Let's welcome Blue Moon

Yet another one of my kooky friends has decided to enter into the blogging world. This time it would be my pole dancing friend SP - from henceforth known as Blue Moon, or BM... or, um... let's just stick to Blue. (hum, didn't think that one through, did she....??)

Let's all welcome Blue! HI!!!!! Go visit her blog "I don't make mistakes, I date them". I've added her link over on the side with all the other crazies.

Where do I begin??

I accidentally had a story-packed weekend... so where do I begin?

Saturday I went with some friends to the "Deck the Halls" Seneca Lake holiday wine tour. For those of you that don't live in NY, Senca Lake is one of the Finger lakes - of the famed "Finger Lakes" wine region. I anticipated having at least one or two stories to tell you about this trip!!! I wasn't let down!!!!

So my friend Yana orchestrated a wine tour 14 of us. During the holiday season they have this "special" thing where you have to buy "special" couples tickets and you go to participating wineries. At your first stop you get a wreath and a cookbook and at each winery you go to they give you an ornament for your wreath and you get "special" tastings paired with a small food sample, etc... all included in the price of the "special" ticket. You get the idea. And to make sure we had proper transport, Yana rented one of those little tour-bus thingies, complete with a driver. It was great!!

Well, we thought it was great until the driver never knew where he was going. This was not Yana's fault, mind you (it was a reputable bus company - but where did they find this guy???) But it kind of takes the fun out of over-indulging when you realize that are responsible for getting you to the next winery, and the next winery, and the next winery, and then home....

oh, by the way- the finger lakes are about an hour from Syracuse. not exactly next door...

Oh, and also, not everyone in our group is a "couple". (they tour kinda descriminates that way, don't they??) but they buddied up because going as a couple is cheaper than buying a "singles" ticket. That was funny in so many ways... but wouldn't be funny to you because you don't know everyone that went, now do you. Anyway....

It just so happened that it was Lisa's bday. (lot's of bday's lately in my circle, isn't there??) Yana and Susanne brought gifts for Lisa to really embarrass her. It worked. The funniest were the "Birthday Bitch" party hat and the "Birthday Girl" sash (think Miss America Pagent) they made her wear. Ok, so she wasn't really diggin' the hat - but she was game on wearing the sash. We made her wear it into every winery.

She got sung to my many strangers. But really? are they still strangers when they sing you happy birthday??), got bought many Redcat shots (local wine shots). Even got it caught on film (much to her dismay) Even SP got in on the action - drawing out her own bday celebrations from earlier this month.














The first winery we go to was Hazlit's - home of Redcat - the most popular wine in the Finger Lakes. The guy pouring behind the counter is dressed at Friar Tuck. It was too much - I had to take a picture. You know me - I had to ask. And the answer was "only a sock".





Then we show up at this winery and find these half drunk (or maybe a bit more than that) frat boys getting hazed. (Or at least that was their story they were stickin' to.) and their crazy shenanegans. who knows. they were just excited to get their picture taken. and even more excited when I told them my blog was read by millions. poor idiots.... they believed me...

I don't think they were drunk... just stupid....












So in the end, on Saturday, fun was had by all.



And I still have Sunday to tell you about!!

I'm married to Ty Pennington II

Check out what my nifty hubby did a few weekends ago.
He done built us some new shed doors. He done a darned spiffy job, if I do say so myself.

Now, that paint job was done on purpose. Don't make me go into the long explaination about pressure treated wood vs. non-pressure treated, etc. take my word for it. That's the way it will stay until spring at which point the unpainted wood will then get a coat of that white stuff and then the whole she-bang will get the appropriate brown that matches the house.

Birthday girls

Recently SP and KL had birthdays. YEAH!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Well, shame on me for not blogging about our little surprise dinner for KL and for me forgetting to snap a few pics of the momentous occasion. In the super-secret-CIA-covert-surprise-birthday-dinner mission I totally forgot to pull out the trusty camera phone. Probably for the better. Any fun captured on a digital contraption would probably had ended us up in Gitmo and our families would have never heard from us again...

So, against my better judgement, to honor KL, I post a picture of JJ.

Well, since SP lives so far away a surprise event was out of the question. Instead it was more of a "we're planning a b-day party for you with food and Jack! what day works best for you??!!"

Yep, it was a fun little evening of food, vanilla cupcakes for SP (can't have chocolate!! oh the HORROR!), chocolate for us, of course, and a fun little game called "Dirty Minds" thanks to KL. Oh and a few beverages - Jack and coke.... Nothing too out of hand - the little event had to take place on a Tuesday and we all (when I say "we", I mean everyone but me.. : )had to drive home...

SP, the b-day girl. Her t-shirt should win a prize...

It says "I don't make mistakes. I date them." That's priceless...

This game is HAR-LARIOUS!! If you havent' played - you should... I think KL found it at Spencers..

You know... I don't think my house is level....

AAHHHHHH!!!!

For those of you that don't know, I don't sleep. Rather, I don't sleep well.


So, go on with your jokes about me being a grandma and going to bed at some insanely early hour but there is a method to my madness. Or some hopefulness to my geriatric-ness. I go to bed early in the hopes that all those hours I spend in bed will total up to some semblance of a "normal" amount of sleep. Because let's face it - I do need more sleep than most, I'll give you that.





So in my never-ending pursuit of blissful sleep the hubby and I finally made the plunge and purchased a TEMPURPEDIC bed. Not some knock-off "memory foam" bed. Nope - we sprung (half-assed pun intended) for the real thing. (I know - you can't tell with the bedspread on... trust me. wanna see the bill???)



get it? half-assed pun... no springs in a tempurpedic... HA! I crack myself up!! : )

Ok - so we haven't gotten around to "doing" this room yet. What you can't see in this picture is the antique armoir on the opposite wall. Really. I know - from this angle it looks all college-student-esque. Well, even from the other angle it looks all college-student-esque, but with an antique armoir in it. But now with the new bed D and I are inspired to finish this room. I'm making a cool headboard - Thanksgiving project. (when I'm done I'm sure HGTV will be knocking at my door to offer me my own show.) And "paint picking" is in the works. So, unlike Wondering Girl, I can't get the equivalent of apartment square footage done in a week, but I'll get it done... eventually....

So - back to the bed. I won't tell you how much we paid for it (I'm almost embarrassed to say) but after sleeping on it last night I CAN tell you that it was WORTH EVERY FREAKIN' PENNY!!! (and that would be a lot of them....) If I didn't actually have to get up and go to work to pay for it I would have stayed in bed ALL DAY!!!!! And I mean it.

I don't usually do product endorsements. (because the whole Veet product review was certainly NOT an endorsement) but let me tell you... this is an endorsement. I slept great and my back didn't bother me AT ALL today (yeah - did I mention I have back issues too??) So -if you're in the market for a new bed, might I suggest a Tempurpedic???

Oh, by the way - skip the Sleep Number bed... a guy I work with got one and said it was a terrible!!! he paid a lot of money for " an expensive air matterss"... just so you know....

Smells like roses

For some unknown reason - and I really mean unknown - Karl the cat is in LOVE with my shoes. No, really. I'm not kidding. No Hollywood stunts here. No hiding catnip in the slippers. As I'm known to say, I shit you not. That cat is crazy.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people that have cheese feet. Fortunately I did NOT get that gene from the rest of my family. I do not have smelly feet, ergo, no smelly shoes. But why in the world would a cat, or any living creature for that matter, want to roll around in shoes even if they do smell semi-fresh????

All I can say is that cat is crazy no matter how you slice it. This, my friends, is not a freak occurance caught on film. Nope. This happens all the time. These happen to be my slippers. But it could be my running shoes, my clogs, you name it. I come home, kick off my shoes under the coffee table, snuggle up on the counch and the next thing I know is I have a crazy Karl (or rather "Krazy Karl", more catchy that way...) rolling all over my shoes, rubbing his whiskers over them and usually settling down, sitting on them. This past summer I caugh him LICKING the FOOTBEDS of my flipflops. That's just gross.

A little bit-o-history

I just renamed the links to my blog friends over on the right hand side of my blog. Previously I had them listed by the title of their blogs. I thought that was too cumbersome and decided to rename them by their nicknames. Just decided that SaraG was deficient in this area. Hopefully we will remedy this soon.

I have noticed I have been getting a few new friends stopping by from other bloggers and from new friends I have been making here in my town.

Welcome!!!

I thought this might be a fun time to take a little trip down memory lane and let y'all know how I might know your friends in this big web of blogdom. It's kinda neat how I had one friend from college who started blogging a few years ago to keep in touch and then I started and then I had two more friends start and now people I don't know have been popping over and saying 'hi'... pretty cool!!!!

This could possibly have the potential to get legthy - and this is supposed to be just a fun little time killer - so I'll try and give you funny little highlights.... and don't you judge me...

MadHatter:
I met MH in high school but we really didn't hang out until college. I believe we went to a few parties together - the details of which are quite fuzzy.... I can tell you that I hooked her up with her husband, MB. The funny story is - I dated MB in high school... and my dad was his football coach.

While MB and I were dating in high school MB drove me home after a date one night, leaned over to kiss me goodnight and in the midst of the kiss, he apparently forgot to put the car in park, his car rolled forward and hit BOTH OF MY PARENT'S CARS that were parked in the driveway at the same time. Luckily there was no damage.

Fast forward several years to MH and MB wedding... I was a bridesmaid in the wedding. really!! : ) and after the wedding I finally 'fessed up to my parents about MB hitting their cars that fateful night in high school.... we still laugh about it...

and then there was the time in high school when MB and I were on a school trip to Europe.... but that'll have to wait until another blog entry. I could write a novel about that trip in itself.....

SaraG:
I met SG in college. Her husband was one my my BFFs in high school. Her hubby, DG, and I were quite inseparable during high school. In fact, I'm pretty sure there was a time when our families were convinced we'd end up together. However, SG suits him much better and I'm sure provided him much better looking kids than I ever would!! ; )

DG, his dad, me and my dad were big backpacking buddies all through high school. We've hiked several high peaks on the east coast together. It's a good thing that DG is 6'4" because I specifically remember hiking Mt Khatadin in Maine (beginning of the App. trail) at a section called Knife's Edge - yes - it's exactly what it sounds like. Narrow, rocky and a bit scary. You know, straight down on one side, straight down on the other.... DG and I were way ahead of our dads scrambling over the rocky terrain, bouldering up and over, having a blast. DG climbed up and over a big boulder and I was right behind him.

All of a sudden I looked over the edge and realized SHIT! I froze. Right there. couldn't move. couldn't go forward. couldn't go backward. couldn't go up. couldn't go down. DG was ahead of me - "hey, you comin???" Luckily since he was so tall he just reached down, grabbed me and pulled me up. no questions. he knew I froze. he didn't make fun of me or anything. we were 17. most 17 year old guys would never let a 17 year old girl live that down. ever. but not him.

SaraG found herself a good one. And DG wouldn't just pick any 'ol girl. So it stands to reason that if he picked SaraG I knew that she and I would get along just peachy! I flew all the way to SC from CO for their wedding. I mean really - who would miss the wedding party come in to the the Clemson fight song with the Clemson Tiger at the reception???!!!

Wondering Girl:
Can't say enough about Wondering Girl. We met in college. We were RA's together actually. She was always trying to get me to go out and party. For those of you who know her - are you surprised???? One Fall break I went home with her to "the farm" and her mom made her famous apple crisp. I don't know how I had gotten that far through life without ever having apple crisp. But I had. I LOVED it. Loved it so much I had it for dessert after dinner. And then I had seconds. and then I had some before bed. and then I had it for breakfast. and then her mom and had to go to the store and buy more fixin's for it and made more. and I ate more. and more. and more... and her mom and dad commented on more than one occasion how they'd never seen anyone eat so much apple crisp....

So that's why I'm called Apple Crisp Girl on WGs blog....

All I want for christmas

All I want for christmas is a new sports car.......



















Ok, not really. I'm a truck kinda girl. But I bet the hubby wouldn't mind having one of these.....


I had to take a pic when I saw this dealership in downtown Chicago while I'm here on a business trip. We don't have dealerships like this where I live....

Pee Pants

Sorry - I did have a pic of the infamous faux pee pants... I just didn't realize it.

How much can you pack into 44 hours and 800+ miles??

I know - I've been delinquent... I've been sick and I'm in the middle of a huge project at work. What can I say.... Any time I've actually had in front of my computer I've actually been working. Sorry...


But I'm here to share a few details about the Cedar Point trip. Now a fever has burned a few details from my brain but a few still exist. I vaguely remember sitting in a car for hours after work on Friday dishing gossip with Karen and Sara. Mike is such a good guy for driving - rather chauffeuring - us girls all the way to Cleveland. But who am I kidding?? Mike is the roller coaster KING! It's not like WE dragged HIM on this trip. Get serious... He had the pedal to the metal. This was HIS trip. We were just along for the ride.



This is Karen with the computer booted up. "Why?" you ask? Because Mike has a GPS system in it. There's a thingy attached to the computer that's up in the dashboard. He had Karen giving him turn by turn directions. This was the joke of the trip. Even when we had visual contact with our destination Karen would ask "can I turn this thing off now???" Mike would shoot back "NO!!" Yep - it wasn't allowed to be booted down down until we were in the parking lot, parked, engine off.


We didn't stick to "the schedule". We arrived at the hotel at 12:06AM. Not the schedule 11:59PM that Mike had planned. tisk tisk. oh well. that's what happens when you go on a road trip with 3 women. I mean really... at least we didn't have him stop 15 times to pee on the way there. we wanted to get to the hotel just as badly as he did. (we saved the pee stops for the way home : )


The next morning we were up and at 'em bright and early. Stopped for breakfast at this fun place. Don't we look like we're having fun? This was THE BEST couch ever!! Do you see how deep it is?? We were all about to take a nap. really. (but noooooo. that would put us off schedule... the park opened promptly at noon and we had to be there at 11:30 you know... ; )















Ok - so we made it to the park. This was our first ride. Something "Dragster-Thrill-Kill-Throw-Up-Pukster-Ride" or something like that.




It doesn't look like a lot, I know. But it goes from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds or something. I like coasters. I enjoy them, they don't scare me. You know when you ride a coaster you get that little tickle in your whoo-haa when you drop down the steep parts or go through the corkscrew?? Well that little tickle was well extended as you go racing up to the 120 mph. uh, a little too extended, if you know what I mean...

Next we rode one of the "little" coasters. Somehow when I got off the ride I must had let condensation from my THREE DOLLAR water bottle (what a rip off!!) get on my jeans. It totally looked as though I peed my pants! Which was funny/ embarassing in itself - but the fact that it happened on a weenie coaster was EXCEPTIONALLY embarassing!!! I mean, really. If I was going to look like I had pee pants at least it should have happened on one of the big, mean, scary coasters!!!


We rode a few more rides and then my cousin LH and her SO met up with us. Unfortunately, since it was such a nice day, the place was PACKED. We stood in line for well over an hour - sometimes TWO HOURS - for each coaster. At the end of the day we only got to ride 7 of the 17 coasters they have at the park.

Sara snapped this pic as we left the park. Kinda creepy, isn't? We went back to the hotel and crashed, got up early the AM and hit the road back to NY. It was a fun weekend. I haven't done something like that since college. And here I thought I was getting too old to do stuff like that...

Update soon to come

I spent a fun-packed, whirlwind weekend at Cedar Point (amusement park in Sandusky, OH) this past weekend. Boy do I have stories!! but I'm going to keep you in suspense until I can get my hands on some picutres to accompany said weekend.

stay tuned!!

Veet with squeegee product review

Last night I picked up some of that Veet stuff from Walgreens ($8.99) - not Neet, as I has previously posted. You know what I'm talking about - the cream hair remover that comes with the non-razor squeegee thingy. I believe I referred to it as the equivalent to the kindergarten safety scissors...

Have you seen the commercials for this stuff? The cute, skinny girl - with the assumably fine leg hair - dancing around her bathroom with the white cream on her legs... then taking the squeegee and simply wicking it all away.

yeah, right. let me tell ya - that's not exactly how it works.

OK sista's. (and bro's - for those of you out there that like a nice, slick look) let me tell you the real story behind this stuff. First off, in case you are a visitor to my blog or haven't been up close and personal with my legs let me share that I have the good 'ol dark, coarse leg hair. Yep - and proud of it. Real leg hair. Stuff that really deserves to be shaved. When I decide to go tree hugger the guys really do run for the hills. There really was a reason I lived in CO for a while. They were the only ones that would take me during that "phase"....

So the directions say to spread on (NOT rub in) the cream and leave on for 3 minutes and then squeegee off. Ok, they don't say "squeegee" but I just like to use the word over and over again : ) They do say you can leave it on for up to 6 minutes. They warn that any longer and you're leaving yourself open to chemical burns.

Now remember the reason I'm trying the product in the first place. The last thing I need is a chemical burn. I'm watchin' that clock like a hawk.

Just in case this shit burns I decide to spread it on just a small area on my leg with the coarsest hair - about 2 inches by 4 inches on my shin. I set the timer for 6 minutes. I let it count down 3 minutes, squeegee off , check to see the results, lather back on the same area and repeat every minute for the next three minutes. Pretty scientific, eh?

By the 6th minute I'm still on the verge of not getting all the hair off. But I'm not trying for anything longer. I'm chalking it off for the precious lost seconds in between the checking and respreading. I'm satisfied that I'm not going to burn myself or have some sensitive skin/ allergic reaction and decide to go for the full leg. Well, right up past the knee.

Ok, I'm just going for an honest product review here. I lathered both legs and set the timer to 6 minutes. After a little over 5 minutes I start with the back of the first leg I lathered (finest hair) and start squeegeeing. It's not as easy as the commercial makes it look. I'm standing in the shower with just the tap running so I can rinse the squeegee off. The coarsest hair still isn't coming off that great. I finally get both legs done right around 6 minutes.

They aren't nearly as smooth as with a razor but they are smoother than I thought they'd be. The smell isn't the greatest either. Even though it didn't take that long it still was a pain because I couldn't just incorporate it into my regular shower routine. Ok, maybe I could have, but I didn't.

But I didn't stop there. I decided, what the hell. Wonder what it would do for my pits??

Let me stop you right here and warn you AGAINST trying this at home. Although the instructions didn't say you couldn't do your armpits I wouldn't recommend it. My hair there is also very course - more so than my legs - so I left if on for 6 minutes and I do believe I did end up with mild chemical burns. NOT COMFORTABLE!!! Plus the instructions to tell you not to apply anti-perspirant for 24 hours. WHAT???!!! So what am I supposed to do? go around smelling all day??? Actually I totally disregarded this advice and did apply some Dove eventually. It seemed to soothe the burning pits. I'm ok this AM but there are still noticeable red blotches when I went to apply more deodorant this morning.

So - my final recommendation? Regardless of how hazardous a sharp razor can be it is still worth the risk for a good shave. Just be sure to keep the girls out of the way....

shaving update

I have sufficiently scared myself out of shaving. I haven't done it all week. Not even the pits. Haven't touched the razor AT ALL. Thank god David's out of town. He comes home late tonight. For his sake I'm going to have to break down and shave eventually.

I think I'm going to stop at the store on the way home and pick up some of that new Neet stuff with the rubber tipped "razor" to shave off the hair removing cream. It's like the equivilent of kindergarten saftey scissors.

I may try that for a while and when I'm comfortable work my way back up to the big girl scissors. um, I mean, razor.

MK Par-tee

I hosted a bash last night! Who knew so many women still had issues trying to put on make-up???

I have truly found "my people".

I am not a freak.

I am not the only girl in the world that can't figure out freakin' mascara.

...that not all eye shadow makes me look like the bride of Frankenstein.

...that wearing make-up does not make me a fluff-ball... just prettier...

And I think I have conquered my bizarre make-up hording fetish.... I actually went upstairs last night, grabbed all the baggies of old make-up (some that were YEARS and YEARS old) and tossed them. In front of EVERYONE!!! I think I'm cured.

That or I realized I needed to make room for new stuff....

I will soon be the new owner of vanilla and bronze eyesicle cream, a lip stick and a gloss. Wheee!!!

So thanks to everyone who came and had fun. Thanks to Sara for being the patient jedi master with all of us.

Can't make this shit up

Ok fellow legs shavers. most of this story will probably sound familiar to you... hopefully the last part will not...

picture this:
I'm in the shower. Left foot propped up on the shower wall in front of me. Leg all lathered up ready to be shaved. Thigh gets shaved first because otherwise as I lean forward to shave my shin my boob rubs off shaving cream. (yes, my boobs are big enough to rub against my thighs... smartasses....) I've been shaving since I was about 11. I have this down to a science.

I start shaving said left thigh. I need to rinse the blade. Due to the way I have the shower pointed I need to reach across my left thigh with my right hand to get the blade under the heaviest stream of water that is showering down on the left side of my left thigh.

got all that?? it's very important!

Somehow (and I stress the "somehow") I manage to hit my boob with the razor as I move it across my body to the water.

At first I'm thinking "careful there Tex!!! not smart to go slicin' off the nipple!" Then I go back to shaving. A few minutes later I go to rinse the blade again and notice that MY NIPPLE IS BLEEDING!!!!

I CUT MY NIPPLE WITH MY RAZOR!!!

How in the F**K do you do that?? (aside from how I EXACTLY described it above??)

Yep. I did it. I cut my nipple. Just a nick, mind you, but I cut it all right. And like every other razor nick that bitch kept on bleedin'. Imagine me trying to keep pressure on it while still trying to finish shaving that leg and then the other leg!!! No kidding - it couldn't get it to stop bleeding when I got out of the shower either. I used a tissue and kept applying pressue with no luck.

Yep - I finally grabbed a band-aid, slapped that thing on and put a bra on over it to hold it in place. I'm guessing it finally stopped because it hasn't bled through the band-aid. I think that's a good sign.

And if I ever have kids I'm pretty sure I'm not going to even try to breast feed. Totally not worth it...