Insanely white teeth!

What is it with celebrities going crazy with the teeth whitening? I was watching an awards show and what caught my eye the most was all the over bleached teeth. It doesn't look good, heck it doesn't look natural at all.  It made me think of the Friends episode where Ross whitened his teeth to impress a first date but left the solution on longer than instructed and ended up with insanely white teeth that glowed under a black light. Who remembers that one? A classic.

I think having clean teeth shows the world that you care about your appearance and practice at least basic dental hygiene but having teeth that glow in the dark is taking it overboard. Just a teensy bit. I would think someone in their inner circle would mention how fake it looks. Another reason I'm glad I'm not famous. I don't have 'yes people'. If I had a see-from-space smile I know someone would tell me how ridiculous I look.

Who has a black light in 1999?!

I love that I haven't blogged in months and this topic is what makes me dust off the cobwebs and my laptop. I have no life.

Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy

"I love daisies. They're so friendly. Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?" -Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail

Day 5 - Siblings. Or home grown best friends.

I was raised in a blended family. It was a 'yours, mine and ours' situation. My siblings and I have gone through a lot together. Growing up, we put the fun in dysfunctional. We moved around A LOT as kids and sometimes the only friends we had were each other. Our parents worked graveyard for a good chunk of our childhood and we used to sneak out of the house to go to 7-11 in our pajamas, watch rated R movies (Dirty Dancing and Stand by Me!) and search for Christmas present hiding spots. I'm close with all of my sisters and brother, some closer than others, but that's normal right?

These are my siblings in age order.

Stace, aka Tia, aka Teesie

She and I spent our summers together playing taxi with our paddle boat for hours at a time, paddling back and forth, back and forth from one dock to the another, making seaweed salads, and eating way too much junk food. During our teenage years she would cover for me when I got into...mischief. She is a rockstar single Mom, raising two kids, working part time and going to school full time.  She was my labor coach during childbirth, (except for a brief moment when she was kicked out of the room by a nurse). She's now going to school to be a Doula, I like to think I trained her for the role. I'm also glad I got to use her services for free.

Jimmy

 My only brother. We were close growing up, he was very protective of his sisters. He was my little brother until I was about 15, then he shot up in height and I decided I better be nice to him. He always took longer than I did to get ready in the mornings, his hair had to be perfect. I wonder if he's still like that? I have 2 sons now and when they do something that I find weird or something only boys do, I find myself thinking back to my childhood and I'll ask myself 'Did my brother used to do that? Is this normal?'.
He's a proud Daddy and just recently had a baby boy whom I haven't met yet. I can't wait to go back home for my sister's wedding so I can meet my newest nephew!

Lin

Lin is 7 years younger than me. She's (in my mind anyway) the ultimate in coolness. She's chic, fashionable, beautiful with a shaved head, tattooed, funny, a solid rock in any crisis and one of the hardest workers I've ever met. She's basically everything I want to be when I grow up. She has Sbux running through her veins, she's a fellow Star Wars nerd, and has brilliant ideas floating around in her petite little head that one day will make a big difference in our world.

Chelsey aka Bug

I could probably let the photos speak for themselves with this one. Take a moment to look through them, she's a goon. I was 12 when she was born. The story goes that my mom had to steal her from me to be able to feed her. I was a little Mama to her. She's funny and wacky, and beautiful and I'm about to be the matron-of-honor in her WEDDING! It's hard to believe that she's getting married. Sometimes I still see her as a 3 year old twirling in her frilly dress, wearing lace gloves and cowgirl boots.

Kesha

The youngest. She's 18 and getting ready to leave for boot camp this summer. She's a talented chef and a proud Tia to all her nieces and nephews. She was only 3 when my oldest daughter was born so they grew up together and are very close.

My husband and I and our kids moved across the country almost a year ago and away from everything familiar, all our friends and both sides of our family.  While I learned the valuable lesson that my immediate family includes my husband and kids and they are my priority,  not being able to see my sisters almost daily has been the hardest thing to deal with. We all lived close in proximity and many times per week, one of us would drop by the others home or meet for lunch or coffee. With my oldest sister being a single parent and myself being a technical single parent because of my husbands job, we could almost always count on each other or another sister to lend a hand or step in and drive a kid to an appointment or event. It's been really hard to not have that support system anymore.

These days I am so thankful for Skype and Facebook.

If you live close to your family be thankful and give your sibling a hug today.

Dreaming of The Huxtables

I've gotten behind on my blog challenge. That's because life sucks lately and I'm overwhelmed. Feel sorry for me, please.

Day 4- Your parents. Don't we all wish we had different parents then the ones we actually have? I did. At least as a kid I did. I'm cool with them now.


Here is a picture of the parents I wanted to raise me:

Aren't they just too cute?

I wanted these parents too:

Don't we all love them?

These parents are closer to the truth:

That's them!

Ok, I'm done.





Here they are for real.

My Dad!

He lives in Michigan.
He's a proud Papa.
He's a practical joker and proud of it. Nobody is safe.
We share a love of Nascar. Well mine is more of a 'like'.
He has an evil cackle laugh, I inherited it.
I blame him for my NCIS addiction.
I'm pretty sure he would do anything for my sister or I, "his girls".

My mom!

She lives in Florida.
She fulfilled a lifelong dream and became a flight attendant at 50. She never wants to retire.
She answers to Ma, Mama, Mom, Grandmaw, Grandmubber, Grandma and Ammaw.
She has the most recognizable laugh you'll ever hear. It was so embarrassing as a kid.
She likes to steal things from construction sites.
She's dances in grocery store aisles.
Finally after getting some space between us, we are friends.

My Dad!

He lives in Heaven.
He loved being a Grandpa.
He was really good at giving second chances.
Without him I would have failed high school math.
He invited strangers over for Thanksgiving dinner.
He thought Spam was it's own food group.
He was the best listener I've ever known. 
He bought groceries for people in need even though we were also in need.

That's them. The 'rents. I love them each so much!

Day 3- Your first love.

Mr. Huddleston. My first grade teacher, he was my first crush. Being in his classroom allowed me to escape the ugliness that was going on at home. He was the teacher that believed in the scrawny, shy, mute girl and made me believe I was special just because I was me. If I had a picture of him, I'm pretty sure there would be visible stars and hearts floating around his head. *swoon*

Hulk Hogan. I loved everything about him. Still do actually. I'll admit, we had a rough patch while he was doing his Hollywood Hulk Hogan thing, but we're back on solid ground now.

Bobby Joe. My first boyfriend, 6th grade. He was my next door neighbor. I learned to sneak out of the house because of him. His mom hated me.

Bryce Bryce Baby. Too cold, too cold! (Sing it to the Vanilla Ice tune) My jr high crush and high school boyfriend. First boy to buy me a gift, call me on my BS, show genuine emotion towards me. I learned many lessons while 'dating' him. Number one being don't forgo a friendship over a boy. The boy will leave, the girlfriend probably would have stayed.

Beavis. He was a butt-head, that's why we call him Beavis.

Sid the sloth. My first lesson in no matter how much you love him, it's not powerful enough to change him from being a %@*#! jerk. Took many years to find myself again after this one.  So many poor souls after him had to deal with my insecurities and fears because of what he made me believe about myself. He beat me down into a pile of nothing and it has taken years and years to learn he was wrong.

Taken Mother's Day 2011

 My kids. Oh man, my kids. Becoming a mom saved my life. The first time I knew I could love another person unconditionally. Forever and ever. Do I always like everything about them? No. Especially with the teenager trials we are currently dealing with. But I as long as I'm living, nothing can stop my love for them.

Hoss

Hoss. Definitely a first for me. The first time I've learned that love is a choice. A choice to love another person regardless of their response. A daily choice sometimes. The first time I realized just how much power a woman can wield over her husband, it's best to use it for good. The first time I believed a man was worth stepping out on faith for. He's also the first man that fought for me when I did my usual retreat when things get too hard routine. He is my better half, tag team partner, partner in crime, my gentle giant, my hillbilly husband. We have such similar life stories, it's a wonder we were ever attracted to each other. We are opposites in almost every area of life which causes me many headaches. But he will also rub my head when I have a headache even after he worked a 16 hour day.

I love that man sitting on that poor tiny plastic cow.