This is July still, right?

I went to lunch today with the Lawyer's wife and Clemson girl. Between the yummy food and the bug stories it was a great afternoon.

I decided to tag along for a "quick" run to Garden Ridge. You will never believe what I found...


Premo Halloween Decorations! In July!
Every year we have a BIG Halloween party. Very scary decorations, not cutesy at all. It started as Paint boy's idea, but I have to do all the decorating and the purchasing. Every year we add to the collection. Last year, we decide to rent a climate controlled storage unit to hold all this cr@p.

Today I purchased, the coolest black tree (about 36") with a bunch of spiders and miniature crows, a huge feather raven and the scariest monkey bat thing. Lawyer's wife couldn't even look at it. It is very freaky, Paint boy loves it!

I just couldn't believe that I was shopping for Halloween items in July, but if you wait they will be gone.

A Contrast of Friends
Lawyer's wife's buggy- frames, wine glasses, buckets, cocktail napkins
My buggy- scary Halloween decorations, creepy candles
Clemson girl- along for the ride

I remind you of WHO??!?

Paint boy told me tonight that I-

*am always stressed out
*have too much attitude
*am way over dramatic
*that I yell too much

He said that I am just like Kate Gosslin, without the him being a short Asian dude and only 2 kids!

Rain, rain, go away...

Dolly very generously gave us a day of rain. We went to the beach so Paint boy could take some cool shots, these are my shots not his. It is beautiful here. Longboat key is full of homes and condos for "snow birds". Most places only rent by the season (3 months). The condo next door literally has 2 cars in the lot.(there are only 2 units lit at night, we looked)


The boys watching the stormy waves. After a big crack of lightning ,it was time to head in. Quickly.

We decided that it was going to be a Movie Day. After much discussion we settled on "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3D.
It was a great movie. The kids loved it. Paint boy thought it could have been longer. I love Brendon Frasier. He is good eye candy for a kid flick. I would definitely recommend seeing it in 3D, worth the extra bucks.


Last night we invited Drug boy, beach bunny and their minis to our place. We ate pizza on the beach and swam through the sunset. We were having a great time jumping waves and exploring the sea life. Last night we found crabs, sand dollars, spiny sea urchins and a million fish. The kids had a blast. We all did.


Beach bunny and I were out in the ocean by ourselves and noticed lots of movement. Then BIG fish started jumping all around us, not good.Time to head in and a huge wave made it easier for us. It carried me halfway back to the beach. Too bad I was under the water losing my suit. I had to decide whether to worry about the top or the bottoms. I went with the bottoms, hoping the top would stop at my armpits. Bottom around my knees, top in the pits and me praying not to drown half naked. We were only in water up to our waists. I am a loser.

Who's tired?

Most of you that have met J IRL, think he is very sweet and a little shy. Let me introduce you to the child that lives in my house. He decided this morning that he didn't want breakfast.

No big deal, you just don't get anything else until lunch...Stomping feet and screaming started...



followed by throwing himself on the floor...


begging, crying, wailing and flailing...


and now just tears.


Can you believe this was all over scrambled eggs, which happen to be his favorite food?

He is eating them now.

Hello Dolly!

Dolly may be heading to Texas (praying for all of you there), but she is churning up the Gulf.

J has only been swimming since our last beach trip. Thank heavens Mary Poppins taught the poor baby to put his face in the water! He is doing a great job in the pool, but the ocean is a different story. We actually had tears our first day here, trying to get him out in the water.

Yesterday, the waves were amazing! We went in up to J's knees and jumped waves for hours. They were breaking over his head, they were so large. I would help him jump and he would come out sputtering and laughing. C was way too busy body surfing to pay much attention to anyone. He is my fish. I can only hope that J will enjoy the water as much.

He let me know that we should bring our friends to "this Florida next year, because their Florida was yucky with the jellyfish".

He also made me promise to never take him back to that Florida again! I will hold him to it, when as a teenager he wants to head to Destin with his friends. A promise is a promise!

From the 5 Bickies, Sippy Cups, et al

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? movies and headphones, from the trip down to FL

2. When was the last time you threw up? stomach bug a couple months ago

3. What's your favorite curse word? F-bombs

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? J, C, Paint boy

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? sleeping, I am on Vacation

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? making cinnamon rolls

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? Sitting on the beach

8. Have you ever been to a strip club? Yep, some of the best hairdresser used to be strippers. JUST NOT ME!!!!

9. What is the last thing you said aloud? Quit fighting or you will turn the Playstation OFF!

10. What is the best ice cream flavor? homemade peach

11. What was the last thing you had to drink? 3rd cup of coffee

13. What was the last thing you ate? cinnamon rolls

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Yup. J. Crew navy dress for $29.99

15. When was the last time you ran? Haven't been chased in a while

16. What's the last sporting event you watched? baseball, always baseball in the summer

18. Who is the last person you emailed? Nana Judy

19. Ever go camping? yes, as a girl scout. I used to love it. Not so much anymore, Paint boy and I aren't the "roughing it type".

20. Do you have a tan? Totally. 2nd trip to the beach. I wear SPF 50 but my grandmother was Puerto Rican so I can get a savage tan.

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw? nope straight from an ice cold can

25. What did your last IM say? I texted (?) Paintboy yesterday to bring me a cocktail at the beach

26. Are you someone's best friend? Yes.

27. What are you doing tomorrow? more beach time

28. Where is your mom right now? sleeping, missing us and keeping Lucy

29. Look to your left, what do you see? Lame condo furniture

30. What color is your watch? stainless

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ? the Opera house

32. Would you consider plastic surgery? Hell yes. Saving my money now. When you have to be in a mirror all day, every day you become obsessive

33. What is your birthstone? Blue topaz

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Drive thru

35.How many kids do you want? 2, I always wanted 3 until I had J. He is like 2 kids

36. Do you have a dog? a miniature dachshund/ chihuahua mix (Lucy) and a basset (Buddy)

37. Last person you talked to on the phone? ACE

38. Have you met anyone famous? Yes.

39. Any plans today? Pool, lunch, beach, cocktails, dinner I love being on vacation!

40. How many states have you lived in? 3 North Carolina, Florida and Georgia

41. Ever go to college? yes

42. Where are you right now? Condo on Longboat Key, FL

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? fighting children

44. Last song listened to? Morning Glory by Oasis

46. Are you allergic to anything? seasonal allergies.

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? kelly green ballet flats, make any day better

48. Are you jealous of anyone? any "stay at home mom". I would love to be there for the boys all the time. I do have a great job and LOVE what I do, but it would be nice to give it a try. I just can't give up shopping and going on great vacations multiple times a year.

49. Is anyone jealous of you? Not likely

51. What time is it? 10:29 am

52. Do any of your friends have children? all of them

53. Do you eat healthy? organic and junk, they balance each other out

54. What do you usually do during the day?on working days- I am a hairdresser/psychiatrist On days off- I am a busy mom/ volunteer


55. Do you hate anyone right now? No

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? yes. mostly I say "Hey there, Ms. so and so, Come on back and let's make you beautiful." (I am a southern hairdresser I refer to everyone as Miss-something)

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 35

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes. I love roller coasters

60. How did you get one of your scars? Tripped hiking in Sedona in April. Its still not completely healed.

At the beach again

I returned 3 weeks ago from my beach trip with June Cleaver and The Lawyer's Wife. It was husband free and over run with minis. I enjoyed coffee on the porch, lunch on the beach and custom cocktails. There were "happies" for everyone and color coordinated paperware.

I am now at the beach with my husband and kids. All I can say is that there isn't any seaweed and jellyfish. I miss my girlfriends for the constant laughs they provided 24 hours a day.

I do happen to have 2 friends that are/were vacationing here at Longboat Key. Beach bunny and Drug boy are here with there 2 boys and ACE and Spray boy were here for the weekend. We went to dinner Saturday night at a fabulous restaurant. Think snapper with a balsamic/honey reduction, YUMMY!

The "boys" (all 7 of them, 3 dads and 4 kids) went deep sea fishing yesterday. About 45 minutes into the 6 hour journey, J decided he was finished and was ready to go. Not happening when you haven't even caught the first fish. We got to eat the spoils of there adventure. For $500, you would think there would have been leftovers. Not so much. One meal for 10 with lots of sides, prepared by the 3 moms. Not a scrap of fish left.

Summer fun

I purchased a bunch of these kits at the beginning of the summer from Joann's. They are quick art kits and they have all kinds of fun things to do; foam airplane, magnets, and "shrinky dinks".

Today we made glow in the dark bouncy balls. Super easy and quick. Perfect summertime activity, the boys are now outside seeing how high they can bounce.

I know I could have paid a quarter and bought 10 for what I paid for the kit, but what's the fun in that?

Would they still be outside playing with them an hour later???

Nana Judy is appalled

What can you possibly do with a pile like this? Get inspired by Nester!!!I had a set of Chocolate brown Silk panels in my bedroom. I hated them, BORING! I decided to make them fabulous a la The Nester. The woman can do anything with nothing. She truly has a gift.

I laid out the panel and cut a 20" length of the striped silk.


I then Hot glued it to the top seam of the panel. Yes, I said Hot glue. (It has to be high temp glue, low temp will melt in the sun. )Yep, I am hot gluing silk together. Shoot me.
Make sure that you glue the extra around on the back.

Then I took a length of ridiculously expensive fringe and hot glued that on. It matched a throw pillow on the bed and is so fabulous.
Cut and glue it to the back.
See how fabulous they are??!? I love fringe, can you see it on everything that doesn't move? I will have a pillow made, if I find a fringe I like, just to own it. Right now we are up to 13 total pillows on the bed. I have a bead fringe on the lamp shades and now the drapes. Paint boy better not sleep in!
Nana Judy wants me to let y'all know- I do know how to sew. She taught me at a very young age and I could have sewed this entire project (like Sippy Cups); however, it would be 3 weeks from never before I finished.
Nana Judy even offered to sew them for me so that she would not be embarrassed by my hot glue gun. I wanted it done NOW!


If any of you need any brown, blue and gold tassel fringe, I have a yard and a half left. I will send it to you. If there's a bunch of y'all that want it, I will have J and C pick.

A Riddle...

what is tired, cranky, likes dark rooms, peace and quiet and slept from 5:30 pm to 11:00pm; but can now not sleep ???


Answer- me, with my once a month multi day migraine.

be back soon...

I love a parade!

I was very honored to be asked to judge the 4th of July parade. Paint boy and the boys were just as excited. We met up with Green Magsterpie at her staging grounds and got a preview of the floats. Being an election year, there where 17,000 politicians, 1700 beauty queens, and about 25 floats.

Some of the floats were quite spectacular, for example, an eighteen wheeler pulling a float with 100 members of the American Legion and followed by 50 motorcycles. It was BOLD.

Others were more patriotic, the Georgia Vietnam veterans float was beyond moving. They recreated, in still life, 2 war memorials. They held their poses for the entire parade route.

These are my favorite group. Baton twirling grandmas! The dresses are actually blue sequin, and yes, those are tassels on the majorette boots.



This is the greatest picture of Babycakes. Usually, when you ask her to "smile", she looks like she is in pain. She has all the boys in my family wrapped around her finger! You can see why I have a marriage contract ready to be signed. I'll let her pick which boy, right now she is leaning toward C.


This is such a great shot of Clemsongirl's minis. They were so cute. They thanked all the police officers "for keeping us safe".


Babycakes and J waving their flags. J loves his orange sunglasses and didn't take them off all day.


Little Mr. at his sweetest! Don't you just want to give him a squeeze?


Lucy made a special appearance for the parade. She wore all her red, white and blue! That is a Munchkin that one of the kids generously shared. I love how she is licking her lips!


The Lawyer's Wife, Clemsongirl and me at the parade. I love these 2 girls! There are always a million laughs when we get together.

C was at the parade also, but was a LITTLE tired from camp. He made it, but was not the brightest sparkler of the day. Paint boy took him home after lunch. J and I hit the games and jumpies. Magsterpie gave the boys wrist bands for unlimited access to all the fun activities on The Square. J took FULL advantage. He did a blow up shark slide 33 times! At $2 a pop! That is not counting all the spin art, games, other slides, obstacle courses and bungee jumping that the child did. Thank you, Magsterpie!

They are both looking forward to next year.


BTW- I got to meet (and hug) yummy Coach last night. He even ate my leftover pizza. I look forward to seeing him in 2009 , too.

Once upon a time...

I have been trying to figure out how to relate my client stories to you all. I am not revealing anything that was told in confidence, just the good juicy bits and the "are you kidding me's?"

Once upon a time...

There was a 92 year old man that practiced his chip shot in front of his assisted living home. The only issue was that he was chipping across two lanes of traffic, into the grassy median. He would then walk through traffic onto the median and chip them back. A very busy, 4 lane road called Johnson Ferry.
He's lucky he's not dead.

Welcome home dinner

C has been away at Church camp all week. He was so tired when he got home today, but he wanted his "Welcome Home" dinner. (Its a family tradition that the night before you leave for camp and the night you return, you get to choose the evening meal.)

After walking through Publix and finding that there was zero trout for his favorite pecan crusted trout; he decided on snow crab legs. I did a little happy dance when I discovered that it was only $4.99 a pound! Run, run, run to Publix and stock up your freezer for winter crab soups and dips.

For dinner tonight we had a Summer bonanza-
Snow Crab legs
Baked potatoes
Tomato pie

Tomato Pie

Deep dish pie crust
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8-10 Compari tomatoes (or 4-5 Roma) sliced and tossed with cracked black pepper
fresh basil finely cut

-Layer 1 1/4 cups cheese in bottom of crust
-lay 1/2 the tomatoes on the cheese
-Sprinkle with basil
-Repeat layer
-finish with cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes ( great as a side but stands alone as a light meal)

And to top all of this yumminess off, we had Homemade Peach cobbler.
As you all can see, Food is my Love Language!

Where have you been?

I am sorry that I have abandoned all of you for almost a week. I was better at posting while on the Beach Trip. ( It is capitalized because it has its own identity! 7 kids with 7 personalities= some kind of interesting!)

2 days before leaving on the Beach Trip, Paint boy decided that the salon needed a little sprucing up. While I was gone. (I don't do change so he thought this would be the most painless way.)

After my MOST memorable 22 hour car ride, (it wasn't really but when you are expecting 6 and you get 10, it feels like 22.) I arrived to construction. He wasn't as far along as he expected.

On Sunday, I helped lay a hardwood floor and worked on drywall. We have remodeled our whole house so I know my way around some power tools. I also had to pack for C to go to Church camp Monday.

Monday morning I dropped him off for camp and headed to Home Depot for more molding. A little miscalculation on Paint boy's part, brought about a second trip. Thank goodness Nana Judy came and painted trim all day, because I was sanding drywall and painting and cleaning and praying that we would be finished enough for clients on Tuesday morning.

I know you are wondering about a contractor and he was there. Paint boy and I work on things we can do and give the really yucky jobs to someone who does this for a living. And Paint boy is cheap. REALLY cheap when it comes to construction. He can do most everything, so why should he pay? To get it done in a timely manner is the answer but that is another Paint boy-ism. God love him!