Disneyland!

We are here today.

Blogged from the line for Peter Pan ride at Disneyland.

No Such Thing

I spent weeks planning this trip. Researching hotels, restaurants and attractions. I planned outfits, bought snacks, packed suitcases.

AND I packed the car.

My husband....only had to come home and get in the car.

And then he has the nerve to ask me why I'm so tired on our vacation!

Blogged from The Best Western in Kingman Arizona....next stop! Wally World!!

I'm a Rebel

I took this picture with my cell phone. 

 In the no cell phone zone.

Goodbye Tebow

It was fun...

How to Throw a Hello Kitty Party

Saturday was Mallory's Hello Kitty Birthday Party!

I had so much fun planning this one because she was VERY involved with the process and is VERY opinionated (like another princess we know).

The first thing we did was set up a meeting with our cake designer.  What?  Your family doesn't have their own cake designer?  Well....I'm sorry, but you need to get one.

We explained to Gemma from Bella Stella Bakery what we wanted and how many people would be attending.  At the last minute we changed the cake to chocolate because Gemma made a cake for Keith's office and he fell in love with it. 

The letters are poured chocolate people.  Not fondant!  And Hello Kitty is edible. It was the most delicious chocolate cake I've ever eaten.  YUM!  

I had the party at my brother in law Robert's house because we live in an apartment and there were only going to be 6 children so renting the clubhouse wasn't necessary.   What I failed to factor in....was how anal Uncle Robert is about his perfect little house and even thought I took every precaution, it was stressful.

For the kids eating/crafting needs I bought plastic lap desks at Michael's and decorated them with the kids names.  To protect the floor, I bought a shower curtain liner at The Dollar Store.  It worked out GREAT! 

One nice thing about the lap desks is that they have deep pockets on the side and the goodie bags fit nicely.  They contained a pencil, little hello kitty bubbles, a hello kitty camera, ring pops, bracelets and hello kitty nail polish (for the girls) and a small ball (for the boys).  Many of the items came from Party City.  Their selection of trinkets and candy for goodie bags is fantastic! Everyone was excited to learn that they could take their desk home with them.

I had planned to play pin the bow on Hello Kitty.  I drew a huge Hello Kitty head on a white poster board and then cut out 6 red bows and put the kids names on them.  We didn't play this game because at the last minute Uncle Robert obtained a bounce house and that was all the kids wanted to do with their extra time. 

Instead, as the kids were leaving we played Guess How Old Connie Is for a prize.  The child that won (bless her heart) guessed the nearest to my REAL age.  She guessed 72.

The bounce house was a HUGE hit.  I didn't know you could actually buy a bounce house for your own enjoyment and will be doing so when I finally move into a house.  They take 15 minutes to set up. 

Mallory received very thoughtful and amazing gifts!  She is thrilled with the GIRL Legos, and a book of stories for five year olds.  We're so blessed to have made great friends this year and look forward to more birthday's with them.

Our next party: LEGO Harry Potter Theme!  I'm so excited!

Bro From Now On

It's been Applepalooza at our house this weekend!

Keith stood in line at the Apple store for the new iPad HD on Friday (it's really cool) and then he upgraded my phone to a 4s on Sunday.  

In-between....we had a rip-roaring party for Mallory!  More about that tomorrow.

I was really excited to ask Siri a couple questions and she didn't know the answers so she kept asking me if I wanted her to surf the web for me.  If you don't have Siri then you should know that when she doesn't know the answer to something she uses this questioning tone in hopes that you won't get mad (and sue her) for not knowing. 

It's the same tone that someone in a naughty massage parlor would use.

You want happy ending?

Do you want me to surf the web?

Oh Siri....I can't quit you.

A few weeks ago, I was playing with my friend Heather's iPhone and after a couple glasses of wine....I told her Siri to call her Sexy Mama.  

A few days later.....she was at work and her boss told her to text someone and she did.  And then Siri said, 'I sent the message Sexy Mama'.  Her boss and the other 50 guys she works with got a big kick out of it! Oops. 

I told Siri to call me Bro.  Except that I said, 'Siri, call me Bro from now on.'

I wasn't having any luck with my questions so I decided to see if she knew any knock-knock jokes.  

She doesn't.

Five

Disney Land

It happened at Disney Land.....

In 1982, my family went on a whirl wind vacation. We started in Greeley Colorado, went to Minnesota, camped through Canada and then followed the coast down through California and then back home from Arizona.

In the middle of this trip....we went to Disney Land.

It was amazing! I remember being so excited, even though I was on the cusp of being a teenager and no longer enjoyed G rated movies.  I was blown away by the magic of Disney!

I will never forget riding through the jungle cruise on a boat named Connie and climbing the Swiss Family Robinson Tree.

credit

My favorite memory was going to the Enchanted Tiki Tiki Tiki room and seeing the show. It was mesmerizing and thrilling at the same time. The show was wrapping up and suddenly, the sound of rain filled our ears and it appeared that the little grass hut was being assaulted by a major downfall.

My 7 year old sister immediately started putting on her windbreaker and making sure that her hood was tied securely around her face. We walked out into the California sunshine to realize that the rain was another part of the Disney magic and wasn't real at all!

In 12 days, I will be experiencing the magic of Disney Land with my two 5 year olds (yep, Mallory turns 5 tomorrow and then they will both be 5 for 5 weeks!!).  I don't know who is more excited.....them or me!





Linking up with MamaKat for the Writers Workshop!

Lesson Learned

I'm linking up with Impulsive and Shawn because I have to tell you that I have seen the light!







I like to think that by this age, I know it all. I've lived a long hard life and all the lessons I need to learn have been applied and well noted. Well.....I was wrong.

I went away to Black Hawk for the weekend with my family and Robert (my brother husband). While they were checking us in...I ran to the Starbucks in the casino and got drinks for everyone. When I got to my room, I was informed that Robert had arranged for me to go to the Spa and have a massage. AWESOME!

I was given a tour of the spa, shown where I could sit and relax with a glass of cucumber infused water and where I could soak my naked body in front of a bunch of other women....then instructed to strip down and slip into the most luxurious robe I've ever experienced.

There were a couple of other ladies in the locker room with me and this is when I realized that I was not wearing the most attractive panties that I owned. I was in fact wearing the most ratty pair.

LESSON LEARNED: Never wear ratty underwear. You never know when someone will buy you a massage and you'll need to strip down in front of other people. 

My husband has been taking pictures of me lately. I don't know what's gotten into him but I was going through his pictures last night and found several photos of me....with my phone in my hand.

UGH! What the heck am I doing? Checking twitter and Facebook for the hundredth time? 

LESSON LEARNED: I need to put the phone down and enjoy my life! 

The last picture of me sitting next to my daughter brings me to my next lesson learned. On the way home from Black Hawk, we left early in the morning without eating breakfast. Alex ate a granola bar and Mallory ate an apple but the adults were waiting to go to Denny's.

We drove down the winding canyon and as we were coming out of the mountains and were about 10 minutes from home.....Mallory said she had to throw up.

I told her she didn't. And then she did. I caught most of it with my hands but Robert's BRAND NEW CAR now has vomit in it.

LESSON LEARNED: If Mallory says that she has to throw up.....PULL OVER!

I watched The Bachelor last night and just as I suspected.  Ben picked Courtney.  sigh  I knew it was coming because I have used the same tactics to get a man.  Men can not think with their big head when you control their little head.  It is a proven fact!

I do think that Courtney is sorry for how she treated the other women but not because she is a nice person that good things happen to, but because she is the most hated woman in America and Ben stopped talking to her for a month when he saw how horrible she was on the show.

LESSON LEARNED: I've been watching this show for 10 years and it's the worst piece of garbage on television.  STOP WATCHING IT! 

What lesson have you learned this week?

Let's Go To The Boat Show

BO (before Obama) we owned a house and a boat.

I didn't spend very much time on this boat because being pregnant + choppy water = Connie throwing up!

It was fun while it lasted.

Last weekend, my husband informed me that he wanted to go to the Denver Travel, Boat and RV show.  I tried offering him sex so that he'd forget about it but he didn't.

I didn't want to go because I have no desire to own a boat or RV.  Plus we don't have the money for such things even though we are living in a 990 sq ft apartment in the ghetto. I'm also afraid of running into one of my ex-husbands.

I'm convinced that people should not own boats unless they fit the following criteria.

• They are independently wealthy and have an extra $1000 a month to throw in the toilet.
• They live on a body of water so they can use it all the time.
• They are homeless and live on the boat.
• They own a boat business.

So we went to the Travel, Boat and RV show and I didn't see any of my ex-husbands but I did see an RV that was nicer than my apartment.

fireplace, kitchen island AND washer/dryer hook up

My family found a sweet party boat.

I found where the dhingy's of shame were being sold.

And we found this cool mural in the stairs!

It was a fun way to kill a couple hours and I highly recommend it....if only to see how the other half lives! 

  Disclosure: I was not paid to talk about the Denver Travel, Boat and RV show....obviously.

Just Say No

For the last three years, I've successfully discarded every American Girl Doll catalog that has made it's way to my mailbox.

I've sheltered my impressionable daughter from the phenomenon of a doll that looks kind of like her with matching clothes and pony.

I brought the mail in the other day but didn't go through it right away and to my dismay....this little gem of a catalog was lurking just below my credit card bill and an LUCKY Magazine.  Mallory found it and read all of the words she knows on the cover GIRL, STAR and FREE.

I tried to distract her with candy so that I could hide the shiny pages from her but she's too smart for me.

She found so many things that she loved inside and I tried to tell her that the items are very expensive and she should not get too excited.  And she should get a job.

She reminded me that Daddy spends lots of money on LEGOS and that she needs to have something that is for her.  When did she get so smart?

Then I saw it.

A doll that looked EXACTLY like 5 year old Connie (before my Mom cut all of my hair off) and MY BIKE!!  I had that exact bike with the same basket and streamers on the handle bars!

I WANT THAT DOLL AND THAT BIKE!

I guess I better get a job......

Note: The Banana Seat Bike is $100 and backordered until AUGUST 31ST! Also, kids didn't often wear bike helmets in the 1970's. Please wear a helmet whenever YOU ride. 

March Photo A Day

Do you Instagram?

I love snapping an in the moment picture and sharing it with all of my friends.

For a couple of months now, people have been following a list of things to take pictures of.

I decided to join this month and I think you should too.