MJ

I will be the first to admit that Michael Jackson has led a strange life. However, I will also be the first to admit that he was one hell of a talented man! It makes me sad to read things that are being written about him. I was browsing around on YouTube listening to his songs, as I'm listening I scrolled down to read peoples comments. So many cruel things are being said about him. Can't we just let the man rest in peace? No one will ever know if he truly did molest children. I do remember one of the accusers did eventually admit that he'd made his accusations up so that he could get whatever he wanted. How sad... Another disturbing thing, people are throwing around the "n" word, I cannot stand that word. People are saying that he is now going to hell with Martin Luther King Jr. Seriously? After all our world has gone through, the wars that people have fought to be equal, we are still resorting to this? Makes me sad that I'm raising children in this world. At least I know that I will teach my children correctly, to love all, that all are equal.

Peace and Love to all....

We Are the World - one of my favorite songs!

Quote

YouTube - We Are The World - Michael Jackson Lionel Richie Cindy Lauper Steve Wond...

the healthcare system sucks

I am so irritated today with our local healthcare, I need to vent just momentarily! I went to the dr's office on Tuesday to have my cholesterol checked, and since they were taking blood we went ahead and did an allergy check and also tested me for celiac's disease (I'm sure I didn't spell celiac's right). So, I get a call from the nurse yesterday evening telling me my results... allergies are fine, negative celiac's, but cholesterol is really high. For those of you who know, total cholesterol should be under 200 and mine is 310, and the bad cholesterol should be under 130 and mine is 241. So yeah, I've got some issues. The nurse tells me that the doctor wants me to come in to discuss the results, which leads to me getting an appointment this morning. I sit and wait and once I finally see the doctor she goes over the exact same thing that the nurse had already told me! Then she says "since this is a special/high risk case I'll need to refer you to a specialist". So I had found a sitter, sat and wasted my time, just to hear her say she couldn't help me. Seriously, you couldn't tell me this over the phone?! So not only did I waste my time, I never found out why I'm a special/high risk case! And I can't get into the doctor for another week, so if I'm so high risk why am I the only one worried about that?

Overall this was just another way for the doctors to bill the insurance company....

Alright, I'm done, thanks for letting me vent! Have a great weekend!

ladies I need your help!

alrighty, now that I've got your attention, here's what I need! My little sisters boyfriend of 4 years is getting ready to propose!!!!! I'm the only person that he's told about this (so of course I feel uber special!) and then he's asked me for some amazing ideas?! That's where you ladies come in! I'm not very good at this stuff.... I need help, what are some amazingly romantic ways that he could propose? Something original of course, no ring in the wine glass or dessert... I don't have many followers so here's what I'm asking, could you post a "friend in need of help" blog and let your readers know about me? I need all the help I can get!

... and some more....

yep, pretty much that's it. Not sure I have a whole lot to say, could just leave..... and let others fill in the blanks? Make any sense? Yeah, prob not! So I've been back from our vacation for almost 2 weeks and I miss it like crazy! It's so funny because while on our trip I couldn't wait to come home to my boys, and now that I'm home I miss the beach! Our trip was awesome but I think it would have been pretty great to have the kids with us too. Over 4th of July weekend we're heading to Denver, CO for a family reunion and then driving to CO Springs to hang out for an extra day. I'm pretty excited to see all of these family members - incase I've never mentioned it, I don't know my family! My extended family is a huge mystery to me. Also, my husband hasn't had any contact with his father since he was 5 years old. After his parents got divorced his dad went his way and his mom went her own way, the 2 never crossed paths again. As far as we know his father lives in CO..... our goal for this trip is to meet his dad. So... anyone got any great tools for us to use to help find his dad? We've got his name and birthdate but that's it.

Oh... and just a bit of randomness, my latest crush (and yes, I think for sure I love him!)... Michael Weatherly, aka Anthony DiNosso (NCIS). Seriously, how much hotter could he be????

Key West

Key West.... the guy laying on the ground is actually a statue... and the other guy is my hubs!

fresh catch of Mahi Mahi

a beautiful church

our first pub stop!

I had to take this pic... you have no idea how many speedos there were!!!! The scary part is that the old guys (50+) were wearing thong speedos! :(

beach at Key West

yay for snorkeling!

a bum and his dog

I never claimed to be "cool"! lol

feeling pretty good! We did a pub crawl on Duvall St.... 5 bars in an hour and a half.... oh yeah, we felt really good! :)

leaving Key West

final night on our ship. A $5k B-I-N-G-O game, we thought for sure we were winners.... sadly we were wrong!

Roatan & Belize

So I slacked a little on posting pics.  Here are some of my favorites from Roatan & Belize.

Hello Roatan!

the dancers that greeted us.... the gal in the back, 2nd on the left, was at least 8 months pregnant, and the temp there was upper 90's with humidity out the ass! 

still Roatan

one of my favorite parts... this little guy is 6 months old, he climbed up on my head and went straight to sleep!

me and my girl Jen

after a long day exploring

welcome to Belize!!!! Getting ready to do a Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure.... it was absolutely amazing! Mayan caves, repelling, zip-lining.... loved every minute of it!

creepy high bridge!

a graveyard in Belize.  People are buried in tombs since you can only dig 3ft down before hitting water!

This is what the houses looked like in all of stops, I just didn't think about taking pictures until our last stop!  :(   The difference between Roatan and Belize is that in Roatan the houses were all set up about 5-9 feet and most of them were painted god-awful neon colors!  The house in this picture looks deserted, sadly it's not.

pics - 1st day at Sea & Grand Cayman

the storms in Miami that we were leaving behind!

1st Day at Sea: hanging out on one of the many decks...

enjoying my first fruity umbrella drink!

our formal night 

Alex & my hubs snorkeling on 7 mile beach

Jen, Alex, hubs, & me... getting ready to go parasailing!

our ship

some love...

Trixie over at Swooning the City tagged me in the Keepsake Blog award and the Honest Scrap award.... YIPPEE!!!!  Way to make me feel special! :)

Rules for this award:

1. Post a funny or sweet keepsake that tells something about you.

2. Pass the award onto 10 other bloggers that you think are keepers!

My keepsake: my sarcasm... some may find it a bit annoying but if you know me than you can see the humor in it!  I'm pretty good at keeping people smiling &/or laughing!

Firstly you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly you have to tag 10 people with the award.

10 {unknown} honest things: 1. I'm deathly afraid of heights.... terrified of them.  This past week I had to "conquer" my fears, I was able to parasail 400' in the air, repel, and zip-line... that's right, I rock!

2. I want to rescue every single dog that is homeless.  It breaks my heart to think of dogs being put to sleep just because their owners are so irresponsible.

3. I have secretly envied women who carry Coach bags but never wanted anyone to think that I was one of those girls.... well, this week I bought a Coach bag and I'm damn proud of it!!!!

4. My 2nd toes are longer than my big toes.  At one point in my life I thought that was a freakish looking thing but as I've gotten older I've learned that it is a sign of dominance... bring on the long toes!

5. Each week I imagine myself in the grocery store buying fruits & veggies and imagining these incredible meals that I'm going to create, but when it comes down to it I stick to the same old routine.... it makes me sad.

6. Up until last month you would have had to pay me (in large sums) to wear a dress/skirt, now I love them!

7. I had felt somewhat ok about my physical appearance until I saw the pictures of me from our cruise... now I have a stronger desire to lose weight/tone up

8. I'm still learning how to only be concerned with what I think instead of what everyone else thinks

9. I'm still learning how to enjoy life for the present and not always be worrying about the future

10. I'm a worry-wart... about everything. Spiders, bugs, rain, trees, swings, slides, cars, bikes, scooters, strollers, absolutely everything. I spent 9 years in the insurance industry and my brain is sorta on a "one-track road", I feel as if I was trained to imagine/see the risk in everything!

Due to extreme exhaustion & I'll be honest, I'm feeling lazy today.... I tag all of my readers for these blogs!!!

a few pics to satisfy the hungry!

All you get today are some pics from Miami

flying over FL

eating dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co

one of many drinks....

maybe we should have drank slower?

but then our pics wouldn't have turned out quite as fun!

Miami sunrise

my very hungover husband

the heat + chaos + hangover = absolutely miserable!

waiting to board the ship

hanging out on our balcony as the boat is heading out to sea!

I'm baaaaack!!!!

It's been over a week since I posted but I'm back now!  We had an amazing vacation but are so glad to be home to the kids and our own bed!  I'll have some pics posted later today!

bon voyage

I should be in the shower getting ready to head to the airport, but figured I'd drop one more note in blog world.  Hope everyone has a great weekend/week/another weekend... and then I'll finally be back! I'll have tons of pictures!!!!!! 

Bye!!!!!

packing suggestions?

ok bloggie friends.... I don't often go on vacations that last a week, and especially never a vacation that will not have a Wal-mart nearby!!!!  Any suggestions on things that I should bring?  I feel like I'm going to get on this ship and be totally screwed because I forgot something!  Clothes - check, undies - check, bath stuff - check..... there's gotta be something though!  I've got both kids packed already, they're all set to head to grandmas!  The hubs is sitting in the recliner watching golf, he doesn't seem to understand that when I say "lets be packed tonight" that I truly mean that!!!!  Ugh, what is wrong with men!  Alright, well I'm off to finish my ironing.... 

S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D

This is me.... I leave for my cruise Saturday morning.  I will be away from my kids for 8 days, I haven't even been away from them for 1 day, how am I supposed to do 8?  I have to pack for me, the hubs, and both kids.  Packing for an 8 month old will not be an easy task.  Then since our house is for sale I need to make sure the house is left in spick and span condition so that it can be shown.  On top of that I have 3 pets that will be left behind so I need to make sure that they are well taken care of.  My 5 yr old has asthma that has really started affecting him this summer so I'm nervous about him being without me.  Then for the last week I've been nagging my renters to clean up the yard.  I got a letter from the city telling me that I was going to get fined because the grass and weeds are so overgrown.  Finally after 5 days the yard has been cleaned up.  Now the issue is getting the rent!  I've received half of it but am still working on the rest.  An hour ago is when I received the first half and at the same time the tenant let me know that this will be their last month in the house.  Great, just what I needed to deal with right now.  Sigh.... I definitely need this vacation but also feel like it isn't the best time for me to be leaving town (I'd say country but that really terrifies me!)...

Top 5 Things About Summer

I was tagged by Pink in a Sea of Blue to list my favorite things about summer... here goes!

1.  Vacations!!!!  Every summer we pack up and make the 13 hour drive to South Dakota to visit my husbands family.  It's a long drive but the scenery is beautiful and the company is great!  This year we won't be making the drive, instead we're heading to Colorado for my family reunion! 

2. Zoos!!!! I absolutely love zoos!  We have two that are somewhat close to us but neither one are really worth bragging about.  Every summer we drive to Omaha, NE to enjoy their amazing zoo.    

3. The lake!!!!  The last 2 summers we've owned a boat.  Due to our latest addition (baby boy) we sold the boat.  So now we're limited to driving to the lake to swim at the beach, but that's good enough for us!

4.  Good old fashioned fun!  Rainy days turned to sunny days.... playing in the mud, swimming in the pool, playing with chalk, cook-outs, swings....

5.  Baseball games!!!!  Beer, popcorn, peanuts.... ah yes, it screams summer!!!!

So there it is!  My top 5 Fave things about Summer!  Now my job is to tag 5 other people to share their faves.... 

Love and Marriage

Boys Run My Life

Re-Ramblings

An American Girl in Singapore

Seriously Kristen.