weird weekend

Saturday. . . .
i had my first real-life confrontation! i am sooo happy and so proud of myself. i've had too many missed opportunities to speak my mind when i felt i got a bad deal so i decided a few weeks ago that going forward i am old enough to stick up for myself.

while at target, my kids were running around the shopping cart and had strayed a good 3 yards away from me. toby was screaming his head off because tom wanted to pick him up. this woman on her cell phone walked by and said into her phone "oh, that's just some loud unattended children at target!" in the most snotty of tones.

i was steaming MAD. so i immediately huffed off after her. but by the time i gather my purchases and my "unattended children" and started off after her, she was across the store. so i thought shoot. . . . another miss opportunity.

well, as luck would have it, she walked into my aisle several minutes later (phone still attached to her face). i looked at her right in the eye and said. . . (wait for it. . .)

"for your information, my children are perfectly tended to. and if you have a problem with the people who shop at target, then my i suggest you shop somewhere else!" (i remember, because i practiced in my head for those several minutes.)

unfortunately, she never backed now and was TOTALLY mean to me and called me a crazy lady. but, i just hope that she'll think twice before she questions other women's mothering. it's offensive and rude.

Sunday . . . .
we had a birthday party for my niece on sunday evening. swimming and pizza at vic's house. rodney and i both were not up for swimming but one of us had to do it. toby really wanted to get into the water. i won that battle so rodney packed his swim shorts. once rodney had had enough swimming; i thought i'd help him with toby. i would put toby into the 1' baby pool and sit on the pool's edge.

well, i put toby in first. then before i could sit down, toby had fallen. i didn't really panic because it was only 1' deep and i was right there so i was just going to step in and help him stand up again. only. . . i fell too. i was able to pick toby up right away (since i was already in the water) and handed him to my brother who checked him out. toby was not even fazed. but now i was soaked. dress, chonies, hat, watch, everything soaked.

horiffic! so i think that in the end i lost the war.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Forbidden love, suspense, murder and . . . the circus? Yes, all of it one book. Water for Elephants is truly amazing!

When Jacob Jakowski was orphaned as an young adult he didn't know what to do with himself. Sadness took him and led him by the hand until he met his fate. He jumped onto a passing train that happened to be a traveling circus train. The story takes places during Prohibition America when the circus was new to America. Before there were labor laws and PETA. It was a big industry. One of the greatest things about this book is that Sara Gruen included history. She also included some great pictures provided by Ringling Bro. circus. Each photo adds to much to the story. It really puts the reader right there on that speeding training with Jacob.

Jacob devotes his life to the circus and gets so much in return. He got a true lifetime of adventure!

I can only hope that my life will be filled with just a fraction of the experiences that Jacob had. What a life to aspire to.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Certain Girls is a "part two" sort of follow up to Good In Bed. A few years ago I blogged about/reviewed Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed. I went back to read what I had written to make sure I was not mistaken. Because I remembered absolutely LOVING Good In Bed!! I gave it a rave review and was so happy with the happy ending. In fact, I can even remember a lot of the story still!

Cannie Sharpio now has a 13-year daughter and she is lovely like all 13-year old girls are. . . sarcasm. Jennifer Weiner does a great job capturing the mother-daughter relationship. I myself, have no daughters. Thankfully. But I was a teen-aged daughter at one time and Weiner hit it on the nose. We are MEAN to our mothers. For no reason what-so-ever!

Other than that sub-story line, Certain Girls was a slight disappointment. It made me want to take back the good things I said about Good In Bed. First, the author made it a story within a story where the original story is a fiction story based on fictional fact. If that makes any sense. More over, Ms. Weiner took away my happy ending!!

I felt robbed.

Rico

not suave, he's just a puppy. but THE cutest 'ittle puppy wuppy you ever saw. my mother finally broke down and got herself a guard dog.

Meet Rico the Chihuahua

one for the baby book

:)

a 4th tradition continues 2009

i harassed rodney a bunch to find something else to do this 4th besides just going to vic's house wwwaaaaaaaay out north (45min drive). but i am so glad he ignores me, because i had a ton of fun. it's usually vic and rodney's job to supply the activities for the 4th of july. this year they bought fireworks, barbecued and planned a drive the town's firework show. so we went swimming at the community pool, hung out in vic's back yard eating and nearly catching his yard on fire with fireworks. i have some great video of victor trying to put out the tiny grass fires that ignited with his chancla while a firework is going off. it's HIL-AR-IOUS. also, neighbor high school girls sat on top of their fence and hit on my brother (a nearly 30 year old man). ewww.

family day - fun day

since our schedules and budget do not allow for a real summer family vacation we always opts for several mini daycations (thaks to steve novello fox 4 news) throughout the summer break. so, last week we both had friday off and made a family day of it. first, some shopping for our poor baby, tom, who has no summer clothes. i came home once to find him wearing his good dress slacks and a sleeveless muscle shirt. next, we hit up the Science Museum Spy exhibit. then some ice skating. which, frankly, we didn't think all the way through. thomas has been begging to go, so off we were. only, we have a 2 year old so 1) toby cannot ice skate, 2) it's actually kindda dangerous out there and 3) rod and i had to take turns pushing/pulling toby around the ice. lastly, we ended our 12 hour day with a pre-4th of july firework show out at lake grapevine. we found a decent spot, got all set up, looking dreamingly out at the lake. and then the show started. . . behind us, on the other side of some trees. . . figures.

it was a great day for thecrears!!