NEW LOVE

WEll, I have found a new love. I absolutley love to have my nails painted. I love it. I am I die hard O.P.I. nail color fan. Love it. BBBBUUTTTT....as I was wondering the beauty section of my local WalGreens...I came across a cute lil display of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in a bunch of cute summer colors. I absolutely fell in love with "Gunmetal". Its a dark gray and I love it. I'll post a pic later of my color on my nails. I got a cute pink glitter and an even cuter light sea green color. WONDERFUL. Just thought I would share ;)

**PRODUCT REVIEW: MASCARA**

Okay, so like I have said before, when I fall in love with something, I shove it down everyone's throats :0) so, here's my latest LOVE:





L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara. Wonderful....it makes my lashes thick and beautiful and I love it. Unconditonally :)

The only other mascara in the world I have ever found that I loved as much as this was the fat yellow tube of Maybelline Mascara, sadly that relationship did not last as I am allergic to Maybelline mascara and it burned my eyes :( But nonetheless, this mascara has stolen my heart ;)

Hollywood Sadness

I hate hearing about death. It makes me so sad. And this week, that seems to be all we are surrounded by. It is so sad to think that some of the people I loved when I was younger or associated with things I loved when I was younger are gone. I used to LOVE Star Search. I watched it religiously. It was awesome!! And come one - you all know you used to GET DOWN to some old school Michael Jackson. And can any of you honestly say that you didn't want to grow up to look as beautiful as Farrah Fawcett? I mean come on...ITS FARRAH FREAKIN FAWCETT! Its just so sad in Hollywood right now.

R.I.P. Ed McMahon
R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett
R.I.P. Michael Jackson

R.I.P.

Movie Review **THE PROPOSAL**

Okay, so I watched the proposal the other night (from my laptop, so wonderful) - and I LOVED IT. I am so into SAndra Bullock - she's hilarious and even though I am not a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds - he did awesome in this movie!! I would watch this over and over and over. So cute, sweet, witty and funny. I would definitely recommend this to anyone in the mood for a good date movie or girls night out!

Watch and let me know what you think!

Dentist Appointments

I took my kids to their dentist appointment this morning. Carson wouldn't have none of it, they got to see his mouth for about five seconds - just long enough to say he had severe cavaties that were causing his teeth to shatter. He had another tooth COMPLETELY gone on the other side. I was so mortified - I felt like the worst mother in the world whose child's teeth were just falling out!! Since Carson wouldn't let them take xrays or anything he has to see a specialty pediatric dentist in the morning to save the teeth. Well, when Ms. Shanna bug come in, I was terrified...she jumped up in the chair and opened her mouth wide and let him do whatever necessary. Her teeth, however, were perfect. Not a cavity one, nothing. Text book perfect. Bu they use the same toothpaste and brush their teeth at the same time. So why does one kid have horrible teeth and the other have perfect? It doesn't make sense.

So, I get to take Mr. Man to the other dentist and have him sedated so they can work on his teeth. Poor baby.

My poor hunnies / Happy Father's Day

They get to go to the dentist tomorrow. I am a bad mom. I have never taken them to the dentist. Shanna went when she was one to have her teeth fixed from her allergy...but since, never. Our insurance situation got screwed up when the layoff happened and I switched jobs and we just never got the chance to do it...and then time marches on...and its just one of those things that I overlooked. I know I know I know. Horrible. Well, we are going tomorrow and poor Carson couldn't be more ready.

His back molar (thank the Lord its a baby tooth) is broke in half. We are not sure how it happened, but it happened Thursday at Magic Springs so we have to get that looked at. Shanna's not so looking forward to it though...

Today we had a wonderful day with Derek. It was just a nice afternoon watching Andy Griffith reruns - his absolute favorite. It was nice. I went to the cemetary and visited with both my real dad and my stepdad. It was sad, but I left roses - and said my hello. Well, to my stepdad anyway, I won't go into the story about the visit with my real dad.

well, I hope you all enjoy father's day with all those father's in your lives!

proof of marriage?

Okay, so this is totally retarded in my opinion...hubby's work wanted proof of eligibility for insurance purposes. Totally get that - they needed proof that Derek was the father of my children and that I was his spouse and therefore eligible to be on his insurance plan. So I send him to work with birth certificates and our marriage license.

Then I get a letter in the mail a day or two ago...requesting proof that we were still married. WTF? How do you get proof that your still married? That is the goofiest thing I have ever heard of! SO I sent him to work to ask...they want a copy of my drivers license. How does that prove that we are still married...We could have divorced last year and my drivers license would still have my name as Shoptaw and my address the same!! THat is retarded!!

Okay, I thought I would share the retardness with you all!!

Super Busy Weekend

Okay, so it wasn't super "busy" but I stayed super busy. We had nothing on the "calendar" except cleaning out one of our storage buildings (Yeah!) so I got my table out of storage FINALLY and the kids toys and my movies. Now, as you know, I am a movie junkie. We are a movie family. I don't know why, we just love movies. We like to pile up on the couch or lay in the bed and watch movies. That's our thing. We don't do it all day every day, but when we want special "family time" that's what we do. And when Derek and I want a date night but we don't feel like going out we go to our trusty movie collection. However, I did not realize how vast our movie collection was until we toted those bad boys home. Its obscene. Ridiculous really, but I love my movies. I am going to have to buy a HUGE cabinet just to store those. Its not that we didn't know we had a lot of movies in storage, but see, in the last year, we have bought movies too and its ALOT. I could probably start a small movie rental business! :0) I know...so bad...

But on another note, I did get alot done yesterday. Got most of my laundry through, my house all clean and organized with all my crap from storage...It put me in a pretty good mood and I slept pretty good last night as a result!! Always a plus!! It was just nice to feel on top of it all for a change! Plus, I CAN'T WAIT to go home and cook dinner and sit at the table as a family like we used to do. I am "old-fashioned" that way I guess. Dinner should be with everyone at the table. I love that and I am a stickler for it and the last year has drove me insane that we couldn't do it. So yeah!! I have everything at home waiting on me! I am making new stuff tonight per the family's request...chicken n bowtie pasta, broccolli casserole, crusty italian bread and strawberry pretzel squares. yummy!!

Medical update

Well, I survived! ha ha ha...Thursday night was the worst night of my life. I had to drink 1/2 gallon of the "prep kit" and I probably kept 1/4 or less down. It was awful. B.A.D. I don't think I would wish it on my worst enemy to be honest. I finally got to bed and was so nauseated I didn't really sleep between that and my nerves. Friday morning wasn't too bad. I didn't actually get back there until about 11:45. They put my iv in and gave me two things one to relax me and one to make me forget (HALLELUJAH) - within literally seconds everything went black. I woke up 2 hours later to my mom laughing because apparently I had been "awake' and repeating the same questions over and over due to the "amnesia medicine" and though I remember bits and pieces of yesterday afternoon and evening, apparently the amnesia medicine lasted awhile! They did discover pockets, which confirms that I have divroticulosis and I also have gall stones which means my next step is removal of the gall bladder. FUN FUN. The doctor is apparently very concerned that I have divroticulosis, because apparently it is pretty much unheard of in someone so young (I am only 25) So, not only am I LOVING my genetics right now, I am also researching increasing my fiber intake without taking a pill everday and the lifestyle change ahead in that I can't eat certain foods anymore...so long my beloved strawberries - unless I can figure something out there! :( But I look at this as an opportunity to educate myself and my kids on eating healthy and leading healthier lifestyles. Already, I have done a good job with my kids...they prefer fruit over other sweets and enjoy veggies and most "grown up" foods that small kids hate. So I can't complain too much.

Speaking of bragging on my kiddos...I was so tickled this morning. I gave my kids their first real allowance. I forgot to last week so they got double this week. They have done spectacular in helping around the house and helping me out. We recently redid their rooms and they got "nice big kid" furniture and stuff for their rooms so they are acting more responsibly. Shanna has always been like that. She's almost neurotic about it, Carson on the other hand could usually care less. Shanna gets her OCD from my side of the family. My dad was DIEHARD OCD. My kids are pretty mature for their age - especially Carson - and I can sit down and have a serious conversation with them if I need to. So we sat down and discussed the fair things for them to do in order to receive "a paycheck" like mommy and daddy every week. $5 per week for the following: They pick up their own rooms, make beds each morning, keep their bathroom neat (no dirty clothes in floor, no toothpaste in sink, empty the trash can if its full), take turns feeding their cats in the a.m. and p.m., take care of their dirty dishes (by placing in sink or trash) and water Papa Wheeler's plant outside on the front porch. Most of this is stuff they should do anyway, but my kids won't so we call them chores and a few are only done weekly so its not so bad. When I do my cleaning on the weekends, they usually love to help out anyway. Carson absolutely loves to clean tubs (don't ask me why), Shanna loves to help dust and they both love to sort laundry. So I was absolutely thrilled that they kept up their rooms for two straight weeks and was so happy to give them allowance this morning. I was even more proud when CArson went straight to his piggy bank and decided to save his money and Shanna did the same. They really are good kids.

Now, to brag on the hubby....he's been such a doll the last two days. He was very sweet and concerned and helped me so much the last two days and took care of me. It was absolutely precious and I love him to pieces for it. We went grocery shopping this morning and he was helping me pick out "healthier" foods for me, checking fiber content for me and so forth. He has been pretty worried about everything going on and it was so sweet to see him act like that yesterday. Completely out of character for him to be like that in public or in front of other people. It even threw my mom off! :) Its nice for people to see the sweet side of him I only get to see most of the time. he he he

Well, I am off to finish MY list of chores today since the kiddos are at the lake with the church...I just wasn't up to it today.

mid week blah

Its Wednesday! Hip hip hooray!! :) I don't know why I am so excited to be honest. I have nothing to look forward to for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I get to live off water and lime jello (uck) in preparation for my procedure Friday afternoon. Ican't even have red or purple jello (which are the good flavors) so I am not looking forward to tomorrow. So I splurged and ate pizza rolls for dinner...ha ha ha...so healthy huh?

On a good note, I get one of my storage buildings emptied Saturday! YAY!! Can't wait! I am so excited. I can't wait. One less bill and I get my kitchen table back and the kids get some of their stuff back...it will be so nice.

what happens when you ask a 5 year old whats for dinner...

You end up making (from scratch - cause nothing else is good enough for the princess!) chicken enchiladas and home made mac n cheese...

Yes. That is the weirdest combination EVER. So, my house smells like the yummiest mac n cheese and my favorite chicken enchiladas.

AND...I have to brag...my hubby is working grave yard this week and is getting home right after
I leave for work. So I get home today and guess what....my kitchen was SPOTLESS. Sparkling. Clean and BEAUTIFUL. And the three laundry baskets of laundry that I didn't do last night cause I fell asleep early...WASHED. DRYED. FOLDED. HUNG UP. Is he not a prince or what!?!?

I am so happy. So I can eat my dinner...and R.E.L.A.X.

Ball season is officially over...

Carson's team lost their game tonight. :( Its okay though. They played well and I was proud of my son. He got a little hard on himself because he wasn't hitting - which one of the coaches even commented that its not like Carson to NOT hit the ball. He's usually pretty dead on. He might strike out but at least one of the strikes is a foul ball that was hit pretty hard. I don't think he even did that tonight. But I don't mind. He's still an All-Star in my book. :0)

I am looking forward to not having anything on the agenda for the next several nights. Especially Thursday and Friday. Friday is my procedure and I am sure I will be unconcious (spell check) the rest of the day! It doesn't take much to make me loopy and/or groggy so Mom should get a kick out of this. ha ha ha.

Other than that its pretty peaceful around here. Its quiet since daddy is sleeping. He almost has my living room finished! I am so excited!! Mom got some pretty laminate flooring at a liquidation place the other day for like $0.78 a square foot! WOO HOO! I am so there! I will just do my whole house in it instead of carpet for that cheap! I can get some rugs :0) Derek's not keen on the idea, but I can redo my whole house for less than $1,000.00 and spend the remaining $1,400.00 on the crown molding for the house or the tub and sink for the kids bathroom and there is a whole remodel job DONE. YES. I am aallllll over that.

So keep your fingers crossed I get what I want!! Then I can start busting walls out of my room and remodel my bathroom and then hopefully by this time next year - my hubby and his dad will have the cabinets they are building me for my kitchen done and my house will be EXACTLY like I want it for a change. So looking forward to that!

Lazy Sunday

Well, its Sunday night...and I am doing my laundry frantically trying to get it done tonight so I don't have to worry with it through out the week. Shanna's softball season ended today. We placed 3rd in District so we were excited! It was a long tournament and our girls did good. I hope that next year is better for them. They deserve it. CArson's last game I think is tomorrow. I am really pumped. They did good this tournament - well, so far there have been 2 forfeits, but they still played and they did good.

However, the hubby works graveyard this week (read: BOO) and that means little to no sleep for me...I usually stay awake to make sure he wakes up and gets out the door on time. I know, I am such a good little wifey! ha ha ha....

So, I will be doing all night laundry! YIPPEE!! - well, I say all night, I only have about 6 loads total to do...i doubt I do them all tonight, I may just do a few more and then finish up tomorrow night after the game. I know - total randomness.

A true blessing in disguise.

**warning: This is kinda long, but something I have been thinking about for a week or so and thought I would share**

The last week or so I have learned that I am going to have some procedures in the near future.
Nothing too major and nothing that does not happen every day and everyone will likely go through at some point in their lives. But, still, I am 25 and have NEVER had any major procedures done or been through anything medically (other than childbirth) that required a visit to the hospital or a stay in the hospital. (Thank the Lord). Since that is coming up, I was talking to the Mr. about how he would have to step it up for a week or two and take the reigns of the household and work two jobs at once...mine AND his....which got me to thinking. A year ago, this would not have happened. It made me realize how much has happened in the last year and how had the tornado not hit our house last April, my marriage would not have survived.

For starters, my marriage was really going through a bump. Derek and I were just not clicking like we normally do and we were constantly at each others throats. Like seriously. It actually came to a head one day about a week before the tornado hit and I kicked him out. It only lasted one night and we were working to getting back to ground A. But it just wasn't happening. So I was going through a pretty down time in my life. Neither of us really knew if we were going to make it and weren't really sure where to go from there.

The night the tornado hit, we had the tornado that hit our road and about 4 more that travelled over us. The sirens went off repeatedly all night and from about 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. we were running back and forth from our living room (trying to clear out what we could from the waterfall coming in the large hole in the roof directly over our movies and entertainment center) to the storm cellar (which is UPHILL in the wind and rain and over the two full grown pine trees that were between us and the cellar now). Alot of running. After we got hit and began assessing the damage we sent the kids (who were obviously traumatized and scared to death) to Derek's grandmother in a neighboring town, about 15 minutes away. She has a storm cellar and they weren't hit and had power so we sent them there so they wouldn't be so scared. My sister showed up and we were in my house trying to move stuff out of the living room. You couldn't hear anything for all the thunder and the literal waterfall in my living room (this is no exaggeration - it was an actual cascading waterfall coming into my house). All of the sudden, the wind started making funny noises and I looked out the window and saw a flashlight going biserck at the top of the hill. It was waving frantically in every direction and moving down the hill...I stepped out on the porch and heard Derek's voice screaming my name at the top of his lungs. I could hear the absolute terror in his voice and then I heard the sirens. My sister and I charged up the hill against the wind (which was blowing in every direction imaginable) as fast as we could. I learned after we got to safety that another funnel had been spotted at the firestation through the woods and was coming down the exact same path. It was at that moment, when I heard the fear in his voice, saw how frantically he was attempting to not break his neck and run down hill in the rain and jump two trees and saw the panick on his face that he was terrified something would happen to ME. I think that is when he realized it too. The next day when my mother-in-law and I were talking, I made the comment that we were truly truly lucky and God was watching over us. She made a remark that was like a light switch coming on. She said "or maybe he was trying to tell somebody something". In that absolute moment, I realized he was. He was speaking to me and Derek and showing us that we had alot to be thankful for. Alot that we cared about and would be devestated if we lost.

To this day, our relationship has never been stronger. We have our moments of course, but it has been so much better since that night. Dealing with everything we have had come our way in the last year would not have been possible if we had not had that eye opener.

Not to mention the lesson that it taught our kids. It could always be worse. We were extremely lucky that we live in the "gorge" that we do. I complain about living down at the bottom of the hill all the time because our yard is awful when it rains. But, had we not been down there, our home likely would have been blown over and sent sailing across the neighborhood very very easily. My kids realized that in a second, everything can be lost. I think that has made them very very grateful for the things in life that they do have. Since their rooms were destroyed and have had to be redone, they take care of their things better, want to make sure everything is taken care of and kept neat and special. I could not be more happy that this happened to our family when it did. It was truly one of the few "blessings in disguise" that I will remember for the rest of my life. I realized that the answers to lifes questions are not answered in black and white. God answers your prayers with actions and when you are not sure where to go, you have to pay attention, because sometimes the worst things in life are the answers you are truly looking for.

Dr. Appointment Recap

Morning!! So yesterday was hump day..woo hoo!! and my consult for my procedure that is coming up...

It was scheduled for next week - not too excited about that but he PROMISED I would be completely unaware so that makes me feel better. After that we get to discuss the removal of my gall bladder. Fun times.

We had softball practice last night and we did pretty okay. We are doing better but I am definitely looking forward to a couple of months off. The ballpark every day is starting to wear on me. I need some home time and friend time and just some freaking me time! :0)

I spent the rest of the evening at home cleaning house and swapping laundry. I am trying to get a head start since I will be at the ball park again this weekend. But again, this is the last weekend so yeah!

My m.i.l. decided to finish up the walls and furniture for my kids rooms. Carson's is looking so good. I will take pics and post later. I am so excited. I am getting ready to paint their bathroom next. I am thinking like baby/springtime/sunshine yellow and white - like daisy's. That feels clean, fresh, and feminine to me. I need something girly. The rest of my house for all intents and purposes will be done in mossy oak (I am addicted) so I need my bathrooms to be a little more girly....what do you think??

Okay, I know I know...

I've been gone...again....I will get better I promise!! I am trying reeallllllyyyy hard to be more organized and on top of things. But, that in itself is a challenge. So, I promise to try to blog more regularly. We had our tournament Saturday at our park. The entire "fest" itself was a success. The kids had a blast. Our girls could have played better, but given all the other things to do, they weren't really into it. So we placed 3rd in our own tournament, but its all good. They had fun and we got done what we needed. and I got a much needed "date night" with the hubby afterwards, even though I was nearly comatose from exhaustion and sunburned like crazy, we still had a nice time catching up with some old friends. We have district tournament this weekend, so wish us luck!!! Then we will get a month or so off before we gear up for fall ball! Woo Hoo!! :)

On a personal note, the last blog I had (that I screwed up so bad) detailed in more detail the personal health issues I have been having. For the most part, after the CT scan showed nothing and I made it through the hardcore antibiotics I was given, I figured all would be fine...no such luck...it seems that my symptoms are creeping up one by one instead of hitting me all at once like last time, so I am going to have to go back to the doctor to find out what the deal is. So boo about that.

In other news, my kiddos are out for the Summer! Carson could not be more excited. Shanna is excited too, but she's been out for a week without bubba so she's not as stoked any more. Its "routine" for her now. ha ha ha....We are planning on going to the Memphis Zoo with them for a few days in July when hubby and I are both off so they are enjoying "planning" that out for us at the moment. Well, enough ketchup for now.....until next time!!