Wine One One

I am a little concerned that my good friend BHE and all the other winos wine lovers I have come in contact with lately are rubbing off on me.

I have never been much of a wine drinker. I prefer a cold beer or a Lemon Grey Goose and Sprite (tastes just like lemonaid). If I do drink wine, it’s usually a sweeter white wine, and it must be cold. No warm (or room temp) red wine for me. However, recently I have acquired a new found taste addiction for wine. I have managed to finish an entire bottle of Reisling by myself since The Salesman has been out of town and I rarely drink during the week.

Worse yet.... I went to Sam's Club yesterday for Vitamin Water and never made it past the wine section.

I think I may be in trouble….. Better call Wine One One!

photo stolen borrowed from Big Hair Envy

Oh and as a side note.... Check out the article in the Glouster-Mathews Gazette-Journal!

Blogfest.... finally?

I am finally coming out of my Blog Fog, and see sunny skies ahead. I am in definite need of a happy post, so I thought it was about time I wrote about Blogfest! Unfortunately, I have managed to delete all of my pictures (don’t ask how, I. Have. No. Idea!) But…. Lucky for me, there are lots of people that were much smarter than me took lots of them, and managed NOT to delete them. So you will have to do like I do, and live vicariously through their blogs.

Unfortunately, my stay was cut short, and you must know I was EXTREMELY disappointed. Apparently I missed the some of best days, but you can read about them here, or here, or you can go here and get the links to all the blog stories. But for the time I did spend, it was an amazing experience and I have never met a more fun, caring, wonderful bunch of women (and a couple men). I am very thankful that I was able to put faces with names and to realize they really don’t just live in my computer. They are real people, with real lives and real families. Just. Like. Me!

I arrived at the home of our gracious host CBW to find our other gracious host BHE pouring herself a glass of wine and knew right away I was in the right place! As I attempted to get myself settled after my trek from the Ville, I noticed what an incredible spread of delicious food.

[INSERT DELETED IMAGINARY PICTURE HERE].

Leave it to me to notice the food first. I mean people drove from freaking Maine and Connecticut and flew from the West Coast and Canada for goodness sake, and I am all about the food..... I have to admit though, it was easier to find comfort with the food then with my own awkward self in a house full of people who, up until that very moment, lived in my computer. I soon realized there was no reason to be nervous, maybe it was the Cactus Lime Michelob, but no matter. I was perfectly comfortable just hangin' out with my newly found friends. It struck me as nothing short of amazing that these incredible women would travel from Connecticut, NYC, Canada, Seattle, Texas, Maine, Maryland and California to meet people that live in their computer too.


The next day was our amazing tour of Mathews by our wonderful host. We went to New Point and Bethel Beach. The sites are just amazing.

[INSERT DELETED IMAGINARY PICTURE HERE].

We saw a Tabernacle which was quite an interesting site. I wonder if they still worship there? We had the most delicious lunch at Chef Todd's in Mathews Courthouse. I was so impressed with them! When 16+ crazy excited women "dropped in" for lunch they never skipped a beat. We were seated - together- and quickly. Our food was served- together- and hot. That's pretty good for any restaurant, but for a small town joint, it was awesome! After a stop in at the Visitors Center located in Sibley's General Store it was time to head back to the lovely home of CBW for rest time.

Unfortunately, it was time for me to head out, but they continued on. I will forever remember my trip to Mathews and the amazing friends I made there. I cannot wait for next year! Wonder where it will be?

Sad Goodbyes

My children never cease to amaze me with their strength and their tenacity. Over the last few days, they have faced challenges that will forever be a part of them. (Most of which I believe are better left unsaid.) Last Monday night, I got the call that their Grandmother had passed away. They have cried for their loss, and they have tried to be grateful that she is no longer suffering. But it has been hard. Both kids were extremely close to her, and as the only grandchildren, they were the apple of her eye. CG summed it up when she read the following at the funeral on Friday…..

“To describe my Grandma in one sentence is pretty much impossible. She was nothing short of incredible to me, my brother and anyone who touched her heart. She was so stubborn and anyone who was close with her can verify that, but she was also the solid rock of the family.

I’ll always remember her amazing Freckles cooking, the many lessons she taught me and her ability to make me laugh in any given situation.

After my grandma was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, she was still a ball of spitfire and always amazed me with her strength.

Overall, she was strong, good hearted and most of all…. My hero. I’ll be missing her presence, but in my heart she’s as close to me as ever.

I love you Grandma!
Always and Forever!”

I cried as she and her brother stood before a packed funeral home and with all the strength and courage they could master, said goodbye to their grandmother.

We’ll all be missin’ you Sue…… Rest in peace.

Blog Fog

As BHE calls it, I am in "Blog Fog." I think that means I don't have the energy, or maybe it's the ability to find words, or put them together, or something along those lines. At any rate, I seem to be suffering from all of the above.

I have lots to write about and much to tell, but there has been a lot going on around here, and finding time to put it all into words seems to be a difficult task.

I highly recommend you visit the blogs of the some of the most wonderful women of which I have had the privilege to meet and spend time with! They are amazing!

Prayers

I haven't yet had a chance to post about BlogFest, and I promise I will. But we've had some rather sad news we are trying to handle here in the Crazy World.

Last March, my kids grandmother, my ex's mom, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. While my kids have little to do with their dad, we have all stayed close with their grandma. She took the news remarkably well, but no matter how you look at it, it sucks! The doctors were able to remove 95% of her tumor, but there still remained that dreadful 5%. She never spoke about it though. She just lived her life. I'll neve forget the day we talked to the oncologist for the first time and he gave her the odds. She said, "Well, I guess we will have to beat those odds!" For the last year or so, there have been chemo treatments and a few minor setbacks, but overall, has led a fairly normal life- whatever normal is.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a significant downturn in her health. She started to lose more of her eyesight, her balance became more unstable and dementia has slowly taken over. Last week she was hospitalized in the hospice unit. She is an extremely tolerant woman with a will stronger than I have ever seen. It pains me to see her so small and frail just fade away. It breaks my heart for her "grandbabies" to see her suffer. CG and Bud, her only grandchildren, put up a brave front, but it hurts them like nothing they have ever felt before. I pray every day for God to help them through this most difficult time.

Thank you for reading, and please keep Grandma Sue in your thoughts and prayers.

It's here!!!!

Well the day has finally arrived that some crazy amazing women will finally meet. Some of them already know each other as friends or family, some have only read about each other on their own blogs. No matter the relationship today, it is for sure going to be different after this weekend.

That's right bloggy friends BlogFest has finally arrived!

I was so excited to be heading out to this wonderful event that I packed yesterday. I still have to work today, and it might be quite difficult to stay focused, but I'm trying. As soon as I finish this post, I promise to get back to work.

• Camera a
• Alcohol a
• Airmatterssa
• Flip Flops a

I'm pretty sure that's as good as it gets.....

Can't wait to meet those ladies, and we're sure going to miss those that can't be there.

Birthday Surprises!!

It's been a whirlwind of a weekend. First let me apologize for the delay in this post but it has taken me a bit to recover from this past weekend.

Some of you may (or may not) know that I had a birthday on Sunday. I love birthdays because I love presents it beats the alternative. We usually celebrate birthdays with a small gathering of family but nothing over the top. Well, not so much this year. Apparently my wonderful, amazing husband thought that this milestone birthday deserved a little more.


A few weeks ago, The Salesman called me at work and told me to take Friday July 10 off. I asked why a gajillion times but never got a response. Just a "Do it, or I will call your boss and do it for you." Yes Sir!! All week leading up to that I have no idea what's in store for me day I kept asking what I was going to be doing? NO ONE WOULD TALK. I tried everything from grounding only to be lifted by Dad to waterboarding and still - NOTHING!


When the big day arrived I was told to dress casual, but nice, and to wear a blindfold! WHAT? I don't do well with my face covered, but because I am the best sport in the world I obliged. In the car we go to God only knows where. "Don't take the blindfold off until we get you out of the car" they said. Okay???? I cannot begin to describe my complete shock and excitement surprise when they removed my blindfold and in my face was my BROTHER from ATLANTA!! and his awesome girlfriend!!(I'll call him "Mr. ATL" and her "Mrs. ATL" even though they aren't married, but they should be and that is a post all in itself). My husband had managed to work with them to get them here to surprise me. Let me just say, out of all the things I had racked my brains to come up with regarding my surprise... that was not even on the list!

I could say that my post was coming to a close, but then I would be lying. After we arrived home, and I was still trying to process the fact that Mr. and Mrs ATL were here, The Salesman, CG and Bud were trying to get dinner ready. There had been a couple trips to the grocery store, a few phone calls, but nothing out of the ordinary considering the fact that we had company the for me was unexpected. I was just sitting there smiling so big my cheeks hurt playing with the dogs, and all of sudden I heard this strange voice behind me. At first I thought it was The Salesman making fun of me (not something unusual by the way) and when I turned around I almost peed my pants was TOTALLY SURPRISED AGAIN!!!!!! There standing in my kitchen was my DAD and stepmom from HOUSTON! My brother and his girlfriend- also from Houston and my sister and her husband from TULSA! Yes, my wonderful amazing husband had managed to corral ALL OF MY FAMILY!!!!! here for my birthday! I was so surprised I literally could not comprehend it all. I haven't seen any of them since last year and except for Mr and Mrs ATL, none of them had been to Virginia in at least 7 or 8 years. I was THRILLED!!!! to say the least.

The rest of the weekend played out wonderfully with the opportunity to spend time with my family, and of course the party of the year (more on that later).

On a different note- BLOGFEST this weekend!!!! I can't wait to meet everyone! It's going to be a blast. I am sure there will be many posts next week to document the craziness how much trouble fun it was!

This-N-That Thursday

• My birthday is Sunday. I'm turning 40 - ugh, I know I shouldn't, but I feel old.
• There has been a lot of secret keeping going on in my house lately. Birthday secrets maybe?
• I have new furniture on my front porch and I love it. I love to sit out there in the evenings when it finally cools down. No one else in my house seems to have the same appreciation for it, but they humor me anyway.
• I have decided my favorite ice cream is Bruster's Key Lime Pie. I'm pretty sure there are no calories in it, and if you out there in bloggy world know differently- DON'T TELL ME! What I don't know won't hurt me will it?
• I have taken almost every Friday in July off. I wonder how long it will be before people notice I am on a 4 day work week.
• Blogfest is in one week. I am pretty excited to meet everyone and it should be alot of fun. I can't wait to read all of the post Blogfest posts.
• BHE's birthday was yesterday. We are going to have BLAST celebrating our birthdays together this weekend ;)
• I wonder if there will be Karoke? Did you know Karoke means "empty orchestra" in Japenese?
• Mexico and Iceland have the highest consumption per capita of Coca Cola. I prefer Pepsi and I know that's not a Southern thing, but I don't care, I just like it better.

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Catching up.....

I've been busy, busy, busy...... not too busy to read and lurk on your blogs, but too preoccupied to write on my own. I figured it was time to play catch up and fill you in on my most boring exciting life.

As you probably know, I went to the beach last week with Mom, CG and BHE’s Snow White to see Kenny Chesney!!! What an AWESOME trip!!!

It started off a little rough, with a 4 mile back up at the tunnel from hell Chesapeake Bay Tunnel. 4 miles is a long way, not to mention the fact that all the signs said “TUNNEL BLOCKED!” In a last ditch effort to save ourselves from cussing and fussing endless hours of waiting in traffic going nowhere, I called The Salesman and asked him for a round-a-bout way to get where we were going. Since we were at the last exit before the tunnel, he says, “Turn around.” WTF? Go the other way and take this road and that road and this bridge and that tunnel and eventually you will end up on the other side of the bay. It was a 30 minute detour, but it beat 4+ hours in nowhere traffic! Gotta love VA Beach in the summertime ;)

Once we arrived at the beach, all was well.

We spent and entire afternoon on the beach, soakin’ up the rays, waiting for the infamous Kenny to show up with a fruity drink. He never did show. I guess he was hanging out with some other lucky chick and forgot his date with us getting ready for the AMAZING performance he was going to give the next day. Anywho, the girls and Mom and I had a GREAT day on the beach. We went to an awesome dinner on the waterfront and had some of the best crabcakes! Nothing better than crabcakes from the Chesapeake Bay!

And topped it off with this TollHouse Cookie Pie! Yummy :)

Our walk on the boardwalk after returning to our hotel left all of us with extremely over worked abs and cheeks exhausted from the hysterical laughing we did.

Thursday proved to be just as amazing! The weather was perfect...

And the concert- UNBELIEVABLE!

This is Cheerleader Girl (left) and Snow White (right) waiting patiently for it to start. I swear they are not related. Lady Antebellum opened up, followed by Miranda Lambert. Both of them were great! It’s awesome to go to a concert and have the performer actually sound like they do on the radio.

Then Kenny came on and he was AMAZING! He sang a some of his old stuff and a little of the new stuff. He really does put on a show! He definitely confirmed why he has been named Entertainer of the Year by the CMA so many years! He sang NON-stop for one and a half SOLID hours. The only break he took was to introduce his band! Well worth the money and I am ready for him to come back next year!

I will definitely be there :) BHE, we sure missed you.

After 2 really good days at the beach and an amazing concert, it was time to head home on Friday :( As sad as we were to leave, it is always nice to go home. The trip home proved to be just as adventurous as the trip there. This time SEVEN mile back up. So, I'm back on the phone with The Salesman, asking again for another detour. At least this time I didn't have to turn around. We managed to take this road and that road, this tunnel, that bridge, another tunnel and then back on the other side of the back up. I am not sure what it is about that Tidewater area, but I feel for those that live there. I would be in jail for numerous cases of road rage a basket case!


Let's seeeeee... what else has Momx2 been up to? I'm not really sure- that's scary!

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

Here's a shout out to all those men and women serving in the finest military in the world!

Thank you for your service!!!!!!!