A to Z ....

Today Jaime at C.R.A.F.T. posted an “ABC of her”, which I thought was cute. 

Since I don’t have any great projects to share with you guys {lazy days of summer took over} I figured I would partake in some fun mindless blogging and do the same. 

MY ABC’S:

A.= Age: 32 {weird side note: I can never remember how old I am, I have to do the math every time....yes I am weird!}

B.= Bed size: Queen

C.= Chore you hate: All of them....folding clothes gets put off the most

D.= Dogs: 2 precious wiener dogs...I woobs them

E.= Essential start to your day:  Brushing my teeth....as soon as my feet hit the ground I’m a brushin

F.= Favorite color:  I’m a Gemini so I can never decide on a favorite

G.= Gold or silver: Silver / white gold....this summer was the first time I have ever owned or worn any gold jewelry

H.= Height: 5'6"

I.= Instruments you play: None....I was a dancer not a musician

J.= Job title: Mommy

K.= Kids:  Twin girls that are 12 and twin boys that are 8 :-)

L.= Live: Mobile, Alabama

M.= Maiden name: Antoine

N.= Nicknames: My husband calls me babe, my dad calls me Mickey or Shelley, some friends call me Mischa

O.= Overnight hospital stays:  1998, when I had a C-section 

P.= Pet peeve:  I’m constantly peeved at my procrastination skills

Q.= Quote:  I can’t remember how old I am, how am I supposed to remember an entire quote??  I know there are a lot I like but I don’t know them off the top of my head.

R.= Righty or lefty: Righty

S.= Siblings: 1 younger sister

T.= Time you wake up: Weekdays - 5:15 a.m. to get the kids ready for school {once they leave I usually take a little nap :-)}  Weekends - 8 or 9

U.= University attended: Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Univ. of South Alabama (USA)

V.= Vegetables you dislike: Beets

W.= What makes you run late:  Waiting too long to start getting everyone ready to go somewhere....I really dislike getting everyone ready then sitting around until it is time to leave so I try to time it to where we get ready and walk out the door, but sometimes I don’t time it right and we end up late...so the answer would be I make myself late!

X.= X-rays you’ve had: Teeth

Y.= Yummy food: Ray Oysters

Z.= Zoo animal favorite: Oh man another favorite question....I like all of them except the reptiles, yuck

 

If you do an A to Z post about yourself leave me a comment and I will stop by to check it out!

Trying To Get On Track...

2011 was supposed to be a year of change.  I did not make any “resolutions” but I did have a few things in mind I wanted to accomplish.  

I wanted to get in shape.

I wanted to start working on my project to do list. 

I wanted to practice photography. 

I wanted to become a more active blogger. 

The year started out pretty good.  I started to get healthy and was on track to accomplish my goals. 

Then life decided to throw a curve ball. 

Last month my father in law suddenly got sick.  A doctor told him he had contracted Hepatitis A and would feel better in 2-3 weeks.  On February 3, 2011 he had to go to the ER because the pain was so intense.  That night we learned he did not have Hepatitis A, he had something much worse......PANCREATIC CANCER.  The ER doctor told us it was bad, gave him 3 months to live.  Unfortunately he only lived 17 more days.  He died Sunday, February 20, 2011. 

 

My husband was very close to his father.  He was a huge part of our lives and we are pretty lost without him.  Now that he has passed, we are caring for his 17 year old daughter.  Adjusting to another person in the house hasn’t been too bad especially since she loves to clean! 

Now that things are getting back to normal I plan to pick up where I left off and I look forward to sharing all the nitty gritty details with you all!

P.S.  We love you Val, you will be truly missed!

Penny Pitcher Draft Beer Has Been Good To Me

5 years ago today, I met Alex; the greatest man in the world!  I am so thankful and blessed to have met him.

If you are looking to hear about how we met in school or at work and fell in love, you will have to look elsewhere.  Our story is a little less sophisticated, but none the less it is our love story and I look forward to one day telling my grandchildren how their “Gramps” {hehe} and I met. 

We are some classy people because on December 23, 2005 we met at a bar on penny pitcher night. 

We hit it off somewhat, which I am sure many thanks are in order to the penny pitchers of draft beer we consumed. 

 

{Yes this is the actual pitcher from the night we met}

After some time Alex drank too much and before I knew it he was singing Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night” to me. 

He started to get on my nerves.  I bolted when he tried to land a big slobbery kiss on me.

Apparently we exchanged numbers because in his drunken state he tried to call a few times that night, I ignored his calls. 

For some reason I felt bad for him the next day, so I called to check on him.  We hit it off again, this time without being inebriated. 

We saw each other every day and 3 weeks after meeting we moved in together.

  I know....I know.....I KNOW how CRAZY that sounds, especially with all the psychos in our world, but believe me I knew this was the real deal.  Even weirder was the fact that my strict mother {whom he met 5 days after we met} did not fuss or lecture me one bit, it was like she also knew he was the one and she was totally okay with us moving in together {so weird}.

As they say, the rest is history.

Never in a million years, while he was serenading me that fateful night we met, did I think that same song would be the song Alex and I danced to for our first dance as husband and wife.  Seriously, I’ve always thought Frank Sinatra was cool, but I had no idea his music was that powerful :~)

Alex, I love you and am so thankful our lives crossed paths 5 years ago.  I can’t imagine life without you and the boys!

What’s On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

If you want to join this week’s party be sure to visit Jessica here and join the link up, while you are there grab her snazzy button.

I hate I missed late week’s awesome party, you can check out the awesomeness from last week here. 

Time to play catch up!

We’ve been doing a lot of wrapping around our house. Last year my husband wrapped EVERYTHING, but I decided to join in on the fun this year. Wow nice and blurry. 

We have lived in our house for 3 years and this was the first time we have ever used our fireplace.

A customer bought our rims right off our truck, so we had to get some new 26’s to properly represent the wheel shop.

I stripperfied my nails to be festive and match an outfit to attend a Dirty Santa Party.

I bought a new cute sparkly clutch for the same Dirty Santa Party.

We received our annual shipment of baked goodies from my mother in law, all the way in New York.  Her cookies are amazing, even after shipping they are still just as fresh as the day she makes them. 

I dropped my girls off at the mall for an hour and let them carry my phone so I could call them {since I am a mean mommy that thinks 6th graders don’t need their own; been there, tried that, won’t try it again for a while} and they apparently had fun playing dress up in Claire’s.

Since the kids are out of school we have been crafting.

And lastly, it seems like all I do is clean....this is our new puppy hiding from the vacuum. 

Now it’s your turn.  So run and get your phones so you can link up!

What Is On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

I have been MIA the last 2 or 3 weeks of this awesome link party thrown by Jessica over at The Lowe Family News and I am mad, very mad at myself. 

To make up for lost time I will unload it all on you guys today and I promise to narrow it down to the bestest of the best! 

I missed the 2nd week of this party because I was still recovering from a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama with my friend Brenda.  We went to watch Alabama football!!  We had a great time, our boys won the game and we had an even better time afterwards partying it up like we were college students! 

Many thanks to my great husband for staying with the kiddos while I played. 

 

I’ve been busy with the kids.  I got to enjoy Thanksgiving lunch with Dominick at school and went on a field trip with Marissa and Bailey.

Alex brought a bouquet of flowers home for no reason at all....I love him!

Getting four kids dressed and ready {by myself} to see Santa ended up being a major ordeal.  After loading everyone in the truck and locking the house, I realized my keys were sitting on my kitchen table. 

Luckily a window was unlocked so I had to tear up a window screen {which due to it's great quality took me 15 minutes to tear the screen so I could rip it out of the window} in order to get in my house and get my keys. 

Lastly, we had a weak moment and bought a new puppy!  We have one wiener dog and thought it would be a great idea to get another {what were we thinking?}.  She is so cute and yummy!

  If you want to join in on this fun party click here NOW!

What Is On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

I’m a genius...ok not really but this hot mamma Jessica is a genius! 

Recently she started posting blogs to chronicle her phone picture taking addiction.  This is right up my alley since I usually have my phone camera, my regular digital camera, my DSLR and my Flip video camera within a fingers distance away at all times. 

I told her I wanted to copy her posts but I did not like to be a copy cat so I suggested she have a link party to celebrate her brilliant idea and low and behold she having a link party so we can all share our life events via our phone pictures!  Be sure to join the party here, you are guaranteed to meet some great people. 

Let’s get on with the brilliance:

I am beginning to understand why my children hate taking pictures with me.  While traveling to a haunted train/house I tried to take a picture of me and some of the kids.  After 4 attempts of me trying to not look like I have a double chin I finally gave up and realized my arm was not long enough to get all of us in the picture without me looking like a goon. 

In the fall/winter I usually darken my hair.  Please focus on my hair and how my eyes pop instead of me not having any makeup on....thanks. 

My suburban is even more fabulous with the addition of sun visors that aren’t really sun visors but 10” TV screens.

We threw our annual Halloween party and had a bonfire which could have burned down our garage and an oak tree...luckily no such things happened and we had a great evening.

Two days ago I celebrated my 1st wedding anniversary and we pulled the cake top out of the freezer.  It was actually still very moist and tasty. 

Christmas is nearing and the kids are starting to get in the spirit.  I am starting to see lists like this laying all around my house.  My favorite is #5 (“suitable” lip-gloss  - since we don’t allow our girls to wear makeup) and #8 (the “can’t be boring” part). 

That’s all for now, well there is a lot more, but this is a good summary.  I will be on the prowl looking for pictures for next week’s party!

Planning a NYC Christmas Trip

I am convinced I was born into the wrong family.  I was born in Mobile, AL but for some odd reason I have always felt like I belonged in New York City {or any area within an hour to the city}. 

Growing up I took dance and was a member of a few dance companies that performed and competed.  My love for dance fueled my desire to live in NYC. 

I had my life mapped out.  I planned on moving to NYC after high school.  I was going to audition for Broadway shows, fall in love with a man from NYC{with mafia connections}{yes I am a little twisted} and due to him being a mamma’s boy we would live in New York so he could be close to his family.

Years later, I met and married Alex.  He is from Long Island, NY {cute accent and all}, he has ties to the mafia {I am going to ask him if it is ok if I elaborate at a later time, it would make for an interesting blog post}, and he is a mamma’s boy!  The cruel twist of fate is that he REFUSES to move back to New York unless we have bunches and bunches and bunches of money sitting in the bank. 

After 5 years of failed attempts to make the 1254 mile journey to New York with 4 kids we are FINALLY {for real, officially, done deal} going to make the trip to NY for Christmas. 

The kids and I plan on spending about 2 weeks in NY with my mother in law.  My husband can’t miss that much work so he will arrive after us, in time for Christmas. 

Alex and I have two different ideas on the perfect trip. 

I want to {this is just a sample of my plans}:

• Spend a day or two in the Hamptons {Alex’s aunt and grandmother live there).
• Attend The Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
• Go to Carlos Bakery {home of the Cake Boss on TLC} in Hoboken, NJ.
• Freeze my buns off to see a taping of The Today Show.
• Take the kids to ice skate in Rockefeller Plaza.
• Shop.
• Visit the World Trade Center Memorial.
• Visit Central Park.
• Leave the kids with their grandmother, so I can just walk around NYC and take photos with my new DSLR.
• Go to Macy’s or somewhere crazy on Christmas Eve just to be in the midst of last minute NYC shoppers.
• See the department store holiday window displays.
• FAO Swartz.
• Visit a friend from high school that lives in NY. 
• Drive around with my husband so he can reminisce and tell me about his childhood in New York.

Alex wants to:

• Stop by the pizzeria he used to co-own so he can eat some pizza.
• Nap.
• Go back out to another pizzeria around the corner.
• Nap.
• Go eat at his favorite diner.
• Nap.
• Go to another pizzeria.

You get the gist.  He has already mapped out the trip from the airport to his mother’s via multiple pizzerias.  I say he is crazy, he says I am crazy! 

I would love to hear your suggestions for things we must do while we are in New York, the great city that is on my bucket list as a place I MUST live before I die!

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

The last couple of months I have been feeling very BLAH. 

There is NO reason I should be feeling this way. 

I am married to the man of my dreams.

I have 4 beautiful children.

We are fortunate to have a boat and can go fishing anytime we want.

Football season is upon us.

I have great friends and we have awesome football parties every weekend.

ROLL TIDE!!

So WHAT is my problem?????

The only thing I can figure is I am not happy with MYSELF. 

The old saying of once you get married you gain weight has been more then just a saying, it has been my reality. 

While organizing photos on my external hard drive I found some pictures which inspired depressed me.  The picture below shows what I looked like a few years ago -- mind you my twin daughters had already started elementary school when this picture was taken.  {Yes I look like a hoochie, but give me a break I was going to a Mardi Gras Ball and I looked GOOD!!}

This is me now.  {Please note I do not have any pictures of my entire body because I refuse to take any.} 

I am ready to feel like the “old” me.

Feeling BLAH has kept me from doing things I want to do....

I want to blog, but don’t because I feel BLAH. 

I want to redecorate my house, but don’t because I feel BLAH.

I want to go out every now and then, but don’t because I feel BLAH. 

I want to shop for new clothes, but don’t because I feel BLAH.

I am sick of feeling BLAH!

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

Enough of being BLAH, I am not a BLAH person. 

I would like to warn everyone the old Michelle will be back very, very soon so get ready because HERE I COME!!

Yard Sale Finds and Tropical Storms

A post about yard sale finds and tropical storms is an odd combination of topics BUT that is what I am thinking about, so I therefore must blog about them both......the good and the bad....

THE GOOD:  YARD SALE FINDS

Today I was looking on Craigslist and saw a C-H-E-A-P-O dresser and table I wanted to check out, come to find out they were located at a yard sale on the same street I live on just around the corner!!

The dresser ended up being cheap in a bad way not a good way, but don't fret because I came out with some great stuff.  This was my first time to go to a yard sale so I am pretty happy about finding something I think is pretty cool!

Look at this G-I-N-O-R-M-O-U-S frame!!!!!  You can bet a pretty penny that I will be painting the monster of a frame {which is 57" x 33"}, but I am not 100% sure what color or where I will put it.  We are planning a bedroom redesign for my girls and I am thinking this would make a great pin board with fabric hanging over my idea of a desk big enough for both of them to do homework!

A closer look

I was going to run to Lowe's this afternoon to pick up some primer for plastic {for another project I am working on}, but that trip has been canceled because there was some at the yard sale and it only cost me $.25 woo hoo!!  I picked up some other spray paint just to have on hand because you can never have too much spray paint especially when it is that CHEAP!

THE BAD:  TROPICAL STORMS

Earlier this year we bought a boat.  Let me introduce you to my husbands new love of his life.....

The boat is a classic {it is older then me}. I was born in 79 and the boat is a 78 model.  We bought it from the original owner who stored it in covered dry storage and who had never taken the boat in salt water since he used it only a few times on a lake in Georgia.  The hull has the original gel coat from 1978 and you can still vividly see your reflection!!

It's the kind of boat that when we are at the boat launch all the other guys launching boats {even those with much newer and bigger boats} come to our boat to ooooo and aaahhhh and ask us all about the boat.

We bought the boat this March and took it out a few times, we soon realized the motor leaked oil and after many attempts to fix the problem {yes we look like rednecks with the engine hanging from a tree...please stop laughing} we decided to buy a new motor and new exhaust.

 

Now here we are almost 5 months later, finally with a new motor/exhaust, we have planned our FIRST boating day on our awesome boat with friends this Sunday {my husbands only day off} and what would you know......A TROPICAL STORM IS COMING OUR WAY THIS SUNDAY, UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH

There you have it... both the good and bad of my day.

UPDATE.....since the drafting of this post earlier today, the estimated time of landfall for this storm is going to happen sooner then what they thought! This means that I just may be able to enjoy a day out on the boat!!

Lesson Learned

What blogging lesson did I learn??? 

I learned it was a BAD idea to start a blog around the same time 4 children start their summer vacation.  

I have not had much time to be creative or blog because I have been busy being a referee!

You see, having twin girls who are 11, entering middle school and feel they are grown has been quit challenging this summer.  

Throw in a "bratty" {so they think} brother and you have a recipe for many FUN {enter sarcasm here} days!! 

I have quite a few to do lists {yes I am one of those that writes lists just to write them and then I lose them} laying around.  This week and next week are filled with school registrations and doctor appointments.  The next week we will be at the Gulf for a before school vacation and then August 9th they will be off to school!!

So PLEASE hang in there with me and I will be up and running very soon!!