Me - McDreamy - Some Rocks

so - i have a really vivid imagination. and i so love grey's anatomy (though was a little let down by this season's premiere. i will wait until next week and see if they can redeem themselves with me.) i digress...

so - i have this dream. it's like in technicolor. i am in the back yard of what should someday be my dream house. i am with a girl friend explaining the landscaping project "we" are working on , having done, etc. i am telling her - "we" are doing this, "we" are doing that, all the while the landscape crew is working moving around this HUGE rocks. boulders if you will. (IRL - i love rocks in landscape - lots of them) so there is this huge hole in the ground where a pool used to be (this is true in my real life too) and the crew are moving these boulders into this hole - to fill it in and then begin covering it with dirt fill. all the while i am telling my friend out plans - i have the coolest dog at me feet. and up walks the other half of me... he bends down to pet the dog - and only then do i realize the other half of ME is MCDREAMY! and he freaks out. starts yelling at the crew telling them that was not what "WE" wanted to do with the rocks! he says - "haven't i told you people enough how important these rocks are to my WIFE! she loves ROCKS!"

OK - STOP LAUGHING. i cracked up when i woke up from the dream. what's funny about it... the guys i used to date when i was a teen were very patrick dempsey like in his younger age... i need some sleep...............

PAPER RACKS

Ok - these lovely paper racks can be yours - both for $75.00. They take up about 15x15 inch square of floor space and are about 4 feet tall. Same ones you see in the LSS. I have opted to go vertical to make more sense of my small, small space.

If interested - please leave me a comment with your email and I will get back to you!

Thanks!

The Way I Am...

6 more minutes...

"I'm the girl from the bar..."

ahhh - ABC premiere week. Life is good. Fall is good. Premiere week - GOOD. It is 5 hours from the time my life will once again be complete. Grey's Anatomy. oh sweet love for something grey really does matter in my life. I think I will wear a grey shirt tonight while i watch. It's grey outside. I've been in a Grey mood for weeks. Grey.

So - since I have been a horrible blogger - lists seem like a good thing to get caught up.

• it's too hot to be fall.
• premiere week makes me very happy.
• do the terrible twos really last until 3 and then i have the effin fours?
• i have to have more tests done next week for my stomach. my guess on the illness of the month in my life - ulcers.
• i have a new boss. that really sucks ass. i LOVED my boss.
• i am REALLY in the mood to be creative.
• i won a prize box from making memories. that friggin rocks.
• october is going to be an amazing month. because i said so.
• my dog bailey is about the coolest dog. ever. period. (ok - besides holly's dog oscar)
• it's too hot to be fall.
• my mother and i will never again see eye to eye.
• i'm finding ways to be happy - easily.
• the bottom floor of my house is clean.
• the top half is not.
• mending the broken bond by dr. frank lawlis proves to be an extraordinary book so far.

i think that's about all i've got for now. and i love that line from the previews for GA.. because i really am the girl from the bar - and he married me!

happy fall. y'all and enjoy premiere week!

NINE. ELEVEN.

so in meeting some new paper craft women tonight - they all have school age children. we are going through our calendars, coordinating some meetings for the next few months. they begin talking about school activities. one of the women is German, born in Mexico and only recently moved to the states - and she asks - "what was the holiday today? or was it yesterday? the kids had to dress in red, white and blue. patriotic day?" we all look at each other puzzled and consider flag day - but know that to be sometime early summer - so we are all puzzled. she says - "no - it was patriot's day? this not an American holiday?" we looked at each other again - and it dawned on me - that is right, today is Patriot's Day. 9.11. - did you hear me? NINE.ELEVEN. for those of us not directly reflected, do we already forget? i felt ashamed to be an American. i woke up today with that same odd, like the earth is off balance feeling like i do every year on this day - i reflected and recounted this morning while i had my coffee. it felt off. but do you believe, by the end of the day - i was unaffected? shame on me. and shame on any of you other Americans who completely forgot what today was all about. PATRIOT'S DAY. it's on the newer calendars. why the HELL isn't it a federal holiday? again - often times - embarrassed to be an American.

take a moment, hell - take hours - learn - realize what it must have been like. to be there. to lose someone. don't be shameful. remember it each and every year. every day. our boys and girls are over there fighting for us. for what? so we can forget? nope. never again. not me.

Patriot's Day - as told to me by a Mexico City born German girl.

think on it.

VALIDATION

such a strong word if you really delve deep into the meaning of it. why is it, so few people in your life are capable of validating? it should be a skill taught to our youth. a common courtesy - like saying please or thank you.

one of my very dear and loved friends talked to me about this last night. and he was so spot on. this little blurb from wikipedia really hits it on the head:

"In psychology and human communication, validation is the reciprocated communication of respect which communicates that the other's opinions are acknowledged, respected, heard, and (regardless whether or not the listener actually agrees with the content), they are being treated with genuine respect as a legitimate expression of their feelings, rather than marginalized or dismissed."

this reminded me of a theory I once realized in my dark and gloomy twenties - there are people that talk. there are people that listen. there are people that simply wait to talk. you don't ever want to be that person. the person that waits to talk is so self involved they don't have the time or right to listen to you talk. a perfect combination is the person that can listen, validate, and talk. point blank. that is who you want you "person" to be.

i'm pretty fortunate. i've got a few "persons". they get me. they VALIDATE ME. one of those "persons" was in my life as a teen and has recently come back into my life. it's like a breath of fresh air. a renewed sense of self. to know - wow - someone else on this planet really gets me.

so go ahead with your day. but take this with you - the next time you are having a conversation - are you simply waiting to talk? thinking of the next thing to say? or are you there, in the moment, listening, giving your conversation partner validation - respect. now that you've thought about this - you will always be conscious of it with each conversation you have.

happy humpday. now go forth and validate.

I saw Wilbur in my sleep...

so the morning routine goes like this:

I walk in to wake up the still sleeping child:

ME: hiiii baby!!! morning! did you sleep well? did you have good dreams?

HER: (normally) hiiii momma! yeah....

(yeah is the answer to anything even when you ask the child - do want a punch in the nose? yeah!!!!)

HER:(today) hiiii momma! i had good dreams. i saw wilbur!!!

ME: you saw WILBUR? the PIG? when? where?

HER: when i sleeped momma!

ME: really? you mean you dreamt about wilbur the pig?

HER: hehe - yeah momma. when i sleeped.

ME: who baby! how exciting! good dreams!

HER: yeah - hehe - momma - he's sooo cuuute! wilbur!!!

my girl EFFIN ROCKS!!! she's already dreamin like it's her job just like her momma! in technicolor, no less!

I present to you...

The NEW Simpson Family...

Shelley Simpson

Kennedy Simpson

Ron Simpson

The bed is made and my coffee cup makes me happy

i know, a long post title - but it's the truth. part of my keeping home in order progress will be to "attempt" to make the bed everyday. however, "they" say that a made bed harvests and incubates those nasty dust mites i am apparently allergic to. yet, an unmade bed harvests and incubates my dog as he decides it's HIS bed during the day. ok bailey. the jig is up. no more snuggling UNDER the covers in the dead of summer, because you are too proud to curl up under my feet under my desk like any normal dog should. yes. you are too cool.

and the coffee cup? from none other than target. too perfect. too me. thick, ceramic, chocolate brown with some floral, bird, butterfly thingy designed on it in yellow, teal and a pinkish burgundy. happy morning coffee love.

the mug 3.99
the housekeeper 175.00
my annual bonus 131% over plan
my happiness and sense of accomplishment - priceless

happy thursday

I REALLY CAN BUY MY OWN HAPPINESS...

i have always been of the school of though that money cannot buy happiness. but you know what? that's not true. really. it's not. it can. trust me. i have been fighting getting my home in order for over two years now. when i moved in here, i was 5 months pregnant. didn't realize when the house was being shown, how filthy dirty the people that lived before us really were!

two and half years later, and countless arguments with the DH about hiring a housekeeper, i won. and you know how i won? i hired one and just plain didn't tell him! period. they are here and i am about as gleeful as a child running around looking for change to spend on the ice cream man as his little truck tools through the neighborhood playing what the hell is that song? i am giddy. excited! i want to scream it from the rooftops! i have arrived people!!! i can finally afford a housekeeper!!!!! wooo hooo!!!

really. is a little over a hundred bucks to much to ask to buy sanity for your wife? i think not. cleanliness is next to godliness. so, we'll see once my home shines like a shrine! it is the number 1 top item on my list of frustrations... cleaning the house to a point of satisfaction. i've never achieved it. ever. hopefully this is the dawn of a new day.

on other fronts...

i decided i'd take some time off last week and have my gall bladder removed. i mean, it's one of the useless organs we have been given. why not? right? oh, did i mention it was 90% full of gall stones? yes, people, that's 90%. so, i had it out. dr. tyler, the same doc that got the pleasure of removing my gross thyroid took care of me. let me tell you, that man is an artist. i have 4 incisions... 6 days post op, that look like paper cuts. not even noticeable once they heal 100%. today is the first day, i can honestly say, i feel great. i ate - didn't feel sick after like i used to. and who knew? i never even knew i was having gall stone issues. i had had a stomach ache "episode" the week before and just couldn't shake the pain. so i went to the doc and here we are.

that being said - five surgeries in four years.. i need to work on something to get done next year! hey, what about the appendix? i only need one kidney and one lung.. let's DO THIS! seriously, though.. i really, truly, madly, deeply hope this turns a corner for me and i am on the road to good health. i've been fighting something, consistently for two years solid now. pancreatitis, pneumonia, 10 sinus infections, the flu, constant stomach problems, aches, pains, oh and did i mention the depression and anxiety of my 20's returned? or did my post partum baby blues just get put on a delay and then resurfaced after the baby was over a year old?

so... i have a new outlook. my home and my health are my #1 priority. if all of that is squared away, everything else should just fall into place. i am believing in this. i have to. the fight has worn me out and i am tired of faking my happiness.

all in due time, right?