Honey-Do-Honey

Summer Fashion

2008-08-23T14:58:00.003-05:00

True Redneck Tank Top!!!! This was taken in front of the Gardendale, Alabama, Wal-Mart while she was going to the Flea market.This is hysterical! Look at it closely.

Now I ask you...Who sits and looks at a pair of men's briefs and says hmmmm...I can make a nice summer top from these!! On the other hand...$6 for a three pack is a good price!!

Puppy Love

2008-08-16T11:11:00.014-05:00

Bailee and Baxter

The chocolate brown fur ball is a Cockapoo. Her name is Bailee other wise none as Denise the Menace because she's always starting trouble. The light brown Lhasapoo guy is Baxter. Don't be fooled by his size! He has the Napoleon syndrome and thinks he is the biggest dog in the neighborhood. My husband says he must be a Rot a poo!

This little cutie is my son's Pug, Kira whose been visiting all summer.

And when the three of them get together it's hilarious!

But......Someone usually gets their feelings hurt when....

Baxter flexes his muscle.................

And he's just FINE with that!!!!!!!!!!

Defending Mom

2008-08-12T07:55:00.003-05:00

My father came to visit yesterday as he does pretty much every Monday and as usual by the time he leaves I'm in the worst mood. Mom passed away 2.8 years ago and he still complains about her, which is very upsetting to me. I've mentioned several times to him that they both could have been nicer to each other and I really don't want to hear anything negative about mom. But once a week he will slide some kind of derogatory comment into the conversation and yesterday was no exception. I won't share with you the response I gave this time because it was fairly sharp and I do regret what I said. For years it felt like they would put me in the middle of their arguments, like a referee or interrupter. I wouldn't take sides just listen and try to explain to the other parent what the first one was trying to say or meant. Now that she's gone it seems like I'm speaking out for her because A) she died and B) she rarely defended herself in the first place. It hurts me deeply and when he's in that kind of mood I would almost rather him stay away. What should I do? I've told him several times they both had faults, it hurts me to hear bad things about Mom and I don't want to get into an argument about it. He thinks by making short flippant comments that he isn't actually "saying bad things" about her but it's the same thing because I know where his mind is and where it's headed. Hell, I still struggle with my emotions if I spend more than an hour in their home. Everything I see there is exactly where she left it, like she just stepped out or ran to the store. I tried to get him to redecorate to help him move forward a bit but he won't. I don't know what more I can do or say that will help him move forward. Or better yet forgive the past. That's it, maybe I need to talke to him about forgiving her for all the things he's still upset about.

2008-08-06T12:13:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I thought I would doll myself up a bit. Its been a couple of months since I wore make-up or something nice. As I searched and searched through the umpteen dozen outfits jammed in my closet it slowly began to dawn on me, I have nothing cute to wear. I mean nothing. Everything is either business attire or working in the yard garb. Oh and let's not talk about the lingerie, which equates to paint stained t-shirts and cotton panties...not sexy one bit. Needless to say when my husband got home that night he found me in tears. I told him I was trying to have a girl day and wanted to fix myself up for him but nothing worked out. My hair wouldn't hold a curl, nail polish smudged (puppies wanted to lick my toes all day) and practically every piece of casual clothing I own looks like something a boy would wear. I just wanted to be a girl today! Bless his heart he tried to make it better by saying; "There's no way you look like a boy and besides it doesn't matter what you wear, I'll just want to take it off anyway." Men! Ah well, that wasn't the point. Like I said, bless his heart for trying to cheer me up.

Darling Daughter

2008-08-04T07:14:00.003-05:00

It seems just yesterday I held you in my arms,

Wanting to protect you from all the world harms.

Your eyes so blue, your smile so bright,

I prayed to God you'd grow up right.

And now that you've grown, moved out on your own

I want you to know you're not alone.

You are my joy, my little girl

making a life out in the world

Mommy's never far, always right here

I love you more than ever,

You're mommy's little dear.

Happy Birthday Christine!

Bathroom Disaster

2008-07-29T13:35:00.001-05:00

I decided to tackle the downstairs bathroom a couple of weeks ago repainting the "rubber ducky" yellow that had a sponging technique. A few years ago we were into those home improvement shows and the host would say you want your room to "Pop"! Well, that room not only popped but I'm pretty sure glowed in the dark! The first coat of Klitz went on wonderfully but my husband didn't quite explain that Klitz is a little bit different from regular paint. You see, once it's on it stays on! The ceiling, door frame, wood floors and everything else it touches. You can't just run the brush under hot water....oh no.... it couldn't be that easy. Every tiny spot that brushed against the frame or missed the drop-cloth bonded instantly. Needless to say my little project is now a HUGE project. The floor is ruined and to quote my husband, "That is the worst paint job I've ever seen". Yep, the bathroom is still in disarray and I'm not allowed to paint without supervision! That'll teach him....LOL!!!!

One of a Kind

2008-07-28T11:43:00.004-05:00

No one on earth can replace the love and understanding of a sister.

Sister, please hold my hand
As we journey through this land
Together we stand, together we will fall
No matter what, God will keep us all

Sister, please hold my hand
Because without you I can not stand
As we were put on this earth for a reason
To travel together season after season

Sister, please hold my hand
And all things will be grand
Life, love and sorrow we face
I couldn't image you to replace

5 Good Things about Gas Prices

2008-07-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

If the link doesn't launch the video, copy and paste the link into your browser's address bar and hit "enter." http://www.comcast.net/data/fan/html/popup.html?v=794832007

Stop and smell the roses

2008-07-16T03:58:00.003-05:00

Removing myself from the office was great but I'm finding that I keep creating more work for me to do at home. It's like washing a spot on the wall then noticing because of the clean area that I need to wash the entire wall. I would post before and after pics but honestly it's too embarrassing to share. The good news, no dead-lines here, grab a coke and watch the grass grow sounds good today.

Redecorating the Nest

2008-07-10T08:01:00.009-05:00

Our last child moved out in January and I've been going through the empty nest depression thing. I have to admit when they were small on a few occasions thinking I couldn't wait for them to be old enough to "get out of my house!" I know, I know, I can't believe I even thought like that but I'm missing them now. Anyway their gone and I haven't done a thing with the empty space. So, I decided to start on my darling daughters room and turn it into a guest room for family that may decide to come and visit (hint hint). Penneys has this pretty good sell on comforter sets and I found this 10 piece set like half off so I order it on-line last Thursday, got it Tuesday and went right to work. After assembling the room I realized that I didn't order the valance and placed the order this morning only to find that this set has been reduced another 40%. Well, let me tell you I about came unglued. Not because of the price reduction but JCP just charged my account the full price while on-line they reduced it! So, I sent an email to their customer service requesting that I receive a credit adjustment on the new reduced price. This is my first time ordering anything on-line and not sure how it all works, wish me luck!

Girl Power with Authority

2008-07-09T09:02:00.004-05:00

Those dancing lessons sure paid-off. Don't drink and drive.

What's the Difference

2008-07-08T07:16:00.003-05:00

The other day my husband thanked me for being so good to him. I said you're welcome and silently recapped the days events to pick out the special deed that evoked such a response. Of course he's thanked me in the past but this time it was the way he said it that made me stop and think. Nothing stood out that I could recall so I asked; "What did I do to deserve a thank you?" "For taking such good care of me. If I knew it was going to be like this I would have made you stay home a long time ago". Hum, I'm not doing anything different than what I've been doing, I replied. "That's true", he said "but now you have 70 hours a week to do it in." Before, I would come home exhausted, change out of my work clothes and prepare dinner. Even though some nights consisted of box-dinners or sandwiches and soup, never-the-less, dinner was served, dishes picked up, placed in the dishwasher and maybe time found to enjoy a little t.v. together. Then off to my room to pick out the next day's attire, wash-up, brush teeth and pass out. You see, I'm a "check-list person". Someone who isn't satisfied with ones self unless everything needing to be done is done before calling it a day and on top of that I over analyze pretty much everything done or said. It's not that I pick apart or split hairs but to truly make efforts to understand where someone is coming from, and if I'm the cause of a negative feeling or reaction I will try to fix it. So, I find myself thinking about what he said for understanding. How is there a difference between now and a month ago if I'm doing the same things? Now, when he comes home from work I greet him with a smile and hug almost racing to his arms. Not like before when he would find me in the kitchen, head down grumbling about my days ordeal and barely acknowledging his arrival. I guess before I treated him like a chore, just one more thing on a list of many even though I've always placed him first. The difference is Quality not Quantity and I now realize what his undertone meant even if he doesn't. Funny, I would spend quality time with the kids when they were growing up and still home. For years I would preach to my staff the importance of a quality call, service and performance. And yet with my own husband I lost sight of the most important element, Quality.

Middle-Class Neighborhood

2008-07-07T08:26:00.005-05:00

I've lived in this middle-class neighborhood 7 yrs now and still can not get over the rudeness of the people surrounding me. Where in the world has all the common courtesy gone? If someone waves and states good morning would you expect some kind of acknowledgement in return? At the grocery store, where there is plenty of food to go around, would it be polite to wait until one's finished with their selection before squeezing in and reaching over the first party? What about something as simple as walking your dog? I love animals, don't get me wrong, I have two of my own. However, that doesn't change the fact that I think it extremely thoughtless to allow a pet to relieve their self on someones' lawn, drive-way or the pathway to their front-door! Why not pick-up after them? I mean, not to mention there is an ordinance that requires pet owners to remove their pets feces from public areas. I was raised to use manners with family and strangers. Pleases and thank yous, excuse Me's and go ahead. If you make a mess clean it up and leave it better than you found it! Is it suburbia in which I live, where the majority of the home-owners are businessmen (or women) with a college degree making a good living? Is it the Y generation whose entitlement mentality reflects in their everyday existence? Or maybe it is just me getting old and cranky readjusting to staying home.

Simple Sundays

2008-07-06T14:41:00.005-05:00

Not much scheduled today, thank goodness. Pick up the backyard again from a week-end of grilling and take it easy. Hum...I think I will create a BBQ recipe site, kind of like my sister's kitchen link. Besides, copying is the biggest form of flattery. Thanks for the idea Wendy!

One Month

2008-07-05T10:33:00.008-05:00

Today marks the fourth week since I began staying home and it seems that I've accomplished very little getting my house back in order. For the last three and a half years if I wasn't at the office, my spare-time was dedicated to my mother who was suffering from cancer, my mother in-law's cancer, or my father's deep depression, which soon followed after the loss of my mother. During the peak of our parental illnesses, my husband and I held onto each other, cherishing the few minutes a day we had together, knowing without words what needed to be done. Everything else was put on the back-burner, left to be handled at a later time except the bare necessities of our existence. One parent survived, one did not. With-in eight months of my mother's passing, dad developed his own cancer and his liver began to fail. Now a third round of doctor visits, hospital visits, surgeries and countless hours away from work and home. I soon found myself so exhausted I didn't care for much of anything. Like the dishes sitting in the sink for a couple of days or if the dust grew an inch thick, I would get to it later. So, three and a half years down the road and Later has arrived. All the detailed cleaning (walls, windows, curtains, carpets, floors, cob-webs, etc.) that I pushed-off is here, waiting for me, just as I imagined. One month home, one room thoroughly cleaned and a Honey-do list a mile long. Good grief! I think I might miss the office! At least there I could bury myself with excuses as to why my house was so messy and why there wasn't enough time left in the day to finish (or start) the Honeydoes.

Girl Power

2008-07-03T20:08:00.004-05:00

To all the females that were told while growing up, "You can't do that, you're a girl..act like one." This clip is dedicated to you.

And so it begins

2008-07-03T12:35:00.004-05:00

After years of 10-12 hour days working in a fast-pace call center environment as a manager, my husband finally convinced me to give it all up in exchange to stay at home and be the perfect housewife. No more long days, weekend, nights, reports, reviews, budgeting, conference calls, unappreciative bosses, etc, etc, etc. Just walk away, decompress from the stress, get back to you, get back to life. Sounds wonderful right? Well, for those of you that suffer from workaholism as I do, understand how difficult that can be. The addiction began when I got my first "real job" at 15 years of age. Oh, like most young girls, I baby-sat here and there but getting out from under an overbearing, near misogynist father was completely different. Working full time at the hot dog stand in the middle of the most popular shopping mall seemed too good to be true. A weekly paycheck, no bills to speak of, new faces and no school! What a more than perfect way for any teenager to spend their time. More hours worked meant more money and more fun but most importantly the taste of freedom! And that's how it began for me, work equalled freedom and freedom kept me away from dad. Within, six months I realized that I was intelligent, not stupid like I was called. I could make good decisions, as I got promoted to Assistant Manager when I turned sixteen. Hum, not at all the dumb fat-ass I believed I was. My self-confidence grew and so did my proclamation to independence.. to Freedom! So now here I am, near 30 years later learning how to be a stay at home housewife. Only thing is....I had no idea that staying home would amount to so many, "Honey, today can you....", "Sweetie, don't forget to get my....", "Baby, can you finish the...." "Honey can you do me a favor?"