A Fabulously Flawed Life

**Warning! Gush Fest** Disclaimer: I feel compelled to share my feelings and gush a little on the women who have helped me during such a dark time. Please note this isn't a brag, it's a tribute to those women who have have consistently been there and to those who continue to lift me up. This post is about F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (Like my reenactment above. HA!) This topic has been on my mind a lot lately and was even more so before my back injury. It was inspired by Celia Fae's post on 'Homies' . She cracks me up with her sharp whit and fabulous definitions. She has a classification for pretty much everything! In her post she defines different types of friendships. I would classify myself as the Friend Collector . According to Celia , "Friend Collectors don't acquire friends willy-nilly. They are deliberate. Friend Collectors find people who are very interesting or excel in one area, and then they befriend them. " I wouldn't say I "collect" frien...

So my Visiting Teachers gave me a bag of dark chocolate with this story. I thought it was pretty great. Apparently, so did Drake. Giving Up Chocolate "I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner. I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, 'If I give you this money, will you buy chocolate with it instead of dinner?' 'No, I had to stop eating chocolate years ago', the homeless woman told me. 'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked. 'No, I don't waste time shopping,' the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.' 'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked 'Are you NUTS!' replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years' Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money. Instead I'm going to ...

It seems like everyone around me is trying to eat better. There's the no sugar diet, Weight Watchers, or a point system of one kind or another. Dude. Don't get me wrong I am so proud of my friends and the commitment that they've made. It's just makes me pay more attention to what I put in my body. Talk about a drag. ;) I'm not one to give up things I love all together ' cuz I am an emotional eater and icing brings me great joy. However, I have found a couple things the past month that are good substitutions. Such as: I've replaced Diet Cokes with 1 small can and water with a splash of cranberry juice. I've replaced honey buns with one 100 Calorie Carrot cake snacks. They're REALLY yummy. I've started eating breakfast. Usually I'll have grapefruit with a handful of blue berries, almonds and a banana. Easy. If I have a craving I'll grab a cheese stick or cut up some cucumbers and sprinkle with Italian dressing. I'll also grab another h...

We took the boys to the Zoo last week. They had their choice between the Flight Museum and the Zoo. To my surprise they chose the zoo. Who knew the boys were such animal enthusiasts? It was such a great day but very crowded. Needless to say, the birds weren't very hungry. It took quite a while for us to get 3 birds to cooperate and come eat the stick. Drake loved being at the zoo and seeing all the animals. However, I think he enjoyed being with Daddy more. Thanks to Jason we were in and out in 2 hours flat. Usually it takes me 4 hours to get the boys through everything. Now I know the trick. ;)

If you don't already know this about me, I'm a HUGE St. Patrick's Day fan. Yep, that's right. It's one of the holidays that totally gets lost in the shuffle and I think it's a major bummer. The only problem is that Drake's birthday is the 14th, so the 17th is a little quick to get the house and everything ready for another big party. However, this year nothing was going to stop my Green Day plans! I invited the families that have really helped my family out the past several months. It was my way of saying "Thank You" for your sacrifices of watching Drake one day a week for 3 1/2 months and being an incredible friend. I feel very blessed to have these women in my life and watching over me during such a traumatic time. {{hugs to them!}} We started out the party with the Legend of St. Patrick's Day and a fun story about Leprechauns. After the story each kiddo took a turn picking a puzzle piece and answering the question on the back. As each answer...

Jason started his Mandatory Unpaid Leave of Absence, MULA - or lack of Moola, today. His entire company gets this privilege and Jason decided to schedule his during spring break. Lucky us. We've decided to get to know our city a little bit better and do things we normally wouldn't do. Therefore it's off to Incredible Pizza which is like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. We started out the afternoon with all-you-can-eat Pizza buffet. The older boys raced gokarts - twice. We went mini-bowling as a family. Can you tell that Daddy planned this outing? This place was made for a family of all boys. No Doubt! The older boys rode on the bumper cars while Drake and Dad hung out in the Tiny Town. We went miniature golfing. Played arcade games and had a blast. We ended our 5 hours with dinner at the all-you-can-eat Pizza buffet. I mean, we had to make sure we got our money's worth, right! ;) The boys are already asking when we can go back. I'm going to have to put a yearly limit ...

Lisa came into town for Drake's birthday party and we had so much fun together! Because it was my dear friend Wendy's anniversary I offered to watch her kiddos for the weekend. It worked out perfectly being Drakes birthday. So we partied hard and had a great time. The next morning, I decided to do something new to Emily's hair. I mean, it's the only time I get to pretend I actually have a daughter. :( I showed her the hair blog and asked her to pick one. She picked out the Basket Weave hair style. I was seriously SO excited about it! Finally, I would get to put my skills to use and create a darling never-before-seen hairstyle on cutie patootie Emily. Dude. This one's a doozy ! As I was making all the little pony tails all I could think about was my poor friend having to take them out. I thought I was going to be in serious trouble. Although how on earth could you be mad after seeing something so beautiful! (And of course she wasn't. She LOVED it!) 6 suckers, wh...