I've had this blog for almost two years.  And in those two years, I have grown tremendously.  As with every growing phase, I feel that I've outgrown my stay here.  So, I've decided to take on a new identity and move on to a new web home.  You can now find me here.  .  I hope that the three people who occasionally stopped by here will follow me to the new place.  And I also hope that I'll meet some new people, just like I did when I moved from Big City to Podunk.    So thanks, Bravenet.  And who knows, maybe I'll end up back here again someday. . .  ~Carrie~

I just signed up at Stupid People Shouldn't Breed
for a Comment Challenge.  The trick is that you have to comment on every single blog you go to.  I have quite a list over ====> there.  And that's really only half of the blogs I go to because I'm far too lazy to update my links.  Maybe someday.  So anway, I thought this challenge would be a good way to get some comments on here and get me to quit lurking at all the blogs I go to.  And if you want to sign up, just click on the link at the beginning and follow the instructions.  It should be fun.

The remodeling project still continues.  I believe The Hubby has most of the insulation up, so he's got about a half day of work today & then tomorrow he will start sheet rocking the room.  And his baby brother graduates from high school this weekend.  Now he's understanding the range of emotions that I went through when MY brother graduated (already a year ago--doesn't seem possible).  He's excited for him because he'll finally be out from under the parental controls at that house, but sad because it makes us O-L-D old!  It's hard when you have a sibling so much younger than you because--at least I did--you remember thinking "WOW!  I'm going to be <insert years> old when HE graduates from high school.  That seems like forever from now!"  But it's not.  The time flew by like it was two instead of eight.  And nothing that I had thought would happen has.  Which is fine because I (mostly) love my life now. 

Anyway, there is going to be all sorts o' drama at the In Law's this weekend.  Here's a rundown of the relationships:

BIL #2 (The Army Boy)--Used BIL # 3's graduation as an excuse to come home on leave to hook up with a girl that he has a thing for.  Insists that he will not be at the party tomorrow unless there is beer involved.  Has recently decided to become Buddhist.

SIL--Home because she misses her family (she lives in Oklahoma now) and wanted to see her brother graduate.  Had planned on coming home for the summer, but her parents said that she couldn't stay with them.  Her and MIL cannot stand each other.

BIL #3 (The Graduate)--Is pissed because BIL #2 is an ass.  Is worried about his parents & other family members getting along, worried that his girlfriend is going to get a royal grilling from all family members, and that MIL didn't order enough food.

MIL & FIL are not getting along.  Like at all.  FIL has basically refused to participate in anything familial.  Which means The Hubby gets roped into cleaning up the yard and looking at SIL's car before she heads back to OK and various other things.

Also add into the mix grandparents that SIL hasn't spoken to in two years because they always say stupid things to people.  Who are also Evangelical Christians, and will most likely take advantage of the situation to corner SIL about not talking to them & BIL #2 will be cornered about his stupid decisions (not just the Buddhism, but various other "wrong" things.)

I told The Hubby I'm bringing a video camera.  Surely there's a sit com hidden beneath all of these relationships, no?

Have a good weekend, and please send any extra Valium to me.

~Carrie  

I am pretty sure that I had a touch of food poisoning yesterday.  I woke up at about two in the morning with HORRIBLE stomach cramps, then after I got the kids to school and daycare, I got a fever, the chills, and a massive headache.  I seriously thought I was going to die.  I haven't felt that sick since I was a freshman in college and there was an influenza outbreak at our campus.  I of course got it and spent an entire week living off of one loaf of sourdough bread. 

But I am feeling MUCH better today, thank goodness! 

I think The Diva and I are going to spend most of today outside.  The weather hasn't been all that great lately, so since the sun is finally back out, I am going to take advantage of it!  Plus, The Diva always has energy to burn, so this going outside will be good for her too. 

And I ate it too.  But before doing that, I had to help The Hubby with the whole knocking down plaster thing.  This is one of the walls.  It's the best I could do because after I got out and clean, all I could do is lean in the window and take the fastest picture I could.



As soon as he saw what I had been up to, he told me to get the camera out.  The Hubby and my brother in law worked really hard and were finished by about 10:30 on Saturday morning.  Then the kids left at 11:00, and after heading to the dump to empty out the eleventy seven pounds of nasty plaster dust & wood, The Hubby and I headed off to Semi-Civilization.  We had lunch at Applebee's, where I tried their new apple sangria--Very GOOD--and ate steak and shrimp skewers.  Then we headed over to Home Depot to buy the insulation and 2 x 4's that we needed.  After that, we had a really nice dinner at home.  It was probably the best anniversary ever.  Mostly because of this:


My mom made us this cake for an anniversary present.  It's "Strawberry Mist" frosting on a chocolate cake (with chocolate chips in it) and a cheesecake filling.  All of my favorite things all rolled up into one.  And yes, that is a real rose and rosepetals on the top.  Not only was it the tastiest cake I've ever had, but it was also the prettiest.  My mom hasn't made a cake for me since my 5th birthday. 

So yeah, we've had an awesome weekend, but I'm ready to go back to work for a little break!

~Carrie

Going for a record here, people.

I just joined the Blog Explosion "Rent My Blog" phenom that seems to be posted on darn near every single blog I visit lately.  And I have a renter!!!  I accepted right away because well, anyone who's a modern princess is OK with me!   

Anyway, her blog is pretty, a nice layout that isn't so hard on my eyes.  The writing is fluid and easy to understand.  More like I'm having a conversation with someone that just A/B/C happened today (like my blog can be sometimes).  So stop by her place, will ya?

And I think I'm done for the day.

I need to have a thing.  A saying.  Something on here that defines who I am.  But the witty sayings, they don't come so easy.  So for the past two years that I've spent blogging, I've had nothing.  "Carrie's Journal" is boring.  And it's not really what this is.  Then again, what AM I doing here?

I rant, I rave, a whine, I complain, I tell horribly embarassing stories about my children that will probably send them into cardiac arrest if this place is still around when they are teenagers.

But I've also grown.  I was reading back through my archives (yes I have been bored out of my mind lately.  And no, I have no life.) and I couldn't believe how different those first posts were.  I don't feel like I've changed all that much.  But when I look back there, it amazes me.  My writing if nothing else has improved tenfold.  I speak in coherent sentences!  And it isn't all about my brother and his football games!  And I (sort of) have a life now!  Gawd, I look at what I wrote way back in the day and I sound like a sixteen year old (OMG!  Can U B-leve it?  UR So dum!).  So I guess this whole blogging thing really can be theraputic.  Plus it's fun to go back and read about the time that my daughter used the toilet as a sink and washed her hair. 

So I might try out some redesigns over the next couple of weeks.  Or I might not since I'm still way too selfconscious about things. 

One of these days I'll need to embrace my full geekdom and learn how to do HTML

So I said I was going to post this like two days ago, but life has been interfering.  As usual.

Anyway, I spent my Mother's Day doing what any self-respecting, under-appreciated, all around everyday mom probably did.  I cleaned my house.  I did get flowers and cards from the kids.  But these were things that were forced on them by school and Sunday school teachers.  Which are great, and I appreciate them immensely.  But not even a "Happy Mother's Day" from the Hubby?  No "Thank you for taking care of our children for the past six (almost 7) years" or "I appreciate the fact that you always--ALWAYS--get up in the middle of the night when someone cries just because you know that I have to get up earlier than you do"? WTH?  I contemplated striking.  But instead I pointed out how everyone else had stepped up to the plate enough that he got pissed and stopped talking to me.  All the same I suppose. 

Monday, however, he did apoligize and say "Happy Mother's Day" a day late and all that.  I politely thanked him.  And knew the exact reason why he mended fences.  Well two reasons actually.

Reason #1-- We are doing some remodeling work this weekend.  We are ripping plaster out in our computer room.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me.  I have wanted to do this for the better part of the three years that we have lived in this house.  So, he is sucking up because he doesn't want to get stuck doing all the work himself.

Reason #2-- Tomorrow is our sixth anniversary (the CANDY anniversary.  Anyone want to guess whether he takes that little factoid or not?).  He knows I've had something in the works for quite a while.  And he knows part of the plan thanks to The Superhero AKA Blabber McBlabberson.  But he doesn't know to what extent I've been scheming.  There is highly tasty food in the future, so he's making up for the good of his tastebuds. 

So that's my plan for the weekend.  A romantic anniversary spent with my hubby and a couple of sledgehammers.  Hmmm. . .perhaps that could be reason # 3-- Self Preservation.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I've decided to disable my tag board.  I just can't take the Spam anymore.  It's annoying as hell and so I decided to take it down.  So if you've got something to say, just leave me a comment. 

I've tried no less than three separate times to begin a journal entry in the past week.  And every time I do, something happens.  Or the curse that has plagued the rest of my creative writing as of late over takes me and I stare at the computer screen with that "thoughtful" look on my face that merely says "DURRRR". 

And of course I actually had something to write about last week!  I dialed 911 for the first time in my 26 years.  Wednesday I was on my way to the first half of my job when I saw a car come careening around the corner.  Now, this corner is a "T" and everyone probably takes it a little too fast.  When turning the direction car #1 was turning, you are going from a 45 MPH speed limit down to 30.  SO anyway, I saw this car and I just knew that it wasn't going to turn out pretty.  There was an older pickup waiting at the stop sign & Car #1 crashed right into the pickup.  She hit so hard that the horn wouldn't stop going of in her car.  Talk about annoying! 

Since I had been behind the pickup and saw the whole thing, I pulled over and checked to make sure everyone was OK.  Then I called the cops for them.  Since this is THE road that everyone uses to get out of town & no one had moved the cars, it was quite the traffic jam here in Podunk.  Then, since this was in the morning, all the school buses were trying to make their way back up to the bus garage.  One of them went up on the sidewalk to make sure he didn't hit either of the vehicles. 

I hung around for a while, just to make sure the cops didn't need me to be a witness or anything, then I continued up to the bus garage.  It's been a long time since I've actually felt like I helped someone, so it was nice. 

Tomorrow I'll tell the story of HOW I SPENT MY MOTHER'S DAY.  The suspense.  I know.  It's killer.

~Carrie~

This weekend Podunk held it's first annual All Town Garage Sale.  There were probably 20 sales advertised, and I'm sure there were even more that weren't in the paper.  A couple of my friends were having sales, so I stopped at the one and bought some clothes for The Diva.  Then I went out to the other one and spent the rest of the day with her. 

It was the first really nice weekend day that we've had this year.  The sky was a deep blue and there were big fluffy white clouds in the sky.  She didn't have the best turn out in the world, but there were enough people that she was busy most of the time.  I brought donuts for breakfast, and we had a picnic of Brats, hamburgers, Dill Pickle chips, and potato salad for lunch.  When the sale was over, my friend and I laid down a blanket and spent the rest of the day looking up at the sky.  I felt like I was one of the six little ones running around as we tried to find shapes in the clouds that passed over head.  It was a perfect day, and we were all sad when it was over.

And to add to the sadness of the weekend, we had to bring Thor the Wonderpuppy back out to their house.  The Hubs had never fully adapted to having a dog, so he made the executive decision (and threatened that it was either him or the dog.  I only hesitated for a minute) to bring him back out to the country.  Although, in a bit of hopeful news, The Hubs now misses TWP, and is trying to think of ways to tolerate him.  I can't tell you how happy I would be if he changed his mind, so cross your fingers and say a little prayer that he does.

Sunday we went to semi-civilization and did some shopping.  Then we went swimming, ate pizza, and went to bed early.

All in all it was a great weekend.  How about you?

I jacked this one from Poppy over at The Opiate of the Masses.  Another one of the very funny blogs on my growing list of Procrastination Tools.  I like it because it's a different sort of twist on the questions that seem to circulate on the email at least once a year.  So check it out.  And if you want to do it, tag me and let me know that you have.

Have a great weekend!

ABC's all about ME!

Accent: I’m sure I’ve got the whole Mid-Western accent going on by this point in my life (think a toned-down version of the movie Fargo.  Because we seriously aren’t THAT bad).  But when I’m really pissed off, the southern girl in me comes out.  I did live down there for a couple of years.  And get me back to Cali and I’ve got the laid-back, surfer girl—NOT Valley Girl—accent.  It all depends on my surroundings.

Booze: I hate beer.  I like pretty, fruity drinks.  My favorite is tequila.  Especially in a Tequila Sunrise or a Margarita.

Chore I Hate: Pretty much everything.  I like dusting & I like vaccumming, but the rest could all go away.

Dog or Cat: Dog. 

Essential Electronics: Cell phone, laptop and MP3 player

Favorite Perfume: Clinique Happy! Also Este Lauder’s Beyond Paradise and Pleasures Exotic.  I like the summer-y scents pretty much year round.

Gold or Silver: White Gold.  Silver is pretty, but a pain.

Hometown: Oceanside, CA

Insomnia: Only when I’m stressed

Job Title: Don’t really have one.  I do a bit of everything. 

Kids: Two.

Living arrangements: 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Podunk.

Most admirable traits: I’m a loyal friend who’ll go out of her way to make sure someone is cheered up whenever necessary.

Number of sexual partners: How about N for None of your damn business?!?!  LOL

Overnight hospital stays:  Two, once for each of the young un’s

Phobias: Don’t really have any phobias.  Used to be terrified of dying, but I’m over that now.

Quote: There are way too many to list.

Religion: I suppose if I’m attached to a religion, I would be Evangelical Free.  We go to a non-denomonational church, but it’s affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America.

Siblings: One.  Baby brother.  All six feet of him.  But I can still totally kick his ass.

Time I wake up: 7:00 or 7:30.  Like freaking clockwork.  It’s pathetic, really.

Unusual talent or skill: I can make my nose sound like a Ukelele.  I learned it from the Mickey Mouse Club.  Oh, and I can also make two noises with my mouth at the same time, sounding like a circus song.   I don’t get out much.

Vegetables I love: Love?  I suppose corn and carrots and all the other sorts of vegetables that are the worst kind for you.
Worst habit: Procrastination.

X-rays: Haven’t had one in a while.  Last time was to get my wisdom teeth (all 5 of them, because I am a freak.) pulled when I was 18.

Yummy foods I make: I make a pretty mean Parmesan Chicken.  The hubs also loves my Lasagna, Spiniach and Herb Chicken, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Acually, pretty much everyone loves my cookies.

Zodiac sign: Aquarius.  And it’s disturbingly accurate.