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Monday, June 23, 2014

Girls Weekend

So for my 30th birthday (even though my husband threw me the best surprise party EVER), I decided I needed to celebrate big and plan a girls weekend (with NO children) to Kansas City. My cousin lives up there, so my mom, sister and I decided to had up there on a Friday evening and stay there until Sunday afternoon.

We left right after I got off work a few Fridays ago. As soon as we got there, we headed out to eat. My cousin took us to a great little pizza shop. Brooke and I shared the appetizer sampler because it all sounded so good. That way, we got to taste a little bit of a lot of stuff!
Garlic cheese toast, toasted raviolis, cheese sticks and chicken wings (which I didn't eat, but took Brooke's word for it that they were delish!). It was SO good. 
 
We ended up ordering lemonade cake for dessert for all of us to share, but I'm so wishing I would have gone for this instead........   Housemade BACON MAPLE ice cream?!? Yes!! WHY did I get lemonade cake instead? My life's biggest regret.......(just kidding--that would be the time I offered to help Nick mow the yard). But I DO wish I would have tried it.

After dinner, we went gambling at The Isle of Capri. I can do slot machines for like.....30 seconds. And then I'm bored out of my mind. But my mom could play them a penny at a time for HOOUUURRRSS. I would rather pluck my eyelashes out one by one. So we set a time limit of one hour. It wasn't the best hour of my life but hanging out with my sister and cousin made it better! And in all fairness, I DID get a free t-shirt.
We went home after that and stayed up talking and laughing (my favorite kind of night) for quite awhile. I went to bed before everyone else because I wanted to enjoy some peace and quiet (kid free!!) and read my book for awhile.

We got up bright and early so we could hit some garage sales, but it was raining (boooo!). I love rain, but not on a day when I have no children or responsibility and could garage sale to my heart's content. But we did find one good church sale that was indoors, so we stopped there. And then we went to a bunch of different thrift stores. I just want to give a shout out to Brooke and Whitney for persevering through 3 thrift stores so I can get my kids the wardrobe of my their dreams! I know my mom enjoys it, but these 2 girls were troopers! And I got TONS of cute stuff for my kiddos!

After that, we had a delicious lunch at Panera and then relaxed at Whit's house for awhile. I took a 1 1/2 hour hot, QUIET bath and read some more. Then we headed out to dinner with one of Whitney's besties, Jackie! We hadn't gotten to meet her even though we'd heard tons about her, so we were SO glad to put a face with a name!
Those huge drinks are fishbowl margaritas from The Salty Iguana, just in case you were wondering!

The girls decided to go dancing after dinner and being the non-dancer that I am, I opted to stay home and watch a movie I'd been dying to see. They felt bad because they thought I'd be bored, but let me tell ya......this momma's idea of vacation is ANYTHING not involving children! Not that I don't love my kids (and by Saturday night, I was missing them).......but.........I definitely enjoyed the quiet and relaxation of not being responsible for 2 other human beings! They got home super late, but it sounded like they had a wonderful time, so I'm glad they got to go! And my movie was pretty good, too!

Sunday, we slept in and then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. SO good.  We headed home after that and I got to see my two little munchkins!

It was SUCH a good trip and we always enjoy our girls time with cousin Whit! My 30th birthday trip was perfect!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Come again?

The other night, Nick had to mow the yard and I decided to exceed my wifely expectations and help him. I did this at the risk of knowing he would probably not like the WAY I mowed or the direction in which the cut grass flies (because he's insanely anally obsessed careful with his lawn). But I forged ahead in hopes that I could lessen his work load.

We always take the kids for rides on the lawn mower because they love it and it keeps them entertained for the two hours it takes to complete the yard work. I had Tommy on my lap and we were having fun laughing together and cuttin some grass!

However........we have this power line for our outdoor light that comes down from an angle and anchors into the side of our yard. We go underneath it to mow and it's usually hazard free. But I was getting closer and closer to where the power line meets the ground. I was trying to cut in as close as I could so that Nick wouldn't have to weed eat too much around the base of the line. As I turned left to circle around the line, I turned the wheel pretty sharply (because I was TRYING to get a super close cut to impress my hubs with my mowing skills!!). But the wheels locked in the turning position and the mower would not straighten out. It sent us around the power line a few times and each time, our heads got closer and closer to the line and I fuh-REAKED out!! Not once did my mind think to put my foot on the brake. Nooooo, that would've been too easy. Instead, I screamed for Nick and tried to shove Tommy's head onto my lap so the power line wouldn't snag his neck and drag him off the mower!! Just as I was picturing both of us being decapitated, the wheel unlocked and we shot across the yard like a rock out of a slingshot.

THEEEEEN I thought to put on the brake. Duh. It took traveling across the law at 6 mph warp zone speed to think to myself, "PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN!!!"

Nonetheless, I kicked Tommy off the mower and decided to finish mowing the law by myself. Nick was looking at me like I was a dramatic moron (uh, I'm sorry Nick, but have YOU almost snagged your kids head on a telephone wire?!? No?!? Then don't judge!) and said that it must have been an operator error. Yeah. I was all, "Come again?! Operator error?!"

It happened again as I was turning the corner around the brand new shed we just built. I was making a left and it got stuck and at the last second before I crashed into our 4 day project, it straightened out. I literally missed the shed by mere inches. Again, Nick blamed my lack of mowing skills.

And then................sweet vindication..............



Yup. That just happened, folks. That's the front left tire. On the ground. Off of the mower. As in, it is NO LONGER ATTACHED TO THE MOWER. As I was mowing through our yard, just shortly after the shed incident of 2014, the wheel FELL OFF!! AS I WAS DRIVING!! I felt the mower jerk and all I could think as I watched the wheel roll away from the mower was, "HA!! Operator error, my ass!" Obviously, there had been an ongoing problem with the wheels or shaft or whatever part of the mower that holds all the tires on! I was sad for Nick that he'd have to deal with fixing it, but it felt really good to know that I wasn't crazy and had no part to blame in turning uncontrollable circles on my lawn mower. I practically ran (ok, let's be honest here--I don't run. It was like a quick amble) to Nick to tell him what happened and clapped gleefully when he said, "Oh. You were right."

Yes, sir. Yes I was.