A Flat Out Fun Day!

Yesterday I had to work but it was more like a fun day at work! I drove a bus full of English teachers from 17 different countries to the coast. They went to the aquarium, out to lunch, the beach & then to Walmart!! They had a blast & went shopping crazy!! It was really fun to chat with them & learn where they were from!

Also, while I was at the coast I was able to see some friends & family members during my down time when my bus riders were doing their events.

This is my newest nephew on my husbands side. He's two months old and sooo tiny! Cute huh!
This is my sister-in-law with her other child. Smile!!
Here's my niece getting ready to drive the bus!! Buckle up....let's hit the road!!

It was nice to be able to see everybody. When I got home we went to some friend's house for a birthday party for their two year old. We had hot dogs & a 7 layer chocolate cake!! YUM!!!

It was a nice evening with good food and good conversation!

Painting Pottery

Today my daughter & I painted potter at "The Pottery Place". She finished up her horse today. She started it earlier this week. I love the room we paint in. It's so bright & the colors are great!

Below: She started a dinner plate for her friend who's turning 8 tomorrow. Her friend is having a slumber party next weekend.
Yes, I'm painting something too. It's a kleenex cover. Oh it's been a pain to do. Too detailed! I don't know what I was thinking!! LOL It'll look great after it's cooked. It always amazes me how different it looks when it come out of the cooker.
Mom & Daughter had a great day together! I love it when I can just spend some one on one time together with one of my kids.

Giraffes & Turtles

I thought I'd share my favorite animals with you! Giraffes are great, don't you think?!! I found a website that has thousands of posters you can buy on just about anything. Here's some of my favorites I found!! The picture above just puts a smile on my face! Love it!
This one is great! Say cheese!!
Mommy kisses! This print hangs in our pediatrician office. I've always loved it!

This one just cracks me up! Slurp!


I love the long long necks on the giraffes. When we go to the zoo it's hard to get me away from them. I love watching them. I could probably stand there for hours in awe. They are just magnificent creatures. The Lord was having fun when he made the giraffe! Someday I'd like to buy 2 or 3 tall standing giraffes for my living room to put next to the couch or an end table.




Turtles have also been one of my favorites. I had a water turtle in high school and have been in love with them every sense. They are such a mellow creature. Kind of have a yellow mellow attitude. Love it!
We have a dessert turtle right now. His name is Bo Ty. I really wanted to name him Ty but my daughter wanted to name him Bo so we settled on Bo Ty. I'll add a picture of Bo Ty some other time.

A Chewing Harley

Do you ever have problems with your Harley chewing your belongs up? No? Well I sure do. I should probably tell you though my "Harley" is a 9 month old Pit. :) She's going through a chewing stage right now and the kids aren't liking it. LOL We keep her pretty active with walks and swimming and she loves to chase the kids when they are on their bikes. She's really cute & sweet and probably the best dog we've ever had. The other day it was over a hundred outside & she went for a run with hubby & the kids on their bikes. Poor little Harley came in just panting away. She kept panting too.....wouldn't slow down. I got really upset because it was scaring me how heavy she was panting......well I cried. LOL Yep, I did. I haven't cried over a dog since....well since I was a kid. LOL So you know she's tugging at those heart strings pretty good. Anyway, we finally got her to drink her water & then we put her in the tub under a cool shower & she just sat there loving it! LOL It was so darn cute! Anyway, yesterday my nephew who lives with us came into the house pretty bumbed. He had left his work hat (looks like a baseball hat with the restaurants logo on it) on his bicycle & Harley found it!! When he first showed it to me I just had to laugh! LOL There wasn't anything else I could do but laugh! My nephew wasn't very happy with me. The hat was so chewed up though that it was just too funny! He put it on and said, "I can't go to work looking like this". LOL Well, that just made me laugh more! He's a cook at a restaurant. The kind where the food is cooked right in front of you. Anyway, I told him that if he wore it to work maybe customers would feel sorry for him and tip him more! LOL LOL Ya, he didn't think that was a good idea! I can't imagine why!!!! :) I showed the hat to Harley & told her, "No, Bad Dog, No Chew", but who knows what that meant to her. She was probably thinking to herself, "Wow, Mommy thinks I did a great job on the hat"!!! My nephew took the hat to work to show everybody. I'll have him bring it back so I can add a photo of it. I owe him 8 bucks for the new hat he had to get but that's ok. I got a good chuckle out of it. Talk about cheap entertainment! I'm easily amused! Have a wonderful Day & keep an eye on those hats!! You never know when your Harley will need a chew!

Funky Town?

Lately I've been feeling pretty strange. Not physically but emotionally I guess. It's like I've reached an odd point in my life & I just want to do what I want no matter how odd it is. LOL I want to go play hard and not care about anything. Sound weird? I guess it's like the kid in me coming out again but this kid isn't as good as the one I knew when I was a teen. ;) Back then I cared more about what people thought of me so I never stretched the wild side of me too terribly much. Now it's just like....who cares!! I'm not worried about what other people think of me. My true friends know who I am inside and that's all that matters really. I've been a mom since I was 19. I did have fun in high school so it's not like I never stretched my wings. I'm just ready to see what else is out there in this world of ours.

Other cultures & ways of life are starting to interest me. I'm reading about things that would have board me years ago. Guess some of that is just because I'm getting older and maturing more. The wild part that is going on is sure fun. My best friend Debbie that I grew up pointed out to me that this all started happening around my 35th birthday. I personally don't think much of age yet. At least I didn't think I did. I've never had a huge problem with getting older but I don't like the sound of 40 that's for sure. Could it be a midlife thing I'm going through? I know one thing....my husband is enjoying it! I've shocked him a few times lately with things I've done. LOL I've got 3 new piercings...so that's 5 now counting my pierced ears & I've gotten 2 tattoos! Hubby has begged me for years to get one on my back & I always said I never would. Last month he left for a week of river sports so I got a tat! He was very happy when he saw it!
I was at Walmart tonight & bought a bunch of Rock CDs from the 80's. WhiteSnake, U2, Def Leopard, & the list goes on! I love the rock from when I was young & I love love love country music!!! Big & Rich, Toby Keith, & so on!

I've been thinking of 2 more tattoos I want. One is a nice chain around my ankle & I would like to add charms to it when ever something important to me happens. Like my 1st charm would say, "5J's" on it representing my family. Our first names all start with J. I'm also trying to think of something to symbolize my love of country music. Maybe it will be a charm on my chain or maybe somewhere else. I don't know. It's just a thought. May never do it. LOL

Tonight on our way home from Walmart (about 30 min. from home) there was the most beautiful sunset. The sky was orange over the mountains & then there was this huge flock of birds that were flying in front of me as I looked at the sunset. It was just the most wonderful site. I'm so lucky to have seen it all. God did a great job painting the sky tonight. Thank you!

I'm sure you are all wondering if I'll ever stop rambling so I'll try to wrap this up. It's funny how you go through different stages in your life. Don't ever say, "Oh, I'd never do that", because you just might someday & it may be a blast!!!! I encourage everybody to try something new every now and again! Even if you are a bit nervous about it....just try it! No matter how small or large it may be.....just try it! I think we often get in ruts. Doing the same thing all the time.....break out of that & have fun!!!!

I should probably head to bed now. It's 12:30 AM. Very late for me!!

Here's a picture of the tattoo on my lower back. Pretty huh!!

Camping - My Breath of Fresh Air!

Last week my family and I went on a camping trip. We prefer to camp on lakes in areas you can only boat to. It's so much more peaceful & you don't have to keep your dog on a chain or leash. They love just roaming the area. This last trip we went on was with some friends & their kids. Our kidos kept very busy catching salamanders. Here's a lovely picture of a bunch of them they caught. LOL Nice looking huh!?!?!?!?!!! This kept them busy for hours and hours over the course of the weekend!

They also swam and swam and swam!! Below is a picture of my friend's daughter and my daughter. She's the one telling you to "Rock On"!!! Aren't they cute!!

Here are two pictures of our friend's dog, "Sage". We made so much fun of her. She doesn't like to lay on the ground! She'll steel your chair before she'll sit on that nasty old dirt! LOL Ya, we had a big laugh over her many times. I kept trying to explain to her that she was a "DOG" not a "HUMAN" but she just didn't believe me!! We were by the water swimming at one point and she found a board to sit on instead of the ground!! OH MY GOSH SAGE!!!! YOU ARE A DOG!!!!!!!!!

My niece on our ski bob. This is the kid's favorite towable. It's very sturdy. I have to try pretty hard to get a kid to flip off this thing but of course I would never do that!! Wink! Wink!

This is my hubby with one of our sons and our dog "Harley" & yes, she knows she's a dog!! Her and Sage are actually sisters. They were born on Halloween in Oct. '05. They've just been perfect dogs!! It's funny how different they are from each other. Sage is such a priss where Harley will go and roll in the dirt just for the fun of it! Also, Harley LOVES the water! We have a hard time keeping her out of it! Sage stands at the shoreline and watches her sister swim! LOL Harley also decided she didn't like the kids swimming in the lake. She'd swim out and try to heard them in. LOL When they were just floating around the swim area with one of our boating tubes, she'd swim out to them and pull them in by the rope on the tube! She did this over and over and over again! LOL The kids would get so tired of it! After we'd get done laughing we'd call Harley over to sit with us so the kids could play without being "rescued" all the time.

By the way, my family named her "Harley Davidson Knucklehead". What a name huh! LOL :)

I love camping. It's my breath of fresh air. It's my reality check. It's my much needed break from everything. It's like paradise when I'm out there on my boat on the lake or just laying in my tent looking up at the stars. I love keeping the tarp off the tent so we can see the sky. The other thing I love doing at night while at the lake is putting my life jacket on once the stars are out and just floating in the lake and looking up at the sky. It's so peaceful.

I wish I was at the lake right now!!

David still has it!

Last night my niece, sister-in-law and I drove to the coast to see David Cassidy.
My niece really didn't have any idea who he was but was up for a night away from
the boys in our household! LOL I don't blame her there!
Anyway, there weren't too many young people at the concert. Most were mid 30's
and up.

David put on a great show! It was great to see him in person. Many people there also
had record covers and such for him to sign. I chatted with some gals with the album covers
from the 70's & showed my niece pictures of him when he was young. I was so shocked....
she didn't seem to think much of him!! UGH!! Growing up I thought he was soooo cute!
He's still cute! LOL

My sister-in-law is totally in lust....oops...I mean in love with him! LOL She was wide eyed
and jaw to the ground throughout the entire concert!

This gal in the audience had a poster, as you can see in the picture, that said, "Hey David, Be My Wallpaper"! He had a lot of fun with that one! LOL

After the concert my niece really wanted some cheese cake!! I mean she was craving it bad! We went to a few different restaurants but they were closed. Finally we went to Safeway & bought her a small frozen cheese cake. We turned the heat on in the mini van & defrosted it on the dash!! Hey, it worked!

Half way home we were stopped due to a huge line of cars. There was a car wreck. We sat there for about 30 minutes before they started letting a little bit of traffic through. Luckily nobody was killed in the wreck.

I arrived home about 1:30 AM & boy am I feeling it today!! I'm not as young as I like to think I am!! LOL My bed time is 10 PM. LOL

Does Life Ever Slow Down?

Oh what a day!! I'm am so exhausted! Some days I feel like a taxi cab...well a taxi cab that does the errands & shopping too!! Here's a sample of part of my day as a cab driver:

9:45 AM - Load 3 kids into mini van.
10:00 AM - Drive through Dutch Brothers for a morning "Buzz".
10:15 AM - Drop off niece at my friend's house so she can baby sit.
10:30 AM - Take nephew (who we have custody of) over to his mom's
house to get some of his belongings she's come across for him.
10:50 AM - Drop Daughter off at the dentist for a filling.
11:00 AM - Take nephew to his place of employment to pick up paycheck.
11:05 AM - Drive to storage unit so nephew can put his stuff from his mom
in there.
11:20 AM - Take nephew to the bank to cash his paycheck.
11:21 AM - Nephew realizes he can't find his paycheck. Tears mini van apart.
11:22 AM - Take nephew back to storage unit to see if he dropped paycheck there. UGH!!!
11:35 AM - Didn't find paycheck in storage unit.
11:36 AM - Nephew is tearing mini van apart AGAIN looking for his paycheck.
11:40 AM - THANK GOD HE FOUND THE PAYCHECK!!!!!
11:41 AM - I take paycheck from nephew & put it into my purse for safe keeping.
11:50 AM - Pick up daughter from the dentist. She did great!
12:00 PM - Take nephew back to the bank. I carried paycheck in for him & then
when he got cash I nabbed it and put it into my purse once again for
safe keeping!! I wasn't about to let him loose the cash & with his track
record today....it was very likely he would misplace it once again!
12:10 PM - Drive through McDonald's for some unhealthy yet tasty lunch.
12:20 PM - Sit & eat. How nice to have a break!!
12:45 PM - Arrive at the nail place for a pedicure.
1:15 PM - Learn that the gal wasn't coming in to work (the manicurists) due to day care
issues. Thanks for the heads up!
1:16 PM - Drive to Albany.
1:35 PM - Arrive at Costco & shop. Not a fun type of shopping that's for sure. Mainly for
vitamins & shampoos.
2:00 PM - Leave Costco & head back to Corvallis.
2:25 PM - Pick up my niece.
2:45 PM - Arrive at KMart.
3:30 PM - Load 3 kids into the mini van & nephew's new bike he just bought. Crunch!!
3:35 PM - YAWN!!
3:36 PM - Stop at the dollar store to ask sister-in-law something. She works there.
3:45 PM - Sister-in-law needs ice water so go the deli next to where she works & get
her one.....and one for me too! It's only 104 degrees outside today!!
4:00 PM - On our way home & irritated that I didn't get all my errands done!! I still
needed to get my oil changed & go grocery shopping! Oh well.....just have to
save those chores for another day!
4:15 PM - Arrive at home. Kick off flip flops, turn on my soaps I recorded, and crank the air
conditioning!
6:00 PM - UGH.....it's time to make the dinner!! UGH! UGH! UGH!

Yep, I'm a taxi cab for sure! LOL Maybe life will slow down when I have
an empty nest! LOL For now I should just enjoy it! Now, if you ever
here me say, "I have to do errands", you'll have an idea of what a crazy day
I'm going to have!!