Okay, so this blahg is supposed to mainly be about me. I have another blahg that I talk about my kids in. However, I'm just so dang proud of my girls that I want to share it here as well!

Caitlin and Emma had a tae kwon do tournament today. Emma got third place in the sparring competition! They both did so awesome. I'm so proud of them. Of course, me, being the complete idiot that I am, forgot my camera, so I only got pictures with my camera phone, which takes crappy pictures :( I'm going to share them anyways.

Caitlin and Emma with their trophies:


Emma sparring (she's the little one):


Emma knocking some girl on her ass:


Emma on the winner's stand:


I got pictures of Caitlin sparring as well as Caitlin and Emma doing their kata competition, but they didn't turn out :(

We had a great day and the girls had a blast!

I'm so excited for September!!! Why? Because I'm a complete loser who has nothing better to look forward to than her favorite television shows!

First and foremost, starting "Sometime in September" (Why won't they tell me the exact date?!!?!? :cry:) Nip/Tuck! Did Christian's gorgeous face get cut by the serial attacker? Say it ain't so! Not his beautiful face!!! That would be wrong on just so many different levels.

September 15th brings Survivor 11! I love Survivor...it's such a trainwreck. Lying, cheating, backstabbing, girls taking off their clothes for chocolate and peanut butter...it doesn't get much better than that! LOL Who will be the Ultimate Survivor? I'm putting my money on Cindy. As for the hookup (there always has to be at least one, right?), I'm guessing Blake and Brianna.

Then, on September 21st, LOST!!!! Wooohoooo! Why did they want the boy? Is Sawyer dead? Nooooo, not Sawyer! I suppose there's always the good doctor, Jack, left to look at though! I tend to like the clean cut guys better anyways. Still, there was something about Sawyer... What exactly is down that hatch? What is the "security system?" Is it a beast? Is it mechanical? What's with Hurley's numbers? How do the bad guys have fuel for their boat? So many questions left unanswered...I LOVE it!

Then, on September 27th comes the Amazing Race!!! This year it's a little different...families. It will be interesting to see the different family dynamics and how the different types of families interact. I'm curious as to how they've made it so it's fair for the different types of families. I mean, if it's just like the old ones, it's not exactly a fair race between a family of all adults and a family with young children.

My father in law sent this picture from when he was here visiting and I just had to share it.

Isn't he the cutest little thing?

Car woes:

I've been carless since February. That's right folks, a long...very long...six months without a car. I've been very lucky in that when I've absolutely needed a car for things like doctors appointments and, oh, I don't know...having a baby...Drake's coworker has been very generous and let us use his car.

So anyways, we decided we need a new car. We got the all clear from the credit union to go and buy a new car. Up to $40,000 WOOHOOO!!!! Of course, there's no way we could afford the payments on a $40,000 car, so we're looking more around the $25,000 range, leaving us a nice chunk of a payment, but nothing that will leave us hungry or homeless. I found THE car I wanted. Then everything fell apart!!!! Ugh, we were SO close. So, we're still carless. :( Hopefully not for too much longer though. I haven't given up hope!

Work woes:

Work? What's that? Well, I work...a lot. I just don't have a job. Yes, I realize that being a mom is a ton of work and all you other stay at home moms don't go jumping down my throat now saying I'm doing a disservice to stay at home moms everywhere by saying it's not a job and that we'll always be undervalued and underappreciated and never get recognized for all of the hard work we put into raising our children if even other stay at home moms devalue their job...Blah Blah Blah. LOL I consider it work...damn hard work. It's not a job. Get over it. Show me my biweekly paycheck and I'll consider it a job. Being a mom is my life. It's not my job. It's a part of who I am. I don't consider moms who work outside of the home as having two jobs. Ooh, I'm getting sidetracked...I'll go into this more later.

This isn't even about my work woes. Well, it's my work woes, but not my work. Clear as mud? Anyways, Drake found out today...well, technically yesterday since it's one in the morning...that he leaves for New York in the morning. Granted, we knew it was going to happen eventually, but it would have been nice to have a little more notice. Oh, let's just say at least 24 hours or so! We're right in the middle of trying to buy a car gosh darn it! I can't do anything without him here and we're on a hugely tight schedule. We need to have a car by the end of the month and he won't be home until the night of the 26th! Argh, sometimes I hate his work. I love the income, of course LOL I just hate that it takes him away from the family so often and that he gets such little notice before they fly him across the country! I mean, he has five kids, don't they care? Well, obviously not. They were nice though and his boss went to New York instead of sending Drake when the baby was due to be born. Gee, thanks, so kind.

I really shouldn't complain. Drake is very lucky to have this job. He absolutely loves it. I don't know many people who love their jobs. Drake looks forward to going to work in the morning. He really loves what he does and it pays the bills and supports my fabric habit. (Well, not anymore after we buy the car. I'm going to have to drastically cut back on my shopping *sob*) He enjoys traveling. He misses the family a ton, but enjoys it. I enjoy getting a break from him for a little bit. How horrible does that sound? LOL I miss him terribly when he's gone, but a little time apart usually does us some good. I just wish he could pick and choose when he has to travel. Gee, is that too much to ask for? (Yes, I realize it is!) He's going to miss Emma's first day of Kindergarten :( That really sucks and he feels terrible about it.

Food woes:

I'm running out of things to do with pork loin. Yeah, I know, not really high on the "woes" list, but it's bugging me. I bought this huge pork loin thing and can't think of what else to do with the meat that is left. I think my kids are getting sick of pork. I need to disguise it so they don't say, "Pork, again!?!?!?!?!" lol Gotta love Costco and buying in bulk!

Well, that's all for now. I have to go take Drake's clothes out of the dryer and fold them so he can pack for his trip in the morning.

Okay, back to the whole stay at home mom vs. work out of the home mom thing and is "Stay at home mom" a "job." Being a mom is part of who I am. It's what happened when I first got pregnant with Caitlin. I just "became" a mom. Just because I stay at home while I'm a mom doesn't make being a mom my "job." I just happen to be able to stay home...period. I'm a mom that stays at home. It's not a job. It's my life. I'm a mom. I don't have a job. Therefore, I'm a stay at home mom. Makes perfect sense to me LOL

A while back I came across this article:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The old adage that "a mother's work is never done" remains as true now as ever. Today's stay-at-home Moms are learning what their predecessors always knew -- they'd be making a lot of money doing their job outside the home.

Just in time for Mother's Day, an informal study conducted by Web site Salary.com shows that stay-at-home moms would earn an average of $131,471 annually, including overtime, if they received a paycheck.

A sampling of the 5.4 million stay-at-home mothers were asked to come up with job titles that fit a general description of their daily routines.

The titles -- which reflected the most time-consuming parts of their day -- include day-care center teacher, van driver, housekeeper, cook, chief executive officer, nurse and general maintenance worker, the survey showed.

Of course, a stay-at-home parent does not work typical office hours. The hypothetical median salary is based on a 100-hour work week and assumes caring for at least two children of school age.

"The importance of this calculation or this estimate is just calling attention to the fact that being a stay-at-home mom is not a cop out, it's not the woman's way out of the workforce and it's not a job of no value," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. "There is a lot of value there, and some would say it's even priceless."

Salary.com, which tracks what jobs pay, suggested that the annual base pay for a 40-hour stay-at-home mom's workweek would be $43,461. Mothers would earn an additional $88,009 a year for 60 hours of overtime each week.

"I think I should definitely make that much," said Joanna Butti, who stays at home to care for her twin boys. "It's a hard job."

Coleman said feedback on the figure was mixed. Some felt mothers deserved more, some less. In general, though, many were pleased to see a figure above $100,000.

"Stay-at-home moms are enthusiastic and upbeat about their jobs, they didn't seem to need external validation," Coleman told Reuters. "They were also happy that they were getting attention, and that somebody was out there telling the world that what they do is valuable, and perhaps more valuable than one would expect."

Mothers said you cannot attach a figure to the time spent with their kids. "I'm giving 150 percent of myself to them many hours a day," said Debra Miley, who stays home with two-year old daughter Olivia and four-month old son Gregory. "You cannot attach a dollar value to the time that you spend nurturing your child if you're lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom."

I agree that SAHM's would be worth a whole lot of money if they actually got paid for what they do. However, WAHM's do the same thing SAHM's do as soon as they get home from work, so it's not like they aren't worth equally as much. In fact, they have their job outside of the home, and while there, they are still personally responsible for the actions, activities, and daily goings on of their children even though they aren't physically with them. If there is a problem with their child at school, it is still their responsibility to take care of it. A WOHM is still the "CEO" of her family "company." Just because her hands aren't directly in it at every moment, she is still responsible for what happens. So, you could say a WOHM works two jobs at once, then adds to the responsibility of her second job as soon as she gets home from her first.

I enjoy being a stay at home mom, for the most part. There are times that I wish I had more adult interaction and that my days consisted of more than housework and childcare. I actually think I might be a better mom if I wasn't a stay at home mom. Who really knows. It's not like I could go and test that theory. A high school diploma doesn't exactly bring the type of job that can pay for daycare for five!

So anyways, being a stay at home mom is work...a lot of work...a lot of difficult, underaprreciated, undervalued...at times, work. It's still not a job.

So, supposedly I can post to my blahg via email, so I'm testing it
out! If you are reading this on my blahg, that means it works. How
cool is that? Of course, I'm not sure when I'd ever have access to
email and not to the web, and even if I did, I'm not sure I'm so
addicted to blahgging that I'd feel the need to email a post to my
blahg. Perhaps this would work better for Amber Lynn who is so addicted to her blog that she writes posts for it in wordpad while she's on vacation, to post to it later because she didn't have access to the internet. You know I love you A.L!

Anyways, as you can tell by the multiple posts tonight and by the change in look and feel to this blahg, I'm incredibly bored and have nothing to do. It's 2:45 in the morning and I'm waiting for my husband to get home. He's out playing poker with the guys. *Sigh* I hate being alone :(

So, as I sat here, sipping my latte, I came across this site.
Here is the web of a spider who has eaten flies that were drugged up on LSD:


One on mescaline (what the heck is mescaline? I think I'll go google it in a minute)


One on hashish (that's marijuana, right? I suppose it's a good thing I don't know for sure)


And last but not least, my favorite, caffeine. Mmmmmmm, I just took a nice long drink from my iced vanilla latte from Starbucks!


So, basically, I'll think and perform better on LSD than on caffeine. Sweet! I wonder how long it took the spider that was on marijuana to build that web. He probably would have rather eaten. Granted, he needed his web to catch things to eat, so I suppose the web was built out of necessity. Poor spider, he just had the munchies. I bet the meany head researches didn't even throw him some more high flies either. Granted, at that point, the spider probably didn't care much. I think I'm putting way too much thought into this.

I killed a spider today. My kids are deathly afraid of them. Cole screams like someone is killing him if he sees one that is moving. He reassures himself with the mantra "It's just a common house spider," if it's a daddy long legs. Do other people call them that, or is it purely something my parents taught me? Thinking back, I can't recall anyone else ever talking about those spiders, so I really have no idea. It's kind of a funny name and I really wouldn't be surprised to find out that normal people don't actually call them that. However, if it's any other kind of spider, he just freaks out and gets paralyzed with fear. Poor baby. I keep getting him to try to face his fear by squishing one, but he's not going for it and he tells me I'm a mean, bad mommy if I force him to go near one. LOL

Okay, so I looked up mescaline and found this:

A solution of 20 g 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde, 40 mL nitromethane, and 20 mL cyclohexylamine in 200 mL of acetic acid was heated on the steam bath for 1 h. The reaction mixture was then diluted slowly and with good stirring, with 400 mL H2O, which allowed the formation of a heavy yellow crystalline mass. This was removed by filtration, washed with H2O, and sucked as dry as possible. Recrystallization from boiling MeOH (15 mL/g) yielded, after filtration and air drying, beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene as bright yellow crystals weighing 18.5 g. An alternate synthesis was effective, using an excess of nitromethane as solvent as well as reagent, if the amount of ammonium acetate catalysis was kept small. A solution of 20 g 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 40 mL nitromethane containing 1 g anhydrous ammonium acetate was heated on the steam bath for 4 h. The solvent was stripped under vacuum and the residual yellow oil was dissolved in two volumes of hot MeOH, decanted from some insolubles, and allowed to cool. The crystals formed are removed by filtration, washed with MeOH and air dried yielding 14.2 g. of bright yellow crystals of beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene. The use of these proportions but with 3.5 g ammonium acetate gave extensive side-reaction products even when worked up after only 1.5 h heating. The yield of nitrostyrene was, in this latter case, unsatisfactory.

To a gently refluxing suspension of 2 g LAH in 200 mL Et2O, there was added 2.4 g beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene as a saturated Et2O solution by use of a Soxhlet extraction condenser modified to allow the continuous return of condensed solvent through the thimble. After the addition was complete, the refluxing conditions were maintained for another 48 h. After cooling the reaction mixture, a total of 150 mL of 1.5 N H2SO4 was cautiously added, destroying the excess hydride and ultimately providing two clear phases. These were separated, and the aqueous phase was washed once with 50 mL Et2O. There was then added 50 g potassium sodium tartrate, followed by sufficient NaOH to bring the pH >9. This was then extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2, and the solvent from the pooled extracts was removed under vacuum. The residue was distilled at 120-130 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg giving a white oil that was dissolved in 10 mL IPA and neutralized with concentrated HCl. The white crystals that formed were diluted with 25 mL Et2O, removed by filtration, and air dried to provide 2.1 g 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine hydrochloride (M) as glistening white crystals. The sulfate salt formed spectacular crystals from water, but had a broad and uncharacteristic mp. An alternate synthesis can employ 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetonitrile, as described under beta-D.

So, if I wanted to and had the supplies, I could make it, but still don't know what it is LOL According to that same page:

Mescaline is one of the oldest psychedelics known to man. It is the major active component of the small dumpling cactus known as Peyote. It grows wild in the Southwestern United States and in Northern Mexico, and has been used as an intimate component of a number of religious traditions amongst the native Indians of these areas. The cactus has the botanical name of Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii and is immediately recognizable by its small round shape and the appearance of tufts of soft fuzz in place of the more conventional spines. The dried plant material has been classically used with anywhere from a few to a couple of dozen of the hard tops, called buttons, being consumed in the course of a ceremony.

Okay, so now I know it's a psychedelic. Does that mean it makes you see things? Does everything seem all Austin Powersish? Groovy, baby.

So, I'm wondering if I've ever heard of mescaline, but only know it by a different name. For example, hashish...I think that's marijuana. Marijuana is the name I know it by (if they're the same thing...I'm so behind on my drug lingo *sob* LOL) So, is there a more common name for mescaline that would make me go, "Ooooooh, that's what it is."

I found pictures of the cactus you can get the stuff from:
San Pedro cactus:

Peyote Cactus:

Maybe I need to go take a drive into the desert!

According to drugeducation.net

Mescaline provokes pupil dialation, dizziness, vomiting, tachycardia, sensations of warm and cold, swatting, headaches. Some of the visions under the effect of mescaline can cause nightmares that can give birth to some psychosis to the consumers.

That brings back a fond memory for me...although I suppose it was kind of mean. When I was a freshman in highschool, one of my friends was out of her mind on LSD. So, I thought I would have some fun with her. I went up to her and started poking at her forehead with my index finger. She asked, "What are you doing?" I told her I was drilling a hole in her forehead with my finger. She started freaking out, asking me to stop. I told her, "Wow, it's getting really deep, ewww, I think I can see your brain!" She started freaking out even more. Then, I removed my finger and gave her a disgusted look and said, "Oh my God, there are worms coming out of the hole!!! Oh my God, I'm so sorry!!! I didn't think there would be worms....EWWWWW, that's just nasty, I can't believe how many worms there are!!!!" She completely lost it, started screaming and running around the classroom, holding her hand over the "hole" in her forehead and was crying and saying, "I don't want worms coming out of my head!!!!!!" Is it mean that I still get a giggle out of it?

Same friend...different incident, same drug. I went up to her and started waving my hands back and forth really quickly in front of, but to the sides of her face. I started saying, "You're running through a forest, there are trees all around you, can you see the trees?" She said she could. I said, "You're running through the forest...faster and faster and faster...you're trying to get away from someone" She started getting a freaked out look on her face. "You're running and running as fast as you can...running and running and running and SMACK you hit a tree!!!" When I said "SMACK" I smacked her in the center of her forehead. She literally fell straight backwards onto the ground and was completely dazed because she seriously thought she had hit a tree. Then she remembered that she was running away from someone in the forest and started to freak out because she was afraid hitting the tree caused her to lose precious time and now the person she was running from was going to catch up to her. Yeah, I still get a giggle out of that one as well. I'm kinda mean.

So anyways, the more I read about mescaline, the more I think it's just a drug I've never heard of and it may not have another, more common name. Odd.

Here's a pretty picture of what LSD is made out of:

I'm learning all sorts of things about drugs tonight. Why I am filling my head with useless knowledge is beyond me, but it's kind of interesting.

So anyways, there are my random thoughts for the night. Who knew that reading my blog would be so educational? Off for some more caffeine!

Ugh, I hate not having a car! I'm going stir crazy not being able to get out of the house! I would like to just be able to pack up all the kids and go to the park or something. It's a beautiful day...perfect for the beach, but I'm stuck at home. :( Not that I even like the beach, but my kids love it.

We're looking into getting a new car. I'm so excited! We're currently looking at the Saturn Relay. I haven't heard anything good or bad about it. It has good safety ratings, which is most important, and it has a DVD player and TV, which is next in line ;) Hopefully we'll have it by the end of the month. It's a $579/month car payment though. Ouch! It will be worth it though, not having to worry about our car breaking down all the time, etc. It will also save us a ton of money by making it so we don't have to fly up to Sacramento this Christmas. We can drive up. That will be nice. Well, that long drive won't be nice, but not having to spend almost $1000 on airfare or a rental car will be nice. We also need to get up north next summer for Drake's coworkers wedding, so that will be some airfare saved there as well. The best part of all...the money we save on those two trips can be saved and put towards the trip to Hawaii next summer I thought we were going to have to miss because of the expenses of the two trips to Northern CA. So, we'll see :)

Drake is out flying today. Ugh, small planes scare me. I can't even count the number of small plane crashes I've heard about. The thought that my husband is on one scares me :( I realize that he needs to do it for work, but still, it sucks. I just have to hope and pray that he gets back safely. Of course, he never calls when he gets back, so I never know that he gets back safely until he calls me later in the day. I wish he would call the second they touch down. At least the weather is beautiful today. Nice and clear, so I won't have to worry about them having problems with that, or having to land somewhere else and stay the night.

My fabric finally arrived! The "second" shipment anyways. No sign of the "first" shipment. Go figure! The stuff isn't as nice as I was hoping for. The brocade looks like ugly cumberbund material. There are two nice ones though that should work well for mei tais. I figure I can use the other ones for practice before I use the ones I acutally like. I need to get some velveteen or something to use for the straps and the reverse side though. Oh...and I need to get my sewing machine fixed. I suppose that would help as well!

I started a baby blanket for my sister in law's baby last night. She's not due until February, but I figured I'd give it to her for Christmas since that's the only time I'll see her between now and when the baby is due. I'm also hoping to crochet a hat and some clothes (although the clothes are a bit ambitious)

I just joined a wool yarn coop, so hopefully I'll be getting some nice wool yarn to knit some longies to go over Sera's cloth diapers. I'm also hoping to make a few for some friends and maybe a couple to sell. We'll see. I think I'll stick to longies even though they cost more to make because of the amount of yarn that goes into them, but I figure they'll be needed more since winter is coming up. If you don't know what longies are, here is an example:

You use them over cloth diapers. Wool is an awesome choice to use over cloth diapers for many different reasons. Wool can absorb quite a bit of moisture before it ever even feels wet. It is breathable, so the temperature inside doesn't get too hot, it also helps prevent diaper rash because of that. It stretches and moves with the baby, helping to prevent leaks and just making it more comfortable. It's also naturally antibacteral. Wow, I sound like a commercial or something. Anyways, I'm really excited to be getting some cheap (price wise, not quality wise) wool yarn because it costs like $50 on the low end to purchase a pair of longies. It will also give me a chance to work on my knitting skills a bit more :)

So apparently I used up my alloted bandwidth for the month, so the server I have everything hosted on locked my account :( That sucks. I had a feeling it might happen though. I wasn't sure how many gigs of bandwidth I was allotted each month. Apparently it was only 5. I really need to get my own server one of these days. Of course, that means getting a static IP and a computer that I don't use. Not real likely right now. Anyone have an extra $100/month so I can get some static IP's? No one? :( Yeah, that's what I thought!

My sister and her family are coming to visit me tomorrow! I'm so totally excited. I haven't seen them since last Christmas and they'll be the first in my family to see Sera! My mom didn't have enough notice to take off of work, so she wasn't able to come down with them though. That sucks. It's so odd to have my mom working. My mom never worked outside of the home a single day while I was growing up. I just took for granted the fact that my mom was at home and available to me 24/7. Now she's not and it's really strange. I mean, I'm not even living there and it's still strange! I'll call her up in the middle of the day and my sister will say, "She's at work," and it's just a really odd feeling.

My kids are beyond thrilled that their cousins will be visiting tomorrow! They absolutely adore them. Gosh, I bet they're getting so big. I feel bad that I don't have anything for them. Perhaps I'll have to run to the store in the morning to pick up something special for them.

So, I've been playing around on MySpace a little bit lately. It's amazing to see how many old classmates are on there and to see how grown up they are now LOL I ran across the profile of someone I knew and sent him a message. It was my basic, "Hey, I don't know if you remember me, we had such and such class together. Write back when you get the chance." type of message. Problem was, my memories of this guy were totally off. He wrote back and was like, "We had such and such class together (not the one I mentioned) and I've never been to *insert place I mentioned as last place I had seen him* We used to work together." I felt like such an ass. Apparently I lived this faux life with him in my head or something! LOL (I'm totally kidding, I'm not that pyscho) I have no idea why I thought I had that other class with him or why I thought I saw him where I did and why I didn't remember that I freaking worked with the guy! I think I'm getting a bit senile in my old age. :(

So anyways, that's it for today! :)

Caitlin just took this picture of Sera and me. It's not that great of a picture...what do you expect from an old camera phone in the hands of a six year old? I thought it was sweet though, so I'm sharing it.

You know, I've been pondering the adult dating relationship a lot lately. I, personally, have never been in an adult dating relationship. I pretty much went from playing house to being married with kids. I was 19 when I got married. Drake was 2 weeks past 18 years. (The baby was six months premature...I swear!)

So, why have I been thinking about dating? It's mainly because I was flipping through some old journals of mine and was thinking about some old friends and something that was said about me by an ex boyfriend popped into my mind, "Man, I sure an glad Katie didn't trap me into marrying her like she did to Drake." Then, memories of something one of my "friends" said to me surfaced. She basically told me how sorry she felt for me because I was tied down with a husband and all of these kids when I should be out having fun and enjoying my early twenties. She also asked me why I didn't abort a few of them. Yeah, I haven't spoken to her since then.

Anyways, so I was pondering single adult life...it's perks and it's drawbacks. I've concluded that I wouldn't give up what I have for the world. I see my old friends and what they're doing, and while they may be having fun doing it, it's not what I want from life. I don't want to go out partying all the time. I don't want to go camping once a month with friends and spend the weekend drunk off my ass acting like a fool. And most of all, I NEVER want to date again! Oh my gosh, I HATED dating. I hated the games that went along with it. I hated the he said/she said, he didn't say/she didn't say, does he like me/does he not like me, is he dating me because he likes me/is he dating me because of a rumor he heard, is my boyfriend going to find out I'm kissing two other guys/can I keep it a secret from him LOL It was all just so much work.

Not that being married is a piece of cake. Goodness, it's SO far from it. I would say it's a LOT more work than dating, (wow, what an understatement!) However, it is SO different and the perks far outweigh anything negative that may come in your marriage.

There is a stability like none other. You always know that there is someone there for you. You know that if he doesn't call, he either has a damn good reason, or he is going to be in deep shit when he gets home and that's okay because he knows he should have called. You know he thinks you're beautiful and that everyone else truly does pale in comparison in his eyes. You know when he gives you compliments there is no ulterior motive. You know you don't need to keep one ear open for your parent's car pulling up in your driveway ;) Oh, and you get these little creatures if you're really lucky ;)

However, I do sometimes miss the butterflies you get in your stomach on a first date. The thrill of a first kiss. The ability to be spontaneous and just go out whenever you want to. I do often wonder what it would be like to have a boyfriend and to just say, "Hey, let's take a road trip," and just do it. I wonder what it would be like to have a job and have all of that money to spend on myself. I wonder what it would be like to be able to spend a week on vacation with the person you're seeing. I wonder what it would be like to be able to go on dates that involve more than pee wee golfing and dessert at the Ice Creamery.(That was about all we could do at the age I was when I actually went out on dates LOL) Sometimes the grass does seem greener on the other side.

Then I come back home and look around at what I have and realize that there is no reason for anyone to pity me. I know where I'm going in my life. I know who is going to be there tomorrow. I know that if I have a huge blowout earth shattering fight with my husband, by tomorrow he'll have apologized and things will be okay. (Because, afterall, I'm always right ;) ) I know that if every single person in the world hated me, I'd still have these six people in my life who will stay by my side and love me unconditionally.

Wow, this post was a lot deeper than I planned on it being! Quick Katie, say something witty...yeah, I've got nothin'.

And still no freaking fabric! Friday...Monday at the latest, my ass. What about my ass, you may say? Yeah, I don't know either.

Speaking of ass, I have some free time while the laundry goes before I need to stick the clothes in the dryer, so I'll share my ass stories with you. Oh goody, stories about Katie's ass! Nah, you only wish you were so lucky. I'm just all over the place tonight...I guess that's what happens when you're up doing laundry at three in the morning. So, here goes:

"Life is all about ass; you're either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, or behaving like one .... It's all about Ass!"

"Covering it:" So, when I was about 16 or 17, I went out with some friends of mine. We went roller skating. When we were done roller skating, my friend, Eric, was taking me and another friend, Sean, home. When we got to Sean's house, Sean mentioned that he really didn't feel like going home yet, but seeing as it was almost midnight, there really wasn't anything else we could go out and do. So, we just sat in the car and talked. We were just chatting about life in general and decided that it would be fun to ask eachother random questions that had to be answered truthfully. So, I asked the guys, "If you could kiss any three people in the world, who would they be?" (Kiss? I was such a good girl back then...hmmmm...yeah, that must be it.) Anyways, both of them mentioned two actresses and me. Me?!?!?! Wow, I was horribly flattered. Of course, looking back on it now, with my oh so many years of wisdom, I realize they were probably just skipping to part six of the ass quote: "trying to get a piece of it." At the time though I was just shocked and flattered. So, of course, I had to oblige. Afterall, out of all the millions of women in the world, I was one of the top three they wanted to kiss. Talk about making their dreams come true! LOL It was just a quick peck on the lips though. Not a big deal really. When Sean finally realized that he wasn't getting any...I mean, when Sean finally decided he was going to go into his house, I realized it was three in the morning. I had a midnight curfew!!! So, Eric raced me home and I snuck as quietly as I could into my house. I knew that my parents always realized that it was nights that I didn't check in that I missed curfew. They could always count on the fact that I would check in with them if I got home on time and if I got home late, I never woke them up. Yeah, I was a real sly one. So anyways, hoping and praying that they had gone to bed before midnight, I snuck into their room, flipped their clock around, hoping my mom would be too tired to reach out for it and turn it back around when she went to look at the time, or would just assume I was home on time since I was waking her up and without the bright red numbers staring her in the face, wouldn't even think to look at the clock, and woke my mom up to tell her I was home. She asked, "Did you have a good time?" I said yes, she said, "That's good. Good night." and fell back asleep. Whew...dodged that one!

"Laughing it off:" My friend, Tracey, (who is mentioned earlier in this blahg) is very...ummmm...boisterous when she's having fun. So anyways, we were driving down A Street in Hayward one night and there was this person walking down the street. Tracey starts laughing her ass off and asks me, in her not so inside voice, "Is that a man or a woman? I seriously can't tell!" at which point in time s/he turned and looked at our car with a not too amused look on his/her face. Tracey then exclaimed "Oh shit, my window is down!!! Drive...DRIVE!!!!!!" Between that and "Vanira?" Tracey is a laugh riot. She makes me laugh so hard my sides hurt and my abs hurt the next day.

"Kicking it:" Fortunately, I really don't have any stories about this. I've never been in a physical fight. What can I say, I'm a lover, not a fighter ;)

"Kissing it:" You know, I'm really not one to kiss someone's ass. If I do, I painfully overexaggerate it so it's an obvious ass kissing rather than just a "I'm trying to subtly kiss your ass so you don't know I'm doing it, but still want to give me things because I'm kissing your ass." Yeah, no boring stories for this one...you're spared for now.

"Busting it:" Things have always come really easy for me. I've never had to work very hard for anything I've wanted. The only times I've ever had to bust my ass was when my penchant for procrastination kicks in, and then, it's completely my fault. Afterall, reports that your teachers give you two months to complete really aren't supposed to be finished in a single night.

"Trying to get a piece of it:" I honestly believe that the only reason my husband started dating me was because he heard I was easy. He SWEARS it wasn't, but I really think it was. He made the mistake of mentioning that our common friend, Eric (the one mentioned in the earlier story) told him, "Katie likes you...you should go for her. She'll give you anything you want." Yeah, some friend he was. I think he was just upset because I wasn't sending any lovin' his way. ;) So, basically, I got my husband because he was trying to get a piece of ass...any ass...and mine was convenient and easy...according to my "friend." Thank you Eric :)

"Behaving like one:" I am very...ummmm...loud and happy when I've been drinking. Some people get mean and angry, I'm exactly the opposite. Get me drinking and I love everyone and everything and am not afraid to show it. So anyways, I went out drinking with my friend, Tracey, (I swear, I'm pathetic...she's like my only friend) one night. We had a few shots of tequila. Okay, I had some shots of tequila...Tracey was just a convenient salt lick and lime holder ;) I had a few too many. (I lost count around 13 or so) After we left the bar, we went to Tracey's friend's house. There were about four people there that I had never met. Yes, wonderful time to meet new people...when you're drunk off your ass. So, Tracey introduced me to them and I spent the next hour or so repeating their names back to them...like they didn't already know them or something. I think I may have introduced them to eachother as well. lol Well, at one point I needed to go to the bathroom. Tracey decided she may need to help me with that. (Which was probably a very good idea. So, we're in the bathroom and I'm just falling all over the place. The guy who's house it was came back to find out what was going on. There I was, with my pants around my ankles and he's standing in the doorway. Sadly, the only thing that crossed my mind at that point was, "Oh crap, I can't remember if I shaved my legs before I left tonight. God, I hope I don't have hairy legs." Yeah, that was my biggest problem at that point in time.

So, there are my ass stories.

Off to throw the laundry in the dryer and put Ethan to bed. I have no idea what he's doing up at 3:30 in the morning. Well, I do...he's currently eating a hot dog.

I was just reading my sister in law's blahg and she was talking about how she and her girlfriends went to Palm Springs for a girls weekend away. I'm SO jealous. I would love to get away for a weekend with girlfriends. But then again, I suppose you have to have girlfriends to get away with. Hmmm, maybe I should work on that.

I've always wanted to go on a cruise. I just want to go somewhere with no kids and no worries. I adore my children, but I could really just use some time away to relax and rejuvenate. It seems my whole life is centered around my family, which is as it should be, but somewhere in the chaos of being mom/wife/housekeeper/accountant/chauffer, etc., I've lost Katie. I'm so busy being everything for everyone else that I forget that I need to be me at times as well. Life is always so much better when I get a chance to go out and be Katie every once in a while. I'm happier, which in turn, makes the family happier.

Whatever, it's a pipe dream. LOL I am busily planning my trip to New York this December. Drake keeps acting like it's not going to happen, but it is. Oh yes...it is. I need it to or I'm going to go insane.

Oh my goodness, I just wrote a huge long post, then I accidentally kicked my computer and it restarted and I lost everything :( I'm SO not rewriting all of it right now. I may later, but it's 1:35 in the morning and I just don't feel like it.

It was all about this quote:

"Life is all about ass; you're either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, or behaving like one .... It's all about Ass!"

I had a funny/interesting story from my past to go along with each part of the quote. Oh well, now you'll all just be wanting for more, right? Hmmmm? Yeah, that's what I thought. I hate being boring LOL

Oh well, you've been spared...for now.

So, on the 19th of last month I bought some fabric (just a little, I swear!) from FabricClub.com. They say they ship within two business days. They're located in Idaho. So, two business days would have been the 21st. I emailed them on the 30th of last month asking for a tracking number for my package. They emailed me back and said they'd look into it first thing Monday morning and get back to me. Monday morning came...no email. Monday afternoon...no email. So, I emailed them again, asking for a tracking number. Monday evening...no email. Tuesday morning...no email. Tuesday afternoon...no email. Tuesday evening...no email. Wednesday morning...no email. I email them again...still no response. I'm getting so frustrated. I really could have done something else with that money. (Not that I spent a lot...really honey, I swear I didn't *sweet innocent, slightly guilty smile*) I swear if I don't get that fabric I'm going to be pissed. This is what I get for dealing with a company that is unknown to me. :( I should have just stuck with the companies that I know come through. So, it's been 12 days since they should have shipped it out. It doesn't take 12 days for ANY postal carrier to get a package from Idaho to California. I wouldn't be so irritated if they would just email me back and at least say, "Yes, we shipped it out on the 21st." or "I'm sorry, there must have been some sort of mix up in the shipping department. Your order was never filled." But no, they just don't email me back at all. Ugh. I hate crappy customer service!

Edited on August 4th to add: So, I heard back from customer service of the fabric company mentioned below. They say my package should be here tomorrow...Monday at the latest. We'll see.

So, I was browsing around the web and came across Pinup Girl Clothing. They have such cute stuff! I am bound and determined to fit into this dress by next summer:

I was thinking with either these shoes:

Or these:

I really like the second pair, but am afraid they might be a bit too much. I don't really want people looking at my shoes and thinking, "Wow, stripper wannabe!" LOL Aren't they adorably cute though?

I also like these shoes:


And these:



I might fall on my ass if I wear them though. I bet with practice though...

So, I got a phone call from Drake this evening. He's going to be working later than he had planned. (Not horribly surprising, but still disappointing...especially since he was gone all day yesterday) However, he told me, "I found something online that I thought you might be interested in, I'll show it to you when I get home." So, I'm thinking, 'Jewelry? Designer purse? Cool MP3 player?' Then he says, "Well, you can just look at it yourself if you want to. It's a really nicely laid out website and apparently you can download the program that puts it together." Ahhhhh, it's a content management system that looks really nice. Sadly, I was really excited about it! I'm such a dork, and my husband knows me oh so well.

If you're a dork like me, or are just interested in seeing what makes my heart skip a beat (okay, I'm not that bad) you can go to Particle Tree to see it in action and Text Pattern to download the program! While I was at Particle Tree, I ran across a mention of notepad++. So, I went and downloaded that as well. It's hecka cool! I've been looking for something to replace UltraEdit, and this just might work for me, so I'm pleased :) Oh, and how cool looking is the notepad++ site? I keep going back just to mouseover the menu on the left! My favorite is the language link. I'm such a dork.