About a blog

I came home from step aerobics tonight and found Joey and the two munchkins on the floor  in deep meditation. They looked like little boodas and I thought it was so cute that I whipped my camera out to try to take a picture of it.  Joey suddenly cringed and hid his face, and the munchkins followed suit.

It seems that I’ve offended a few people in recent days, Joey being one of them.  He let me know that he does not appreciate me “bad mouthing” him on my blog and he doesn’t want to be on my blog anymore.  He also said that his friends are offended with my words and that not everyone “gets” my sense of humor.  I went to take a shower and I contemplated what he had said.

I  started this blog a few months ago for a few reasons.  1)  I wanted to take more pictures and thought that a blog might give me a reason to work on that goal. 2)  I thought it might be a nice outlet for some of my thoughts and feelings.  3)  I might feel more important if I knew that other people cared about my life.  4) I thought it might be fun to show others how darn funny I am (okay, not really).  I really thought it might help my self esteem and out of the pit of despair that I felt I was falling into.

Like most things that I undertake, I have gone full throttle with my blog, and some might say “obsessed”.  Mostly I was just trying to disprove Joey’s prediction that I would not keep it up. However, it HAS improved my self esteem, I HAVE taken a lot more pictures, it HAS made me feel better, and it IS really funny if you have a sense of humor. I have really enjoyed writing in my blog and I “think” that a lot of people have enjoyed reading it as well.

My high school counselor once asked me “where all this sarcasm is coming from?”  She didn’t know me very well.  I am a very sarcastic person and I use sarcasm to “tease” people.  The good news is that I only “tease” people that really like and I “tease” myself as well.  The trouble with my sarcasm, as Joey made me understand, is that it doesn’t really come across well on a blog.  Some of you, including Joey, have been offended, and I feel bad about that .  I am truly sorry.  The truth is that Joey and he who shall not be named are two of my favorite people and two of the people I feel I can act myself around.

With that being said, I cannot just walk into the living room to find my husband “talking” to his video game very loudly,while wearing a “headset”, saying very silly sounding things and NOT make fun of it.  I mean,  come on!  I calls ‘em likes I sees ‘em….and I sees that it’s very very funny.

rebels

Hayley and I went to the movies on Friday night.  We went to the Tower Theatres and we both commented on the “different” people that attend that theatre.  They are not your “normal” Utah crowd, and we kind of liked it.

We went to see “Revolutionary Road”, which looked a lot better than it acutally was.  It was kind of boring in some spots and I didn’t really “feel” for the characters, perhaps because I didn’t live in the 50’s.

After the movie was over, Hayley sheepishly asked if I wanted to stay for ANOTHER movie…it was 9:00 pm at this time.  I gave her an evil laugh and said “yes, we are such rebels”.  And we were.  We stayed for “Slumdog Millionaire”, got lots of refills on our drinks, and stayed up way past our bedtimes.

I must say that Slumdog was the best movie I’ve seen in awhile…I’m glad we stayed.

Encore

Those of you that have ever tried to take two toddlers to the grocery store know that it is quite an exhausting experience.  Tessa is especially naughty at the stores these days, so I avoid these shopping trips at all costs, under normal circumstances.

The other day, Joey was gone to a Jazz game, so I had to take them both with me, as it was the last day of the sales and I needed to use my coupons.  Both of the kids started out in the car, but I had to separate them because they were fighting.  I finished my shopping as fast as possible because Tessa was grouchy and whining about everything.  In fact, I was so distracted with her, that I forgot all about Nate, still in the front.

I paid for the groceries and headed out to the car.  I put Tessa in first, and turned around to find little Nate, sound asleep, drool and all.  He must find these shopping excursions just as exhausting as I do.

work of art….sorta

Joey and I spent the better half of two days tiling our tub surround.  I think that if our marriage survives this remodeling project, it will survive anything.  We were driving each other crazy the entire time. I spread the thinset and laid the tiles, while Joey measured and cut the tiles.  We make a pretty good team when we’re not yelling at each other.

Things would have been much easier if our house was not so crooked.  I don’t think that any of our walls are straight or level, which made laying the tile a huge pain in the neck.  We still have a few stray tiles to get done and the ceiling still to go.  We had to put an end to it because the water in the tile saw kept freezing.

We’ve also had a problem getting the cabinet company to come back to finish installing the cabinets.  The guy came to start and never has come back.  He makes appointments and then never shows up.  I’m getting very frustrated with them.

One day, this will all be over and I will look back and laugh….I hope.

bane of my existence

For Christmas, Joey got a t-shirt from his friend Rico that said, “I’m the only one without an Xbox 360″, as he is, the only one of his kind without one.  They all laughed and said that they felt so bad for him.  Then, he would look at me with puppy dog eyes as if to say “don’t YOU feel sorry for me too?”.  I didn’t.  I did NOT like the idea of Joey having access to Xbox live and forming an addiction that would ultimately lead him to wasting even more time than he already does.  I was pretty confident that Joey wouldn’t buy one because they are too expensive, and he is too cheap.

Much to my dismay, his friend (he who shall not be named) decided to give him his old one that was in need of repair.  Instead of just fixing it, like any normal person would do, he just bought a new one and Joey inherited the broken one.  Normally, it takes Joey months, sometimes years of me nagging him to get things fixed or to finish projects around the house.  Let me tell you that it took him less than two days to fix the XBox, rig up the internet connection, and hook the whole thing up.  He was up and running in no time.

Each night, this is how you’ll find Joey.  Sitting on the couch, headphones on, talking very loudly to his friends about video games and staying up till al hours of the night.  I could just kiss he who should not be named.

High Five

We celebrated my niece, Averi’s birthday on Saturday at Fat Cats in Ogden.  We did some bowling, which is one of my favorite things to do.  I often call bowling my own little “self esteem booster” because it’s one of the few things that I can actually win.  I also enjoy taunting Joey about losing to me.  He tolerates it because he knows that he can beat me in EVERYTHING else.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since Averi was born.  My how time flies.  We gave her a Hello Kitty alarm clock because we thought it would come in handy when she wakes up for kindergarten.   She has always been very smart for her age, so I’m sure she can handle it.

Up Chuck E Cheese

We’d been promising Nate that we’d take him to Chuck E Cheese for awhile now.  He had earned enough “smily faces” at school, so we owed him.  We decided to buckle down and go last night. 

I have to say that the pizza is not bad.  Everything else is, though.  It’s far too loud and there are far too many little kids running around.  My kids had fun, however, so I guess that’s all that matters.

tide pools

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to paint colors on my walls.  A few years ago, I painted my Grandma Butcher’s kitchen and she made me paint it WHITE!  It wasn’t any fun at all.  It physically pained me to do it.  I told her that’s how she knows that I really love her.  I won’t paint white walls for just anyone. 

We are getting very close to finishing this damn bathroom.  (pardon my french)  The walls are done (and pretty smooth, I must say) and I finished up the painting last night.  The walls are a pretty blue-green called “tide pools”.  It matches the color of the accent tiles very nicely.  Tessa calls it “pretty green”. 

Our final list of things to do before we are finished with this project:  put up the bead board and trim, tile the tub surround, put up the light fixture, and put up the mirror.  Oh, I feel my long bath in my jetted tub now.

fun at Willey’s

Joey and I decided that we’d like to find ourselves a nice sectional for our living room to make more use of the space.  That was about the only thing we agreed on, however.  You see, Joey would really like a “comfortable” couch with all sorts of poof , built in recliners, and cup holders.  The kind of thing that you might see in a rich person’s “home theatre”.  Me, on the other hand, I would definitely sacrifice the comfortable part as long as it looks cute and matches my living room.  I do not care for the unsightly sectionals that Joey falls in love with. 

So, we spent the day looking at a few stores to try to come to a compromise.  We didn’t find anything too special.  Nater REALLY enjoyed himself on this massage chair, though.  I told Joey that we could definitely NOT put that in our living room.

Arts & Crafts

At Viewmont, we have a once a month class called “Advisory”.  It’s when the students meet in a “home room” for twenty minutes and have a touchy feely kind of lesson.  The purpose is to help the teenagers feel a “part” of their school and such. 

Some of  “our” students have a hard time attending a regular ed.  advisory, so we have our own.  This year, we decided to have an art project during this time.  It’s been fun to watch all of the staff get more involved in the crafts than the students do…myself included.  Some of the crafts have been difficult for the adults to master, let alone the students.  I don’t know what I was thinking. 

Here is a Alicia with her work of art.  She was very proud.  Alicia is also single, in case any of you were wondering.

En Vogue

I made a trip to Roy OATC beauty school where my friend Lacey attends.  She has been my favorite hair cutter-rupper for the last two years.  I’ve been getting basically the same haircut every time, but last night we mixed it up a little.  It’s a little shorter, more trendy and hawt, I might add.

Sheet Rock Nazi

My brother-in-law, Jason, came over to help us finish the sheet rock in our bathroom.  I never realized how much work a little sheet rock would be.  Although Jason says that my skills are pretty good, I don’t think that I’ll be quitting my day job any time soon. 

At any rate, I am VERY thankful to Jason for helping us out.  He’s driven to our house about four times to help/teach us how to do it.  One day, he even took my kids home with him!!  Jason is my new hero.  He IS a sheet rock nazi, though.

Sequence This

Traditionally, for the last five years, we have gone over to Ann Allred’s house for a Sequence tournament on New Year’s Eve.  Ann Allred invites about eight couples and all their children over for appetizers and some healthy competition.  There is always a little trash talk.  The winner of the tournament gets a giant glass “cup” filled with treats and things.  The winners of past years are written on the side of the cup and we are proud to have our name written there twice.

During the summer, Joey noticed an add in the Sequence box for odering your own Sequence t-shirt.  He thought it would be funny to wear them to the party.  I am too cheap, however, and decided to make my own.  They turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself.  You can’t tell from the picture, but at the bottom they read, “Table talk is not necessary, It’s all skill now”.  Everyone got a kick out of our t-shirts.  I heard some of the newcomers to the tournament say, “Oh no, now we have to play the ones with the t-shirts”. I think they were intimidated by us.

Well, we didn’t win the tournament this year, but we cam in second place.  The Rockwells took it.  That’s ok, I filled the cup with all the leftover candy that I didn’t want anyway.

Home Depoted out

Since embarking on this road to a better bathroom, I have made MANY trips to the Home Depot.  Most of these trips I try to make without my children because….well, have you ever tried to take two toddlers to Home Depot?  The other night, I had no choice and I tried it with the kids.  Tessa was very naughty, as usual and refused to sit nicely.  Nathan was equally unruly for most of the trip.  He was riding and climbing on the cart and finally got underneath to ride.  I didn’t object because he was finally quiet.  To my shock, as I went to pay, I noticed that he had fallen asleep!

Rock On

I usually go to bed around 9 pm, however Joey found a way to keep me up until 2 am.  I found him in the living room SINGING to RockBand all by himself!  I thought it was pretty funny.  He promptly challenged me to sind “Black Hole Sun” on the medium setting, as he couldn’t pass it.  I passed it easily and the screen called me awesome a lot.  I kept on singing and Joey played the guitar.  Before I knew it, it was 2 am.  Stupid RockBand.