in.  I asked the salesman, "You know how girls won't shave their legs before a first date to make sure that their naked legs are not seen?  That's what we did with my car.  It's not ready for you to see it yet."  He just gave me a weird look.  I don't think we connected.

Back to the story at hand, that Saturday, my girls were troopers!  We were out and about ALL DAY LONG, and into the evening with car shopping.  However, by Thursday, they were done with this. 

After searching the Mazda lot, we came inside and started looking at the showroom.  This could barely be called a showroom.  There were 2 cars, with desks circling them.  While running around, Mia tripped and went headfirst into the door of the Mazda 3 in the showroom.  Thankfully, neither the car nor the head were dented.

The salesman brought a car around for us to test drive.  As we were talking to him, the girls got in the back.  Olivia leaned across the back seat to close Mia's door when Mia SCREAMED!  Olivia had closed the door on her fingers!  Tony and the salesmen BOLTED to the other side of the car and let her free.  She was ok, her hands barely in the door.  So, now, we had two tired kids, one injured and one feeling bad about what she did to her sister, both were crying.

After we left, we had a clear front-runner, the Chevy Cruze.  42 mpg, cute, roomy enough for the family, manual transmission.  We set up a sitter for the following Saturday and went back out to Chevy.

When we got there, they had just sold the only Eco they had on the lot.  Of course, they did.  So, we decide to go look at another cruze.  Tony could test drive and look under the hood.

We went out to the car and the salesman followed with the key.  The hood is up, and Tony is in front of the car, I'm on the passenger side, both are looking under the hood.  The salesman turns on the car, then takes his foot off the clutch.  The brake was not on.  The car lurched.

There is a car on my foot.  There is a CAR on my FOOT!  THERE IS A CAR ON MY FOOT!!!  I yelled.  Then, the car lurched again, and there was no longer a car on my foot.

The salesman came running out to see if Tony was ok.  Tony was hit twice, in his knees, which haven't been doing so well lately.  Again, and thankfully, we are ok, just a little bruised.

We soldiered on.  We took the test drive.  We started working on a deal.   They took our car for a drive, because we were going to trade it in.  They come back to us and offer $10,000 for our car.  Um, no.  It's worth $13,000 on the trade.  To make a long story short, they wanted us to take another 5-year loan, paying more a month than we do on my car currently.  My car is not a compact car, but is an SUV.  My car has a video entertainment system.  My car has satellite radio, a back up camera and foldable third row of seats.  My car stickered at $28,000 when we bought it.  The Cruze?  Stickered at $20,000.  But hey - we should pay MORE a month for the little car, than my car - with the SAME loan term.  Ummm...no.

We did not buy the car.

What did we learn?  When people start getting injured, you still can't get a deal.

Household happenings...

I thought I'd provide a family update for all of you.

The last week of October, Tony was in PA for work mandated schooling.  Yay, me!  One whole week of uninterrupted fun with my kids!! *are you picking up the sarcasm?*

Anywho, on Tuesday, Olivia needed to take a shower.  When I told her this, she asked what day it was.  Tuesday.  I don't have to take a shower today, she said.  I said yes, you do.

No, Mom.  My paper says I don't have to take a shower today.

What paper?

This is not a mommy approved paper.  I reasoned that she hadn't taken a shower on Monday, and needed a shower by Tuesday.  Eventually, she took a shower.

The next time she had to shower was Thursday.  She went upstairs and was quiet and I forgot about her.  Eventually, I noticed that it was too quiet and I hadn't heard the shower.  I go upstairs and find her asleep, still in her clothes, under the covers in bed.

The next morning, I tell her that we are going to be watching movies Friday night while she has to take a shower because of her stunt the night before.  This is upsetting to her.  Apparently, she is so moved by her emotions that she cannot talk.  While she is supposed to be getting dressed, I walk in on her writing this note.

When she sees me looking, she stops.  I grab the note and read it.

No, we are not going to wait for you.

Crying ensues and eventually, we get to school and the day goes on.  The minute we walked inside that night, she was up the stairs and in the shower.  However, due to her lack of hair washing abilities, I had to send her back to the shower two more times.  Eventually, she came down, somewhat cleaner and still super moody.

I jokingly say that Olivia is a ball of emotions, wrapped in a blanket of emotion, under a parka of emotion.  She is constantly overwhelmed emotionally and is crying.  I have to work hard not to lose my patience and get her to talk because, she generally won't talk to me when she gets like that.

Here's Olivia - 7 going on 15.

Here is a picture of Mia, being tickled on my bed.  Yep, the winter comforter is out.  We had our first snow November 10.  It didn't stick, but looked pretty blizzardish (is that a word?  If not, I claim the creation!) coming down fierce.

Also, I have been baking a bunch.  I bought a new cook book and am planning to go through the entire thing, front to back making all of the bakery treats.  Here are chocolate hazelnut brownie bites.  If you like Nutella, you'll like these.  P.s. the frosting is Nutella.

November 11 Weight Watchers Update...

It's official!  I have been on Weight Watchers for 8 weeks now.

How much have you lost, Tara?

Well, I'm glad you ask.  I have lost 17 lbs!

I am down into a pair of jeans I haven't worn since before Mia.

I am 8 lbs away from pre-Olivia weight.

I am really excited for me!

Because I don't have much more to say about this, I am going to show you a few before pictures.  However, I need to explain something.  I started working on losing weight at the end/during summer 2010.  I had gotten to a place that I was no longer comfortable with myself.  I was embarrased and ashamed of myself.  I never wanted to be in pictures.  I didn't want to look at myself in the mirror when I was getting a haircut.  I didn't even want to visit with family because I was so embarassed.  My chins were overwhelming and the multi-rolls when I sat down!  Oh my goodness!

So, I decided to start weighing myself.  I wrote down my weights on a daily basis. When I first started, I weighed in at 257 lbs.  I was 265 when I gave birth to Mia.  Two years later, and I had only dropped 8 pounds.  Working hard, I was down to 245.  However, I was not able to get lower and this is where I was when Weight Wathchers began.

I tell you this not because I need to let you know how much I weigh, but because I need to explain where I have been.  I have 3 pounds to go to hit an even 20 lbs on Weight Watchers, but I will also be at 40 lbs down since Mia was born.  I am proud of this!

My ultimate goal is 150 lbs.  I have quite a ways to go, but I am ready to do it and become a lifetime Weight Watchers member.

Me, all the way in the back with my Grandma and female cousins on my moms side.

My little family, Summer 2010

Me, second from right, holding Mia.  With most of my girl cousins on my dad side.

Halloween, 2010.  I was a librarian.  I look amused.

I threw this one in just because it was fun.  Halloween, 1999.

Mia-tastic...

Since I have been working from home now, about half of the week, I have been spending a whol lot more time with Mia.  Please enjoy these pictures of Mia from our time together.



Shirmp...

I wanted to start this post saying that I had a funny story to tell you. 

But if I said that, then, the story would fall on it's face.

Trust me.  And forget what I said.

We decided last weekend (apparently by the collective unconscious) that we were going to go out and have fun and spend lots of money.  LOTS of MONEY.

We started on Friday night by going to Red Lobster.

I know, it's not the best seafood.

But it's family friendly.  And they have endless shrimp (for Tony).  And they have cheddar biscuits (for me).

Tony and I discussed how awesome it would be to walk in and say - just bring me 10 biscuits.  I don't need shrimp, or lobster, or vegetables.  Just biscuits.  And keep 'em coming.

But, I digress. 

We went to the RL for endless shrimp for Tony, and biscuits was my incentive.

Our waiter, while cute, was overly scripted and ready to work.

He takes our order and goes away.  Comes back with biscuits.  I'm thinking I should ditch Tony and leave with the cute waiter with the biscuits.  But, I stay.  Biscuit love is a fleeting love.

Our food comes out and the waiter asks Tony if he would like to put in his order for what types/flavors of shrimp he should bring out next.  Tony's like, "Yes.  I'd like shrimp."

The waiter was looking at him, clearly thinking, "Really? Shrimp?  I thought we were offering endless cat today?"  But kept that too himself.  Before the waiter or I could make a nice or snarky (me) remark, Tony figures out what was wrong with what he said, and orders "Sweet and spicy shrimp and fried shrimp."

Ok.  So, the sweet and spicy shrimp have come out and have been eaten when the waiter shows up with the fried shrimp.  "Did someone bring out your other order?" he asks. 

Tony, says, "Yes. Shrimp."

Oh my.  I almost fell out of my seat laughing.  The look on the waiters face was pretty priceless.  For the rest of the night, any question asked received the answer of "shrimp."  I tell you what, seafood is definitely a food that makes your brain work gooder.

Homework sucks....

I have been reading a number of other blogs out there.  Within the past month or two, the subject du jour has been back to school - there are people that love it, and people that hate it.  Not many in the middle.

I am in the middle - school, schmool, whatever.

Except for one little, tiny, unimportant facet of school.

I HATE HOMEWORK.

I am in school myself.  I have homework which generally consists of reading, and writing papers and taking tests.  I also have to contribute to threaded discussions.  This is ok homework.

The homework that I am referencing is Olivia's homework.

For some reason, the teacher thinks that me or my husband should be checking her work.  And writing her letters.  And leaving her nice comments.  As if we normally give her these warm and fuzzies.

What?!

Is this some sort of strange parent/teacher socialist teaching?  I did NOT sign on for this when becoming a parent.  I mean - I didn't have this when I was a kid.  I mean, I didn't do my homework, but that's beside the point.

I get that the teacher wants to make sure that we are involved.  However, Olivia is a smart kid and gets her homework done.  She gets good grades, and the teachers tend to really like having her in their class (at least that's what they have told me so far.) She's not disruptive, she's helpful.

So, when she comes home and EVERYDAY I have to sign a sheet saying that she did her homework, I am frustrated.  This is from the school that didn't send a notice of when curriculum night was, except for one Tuesday, I pick up Olivia from day care.  She's like, Mommy, you have to go to my school tonight.  What?  No I don't.  Did they send something home?  Did you not empty your bag again, Olivia? (This is a recurring issue, btw.  She doesn't give me her papers, but we are working on that.)  So, now, I'm getting angry at her, but don't even have time for that.  Why?  Because Olivia has soccer practice, then, we leave early from soccer because she has dance class too.  Tuesdays are just a little hectic.

I get into her bag and don't see any notice.  I figure she is spouting something off and she misunderstood.  A few days later (when I remember), I ask her daycare teacher because she is also an aid at Olivia's school.  The teacher is like, no, that's not 'til later.  See, look at this page.  We look, and it was a thank you to the parent's that had shown up that Tuesday that Olivia told me about.

I really hate strongly dislike school.  I hated it when I was a kid, and now that I am a parent, I feel just as left out and behind as I did then.  The only difference is that when I was a kid it was because of the other kids, and now, it's because of the teacher's and administrators.

I need to come to terms with the little bit of involvement I want from the school.  Right now, I don't have the extra me to give to the PTA.  I'd like to become more involved, but it's not the right time for me.  Until then, I will have to deal with the amount of homework that I have to do and hope my daughter loves school for a long time to come, even if I hate am not fond of it.



Olivia doing homework while I work my late night.



Mia expressing my feelings on homework.