Look who's having a birthday :)

Today is Cheerleader Girl's 17th Birthday.... she has gone from this...............

to this.........

Happy Birthday Cheerleader Girl!!!!!!

I love you!

SNOW

It SNOWED! A lot! Well, a lot for us. Its the most snow we've had in several years. The kids have been out of school since Monday- 3 DAYS! I am going to have to apply for government bail out money to continue to feed them. They go back tomorrow! Thank goodness :) I got one snow day out of it.... that was enough for me.

Sunshine had a BALL in the snow! She chased the snowballs and wanted to be outside ALL the time. That wouldn't be a big deal except that she didn't want to be outside by herself and it was TWELVE degrees. Now, we ski, so we know about snow- we even like it- but TWELVE degrees is freaking cold.

It will be gone by the weekend- Spring is on the way with 75 degree temps for Saturday. Gotta love Virginia weather right?

To God, From Dog

Dear God: Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reversed?

Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story?

Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a Dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'?

Dear God: If a Dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad Dog?

Dear God: We Dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand?

Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good Dog.

1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.

2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.

3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.

7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'.

8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table

9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.

10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt.

11. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch.

12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.

P.S. Dear God: When I get to Heaven may I have my testicles back?

Husband Tag

I stole this from Suz over at Day by Day, and thought since it was close to Valentine's Day, it would be a good time to share.....

You are supposed to tag 4 people, but I'm going to leave it up to all of you if you want to participate or not (not everyone loves their husbands- haha)

1)Husbands Name: The Salesman.

2)How long have you been married? It will be 11 years in May- feels like forever.

3)How long did you date? Not quite a year- it was love at first sight!

4)How old is he? 38 Next week!

5)Who eats more sweets? Definitely me. He requires less sugar to keep his sweetness level up. I, however, require lots and lots.

6)Who is the better singer? The radio for sure.... it beats us both out on any given day :)

7)Who is smarter? Me of course, just ask me. Naww, just kidding, he is defintely smarter about some things (ahem, saving money- I mean not spending money)

8)Who does the laundry? Usually me, but he helps out... a lot. At least when he is in town.

9)Who pays the bills? Definitely him! I usually get the - "excuse me, could you STOP shopping!!" line.

10)Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does, although sometimes he gets up on the "wrong" side... oh wait, that's me.

11)Who mows the lawn? Bud, haha.

12)Who cooks dinner? Whatever chef is working at our favorite restaurant. Just kidding, I'd say its a 50/50 thing when he is in town. But he is the grill master for sure!

13)Who drives? Him !! I hate to drive. I would much rather ride. It allows me to do what I want and give driving advice at the same time.

14)Who is the first to say they are wrong? Well since I am never wrong, that would be him.

15)Who kissed who first? Um, not really sure, I think it just happened.

16)Who asked who out first? He couldn't resist me, so he asked me out first for sure.

17)Who wears the pants? Well him of course. He would look pretty funny in a dress. I would seriously have to start questioning how well I really knew The Salesman ;)

He's a keeper !!!!

CLEAR THE ROADS!

This weekend Bud got his LEARNER'S PERMIT. That's right folks - Clear the roads- My baby boy is driving! WHOOO - HOOOO! I am very excited for him because it's a freakin big deal! We headed out to DMV on Saturday so he could take his test- along with every strange, weird person in the entire city! I am not usually judgemental, but there were some really strange people out this weekend- maybe it was the weather .

Anyway, in our state you have to pass 2 tests. One is for signs- a 10 or 15 question test that is strictly on signs. You can't miss ANY, not one. If you miss a sign, the computer shuts off and you have to wait a week to come back and take the test again. The second test is 25 questions general knowledge (common sense) of which you can miss 5. Read the book, pass the test. Signs are first, so when 5 or 10 min had passed I figured Bud was in the clear. (Note to self: get a manicure today since ALL 10 of your nails are now missing due to the impatient nail biting done at DMV on Saturday). Then came the moment of truth, when he walked away from the machine.... wait for it..... yep, there's the smirk and a nod to say "Hell ya! I passed!"

All kinds of emotions go through a mom when that happens....

"Yea! my baby passed his test!".....

"Awww, I'm so proud of him.".....

"OH SHIT!!!!!"

I Survived!!!

It was 6am on Sunday morning just one day after the coldest day of the winter season. (I say season, because its only January something and “the year” didn’t seem to have enough impact). I rolled out of bed wondering why am I doing this? I drag my feet down the hall to my kids’ room to wake them, and they give me the “Are you kidding me” grunt but they too, roll out of bed. We all layer in UnderArmor and Hot Chillys, fleece pants and shirts, and mosey downstairs. I am in dire need of coffee. My husband, bless his heart, realizes this and already has a cup with cream and sugar awaiting my arrival. He has also made pancakes and loaded the car with the PILE of stuff laying in the dining room floor (did I mention it was 6am?) After breakfast we load into the car, along with Cheerleader Girl’s boyfriend and head North. I’m thinking to myself “I’m probably going to die today.” Fortunately I don’t mean in the literal sense. We headed up the mountain to Massanutten Ski Resort for a fun-filled day of skiing and snowboarding (ahem… did I just say fun?). We haven’t done this in 2 years, and I have not done any serious working out in the last couple, months, I mean years, so I am pretty sure I am going to be so sore later that I can’t walk. But I do it anyway. Ya, know what? I SURVIVED!! And surprisingly enough, I really didn’t have that much trouble walking the next day. Must be the alcohol- haha. Below are some pictures from our fun, fun day.

I mean it is early, but this is Gangsta Ninja in the flesh :)

The Salsman is now a rastafarian stormtrooper.

Proof that we were there, and actually did ski! See BHE, I swear I didn't sit by the fire all day drinking Hot Toddies ;)
Bud was snowboarding Black Diamond slopes (those are the hard ones) by the end of the day. By himself of course, cuz I dang sure can't do them.

Cheerleader Girl makes it looks so easy!

She always looks so pretty with all of her garb on. I look like someone took an airhose and hooked it up to my jacket and turned it on full blast! It's just not fair!!!!

My favorites :) We all had a lot of fun......

......... Until next time :)

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall....

I have become my mother after all.

Don't get me wrong.... that's not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, all things considered, it's a pretty darn good thing, but still!

As I ventured out on my lunch hour yesterday, I looked down only to realize that my fuel gauge looked something like this:

And my "how many miles left on this tank" guage said 19 !

Now, it was cold here yesterday… not like it is where Pleasing Procastinator is, but cold enough that the thought of getting gas just made me shiver (and curse)- a lot. And it's going to be even colder tomorrow. At any rate, it was a necessity, so I had to do it. Especially since today it is only 15 degrees here but with the wind chill it is in the single digits. (I mean it is above zero, but not by much). While I was sitting in my car waiting for it to fill up (yes, I know your not supposed to do that, but it was cold) I’m thinking to myself, how many times has Mom said, “Never run your gas tank below ¼ of a tank. You just never know when you might get stuck.”

Well, some things you never learn.... but it made me think about some of the other things my mother used to say.

Below are a just a few of them. Actually, she still says some of them. The only differences now are that

a) I don’t have to listen to them.

b) I DO listen to them and the best one….

c) I actually repeat them to my own kids.

“I hear what you are saying, but look at it this way…..”

“Make sure you wash your face and brush your teeth before you go to bed.”

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” (I know, not real original, but she still said it)

“A place for everything, and everything in its place.”

I’m sure there is a TON more…. I just can’t seem to think of them, go figure ;)

(by the way Mom, if your reading this… I love you!!)

What things did your mom used to (or still does) say to you that you now find yourself saying to your own children?

Wrestling Weekend!

For those of you that don’t know, my son, Bud, is a wrestler. He started wrestling when he was in 6th grade for his middle school and for a recreational youth club. He didn’t wrestle a single middle school match until his 8th grade year and then he went undefeated. But let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy road….. he joined a club where he practiced with state champions and got his butt kicked 3 or 4 days a week, trained under nationally known coaches at camps in Pennsylvania(a state known for it’s wrestling) for weeks in the summer, traveled far and wide to meet the toughest competition he could get. He took his first year of high school off because he didn’t weigh enough to wrestle the lowest weight class (103 pounds) but finally, this year, he is able to wrestle. The other kid on his team in the same weight class is a senior and state ranked, so Bud only wrestles sub-varsity (kind of like JV, but not really). Which, for him- and mom, at this point is just fine……

This past weekend was one of many more to come…. All about wrestling. Bud’s team was in a tournament with 20 other teams that went from 2pm -10pm on Friday and 10am – 9pm on Saturday. That’s a lot of wrestling!!! I love to see my son on the mat! When he wins there is no better feeling than when I see his face light up and his teammates cheer for him. But I gotta tell ya- There is just something not right about the “singlets” they wear. You know, the skimpy, too tight, piece of material that looks like it was painted on?? Who in the world came up with that “uniform?” I know, I’m a wrestling mom, and I should probably have an answer – but I just don’t. Wrestlers have to be the LEAST modest people on the face of the high school planet! They don’t care what shows, what it looks like when it shows, and who sees it. I’m a mom, I don’t really think about it that way because, well, I’m a mom- and I’m a wrestling mom. So I’ve been around a lot of wrestlers for a while now, but high school is a whole different beast. And there are LOTS of HIGH SCHOOL girls there! I just wonder what THEIR moms are thinking?? I keep telling my son…. Put some dang clothes on! Those girls don’t need to be looking at you that way! He’s a wrestler, and a guy and his response is “Huh?” I guess this will continue to be a question for which I have no answer. If anyone has an answer, please enlighten me!

Hope everyone else’s weekend was Wonderful!