Huh? What?

Chandler just walked into the room wearing an old Halloween costume...

Halloween 2006
3 Years Old

C: "Mom? Does this dress make me look skinny?"
J: "Yep. It sure does Chan."
C: "Yeah. I thought so. That's why you shouldn't give it to me"
J: "What? Why?"
C: "Because it makes me look skinny."
J: "Oh. Well what's wrong with that?"
C: "MOM!" (said like I had just totally offended her!)
J: "What? What's wrong with it? Do you think I'm skinny?"
C: "Uh... No."
J: "Well what am I then?" (cringing and waiting for her response...)
C: "You are... nice... and smooth."

HUH? WHAT?

Then she ran off to change into another costume.

Strange child!

Looking for a job?

Times are hard. The economy is "dodgy". People are "fortunate" if they have a job right now... not a job they love... just a job.

So, I have an offer for you...

I STINK at puppy training! I'm seriously toying with the idea of hiring someone to train my puppy NOT to poop or pee in my house!

Anyone need a job? :)

**Oh! If you can potty train Riley in the process I would be eternally grateful!

New on the Twilight front...

Ok, you KNOW I've been in a bloggy-funk when I haven't posted ANYTHING Twilight related since January!!!

In case you aren't in on the Twilight craze... the movie based on the 2nd book in the series, New Moon, is currently being shot.

Because Jennifer loves me she sent me this link about New Moon the movie!

"The Wolf Pack"

Here are a few other sites for you to check out if you are interested in the upcoming movie... due to release in the U.S. November 20th of this year (Happy birthday Aunt Karen... guess what I'm giving you for your birthday? Can anyone say "movie tickets"?? lol)

Stephenie Meyer: New Moon Movie

IMDB.com New Moon Movie


In other Twilight news...
The "go ahead" for the 3rd book has been given and here's part of an article about the director for "Eclipse":


DAVID SLADE TO DIRECT SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT'S THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE

Los Angeles, CA April 22, 2009 — Summit Entertainment announced today that David Slade has been hired to direct THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE from a screenplay written by Melissa Rosenberg. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, the third film in the studio's TWILIGHT film franchise based on the Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster book series, will be released theatrically in North America on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. The announcement was made by Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production.


Now, I for one, am a little confused about why they are choosing to go with yet another director when "New Moon" hasn't even finished shooting yet... but no one asked me my opinion when they were making this decision so I guess I'll just have to trust their judgement (whoever "they" are!).

I can't believe I forgot to tell you...

MY SISTER IS PREGNANT!!!

Yes, I will be an aunt again... and according to my sister, I'll be a "real-life blood related aunt". Are their additional perks to be a blood related aunt as opposed to a marriage related aunt? I don't know. :)

So, sometime in December (she goes to her 1st doctors appointment next week) I'll have a new niece or nephew.

Chandler is rooting for a boy.
Joel (Erin's husband) is rooting for a boy.

I would kind of like a girl... I "know" girls.
But, a boy would kind of break up the "girlness" of family get togethers.
Plus, thanks to my cutie nephew, Colten, I'm learning about what boys like. :)
AND... Watching Jeremiah these past few months has been good practice!


And in other news... Chandler announced at dinner last night that she and Trevor said the Pledge of Allegance for the whole school!
I didn't know she even KNEW the pledge!

sometimes looking back can be funny...

sometimes it brings up painful memories.

in high school i kept a few different journals.

i burned some of them... lol. for therapeutic reasons!

i still have a few of them.

occasionally, i'll go back and flip through them.

some entries in those journals always stick out to me, but sometimes "new" things stick out. i'm sure that has to do with where i am in life at the particular moment i'm reading them.

today i saw one of them sitting near my scrapbook table so i flipped it open to the first page and this is what i had written...

"when you REALLY love someone, you don't need space. when you REALLY love someone, the space and the distance hurts."

just after that, there was a note to flip to a particular entry dated a little while later. that entry had a highlighted section. it said...

"what does it mean with the space STOPS hurting?"

now, i know what that entry meant at the time that i wrote it (and who it was written about)... no, i'm going to tell you... :)

i also know what it means to me now... no i'm not telling you that either! lol

i did laugh when i read those two entries because it reminded me of how superficial "love" was at that time in my life.

it made me sad because i remember how much unnecessary hurt i exposed myself to... over and over and over again.

it made me glad that i'm not in high school again!

it made me worry that my girls may (and probably will) face that same kind of hurt.

it made me realize that those entries have helped make me who i am today.

Yes. Horrible. I know.

I know. I've been a horrible blogger.

You know when you just get into that "funk". The kind where you think to yourself, "I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO ANYONE TODAY! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

That's me... lately anyway. I'm sure I'll see the light at the end of the tunnel and then I'll be back to "normal"... or whatever that is for me! :)

I really do miss my bloggy friends. I've really tried hard to keep up with all of you... forgive me for not commenting on your posts... I'm horrible... I fully recognize that!

Quick and to the point...

It may be a few more days before I get back into the blogging routine...

I spent 2 days this week in bed with what I was guessing was a sinus infection. I took Nyquil and drank lots of water...

Last night about 10pm my right ear clogged up... it did the same thing last Friday right before I had to sing, but about 2 hours later it was fine...

Last night... NOT SO FINE.

At about 11pm, I was in so much pain I was crying! It felt like someone was stabbing a knife in my ear!

I couldn't lay down in bed... that made it worse.

I took my pillow and blanket to the sofa and propped myself up... no relief.

At 4am, I woke Brandon because I couldn't take the pain anymore. I was sobbing... I hate getting that worked up over anything! It was the UGLY CRY!

At 4:30am, I drove myself to the Emergency Room (I didn't want to get the girls out of bed!).

The prognosis was this...
*Sinus Infection (I KNEW IT!)
*Ear Infection (I was pretty sure of that)
*Eardrum Perforation (HAD NO CLUE!)
*Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (I don't even know what that is!!!)

So basically, I came home in just as much pain as when I left, but was given a prescription for Hydrocodone... my best friend from my surgery back in September! I had some left over so I popped one in and fell asleep about 6:30am.

Brandon took Chandler to school and picked up Jeremiah. He worked from home today and let me sleep till almost 10, when Jeremiah decided to wake up.

So as long as I stay on the hydrocodone or extra strength tylenol, I'm feeling ok... beside the fact that my ear is still clogged up!
I've got amoxicillin for the sinus infection and ear drops for the ear infection.

When I can sit up right and type without grabbing my face or ear in pain... I'll get back to blogging!

Hope everyone else is having a better week than I am!

Only in the south...

I was going to say only in Tennessee, but this could probably be found in Wal-mart stores all across the south...

49/365

Yes, that says, "bottle opener under the brim".

Yes, there was a bottle opener under the brim.

Yes, there was only 1 hat like this left in the store.

Yes, I'm sure there are women in Tennessee walking around wearing this hat AND actually using that bottle opener... probably at family reunions and tailgate parties.

Wow!

Issues...

Issues with my camera.
Issues with my phone.
Issues with Blogger.
Issues, issues, issues.

Arg!

I declare war...

This morning we decided to play a little paintball...

I haven't played paintball in quite some time. In fact the last time I played, I ended up with bloody knuckles and decided I was done playing for a while.

45/365

Cousin Brett and Me

Brandon and Me

I have video footage, but again, my phone and computer are not cooperating! ARG!

When I do get the footage uploaded, you'll get to see my injuries and just one of the hits that I took.

After we got cleaned up from paintball, we had dinner at IHOP. Dinner was yummy and just what we needed after running around like crazy people in the woods.

After dinner, Cousin Brett and I headed off to the airport to pick up EVAN!

You'll get to meet him in tomorrow's post. :)

He was a bit tired after being awake for 30 hours so I decided not to ask him to pose for pictures tonight.

Wow!

I was at Wal-mart tonight after my girls were in bed...

43/365

It looked like Valentine's Day threw up all over Wal-mart!

This was only 1 side of 1 display of about 30 spread out around the store!

I'm so glad my kids weren't with me... It would have been nothing but desperate pleas for gigantic Valentine's Day balloons!

Tomorrow evening we are driving down to Atlanta for the weekend. We'll spend 2 nights at Cousin Brett's house (technically his parents house, but you haven't been introduced to them... yet).
Saturday night, I'll pick up Evan at the airport!! I'm so excited!

A letter to Diego

Dear Diego,

While I can appreciate the values and education that you and your cousin, Dora, are attempting to pass along to preschoolers, I do have a small complaint.

You see, my daughter, Riley, is 23 months old and as of late has developed a slightly, albeit cute, obsession with your television show.

Normally, this is not too much of a problem except that she wants to watch your show even when it is not on. I have not yet been able to teach her about the structure and schedule of the tv guide.

So, in order to remedy this small problem, I have begun setting my DVR to record new episodes of your show. Problem solved, right?

Well, in today's episode, Cousin Dora made a guest appearance. The combination of her two most beloved cartoon characters on the television all at once was too much for Riley to contain!

It could only have been more exciting if you had been rescuing Blue and Magenta from the evil clutches of Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper (and let's not forget Baby Paprika) while Joe (or Steve) narrated the adventure.

Ok, but back to the excitement...

This caused Riley to run down the hallway screaming "Day-go! Dora! Day-go! Dora!"

Unfortunately, this was during Jeremiah's nap.

I was using nap time to get some much needed work done around my house. *sigh* I was being quite productive until this moment.

So, Diego. I appreciate the entertainment value that you bring to my home. I appreciate that I can often sneak in a shower while you memorize my child with stories of 3 toed sloths and baby beluga whales.
I just wish your show didn't come on during nap time!

Sincerely (yet frustrated),

Jennifer Miles

Tuesday... oops.

So, I forgot about my Monday Mumblings... and I just realized I forgot last week too. Oops!

So, Monday Mumblings on Tuesday:
1. Evan arrives this Saturday. I'm excited!

2. Chandler asks at dinner every night, "How many days till you pick Evan up at the airport?"

3. Riley. Well. She's Riley. She's screaming. A lot.

4. I'm taking something to help me sleep... well, it's not FOR sleeping, but it helps with that too.

5. As you see, it's almost midnight and I'm awake.

6. It worked great yesterday. The problem is I fell asleep at 7:00. Now I'm awake.

7. I have a million things to do before Friday afternoon, but I've just been so tired.

8. I MUST get myself into gear tomorrow... tired or not. Things must be done.

9. My camera is busted... thanks Riley.

10. I need a new one.

So, this is where today's Project 365 would go.....

41/365

I took a picture on my cellphone since my camera is busted.
However, the signal at my house isn't strong enough to send the picture to my computer. ARG!

So, I did take a picture today and I did attempt to blog about it so I'm still on track with my project.

I get a GREAT signal at Chandler's school. Maybe I'll send it to myself in the morning... maybe. :)


**EDITED:**

41/365

This is what happened when I bathed the girls before dinner and then tried to lay down for a quick nap... everyone piled onto the loveseat!

Just another Sunday...

Sort of...

32/365

Brandon watching the Super Bowl

I kinda forgot that the Super Bowl was tonight so we didn't think to make any plans with anyone. It was just a lazy night at home.

Blah...

That's how Wal-mart makes me feel.

31/365

So 2 hours and a whole lot of money later... that's all I've got to show for it! :)

I'm more of a college football kind of gal...

Real life conversation between me and Brandon... one, I might add, that is slightly embarrassing. :)

After seeing a commercial for the Super Bowl:

J: "Who do we want to win the Super Bowl? I think I'm pulling for the Cardinals."

B: "Yeah, I'd kinda like for Kurt Warner to win."

J: "Who's that?"

B: "Wow. You are a girl." (he may have even shot me a look of disgust)

**In case you are like me and DON'T follow pro-football... Kurt Warner is the quarterback for the Cardinals. :)

We ain't afraid of a little cold...

That's not entirely true. I HATE the cold.

However, when you have a home project and you've told your bloggy friends that you WILL have that project completed by the end of the week... you brave the cold and do what you gotta do!

16/365

Brandon being a good sport as he works outside in the cold (and dark) to cut the moulding for our guest room.

Brandon pulled out the hat and gloves for this project!

If it hadn't been so cold, I would have had him take a picture of me... I looked ridiculous!

You may have noticed on "the list" the "wear a cute hat" goal. I DON'T wear hats. I think I look goofy in them... most of my adult life my hair has been so short that when I put a hat on, you can't see any of my hair... as if I don't have any. Therefore I do not wear them and that's why it's on my list.

Anyway, even in the freezing cold I refused to wear a hat. My ensemble consisted of my jeans and thin sweater I wore all day, Brandon's bright blue ski jacket (WAY too big for me) and my green and yellow Wallabies scarf WRAPPED AROUND MY HEAD to cover my neck and ears while still allowing me to see. :)

We had 4 pieces of moulding to cut tonight... one to cut tomorrow because it will involve some more complicated cuts than the ones tonight.

Did I mention it was 19 degrees today? (-7 for you Aussies!) That was 19 degrees while the sun was out! Who knows how cold it was while we were outside at night!

Because you asked...

Several people have commented on my shirt in this post, and wanted to know where I bought it. It came from Old Navy just after Thanksgiving.

I looked to see if they had any online, but didn't have any luck. Sorry, but thanks for all the compliments! :)

To the people at Play-Doh

To whom it may concern,

I would like to thank you for having the forethought to create Play-Doh in a NONTOXIC form.

This is not the first time I've thought this.
I thought it once while I was working at a daycamp and one of the kids took a bite out of her Play-Doh creation.
I thought it once while I was babysitting and one of the kids fed some Play-Doh to her sibling.
I thought it once while working in a classroom full of 2 year old at church and I noticed a big bite taken out of the Play-Doh as I was collecting it.

The reason I write to you today is because I've never been more thankful for your NONTOXIC Play-Doh than I am today.

You see, my daughter, Riley, is 22 months old and she has recently discovered the enjoyment that is sitting at the table and rolling Play-Doh with a rolling pin.

She has taken to doing this almost daily.

I've suspected that she might be "taste testing" her projects from time to time, but I've never actually had proof.

That is, until today.

I have just discovered that several of our 2 ounce containers of Play-Doh now contain significantly less than 2 ounces.

Apparently that lovely light brown, beautiful bubble gum pink and the shocking green apple must be the most tasty. Maybe it's just that she's a fan of those colors. She is after all, my daughter.

Don't worry, she's an equal opportunity taster. All colors have been tasted.

I guess you can say Riley has literally tasted the rainbow.

Sincerely and with all my thanks and appreciation for my child's safety,

Jennifer Miles

Possibly the most perfect job ever...

Here, on the eve of my 29th birthday, I have found the perfect job...

Possibly the most perfect job ever

Even though the description says that the job is open to anyone, I'm pretty sure they would rather hire a local. :)