Bathroom Remodel

Oh shit, what have I gotten myself into?

As if I didn't already have enough half-finished projects, I started remodeling the bathroom. Well, it isn't exactly a whole remodel, more like a do over. When we started fixing up our home, we had just found out I was pregnant with Monk Man.

We ended up half assing the kitchen, hallway and bathroom. We are totally paying for it now. We have sinks leaking and ruining everything in the cabinets (plus the actual cabinet in the bathroom), the tub/shower is rusting and the PVC surround thing is starting to come loose. That is just a few of the problems I have found lately.

It is a mess. So since we have a little extra $$, we are taking a Mulligan on the bathroom and starting over.

Wish us luck! It is going to be quite the adventure. Again.

Hubbs just texted me to tell me that he is taking the bathroom door off to fix the side that the dogs tried to dig through. What am I going to do without a bathroom door? Seriously, I cant even THINK about going into the bathroom without the boys wanting to know what I am doing. I wonder if it is too late to decide to call a do-over on the kitchen first instead?

If I can find a memory card and the camera before we start working on it tonight, I will try to snap some pictures so you all can see what I am living with.

Work LoL

There was an ice cream truck parked outside the shop when I got back from lunch. It was here for exhaust work. That in itself was pretty funny. But it gets better.

The boss lady kept looking at it and saying "It is so small! It's so short!". Jack was on his way out the door and said "Well, you know, what it lacks in length, it really makes up for in power."

Snort. I couldn't hold back. I am not so good at stifling giggles let alone full blown gut busting laughter.

So he gives me a funny look for a second and then it clicks. He turns red, tells me to shut up and goes out the door laughing. The boss lady keeps asking me what he had said. It takes me a while to pull myself together enough to repeat what he said.

Before I could get all the words out of my mouth, SHE starts laughing uncontrollably. We laugh and laugh. The big boss comes out of the bathroom just shaking his head at us because he had overheard everything.

When Jack comes back inside the office a little later he is all embarrassed. The big boss comes out of his office and says "Dude, you had these girls ROLLING!" We both cracked up laughing again. When we finally calmed down, Jack told me that I suck and have a dirty mind. Duh?

Now my sides hurt. But that is part of what I like about this job. I don't have to be professional 100% of the time.

Charlie Sheen

Oh.My.Hell. When did Charlie Sheen turn into such a douchebag?

Apparently on Christmas he got arrested for criminal assault? On his wife? Here is the article I read this morning.

Ugh. Guys that hit women are dirtbags and SHOULD have their asses handed to them in prison.

The most baffling thing about it? His wife wants to stay married to him. Seriously, what is her problem? I can't understand why anyone would want to live with that constant fear of being murdered in your sleep by your significant other.

I have been there. I have had boyfriends knock me around when I was a teenager. I just don't understand why someone would stay and keep putting themselves through that shit. Mind boggling.

If Hubbs ever, ever, ever hit me out of anger or frustration or just because, he would be thrown out of my home so fast that his head would spin. Now, we do wrestle and donkey punch each other but that is all in play. That is totally different. He has never put a hand on me in anger and he knows better than to even consider it.

If my boys only learn one thing from me it will be that you don't hit girls. Ever.

It Is A Conspiracy

So do you remember my post from Friday about enjoying being "one of the guys"?

I think someone is trying to send me a hint that I need to be a little more *gag* girly.

Why do I think this?

A wife of one of Hubb's friends invited (and went) to a jewelry party 2 Fridays ago. I actually bought a necklace. Very tasteful. No pink, no hearts, no sparkles. It was a plain silver circle on a silver chain. When I got home, Hubbs started calling me Flava Flav so the necklace went into retirement. Fast forward to last Friday. My step-MIL brought me an invitation to the shop right before we closed. For another freaking jewelry party.

Ugh. These kind of chicks (no offence to any of the girly girls out there) usually don't like to be around me when they HAVE to, let alone willingly INVITE me to hang out with them. It is uncomfortable for them. It is uncomfortable for me. I have accepted that.

But you know me. I am going to go. And probably buy something.

Maybe it IS time for a little change. But I don't even know where to start. Or even what to change.

I don't wear nail polish. The only jewelry I wear is my wedding/engagement ring. Maybe a pair of earrings if I am feeling feisty. I only wear makeup on my eyes. No lipstick, foundation, blush, etc. I have never had a manicure, pedicure or my eyebrows waxed. I don't wear dresses and only wear skirts when I have to. I am a jeans kind of girl. I am low maintenance. So low maintenance that I don't even own a scale.

Butter Thief

This morning, as I was toweling off from my shower, I heard the stomp stomp stomp of a little boy trying to "sneak" past the bathroom door undetected.

My boys "sneak" like this: crouched over, stomping as hard as they can then raising up on their tip toes. It is very cute and I love it because they totally think they are being sneaky.

So I wrapped my towel around myself and flung open the door just in time to see Bobblehead disappear into his room. He only "sneaks" when he is doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing. I was dieing to find out so I tiptoed down the hall and peeked into his room.

He was hiding under his bed, eating a stick of butter.

Barf.

Artsy Fartsy Time

I am going to dust off my woodworking skills that my grandpa taught me when I was a pre-teen and build the boys a play kitchen.

We are too cheap to buy a plastic kitchen. Even if we weren't, Hubbs is totally against the idea of the boys playing with a pink stove.

So we are drawing up plans for the kitchen now. I will post pictures someday!

One Of The Guys

I really like being one of the guys sometimes.

This afternoon, the shop is slow and all the bosses are gone. So it is just me and Jack sitting around listening to the satellite radio. He picked the Canadian Uncensored comedy station.

Oh.My.Hell! I have never heard comedy this good. Cock jokes, fart jokes, sex jokes. I have laughed and laughed all afternoon!

My sides hurt so bad.

Teeth

The family has dentist appointments this month. I had to find a new dentist because my old one won't take state sponsored insurance. Monk Man was supposed to go tomorrow but of course he came down with a sore throat and swollen tonsils yesterday. Bobblehead is sick too but he seems to be getting the croup again.

So I am taking Monk Mans appointment tomorrow and he is going to take my appointment next Thursday.

The boys were blessed with my shitty, messed up, soft teeth.

I was in braces for 6 years so my teeth are straight. Right now I need another root canal (that will make 3) and some cavities taken care of. I also have a cracked-in-half tooth from a root canal filling that didn't hold that needs something done to it. I am a hot mess.

I plugged our W-2 numbers into an online calculator and found out that we are getting back waaayyyyy more than I expected. Hubbs and I were discussing what we wanted to do with the money. He wants a new computer and I want my teeth veneered and capped. But instead, we have to do the adult thing and put all the money in the checking account to live on because we still don't know how long Railroad Unemployment is going to last or if he is ever going to get to go back to work. Plus we might need that money for our business venture that is in the works.

But I really want my teeth to be pretty. I will ask this new dentist for a price on veneers and caps tomorrow while I am there. Maybe he can give me a better price than my old dentist did. Which was around $1500 (if I remember right) to cap and veneer every tooth, in case anyone was wondering.

Like I Needed Another Excuse

to eat at Burger King.

Beer at Burger King

The existing BKs won't be having the "Whopper Bars" installed. Instead, BK will be building new restaurants, starting in South Beach. Cities like Vegas and Los Angeles with a high tourist population will be next.

Personally, I wouldn't mind having one of these in my town. But I can see why people would be upset about it.

So Lazy Today

I have no motivation today.

It started pouring rain last night around 10:30 and it still hasn't stopped. Right now, I think I see a few snow flakes mixed in with the rain but that could be my eyes messing with my brain.

I found out at lunch that our county is under a "State of Emergency". There is a big command center set up somewhere and have this evacuation plan ready.

I can see it as both a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing: It is possible that the Little Colorado River will get too full after it stops raining and the snow melts next week. It is possible that it will flood some of the houses outside the city limits (including Lonnie and Sharon's house).

Bad thing: People are already freaking out. I drove by Safeway and Walmart on my way back to work and the parking lots were packed!

I had to feel kinda bad for the people that waited until Today to get semi-prepared for this storm. But then again, it is their own fault. We have known about this storm since Monday and it isn't even as bad as the weather people predicted it to be.

I, on the other hand, am more than prepared. LoL Of course I am. We have even offered to take in our friends (and their pets) that might get flooded until everything dries out a little.

Ok, that is definitely snow that I see.

I Can't Believe It

While Hubbs was busy (probably doing something stupid) this morning, Monk Man and Bobblehead found my Oreo stash.

Really, what I think happened is that Hubbs tried to sneak a cookie or 2 this morning after I had left for work. The boys must have watched him not hide it well enough. I hide them very well behind all the booze in our liquor cabinets. Hubbs isn't a good hider. He isn't very observant either apparently.

The boys had just enough time to devour the ENTIRE package.

Just the thought of it makes me sick. My poor Oreos. They weren't the normal, average Oreos either. They were the White Fudge covered Oreos. You know, the "better than sex" ones.

They tried to keep it a secret! I walked into the boys bedroom at lunchtime and saw the crumbs on their bed and the box peeking out from under the bed.

So of course now that I am here at work, the Oreos are the only things I can think about. Hubbs had better be at the store right now getting me a new box of Oreos.

With Kids. And Dogs. In A Tent. 1-10

This wintery weather is giving me a bad attitude. I am tired of the ice and cold. And the thought of it ONLY being January pisses me off even more.

I need to blog about something that lifts my spirits and that I can look forward to when winter is finally over.

Camping! With kids. And dogs. In a tent.

Right now, the idea of being able to get away from people makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I would pack everybody up and head out to the woods right now except for the little freezing to death issue. I am going to try and post 10 camping tips at least once a week until spring. Or until I run out of useful things to say. Or until I forget.

For the readers that might have missed all my Camping Is Fun posts this summer, here is a little history. For those of you who have already read about it, you can skip the next 3 paragraphs.

Up until last summer (2009) we really hadn't done much as a family. My boys are little hellions so I avoided public things as much as possible. Plus I don't really like to be around a bunch of people. So that means the Circus, the Fair, Water parks, the zoo, the Carnival, Disney Land, for the love of pete even the mall, all those things are BAD ideas for us.

Anyway, some time last summer, Hubbs had the brilliant idea of trying camping. We went on our very first "As A Family" camping trip in August (I think) and we were hooked. We spent almost every weekend of August and September out in the woods.

It solved our problems with not spending time together and not doing much with the boys.

So here are 1-10 of my tips for camping with kids. And dogs. In a tent.
1) Bring twice as many diapers. It is inevitable that Bobblehead gets the squirts for at least half of a day when we are camping.
2) Bring 3 times the wipes. I have baby wipes everywhere. In the car, in the tent, in the diaper bag, in all 3 of the trucks, at work, in every room of our home. Baby wipes are great for those "good enough" cleanings, especially when you are camping. Marshmallowy fingers? Get the wipes. Dirty face? Get the wipes. Need to blow your nose? Get the wipes. They also take makeup off.
3) Dress in layers. Even for bed. Out here, the temperature changes quickly. It can go from hot and sunny to cold and rainy in no time.
4) Don't forget the sunscreen. I got a horrible sunburn on one of the trips. I was sitting under the trees, in the shade and still got burned.
5) Remember the First Aid Kit! Someone always gets hurt.
6) If foods need to be cut up, do it at home and not at camp if at all possible. You know all those Ziploc containers we can get for cheap/free? The ones with the blue lids? Those are PERFECT to use to store food in a cooler. They seal up well enough to keep the melted ice out and they stack!
7) If you can find one, buy a plastic egg holder. You will know it when you see it. Look in the camping section at Walmart or Big 5. It is bright yellow and folds up. Now it will NOT keep water off of your eggs but it WILL keep your eggs from breaking better than the egg cartons which disintegrate in a cooler. Ok, I found a green one at amazon.com
8) Bring Glow Sticks! The bracelet size is perfect. As soon as it starts to get dark, break out the glow sticks and cover your kids in them. Arms, legs, belt loops, anywhere you can. They help me keep track of the boys in the dark and they help the boys get to sleep in the tent. They also help me keep track of the dogs in the dark. 1 bracelet sized stick around the little dogs neck, 2 around the big dogs neck. If you are camping with a group, the glow sticks will make you the coolest mom in camp for the night.
9) Bring REAL shoes. Like sneakers with laces. If you are anything like me and live in sandals in the summer, you will want to fight this tip. BUT good shoes are a must! I wear my sandals when I am driving up to our camping spot but change into real shoes as soon as we start unloading our stuff. I put my sandals inside the tent until after the kids are asleep and I don't have to chase anyone or even walk farther than the pee bush.
And 10) Make sure all the food is put away before you start getting drunk. This includes the dog food and even the garbage. We had a furry friend run off with all the dog food on our first camping trip because we forgot to put our stuff away. I learned my lesson and everything gets put away before the kids even get put to bed.

Check back next week for tips 11-20. Maybe. If I don't forget. :)

Thanks!

Thank you all for the encouragement today!

This afternoon has been harder to deal with than this morning was but I am still going strong.



P. S. What is up with all the spam lately? I have had to delete more spam comments today than I ever have had to.

I am enabling the word verification thing again until the spamming dies down.

Big Day Today

I am quitting smoking today.

I have smoked since I was 16 so 11 years. I have tried to quit 3 times and failed miserably all 3 times. Hopefully the 4th time is the charm.

Hubbs is quitting too. But he gets to quit his Skoal habit as well as his smoking.

Yay for no more spitter cans laying around the house just waiting to be knocked over.

I think once I have kicked my habit, I will become a better mom. Lately, I have been kind of slacking on doing things with the boys. I won't have any excuses not to.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can get through the next couple of day without killing anyone!

Where Has The Time Gone

Seriously, it is already the 8th and not one post from me yet.

Ok, so I will start with our horrible drive up to MIL last weekend. We got out of town early, like 7:30. We are driving along the highway, doing good. All of a sudden, not even an hour out of town there is snow, icy roads and fog. Great.

We get through all that, through Gallup and on a different highway. Right between Gallup and Shiprock, in the middle of nowhere, the car in front of us slams on their brakes. Hubbs taps his breaks and we just happen to be on an ice patch.

I, of course, am not wearing my seat belt because I was turned around yelling at Monk Man to get his ass in his seat. This is where I get a little fuzzy. I hear Hubbs say, "Oh Shit" so I turn forwards and we are spinning into the other lane of traffic. We hadn't spun far enough to get out of the ice so we kept sliding. And sliding. I see this giant pile of dirt on the side of the road and we are sliding sideways into it. Since I am a dumbass, I braced myself. I planted my feet in the floor, covered my face with one arm, stuck my other arm against the door, took a deep breath and stiffened up. When we hit the dirt, it was about a foot away from my window.

Then we started to tip. I remember thinking, "How the hell am I going to get the kids out if we roll?" Luckily, there wasn't enough momentum to make us roll. But we did hit hard enough to separate the 2 right side tires from the wheel bead. By the time Hubbs got us turned around the right direction and on the right side of the road the front tire had already gone flat but the rear tire was losing air much slower.

We sat on the side of the road for 2 damn hours. I called my shop first to see if they could track down a tow truck. Nothing. I called 911 to see if they could get somebody out to us. Nothing from them either. I called FILs insurance. They called a tow truck from a company nowhere even remotely close to where we were. Unacceptable.

Hubbs and I argued about should we wait, should we try to drive, should we have my dad bring us my car and have the Tahoe towed later. I finally decided that we were going to put the spare on the front and drive as far as we could while the other tire had air in it still.

We made it to a tire shop and got the tired put back on the wheels correctly. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. The boys slept from the time we left the tire shop until we pulled up to MILs house. I was so tired that I didn't think I would be able to stay awake until midnight but I drank a Red Bull and chased that with a bottle of wine.

We played cards until midnight and then I finally got to go to bed.

What started out as being an 8 to 10 hour drive turned into a 14 hour nightmare. But I should be thankful that it wasn't worse than it was because it could have turned out way different.

Holiday Insanity

We are leaving in the morning for our 10+ hour drive to Colorado.

Oh goody. I might as well start knocking back shots right now.

As always, everything has been left up to me to take care of. And there is sooo much to do.

And traveling with a 2 year old and a 4 year old is not easy. Nor is it fun.

We had originally planned to leave this afternoon when I got off work early but I am having to work all day so we will leave in the morning.

I am so not even going to get the boys dressed. They can stay in their pajamas.

Things done:
I have their car bag packed. Hopefully, I packed enough stuff in there to keep them occupied for at least half the drive. If I remember correctly, this is what is in their travel bag:

• 2 boxes of crayons and 2 coloring books (we all know that they won't share)
• Monk Man's Leapster 2
• Bobblehead's "Laptop"
• a couple of Baby Einstein books I got in the mail Saturday
• a few action figures (X-Men, G I Joes, Little Peoples)
• the new V-Motion (because Monk Man won't let it go in their suitcase)
• some picture books
• and some of their cds

I also have a "secret" bag packed with juice boxes, suckers, Teddy Grahams and 2 candy bars.

Oh, and I found their beanies, mittens AND hoodies already.

And stuff I have to do still:

• pack clothes
• pack Bendaroos
• pack some books and magazines for me
• buy MIL some nacho cheese (her Walmart wont carry the good stuff)
• find the phone chargers
• find my sunglasses
• pack bathroom stuff (makeup, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, tweezers, nail clippers, hair brushes)
• find a blanket big enough yet small enough for the car
• pack up the gifts

Plus, I guess we are doing some kind of cooking competition thing. MIL said that they got the idea from Top Chef. Ummm, we don't watch Top Chef so I have no idea. All I know is that I have to come up with something to cook. Riiiight. I think she forgot that I can't cook. Hubbs, BIL and step FIL are cooking the main dishes. MIL and I are cooking sides.

After days of stressing about this (because I can't even make Crescent Dogs without someone getting food poisoning) I have decided on either my Baked Mac & Cheese or Fancy Mashed Potatoes.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed that I get to leave work early (due to no business, that is another blog post) so I can make a dent in all the shit I still have to do. Even if I do get out of here early, I am sure I will still be awake at midnight trying to get everything done.

It is going to be a giant Red Bull kind of day.

But What If Santa Is A Dirtbag?

Monk Man gets a little worried about the craziest stuff sometimes.

We had just finished the first part of our 2 part Christmas eve tradition, the boys opening 1 pre-determined gift each.

Pajamas! Sometimes matching, sometimes not, sometimes festive, sometimes not. How fun, I know. But they are adorable!

So the boys are getting their pajamas on and their coats because we are off to complete our 2nd part of our Christmas eve tradition: Driving through town to look at all the houses that are decorated with lights.

All of a sudden, Monk Man freezes. He has gotten his pajamas all the way on except for an arm and gets this terrified look on his face.

Mom: Dude, finish getting dressed. It is time to go see lights.
Monk Man: Mom! What if Santa is a bad guy! What if he is a (gasp).....dirtbag?

Hubbs and I look at each other and bust out laughing. By the time we finally get our shit together enough to be able to breath again, Monk Man has forgotten about Dirtbag Santa.

Where he got that idea, I have no idea. So far, he hasn't brought it up again. I need to figure out what to say the next time he asks something similar. Because you know he is going to.

Work Music

The bosses are gone this afternoon and the shop manager has had MY kind of music on.

We are currently rocking out to Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails. Right before that, we were listening to Tool.

At work.

I am in Heaven!

New Tires

Sooo not a bargain.

My driver side rear tire has been going flat every couple of mornings for about 2 weeks now. I go out to start the car so it is warm for the boys and there is a flat tire. So I drag out the air compressor, let it charge up, air up the tire and put it all away again. All at the butt crack of dawn in the freezing cold. My neighbors are starting to really hate me.

It was getting to be a HUGE pain in the ass so I took it to the tire shop Friday. They said it was a valve stem. They fix it and I bring it home.

By Saturday morning the damn tire is flat again. So I make Hubbs air up the tire so we can run our errands. By 7 that night, the tire was flat. Again.

Yesterday, I took my car back to the tire shop. Obviously it wasn't the valve stem because it is worse than before. I tell them to fix my stupid flucking tire right and call me when it was done.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call. Apparently Friday when I said the driver side rear tire was flat they thought I meant the passenger side front tire was the one with the issue.

That sounds totally the same, right? Stupid shits replaced the valve stem on the passenger side front tire. And the valve stem wasn't even the problem. Uhhh, duh?

My tire keeps going flat because it is separating on the inside. Ok, so I need a new tire. They also casually asked if I knew that my front tires were a different size than the rear ones.

YES? I have been telling them for a year that my tires are rubbing on my struts. I can hear it every time I turn. Plus if I look in the wheel well, I can see where the rubber is being worn away on the inside.

I get that I am a chick and am inferior because I don't have a penis *snort* but I am NOT stupid. I was temped to ask him if he had forgotten that I work in a body shop. Dummy.

So really, I need 4 new tires but can get away with only getting 2 right now.

I had to sit down when they told me how much each tire cost. $250 each tire. I told them very nicely where they could shove those $250 tires. I can get them cheaper somewhere else and would never be using that tire shop again.

In order not to lose business the tire guy said he would give me 2 tires for $211. That was a little more reasonable but not even close to what I really wanted to spend which was nothing since it was their screw up in the first (and second) place.

Ugh, it killed me to write out that check. And I should have just picked up my car and not let that shop touch another thing on it. I know better than that! But it had to be done right then.

I only spent the money I had and didn't have to put it on a credit card. So a teeny yay for me.

BUT, if everything goes as planned........in a couple of weeks Hubbs and I will own half of a business. BIG yay for me! Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Check back to read more about our big business venture. I have a post started already but it is all jumbled because I am still trying to process it all.

Our Dogs

Our crazy dogs are as bad as the kids!

I just got out of the shower (yes, I am aware it is already 10 a.m.) to find the kitchen trash can knocked over. Even better....there is a garbage trail from the trash can across the kitchen, down the hall and out the doggie door.

I don't even want to look outside and see the mess they created in the back yard.

Duke is hiding under my computer desk and Molly has buried herself under the stuffed animals in the boys closet. They KNOW they are busted.

Wet coffee grounds, egg shells, a rotten bag of salad mix and cardboard is going to be SO much fun to clean up.