Is it the weekend yet?

This has to be the longest week ever! I was ready for Friday on Monday. That's never a good thing. It seems like the hours have just drug by and the days seem to never end. I've been wiped out this week. The past few weeks have been crazy, and really busy. They have caught up with me this week. I was sound asleep by 9pm Monday night, which isn't a lot earlier than the normal time, but it was enough for me to say, "Wow, I was tired!"


This weekend we are going over to Hodgenville, Kentucky for their annual Lincoln Days festival. Hodgenville is where Abraham Lincoln was born, and even though it's very close, I haven't been there in quite some time. I told Hank that we'd go this weekend for their festival, but then we'd go again in a few weeks to just tour the birthplace. I figured that would be a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon sometime. Like all fall festivals--there will be a parade, food, arts & crafts, etc. There's also an Abe Lincoln look-a-like contest that brings people from miles around. I'm ready for a caramel apple and a BBQ sandwich. Festival food is one of my favorites. I really believe it should be in its own food group.

We finally have some cooler weather! And, it's been wonderful. Even if I was cold at soccer practice the other night, it sure beats sweating like a pig in the hot temps like we have had since June. Hankadoo has been rather upset with me the past few mornings because I made him wear jeans instead of shorts. Gasp. I'm such a horrible mother. I'm just an awful, awful person for insisting he wear jeans when it's 52 degrees out. He's been rather dramatic in his stance to wear shorts. And, I'm not one who likes drama at 6:30am. So, it's made for some rather interesting mornings. Hmmm, I really don't know where he gets his stubborn streak.

I got around to coloring my hair. I didn't realize how light it had become until I took the towel off my head, and there was this mane of dark, spicy-brown hair. I like it though. I thought about adding some red pieces just to give it definition, but I don't think I will afterall. I'm bad about keeping my highlights/lowlights/colored pieces touched up, so I think for this fall & winter I will be one solid color, and hopefully now that I'm on my thyroid medicine, my hair will actually start to grow, and get healthier. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for this. I want long, pretty hair.

Things said in anger...

Are the things that people say in anger their true feelings? Or are they just mean things said in the heat of the moment? I admit, I have a very vicious, very nasty tongue when I'm mad. I cut deep and quick with my words. And, it's usually just things said in the heat of the moment. This happens with my dear hubby more than anyone else. On more than one occasion, I've felt horrible afterwards and needed to apologize for my nastiness. I may be stubborn, but when I've been an ass, I admit that I was an ass and apologize. Do most people? I'm curious because I expect an apology from a co-worker on Monday. We had a verbal altercation yesterday morning, and it wasn't pretty.
She has been mad at me for two weeks now over little things. I guess those little things snowballed and yesterday morning she let me have it. Wow, did she let me have it. She said some very nasty, unprofessional and down-right hurtful things. I'm a big girl, I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it. There was nothing else I could do. I argued with her some, but I could tell she wasn't going to hear anything that I had to say. I gave up and let her berate and belittle me. If that's what she needed to do to feel better, than go ahead, knock yourself out. She was ugly. And, I think what upset me more than anything is that I genuinely care and have concern for her. We're not best friends, but we do get along. We vent to each other about other offices, our supervisors, etc. We have (had) a good working relationship, or so I thought. And, it kills me that I've defended her on several occasions. When people make fun of her obnoxious laugh, I've told them to be nice. She's rather flighty sometimes, (we've had the fax machine for over four years, yet I have to tell her every single time which way to load the paper, and there are people that have worked with the county for years, and she has no clue what their name is when they come in the office) and she makes mistakes (don't we all?) but overall, she does a great job. I've told her this, I've told other people this. I like her. I care about her. And, that's why I'm so upset about our exchange of words yesterday. I would never say the things that she did. Or attack her personally. She made a very nasty jab that had nothing to do with work at all! It was extremely inappropriate, and in other offices I know that I could turn her in for harassment. I'm not going to do that though. I know she was angry.
I really think all her anger wasn't at me, but something else, I just happened to be the one that she unloaded everything on. I know that she was very snippy with another from another department, but he didn't get nearly the beating that I did.
I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about yesterday, replaying the whole conversation over and over. So, at 5am, I emailed her. I told her that I was sorry for getting her so upset, that I truly cared about her and her feelings, and that I expect an apology from her for crossing the line yesterday. I wonder if she'll apologize or not? I wonder how our work environment will be now? I guess we'll see on Monday. Until then, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm gong to enjoy my weekend with soccer games, and friends.

First day of fall...

and it's supposed to be 100 degrees! I'm so ready for cooler weather. This has been the hottest summer ever. Bring on the cooler temps!!

Every September, I get a sinus infection. Without fail. I thought I was going to get lucky and not have one this year. I have made it this far into the month, afterall. But, here we go...the past few mornings I've woken up with stuffy head and congestion. I feel it coming on.

I still haven't decided what to do with my hair. Part of me wants to cut it off, part of me knows to leave it alone. I think I'm going to trim it real good, take it a darker color, and hope that will keep me hair happy.

My sweet baby boy

Hank's 1st grade picture. Oh, how I love that little freckled face boy. I know it's just a matter of time before he's as big as his brothers. Watching him grow up is bittersweet. He's my baby. He's my Hankadoo.

Picnics, Cupcakes, and Warts???

Saying last week was crazy busy is really an understatement. It was very hectic. But, I survived!

The county picnic was a success. The morning started out with a little rain, but the weather broke and it was a goregous day! I did get nervous at one point when I had people there to pack carry-out boxes, and no food! Once the food arrived, we were an assembly line! I think we packed 190 to-go boxes in less than an hour! We had around 120 show up to eat there. And, then I sent all the leftovers to the EMS station for the crews there. I had ordered 15 pork loins, sliced for sandwiches, and one of the guys from the Road Department did all our grilling. I picked up 80 pounds of potato salad, we had green beans & baked beans and then cookies, cakes and brownies for dessert. We had a lot of food!! All in all, I was proud of myself for pulling it off again this year. I think everyone had a good time. If they didn't, oh well!

Friday morning's baking was great. All the cupcakes turned out perfect. I made little gumpaste pumpkins to put on top of the pumpkin cupcakes. I was feeling good about my baking adventures. It was Friday afternoon that the baking gods were not on my side. I had bought fall themed silicone pans to bake the brownies in. I thought pumpkin and leaf shaped brownies would be cute. Nope, they looked awful! I had to come up with another plan. So, Plan B was to make brownie bites from my mini-muffin pans. I didn't like the brand of brownie mix that I had bought, but they turned out, and were pretty good. Except for the pan that I left laying on the stove to cool. The oven was still on, so they continued to bake! I had brownie bricks!
I made the big cupcake. And, when I went to carve part of it to shape it better, it fell apart. Crap. I had to re-bake the top part of the cupcake. Crap. I had planned on baking and frosting all the cupcakes on Friday, and then putting them in a Rubbermaid container, so I'd be done. Well, I realized that I couldn't do that because the cream cheese frosting couldn't stay out. Crap.
When I went to fill the yellow cupcakes with raspberry filling, a raspberry must have been stuck in the tip. And, when I applied a little more pressure, I had a raspberry explosion! Raspberry filling went all over me, the cupcakes, the table. I literally had it in my hair. It was a mess. I ended up throwing my hair in ballcap and going to Hank's soccer game.

Saturday morning, Hank had another game. I should had stayed home to finish the cupcakes, but I knew he'd be upset if I missed it. I went to his game, and then ran around like a crazy mad woman trying to get the cupcakes finished, me showered and ready, clothes ironed, etc. and then get out the door to head to the reception. There was still a lot to do before the guests arrived.
Stevie was beautiful, and Andrew was very handsome. They are the perfect together and I couldn't have picked a better person for my little sister! The party was fun. We chowed down on chicken wings, played some cornhole, ate some cupcakes, and visited with family and friends.
Everyone ate the cupcakes and brownies, and I was so relieved. It may be a while before I turn the oven on again to do any baking.

I spent Sunday cleaning house, and doing laundry. Yesterday, the boys were out of school for a professional development day. I toook advantage of the day off and made PJ an appointment for a sports physical so he can wrestle, and Hank an appointment to have the wart looked at on the top of his foot. PJ got the go ahead to wrestle. He's 5'6 (and a half!) and weighs 131 pounds. I'm guessing he will try to beef up and wrestle in the 135 weight class. He may be a little guy compared to all his friends, but he's nothing but muscle. I'm anxious to see him wrestle. He has conditioning and practice until late October and then the matches will start.
They froze Hank's wart. And, I'm guessing we'll have to go back in next month and have them do it again. He was mad at me last night because I made him miss his soccer game. He wasn't mad at the doctor, but me. Go figure.

I'm hoping this week will be calm and not so busy. It's still waaay to hot here. Late September and the high today is supposed to be 94. Stupid global warming.

What a busy week.....

Do things ever slow down? This is one busy week! Last night was soccer practice. Then, we went to Mom & Dad's to see the cupcake tower that dad made for Stevie's reception. We ended up getting home later than I wanted, and Hank went right to bed. Tonight, we have the Book Parade at Hank's school. I love the book parade, it's so cute to see all the classes make 'floats' and dress up as characters from their favorite books. I think his class is doing "The Rainbow Fish" and all the kids are wearing tie-dyed tee shirts. The kids throw candy to the parents as they go down the parade route.

Thursday is our county employee picnic, and once again, I'm heading it up. Nothing like buying enough food, drinks, paper products, etc. for roughly 350 people. Sam's Club loves me this time of year. On Wednesday, I'll go get all the plates, cups, and non-perishables. Thursday morning, I'll pick up the 15 pork loins, and 85 pounds of potato salad. Hopefully, the hot stuff will arrive in time, so that we can get Carry-Out boxes packed before the masses show up to eat. I always get nervous a day or two before the picnic. I want things to go as smoothly as possible.

At some point, I have to go to the grocery and buy a ton of powdered sugar, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and everything else on my baking list. Friday is cupcake day! I'm going to try and start making the gum paste leaves on Thursday night, and then start baking at the buttcrack of dawn on Friday. I'm going to do one set of cupcakes at a time from start to finish. I don't want forty-seven bowls and utencils everywhere. The baking won't be a big deal, just the frosting. And, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my attempt to make pretty gum paste leaves will be successful.

Hank has a soccer game both Friday night and Saturday morning. The reception is late afternoon, Saturday. But, we'll have to go up early and help set up. PJ starts wrestling practice this week. Austin starts working at the grocery store. I was hoping to sneak in some time to get my nails done, and a pedi...but I'm not sure if I can squeeze that in or not. The boys need haircuts. I'd like to tan. Laundry is piling up, and the bathroom needs to be cleaned.

I need a clone!

September 11, 2001...

I know they say that every generation has an event that they will never forget... for some it was when WWII started, for others it was when JFK was shot. For me, it will always be September 11th, 2001.

Our morning started out just like every morning. I had my coffee, got the boys up, walked them to school, Joe went off to work, and then I jumped in the shower. As I got out of the shower, I was standing in the bedroom, towel trying my hair and watching "The Today Show" when they broke in saying a plane had hit the World Trade Center. The reporters were saying they believed it was an accident, they were trying to get more details, etc. Then, the second plane hit. When Matt Lauer said, "it is believed that these planes were acts of terrorists" I knew that our world was about to change. Especially for our military and their families.

I called Joe at the motor pool. He had been listening to the radio on the way in, and didn't realize it was real. He thought the morning show was just bs'ing. There wasn't a TV close by, so he couldn't watch what was happening. I put a tape in the VCR and hit record. He had to see what I was watching. I called my best friend, and woke her up. We sat there on the phone for hours, flipping channels and just not believing what we were seeing. Every few minutes, the call-waiting would beep, and it would be a family member checking on us.

I walked to the school to pick up Austin and PJ, not having a clue of what to tell them. They were such little boys, and I didn't know how to explain what had happened in a way they would understand. I don't remember what I actually said to them, but I do remember looking at their sweet little faces and wondering how many little boys may have lost a parent that day. At that point, I just wanted to hold onto my babies forever.

We had to get out of the house. We needed some sort of normal activity. We loaded up, and went swimming with Trish. And, for a few hours, while the boys splashed and dunked each other, Trish and I did our best to pretend that we weren't scared.

Joe came to get us from Trish's house, and that was the first time he had been able to see a TV. He sat there watching the news channels, in disbelief as they showed the events of the day. Post was on lockdown, so it literally took us three hours to get home that night. The boys were asleep in the back of the car. After we put them in bed, and gave them extra kisses, Joe and I sat on the couch and watched even more footage on TV. We talked about what this meant for us, as an Army family. We both knew it would just be a matter of months before the deployments would start. He left in March '02 for a deployment to Kuwait.

I know that I'll always remember that day, and the days after.

Cupcake Anxiety!!

My sister and brother-in-law have asked me to do the sweets for their "Hey, we eloped, but come celebrate with us" party/reception. I, of course, said yes! And, I really don't mind at all to do them. But, since this is technically their wedding reception, and the cupcake tower is technically their wedding cake... I want these cupcakes to be perfect, and delicious! I'm making three different flavors: pumpkin with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, red velvet with traditional cream cheese frosting, and a yellow cake w/raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. I'm making roughly 100 cupcakes. Oh, and I'm making brownies, also. I'm planning on using Hank's Perfect Brownie Pan (yes, it's his pan..he got it for his birthday) for that, so they will be uniform in size, and not get chopped up when I try to get them out of a pan. I do need to experiment with the brownies and adjust the cooking time. Every time we've used the Perfect Brownie Pan, they've been dry and crunchy. Not very yummy.

But...back to the cupcakes...their top tier of the cupcake tower will actually be a huge cupcake, that I'm also going to make. I've bought gum paste, several different food colorings, a leaf press to makes leaves to decorate the tops of the cupcakes and brownies. I'm going to buy some fondant to cover the base of the large cupcake, and I will frost it just as the others. They have some sort of surprise cake topper that is top secret at this point, so I actually don't know what will go on the top of the big cupcake.
I'm taking off from work the day before the reception, and I'm going to spend the entire day baking, making homemade frosting and a ton of little leaves from gum paste. My friend said she'd take off and come help me, but I'm afraid that may turn into a Lucy & Ethel day! We've had those days before. There was this one time (not at band camp!) when we tried to make chocolate truffles. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, and we had quite the mess in her kitchen.

Back to the cupcakes...
It sounds like I have a good game plan, right? Well, here's the thing.... I've never used gum paste, or fondant! I'm about to make a zillion little leaves, with something I know nothing about. I'm hoping all the episodes of Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars, and Ace of Cakes that I've watched pays off and that my mad baker/decorator skills kick in and I rock the cupcakes.

These may be the most important cupcakes that I ever make!!

I'll stick to the horses!

Last Friday, I won tickets from a local radio station to The Indy 300 @ The Kentucky Speedway. Here is what I know about Indy Car Racing: 1) Ashley Judd's husband races Indy cars. I know this because like all Kentucky girls, I keep up with fellow Kentucky girl, Ashley Judd! 2) Danica Patrick races Indy cars. And, I only know this because I don't live under a rock. I've heard the name and have seen the Go Daddy! commercials. 3) The guy from "Dancing w/the Stars"--Helio Castroneves races Indy cars. I know this because I watch DWTS!

That was my knowledge of Indy cars until Saturday night when Joe and I went to the track. Here are a few new things I learned: 1) They are fast. The average speed was 174 mph. 2) They are loud! It sounded like a sworm of bees everytime the cars came around the track. 3) Danica Patrick is not the only girl racer. I believe there were four others in Saturday's race. 4) The track was actually a 1.5 mile track, so there were 200 laps that equaled the 300 5) It's boring! It's a bunch of cars going around and around. Not that exciting. There's no way I could sit and watch the Indy 500! My neck would hurt, I wouldn't be able to hear, and I'd be bored to death.

I'll stick with horse racing! At horse races, there are drinks (besides Coors Light in a can!), women in killer hats, great dresses, and cute shoes.

Don't fail me now, Mr. Weatherman!

I'm typically a summer girl. I love hot weather, flipflops, lemonade, hot dogs on the grill, days at the pool, and nights on Mom & Dad's porch watching lightening bugs. Summer is a great time. But, not-so-much for this summer. It's been waaay to hot. I think we had 98 days in a row where the temp got above 90 degrees. That's taking the "Dog Days of Summer" to a new level. And, even though today is hot, I had a glimmer of hope this morning while watching the news.. the cooler weather is on the way! It's should start cooling down tomorrow, and the weekend is going to be beautiful. Well, so the weatherman says. Maybe it's a prelude to fall.

I really love fall. I think it's actually my favorite time of the year. There isn't a place prettier than Kentucky in the fall when all the leaves are changing. Every year as we drive up and down I-65, I'm in awe of how pretty this wonderful season can be.

There's other things about fall that I love...the first pot of chili, Friday nights at a highschool football game, Sunday afternoons watching the Colts, Pumpkin Spice Lattes (which are quite possibly the best things ever!), new sweaters, that old-worn-out-faded sweatshirt, looking for the perfect Halloween costume, the sound of leaves crunching under your feet, and spending Saturdays at a little "Fall Festival" somewhere.

Don't fail me now, Mr. Weatherman!

It's just hair!!

I'm thinking about chopping my hair off! I've been trying to let it grow out, and I don't like it. I knew I'd do this. I always do when I try to let it grow. I get impatient. So, this time, to help with my being so impatient, I changed the color. I took it pretty light, and added some really blonde pieces. Still became impatient. So, I cut my bangs last week. That was a mistake. That didn't help anything. So now, I'm back to not liking my hair. It's flat. It's too much work. It's just blah. I need a change. I want a new, shorter, more volume 'do. I just don't know what kind of new, shorter, more volume 'do that I want! And, do I keep it light, or do I take it darker? I always take it darker for fall and winter. Do I stay with my "It's September, time to take the hair darker" routine that I've kept for several years now? I found a really pretty chocolate brown color with just a hint of red that I loved.
I've always had the attitude of: It's just hair--you can always cut it, it will always grow back, and there's always a bottle of color to fix it!

So, we'll see!