Saturday Sillies

Yes, I've been posting...

...just not here.  I've been here.  Or, you could click on that adorable penguin lifting weights, over there on the side.  (Or, as Monkey would say, "Punguin."  Ugh!  She's so cute!!)

Oh, for Pete's sake!!!

Apparently, I'm a big dummy.  Many months ago (maybe January?) I set up an email account solely to use for this blog, so that people can reply to the comments I leave on their blogs.  Well, I completely forgot about that email account until I decided to check it today.  Hell's bells!!  I have 100+ emails in the inbox from Bloggy Buddies!! 

I feel TERRIBLE!!!  For months, my Bloggy Buddies have probably been thinking I simply ignored their messages to me.  That is SO not the case!!  I'm just stupid, that's all.

I big "sorry" needs to go out specifically to Cyndy, Sorta Southern Single Mom, Suz, Otin, Mel, Vodka Mom, Stephanie and Happy Wife, Happy Life.  The majority of the emails were from this group of buddies. 

I seriously feel like a jerk about this.  There were SO many unanswered messages!!  I swear, I didn't just ignore you guys!!!  I'm seriously considering replying to each of the emails in that inbox.

I'm going to try and figure out how to forward the email from that account to my "real" account, if that's even possible.  If not, I'm going to have make a concerted effort to check that account daily.

Sheesh!  Again, I'm so sorry if you thought I was just ignoring you. =(


~~~woo hoo!!  I just changed my settings so that my email is forwarded to my "real" account!!~~~

Friday Funnies

Thank you...

...to my hardworking man.  Thanks to Magnum's incredible work ethic, and constant drive to be successful at his job, I was able to spend an hour working on this today.  (yeah, I can't believe I'm letting you see my back fat and big rear end, either!)

I actually spent two hours "sunning" today, an hour on each side.  I spent most of that time thinking about how very grateful I am that I was doing that instead of still working at a job that was slowly killing me.  And, thanks to Magnum's generosity, kindness, understanding and love, I was able to relax in my chaise lounge, instead of working at a job that doesn't make me happy.  He told me last year that he didn't even expect me to LOOK for a job for at least a year since I "have post-traumatic stress disorder from all those years at The Hell-Hole!"  He wasn't trying to be funny, he was being completely serious.

And, he's been completely on board ever since.  It's not just something he said in passing, he really meant it.  He has not once, in the year I've been unemployed, said a single word about me looking for a job.  Or, not looking, as the case may be.

I know I haven't been here much lately, and there are LOTS of things that have been going on around here at Casa de ChiTown that I haven't filled you all in on yet.  Clearly, one of those things is that Magnum found a job!  Woo hoo!!  He's been there for two months now, and he LOVES it!  He's been working like a madman, and one of the reasons is so that I don't HAVE to go back to work.  Well, unless I want to, of course, or I'm ready to, whichever the case may be.

God, I love that man!!!  I'm so very lucky, and blessed, that God has chosen this path for us, and our "story."  Yeah, I like to tease him, and facetiously tell him that he owes me 18 years of being at home, for the years I should have been home with our son, but most of the time, he agrees with me.  How great is that?

I mentioned a few posts ago (wow!  was my birthday really almost 6 weeks ago already?!) that things were starting to take an upswing around here, and thankfully, that continues.  I've continued to formulate many, many posts in my head, and I take pictures on a daily basis, with the intent of posting about them.  I think I'm just about ready to jump back into the Blogosphere.

Some of you will be annoyed to know that naturally that means LOTS of posts and pictures of my Monkey!!  Sorry, I can't help it.  I just the love the HELL outta that kid!!  I'm going to leave you with a quick candid shot I snapped yesterday at the Father's Day picnic where we all celebrated with my Daddy.

Wow, look how's she's grown since LAST Father's Day!  (STLL no hair though!! Oy!)

Today on Facebook...

...Stud made a couple of really interesting posts.

This morning my mother told me that I'm useless and contribute nothing to the household.
I couldn't really lie.
So I made her a present.
But she then told me, apparently, she "didn't need her rose bush cut down."

 (I had planned to do my own post about this, but that'll have to wait til another day)

This one made me teary-eyed...

 A kid recently asked me about what I want to major in; video games (game design). He asked me tons of questions about how I would go to school for that, where I would go, what facilities that school had. But then, rather cutely, he said he didn't want to be nosy, but he wanted to know why I liked video games so much. So I answered honestly. That video games brought me that happiest moments of maybe my life, moments free from any type of perversion that could be tainted by retrospect, free of worry, or care. People say that they are art, people say they're toys, but I tear up at the thought of the joy they used to bring me. Should I be 100 years old, never will I have been happier than when I was playing playstation or turbografx with my father or when my mother taught me how to jump in the original Super Mario Bros. 3 and we beat that game several times over. As I'm writing this my eyes are actually watering. I can say that those were, without a doubt, my happiest moments and if I could be in a position to help somebody else have a moment like that, I think it would feel wonderful.

I have the best Bloggy Buddies!!

A couple weeks ago, I made a donation toward Swim Across America, for my Bloggy Buddy, M.  The swim benefited child cancer research.  M's daughter is a survivor of childhood cancer (Thank you, God!)

Anyway, as a "thank you," she made me this freakin' adorable kitchen towel!!!

Don't you love it?!?!  I had Monkey today, and as soon as she saw it, she yelled, "PENGUIN!"

Thank you, M!  I love it!!  You found the perfect way to bring my two obsessions together. =)

Just for fun, I'll show you a couple of pictures I snapped of my Monkey, about 1 minute apart.

um....holy hell...

I've been avoiding doing anything with the 311 pictures I took in Italy last year, because I couldn't bear to look at myself.  It was when I got home from that trip, and saw those pictures, that I decided I HAD to do something with myself.

I finally, this week, put the pictures together to share with KC, my SIL.  I didn't want to let her see them, but she's only been asking me for 10 months now!

I pulled out some of the worst ones to share with you.  I've been putting off this post for about 3 months now because I wasn't sure if I wanted to humiliate myself like this, and let you see some horrible before photos.  But, then I decided that instead, I'm going to focus on the after, and how far I've come.

So, here goes....

m

I know it's just a lucky camera angle on this next one, but we look fairly close in size here. =)

And, there you have it.  That's really just the tip of the iceberg.  I had intended, 10 months ago, to do some posts about my trip with KC, but I was ashamed to let you all see the pictures of me.  But, now that you've seen the worst, what difference does it make!?  I'm going to try and get some posts together this month, so stay tuned!

A few more photos...

...from Magnum's camera.

I LOVE this picture.  This is us crossing the finish line.  I know it's a blurry mess, but that's what I love about it!  Magnum said that's because we were running too fast.  Hahaha!

 We were interviewed by someone from the local paper.  I just realized I forgot to look for the paper yesterday.  Poop.  He told us it would be out on Wednesday.  Maybe I can find it online...

 The guy from the paper was taking our picture for the article.

 We went to wait for the rest of our team to finish.  Can you BELIEVE I wasn't last?!!?