Hakuna Matata

YAY! It's finally here! Tonight is the night me and Michael are going to see "The Lion King" at the Orpheum! I just hope my contacts I ordered earlier in the week get here in the mail today so I can actually SEE it. I don't even remember where our seats are exactly, I just know those tickets were in the upwards of $75 a piece, so they better be good seats. But I will let everyone know how it is in case you want to go see it. I believe it runs into the first week of January.

Doesn't it seem like a jillion years ago that the movie came out? I saw it in the theater twice...once with Marc, because I felt sorry for him, lol, I know, that's mean, but he was like the little puppy dog that wouldn't stop following you, he would NOT stop asking me to be his girlfriend, so I decided to go with him and then break his heart later, lol. So his mom was driving us to see it at the theater in the Hickory Ridge Mall, I sat in the front seat, and Marc and his insane little sister and one of her little friends sat in the back, and on the way out there, we got rearended because the roads were slick because it had just rained, and it scared the crap outta me, especially once I realized my seatbelt was not on the right way, not to mention I'd never BEEN in a wreck before. That woman was a psychotic driver looking for a wreck to happen. So we get there to see the movie and Marc begged his mom and sister not to sit with us, so they sat BEHIND us, and for some stupid reason I actually let him hold my hand. Once again, I was feeling sorry for him, and just said to myself "what the hay?" and then his sister and her friend got up to walk towards the front of the theater and they saw us and his sister, unconcerned that the movie had already started, lets out this "WHOOOOOOO!" in response to us holding hands. What year WAS that anyway?? Wasn't it like summer of 94? Or was in '93? Somebody help me out here...when did that movie come out? And then the 2nd time, I saw it with my Mom and my Grandma, which that trip was a lot less uneventful, lol. It's just funny how I remember stuff like that.

Anyways, I have lots to do today. I need to finish folding the laundry, get the den vaccumed, get a shower, straighten my hair, figure out what the heck to wear tonight, get the kids bathed and get their bags packed. Travis is going to Meemaw's (my mom) tonight to spend the night and Jacob is going to Mamaw's (Michael's mom). Jacob isn't staying overnight. So we have to figure out how the heck we're going to do this. Michael gets home from work at 4:30, given there are no traffic jams or presidents coming into town, and it will probably take him roughly 30 minutes to get ready, so if we leave here at 5, go to South Memphis to drop off Jacob, and then double track back to Southaven to drop off Travis, we should be able to make it downtown and go somewhere to eat before 8:00, which is when the musical starts. We are really bad about going on a date, like dinner and a movie, and we'll sit there the whole time we're at dinner, feeling all rushed and like "Man, I wish she'd hurry up and bring our check so we can make it to the movie on time!" We almost NEVER, EVER make it out of the house at the time we would really like to. When you have 2 kids to get ready, even if you have them ready 30 minutes before time to walk out the door, somebody pukes or needs a new diaper or spills something all over their clothes. It's so much fun being parents! We only ask to go out every once in a blue moon!! Thankfully we are fortunate enough to have plenty of babysitters ready and willing to keep our kids for us so that we can, but I am finding the more kids you have, the harder it is to find someone that will keep them all at once. So I guess time's a-waistin' and I need to go get busy.

Too Much Blogging

I know I've blogged way too many times today, but if I am boring you to tears, then don't read my blog anymore, ya got it? Okay, now that we've got that cleared up, I have just been writing and writing and writing the past week or so. Not really sure what is giving me inspiration, but whatever it is, it needs to keep inspiring me because I'm on a roll and I just wanna keep on rollin'. I've written a handful of poems, a song, and I'm even working on a story. Good thing I can type fast, or I'd have serious writer's cramp right about now.

Tomorrow night we're going downtown to see The Lion King at the Orpheum! I bought these tickets waaay back in July, so I thought this would never get here! I think it'll be neat though. We just have to figure out where we want to eat beforehand.

Tonight I came to this sudden realization that Jewel has been around now since 1995. She's been around almost 9 years!!! Her first album was released in 1995, but I never started paying attention to her until 1997, and by that point, she was still only on her first album, so to me, she's been around since 1997. Her 2nd album didn't come out until the end of 1998. Then another album came out in 2001, and then another one this year. I also had the awesome opportunity to see in concert in Orlando, Florida last year at Hard Rock Live. That was the most awesome experience. We stood literally for 4 hours. It was just a stage and a floor, no chairs. Everyone crammed in there and squeezed in as close to the stage as they possibly could. And me in my big shoes, my feet were killing me and I didn't even realize how badly my feet were hurting until AFTER the concert when we had to walk back to the car, but it was well worth it, I got some great pictures, and just getting the opportunity to see her in concert is something I won't soon forget. She had recently had an accident where she fell off a horse and broke her collar bone, so for awhile, we were unsure if the concert would even happen, but luckily it didn't get cancelled, but even still, she wasn't supposed to be playing her guitar, but she did anyway. ANYWAY, her music took awhile to grow on me, actually, but once it did, I loved her. She is the one singer/songwriter that has had a lasting impact on me. It's as if she has been there for me through boyfriends, heartbreaks, & crazy love affairs. There are so many of her songs that I felt like she was going through the exact thing I was going through at the time she wrote the song. The first song I ever heard by her was "You Were Meant For Me", which got a lot of radio play. Once I started thinking about how/when I started listening to Jewel made me remember Scott. It wasn't until December of 1997 that I had the opportunity to listen to some of the other songs on Jewel's first album. And the one person I would never think would own a Jewel album is the person that introduced me to her songs. The one song that he played for me at first that really stuck out in my mind was "Near You Always". He sent me a short wav clip of the song, and I had to go out and buy the whole CD just so I could hear the whole song, and from that moment on, I loved that song and was hooked on Jewel. This is a rather strange thing, but my mom was the one that introduced me to this guy that happened to be my age, that she talked to in this Civil War chat room. His name was Scott, he lived near Nashville, and his family OWNED Tennessee Pride (in case it didn't dawn on you yet, that's a pretty well known sausage company). He was as country as country could get, but dressed a little preppy. He was shorter than me, but he was really a cute guy. We dated long distance in December 97/January 98. We talked online mostly, but we talked on the phone some, sent each other pictures, and 2 days after Christmas in 1997, he came down to meet me. I really liked this guy and we seemed to hit it off, but with me coming out of a psychotic relationship like the one me and Marc had, it was just too hard to find someone who wanted to deal with me having to deal with Marc's alleged suicide attempts. and Scott didn't want to make time for me anymore, my mom wasn't going to let me drive halfway between here and Nashville to see Scott, and I ended up getting back with Marc. Why, I do not know. I guess I didn't want to be alone, and I had pity on Marc. So January 1998 we got back together, for the 3rd time, and we tried to put everything back together, but the truth was, our relationship was in total shambles from previous events, and I think more than anything, we needed someone just to hang out with because we were both lonely as heck. But geez, with boyfriends like that, who needs a psycho ward patient? LOL We finally broke up for good in January 1999, and for once in my life, I was single as could be. No attachments. I wanted to be by myself, but at the same time, that scared the ever living crudola out of me. It's really crazy how things seemed so complicated back then, and now it all makes sense as to why I did what I did. Back then it seemed like a big dramatic soap opera, and now I just look back on certain things and I go "DUH!" Exactly one week after we broke up, I met Michael online. And it hadn't been too long since he'd come out of a big relationship, too. The girl dumped him and married some much older guy like a couple months later. So here I was, not wanting to get involved with anyone, and there me and Michael are, going out on our first date 2 weeks after me and Marc broke up, and Michael has to go and tell me he loves me. And the whole being by myself thing, once again, was history. So you have to understand. I do not have a clue what it is like to be alone, to be single, to be without a companion. I do not know HOW to be by myself. I have literally been with SOMEONE since January of 1996. That's 7 years. If I had to become single again, for whatever reason, it would be like trying to turn a house cat into an outside cat or something. Or even worse, a goldfish out of water. I don't even know why I'm talking about becoming single. I'm just saying like if something were to happen to him. Okay, I'll shut up now...I am just rambling. I am going to bed now. More tomorrow.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I am totally in the mood now to get down the tree out of the attic. It is so dang dark up there though and creepy and mice live up there, so I am too skeered to go up there by myself and find it. Okay, I'm a whimp, but I swear to you if I see a mouse, I am going to scream bloody murder and neighbors will start calling the police and stuff. So Michael gets to go dig it out and drag it down the steps, but hey, I still think he's got the easy job. (Actually I don't think he'll be able to find that tree up there either because just this last summer, we actually put boards up there to make it into somewhat of a floor so we could get a lot of the junk out of our 3rd bedroom so we could transform it into a nursery for Jacob. To this day, I have no clue what all we put up there. By that point though I was so miserably pregnant, I didn't care if they put the whole house up there.) Okay, well, he actually helps me assemble the tree because he says it requires "man strength" or something. And then he kind of sort of helps me fluff out all the branches, but by the time we get to the stringing of the lights, we get really mad at each other and he says "Fine, you do it yourself!" So I do. It reminds me all too much of my parents putting up the tree, except I'm the one that has the hot temper like my dad, and my mom was always the more passive one..."Fine, whatever!" she'd say. The roles are reversed for me and Michael. So I string all 15 strings of lights on my tree and then I dig through all the ornaments in the hall closet and think about where each ornament came from/who gave it to me. And then once I hang all the ornaments, the back of the tree (that you can see from outside the house) is so bare boned because I never want to hang any ornaments on the back because then I don't get to look at them. For those of you that have been to my house, you know I have a pretty high ceiling in the center of the living room. One year I'm going to take my ceiling fan down and just go get an ENOURMOUS tree that goes all the way to the top, one that just sits in the middle of the room. How cool would that be? Of course, I think I'd have to pay somebody to decorate it. But anyway, once the tree is up and decorated and lit, I love it. I love it so much, it depresses me to take it down after Christmas.

Also, another wonderful thing about this time of year is getting to watch "A Christmas Story" marathon. I could watch that movie a jillion times and it would still be just as funny as the first. And I found a website where you can actually buy a replica leg lamp. This is great! Somebody has to get me one of these!!

And my favorite Christmas song has got to be "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which became my favorite song the year "Home Alone" came out. I am sure you remember the scene.

What is your favorite Christmas movie, and what is your favorite Christmas song?

What day is it?

I know it's the busiest shopping day of the year, but is it really Friday? It feels like Monday or Saturday. Never thought I'd mistake the same day for both Monday and Saturday at the same time, but ever since I've been not working, Mondays and Saturdays are basically the same.

Now let me talk a little bit about sock heaven. Sock heaven is this mysterious realm that socks disappear to while they are floating around in the dryer. Well, now that I have 2 little boys, sock heaven has turned into sock hell. Their socks are all so tiny and look so much alike, but in reality, no two are alike because most of them have little designs on them, and there's only 2 of a kind. So needless to say, in the bottom of my laundry basket is a zillion little tiny white socks that have no mate. I seriously believe there is some kind of secret compartment hidden in dryers that catch these socks...it's called the lent filter...these tiny socks get shredded into microscopic fuzz that collects and builds up on the filter that must be emptied periodically. In a sense, these unlucky socks are cremated. So they end up in the trash in their cremated state. Yes, that is my theory about where socks go. Seems like the only socks that get left behind are the thread-bare, holey ones. Boy, do I have too much time to think about these things, or what??

Blogworthiness

Last night as I was dozing off, I was talking to Michael about something...something important, and I swear now I can't even remember what I said. Isn't that scary? I could have been giving away classified information for all I know. I am sure whatever it was, I will hear about it when he gets out of bed.

The big shocker yesterday was that my nephew Daniel has a ring...as in a RING IN HIS POCKET...a $2,500 ring with lots of diamonds and stuff!!! It's one of those rings where you get down on your knee and give it to the girl you want to spend the rest of your life with. Oh YEAH, an ENGAGEMENT RING!!! He hasn't given it to her yet. I think he said he's going to wait 'til Christmas, but I don't even remember what he said because the shock left me feeling like I'd been nuked in the electric chair. The poor guy must be pretty darn nervous about asking her because he was telling us how the place he bought it from said he could get ALL of his money back if she said "no". But he said they've talked about the big "M" a lot, so I am sure she won't say no to a ring like THAT. The very first thing I thought though was "They're so young!" Daniel is 19 and his girlfriend (soon-to-be-fiance) is a senior in highschool. Of course, then I thought some more and realized I don't have much room to talk. Michael and I were both 19 when he gave me "the ring" and we got married at 20. I was not even 2 months into being 20, and Michael was 3 months away from being 21. Heck, it doesn't matter what age you are, marriage is still going to come packaged with some unexpected twists and turns no matter if you are 17 or 42, but there are a lot of great things that come with it, too. SO if you know you love each other enough to get through the thick and thin, then I say GO FOR IT. But I never said it would be easy.

That's cute

That is what someone told me when I told him I write songs. One day someone big is going to record one of my songs, and when that day comes, he'll be wanting to become my best friend and I'll say to him "That's cute!"

Another Thanksgiving came and went

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I took some pics and you can see them here: Thanksgiving 2003

It was good to see my family again. I swear, they live in Southaven, like 9 miles or so from my house, and as many times throughout the year as I get to see them, you'd think we live more like 900 miles apart. It's sad that people get so busy with their careers and just everyday life that they forget to make time for their family or feel like there's just not enough time in the day for even so much as a phonecall. I really need to start making more of an effort to spend more time with my parents. Time goes by so fast, and things change so fast. Their health could deteriorate in a flash and I would regret not spending more time with them now. We are not promised another day. Which has been making me think about other things I don't want to regret later in life for not doing now while I can. But that blog is for another day. I am pretty tired after everything today, so I'm outta here.

Happy T-Day!

Wow, someone's having a happy Thanksgiving!

I made a rather strange observation about myself this morning. My upper arms were actually smaller this morning than they were when I went to bed last night. Like, my left arm was itching, so I reached up to scratch my arm and it felt different. How the heck did that happen? As a side note, I have already lost all of my weight from my 2nd pregnancy in less than 6 months, whereas I NEVER lost it all after Travis. So now I have about 25 lbs more to go and I'll be back down to where I need to be. Well, of course, we all know I'll gain like 15 back today, lol. Maybe I should go run around the block about 6 times this evening. But how the heck did I lose fat cells overnight like that to where it was so noticeable?? It's a great mystery!

I LOVE today! I have so many wonderful Thanksgiving memories. My mom has always made Thanksgiving so special for me. Never once did I think my parents didn't have much money, because my mom always had this huge spread and set a table to the likes of something in a Martha Stewart magazine. I always loved how she would get out the good china and the pretty stemmed glasses. My mom has just always put special creative touches into everything. There's a lot of dishes to wash afterwards when you break out the wedding china, and so some people opt for paper plates and everyone just find a place to sit, but it's just not the same. Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!! Only about 30 more minutes 'til the parade!!

Quote of the MONTH

Okay, I hope I quote this right, but even still, this is THE quote of the friggin' MONTH. Forget WEEK, man! This came from an older Friends episode, and not even sure what season.

"I don't know how women get any work done!? You get to look at boobs all day!" ~Joey, to Monica & Rachel.

If any of my Friends buffs out there know the way it exactly went, please let me know so I can stand corrected.

Pre-Thanksgiving Starvation

I am starving my butt off today! (I wish!) I am preparing for tomorrow's feast. Maybe if I don't eat much today, then tomorrow all the extra calories won't matter. Too bad it doesn't really work like that. The truth is, the more hungry you are when you sit down to a meal, the more likely you are to overeat and feel miserable. Maybe just for once I want to enjoy overeating and feeling miserable, or something like that.

Man, I am in a mood right now. Hard to explain what kind of a mood or how I got in that mood, and I don't even know what the word for that mood is, lol. Did I confuse you there? Good. We're in the same boat now because I think I just confused myself.

Michael has been doing some Christmas shopping for me and he is giving me NO hints, which is not fair at all because he knows everything he's getting from me, or so he THINKS he knows. Bwaaahaaahaaa. Evil she-elf has stuff up her sleeves and she's not tellin' nothin'!! Of course, one thing I did ask for was the new Sheryl Crow greatest hits CD. She is HOT...er...the CD IS HOT! Yeah, that's it...the CD!!! So maybe he got that one for me. I guess we'll find out in less than a month, won't we. Santa Claus is coming to town!! YAY!!!

Dreams

I hate my dreams. Okay, let me rephrase...I hate waking up from my dreams. Have you ever had a dream that was just too good to be true, and then you wake up and you feel like you could cry a river because it wasn't real?? And then it leaves you feeling bummed out the rest of the day??? I was having one of those type dreams just before I woke up, and if I told you what all it involved you'd probably think I need therapy, so I won't say what it was about.

Tomorrow's THANKSGIVING!! I love this holiday. The best part, I think, is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Not sure if it's because I get to see Katie Couric's pretty face and hear her charming voice, or if it's because the Santa Claus at the tail end of the parade reminds me how close by Christmas really is. (I LOVE CHRISTMAS! And it's not really about the presents at all...it's just there is something in the air that brings back sooo many Christmas memories, and then who doesn't love all the Christmas movies that come on TV?) Of course, and then there is the food, and more food, and then dessert, and more dessert, and me feeling like I gained 20 lbs. My mom always outdoes herself. What is interesting is my mom has SOME traditional Thanksgiving items on the table, but always has some very non-traditional items as well. Like, instead of turkey this year, my dad is grilling (yes, grilling) deer in his special marinade...it is VERY, VERY good. Also another example of this non-traditional-ishness, for Christmas dinner last year, my mom made a huge pot of Jambalaya. It might sound strange, but having non-traditional stuff to eat for holidays is becoming a neat tradition. So if you are traveling out of town, BE CAREFUL and have a great Thanksgiving and don't eat too much!!

One more thing before I go to bed...

Me: "Can I have the computer now?"
Michael: "In just a hospital minute."

To explain the "hospital minute", if you have ever had a hospital stay for whatever reason, you know that it takes the nurses forever and a day to bring you whatever you buzzed them for. They always say "I'll bring you your pain pill in just a minute." And it takes them 45 minutes and by that time you are in such pain you are seeing stars. I experienced this after BOTH babies being born. Word of advice, if you become a nurse, do NOT keep a postpartum woman from her pain meds!!!

Have you ever?

Have you ever written something about a certain event in your life, and even though you are pretty sure hardly no one would know what you were talking about, you were still afraid the meaning of what you wrote would be written all over your face, and the thing you wrote about is just too private and too real and too personal and too secret? I finished a poem just now that is just that. I generally have no problem sharing things I write, but there is just something about this poem I wrote just now. So now people are going to start getting curious and start asking questions. Save the questions. I will post it when/if I get ready to. Of course now you're probably thinking I WANT people to inquire about this mystery poem since I said anything about it in the first place. But actually, I just wanted to know if you've ever written something and were reluctant to share it because of its content. Oh well. I'm outta here.....

Almost forgot...

...to add this poem I just wrote a little while ago.

Third Time's Charm
by Candice E. Brewer
Third time's charm, isn't that what you said?
If third time ever gets here, I'll be dead.
My timing's clock has a slow secondhand,
But the minutes are like hourglass sand.
My thoughts are a river, yours a highway.
A lot's gone under your bridge since yesterday.
The moon will rise after the sun is set,
But the sun won't let the moon forget.
My heart will never be safe from harm
Third time is deadly, no third time's charm.

Nothing

Whatdya know? I actually have nothing to blog about. I just thought I better put something here or people would think something happened to me or that I skipped town without telling anyone. I would like to mention, though, that it is a great feeling to know that my kids' and my husband's Christmas shopping is DONE. And BEFORE THANKSGIVING! It's truly a miracle.

Oh, and....

Quote of the week:
"The wife's job is quite simple. She's a cook in the kitchen, a maid in the living room, and an acrobat in the bedroom." ~Jackie, That 70's Show

Let's try this again......

Man, Blogger's got problems tonight. I have tried to post twice already and it isn't working for whatever reason, so let's try this again. 3rd time's charm, or so they say.

Have you ever seen the movie "Country Bears"? If not, you should go rent it. It's quite hilarious and I think it is becoming Travis' favorite movie because we had to watch it twice in a row.

Also, I posted some new pics to my website today. There are two pages, which are linked together. Check them out: New Pics

I ran across a pretty interesting site today. If you are into urban legends and old wives tales, check out this site: www.snopes.com So far, my favorite one has been the one about the rabbit test.

Well that's it for now. I am going to get in the tub while the gettin's good. Until next time......

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It's cold and I'm lovin' it! Weather Bug shows 35 degrees right this very moment in Southaven, MS. I know, I'm in Horn Lake, but it's close enough.

I've already gotten a lot accomplished so far. I got out of bed around 7:15 to turn on "Eh-mo" for Travis, and got some packages ready to ship out some stuff I sold on Ebay. Yeah, I have to sell stuff to support my own Ebay habit. I think I need to join an Ebayers Anonymous group or something. I sold a bunch of newborn clothes for $49.50, and then I sold a DVD for $8.50, and one of Michael's PS2 games for $9.99. It rocks!! I have another PS2 game and another DVD on there right now that no one has bid on yet. Oh well, I'm just happy that other stuff got sucked up so fast. I probably have a few more things around the house that I can get rid of, too.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, we went Christmas shopping Friday night for the kids. We got quite a bit of stuff and didn't spend even $100. We got Travis a Giant Tickle Me Elmo, and we got bombarded with SO many kids while we were in Walmart! "Elmo! Mommy, I want one!!!!" They were all like "NO FAIR!" lol. We also got Travis an Elmo DVD for those mornings Travis wakes up BEFORE 7:00 asking for "Eh-mo". So we spent a little under $50 at Walmart. Then we went to Big Lots and got Travis a couple more things and Jacob some Pooh blocks and one of those ring stacker toys. I think we spent about $15 in there. Then we mosied on across the street to Freds and found Jacob a Baby Tigger, so we spent maybe $10 in there. I had already bought Travis a toy WWE wrestling belt and a huge box of like 20 matchbox cards, plus I've already bought the kids some clothes from Old Navy, so we need to get maybe one more thing for Jacob and we will be done. The thing about kids at that age, they do not understand that stuff costs money, so it doesn't really matter to them. They are just thrilled to get toys, not even knowing if it's a "hot item" and they have no concept of money, so they don't care if it costs $5 or $300. Travis seems to have more fun with cheap dollar store toys than he does the ones we spend a lot of money on. I guess we should enjoy that now, because in a few years, it alllll will change, lol.

That's all for now. Time to go get Jacob up...that boy sleeps late!!!

Do I have to get up?

Dang, I am flatout exhausted. But we had a blast yesterday. We left the house about 10:15 yesterday morning, hung out in the Liberty Bowl parking lot a.k.a. tailgated (lol) and got to meet a lot of people we post with on the C-USA message board. We got fed well, too, I must say...from chicken, to catfish, to BBQ, to Goose Boobs, to.....Goose WHAT??!?? Yes, you heard me, Goose Boobs. One of the message board posters grills some of this mystery meat up at every game and everyone is always talking about it, so we found this person and he let us try some. They were very delicious, I might say, but I will not give away his secrets. Anyway, enough about boobs, HOW BOUT THEM TIGERS!!! 21 to 16 MEMPHIS, BABAAAY!! WHOOOO HOOOO! Who cares that I have no voice left, my butt is numb, and my legs are nonexistent right now...we had fun!!! Check out all the pics from yesterdayHERE.

I tried to talk Michael into us going to the basketball game last night against Fordham, but then again, I'm glad we didn't because we probably would have fallen asleep. It was a total blowout, Memphis 94, Fordham 64. Fordham came a long dadgum way (the Bronx) to get a whoopin' like that!

Guess I better go head for the shower and get ready for church. I don't even know what songs we are playing today! OOOOPS!!