Monday Mommy Monday

Well, I can't find the cord thingie that goes from the computer to the camera, so I can't do what I wanted to do today. Instead, I'll just give you a little glimpse into my life on this Monday ...

We all slept in late. I wake up first, and this morning just lay in bed reading the third 50 Shades book. It's alright. Summer rocks when you don't have a "real" job!

My Jackie O costume came to review from Anytime Costumes. I haven't tried it on yet, but I know the skirt won't fit. So as we head off for what my friend Wendy calls liquid cancer (sodas at Sonic's Happy Hour), I am knowing I have to forego my usual 500-ounce vanilla coke. I believe it is time to get healthy and fit into my old summer clothes, folks. I'll let you know how that goes, since I'm hearing on the radio that after 40 it is practically IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight on your own.

This prompted the kids to drag out my carefully packed Halloween tub and dress up and do crafts while I paid bills.

They hung out in the new pool trio on the patio while I made lunch and did dishes and laundry.

Oh, the life of a kid!

I actually got in a shower, now am preparing to get a bike helmet for Joel on the way to his fencing lesson. Where is my other flippin' flip flop?

Later I'll take Joel to Scouts, come home, put away laundry, write a piece about making the teaching of manners fun and harp on the kids to clean out the van so their dad doesn't have to do it when he gets home (the harping). As a mom, I don't feel like I harp enough and I need to work on it.

Part of our lawn is dead and part is growing high. I would weed whack it if I knew how.

Yes, Aron is still gone. No, I don't know when he's coming home from Wyoming.

Don't worry, Moshi Monster fans! I'll be back next Monday with Perler Bead Moshi Monster creations! And we still have to discuss the game! Leave me any suggestions in the comments!

Romantic Sunday

I'm missing my husband like crazy lately, so all the love songs I hear make me think of him. Here are a few of my recent favorites. If you get my posts via email, you may not be able to see the song to click on it to watch it on YouTube (if you even want to!) .... so just click on the name of the blog in the email and it should come where you want it. If not, please just scroll down to the post you want.

Jason Mraz "I Won't Give Up" (you're welcome, Andrea)


Train "If It's Love"


I hafta plug the giveaway hop I'm in now. You can enter to win my stuff or tons of other prizes!

Sleigh All Day and Kerrie On: How do You Set Goals?

Yes, that's me over on the left on the morning of Christmas 2020 (super-fun top from Old Navy). I'm standing in front of a family tradition my kids instituted: the present wall that their dad has to get through after waking. My husband is always the last one up on Christmas Day—what's it like at your house?

But now Christmas has come and gone, and it's time to start thinking about how you're going to slay this year in all areas of your life.

I'm obsessed with planning, productivity and goal-setting. So tell me, how do you go about setting goals for work, marriage, family, mind, body, soul, household, finances?

One way I succeed in reaching some of my goals is to keep binders for pretty much everything. I've got a post coming up on that one because my binders keep me sane and come in varieties such as: Homeschooling, Household Reference, Christmas, Self-Ker, Business Finances, then separate binders for specific classes I teach at the homeschool co-op (Grammar/Comp and Modern World History one year; Literature and Personal Finance another year), as well as a general co-op binder since I'm on the committee and have many things to keep straight.

Freaking Friday: Falling in Love

I know Aron is going to be like, "What are you doing posting THREE things on the blog? Are the kids tied up somewhere so you can write?"

NO, silly. Not today, anyway. It's just that I had a FREEBIE to post, then I had to break the news about FLORIDA the new pet and today is our anniversary of meeting so it's when we FELL in love! I HAD to post all this! (The kids are watching a movie and I am nursing Sam, if you must know).

So 17 years ago tonight I met Aron McLoughlin. I had just gotten off work from a collections place on a Thursday night. I sucked at it because I gave everyone a break because I had my own debt issues from my first marriage. My girlfriend Anita and I went to her boyfriend's (Dave) apartment. I had business to attend to before my date arrived. I had people to return calls to who could be potential roommates for me. So I'm on the phone on a long conversation with this Guy #1, who sounded so smart and wonderful but who I told I could not have as a roommate because my dad would kick my butt and I wouldn't be comfortable with it anyway. Then when I got done, Guy #2 is laying on the couch like he freaking owns the place. Then Guy #3 (my date) shows up to hang for a bit before we went out (he had a Mustang; I was shallow).

It's like an episode of The Dating Game, right? I had OPTIONS back then, people. Which is not always a good thing, let me tell you. I had too many Mr. Wrong options, actually, so it was hard to discern who was Mr. Right.

Well, he was on the couch, lounging, shoeless. Hadn't even talked to him. Didn't know what he drove. Something was weird and instant, though. I wondered, "Who IS this guy?"

I had seen too many episodes of Seinfeld and when I saw him double dip a chip, I mentioned that fact, trying to be funny. He just looked at me like I was nuts. Ooookay, whatever. Soon after I took off with my date, excited to be meeting Guy #1 the next day. Turns out Aron was staying the night at Dave's because his truck was in the shop and he needed a ride to work and school the next day.

Guy #1 did not work out ... no chemistry, which I happen to think is very important for longevity. Guy #3 was a bust at the end of Thursday night, too. A self-absorbed jerk. Aron was going to be going out Friday night for Dave's birthday, and I had been invited by Anita.

Saturday night we celebrated my dad's birthday ... he was 45!!! Then I drove to Westport (party central in Kansas City), parked my car and walked alone to Kelly's, where everyone was waiting to party. Aron and I tried to pretend like we were ignoring each other, but we were checking each other out. Unfortunately, we ended up in different groups when our friends split up. He ended up in the group that went dancing (I love dancing!!!!) and I somehow ended up in the group that sat at a bar TALKING while I got hit on by a married friend of theirs (blech). I just kept thinking about when we were going to meet them at the dance place, but we never did :-(

When it came time to meet the limo they had rented to take them to a hotel in Overland Park to party more and stay the night (it sounds bad, doesn't it, Dad?), I went with my crew to meet up with the other crew.

It was like a movie scene in the middle of the street. Aron was toasted and yelling from the end of the street by the limo about why did we not come dancing? He seemed mad. I got invited to ride in the limo and thought, "Why not? I can find a ride home."

The limo ride was fun ... I thought Aron was with another girl there but he wasn't. We flirted a little. At the hotel we hung out more and talked and got to know each other. I knew how to spell his last name and he was impressed. He told me he was going to DeVry for electronics engineering and was almost done. I was impressed that he maybe had a brain.

Later a "friend" of his told me he was going out with a girl who was there at the hotel with us. Turns out his "friend" was mackin' on me and what he said was not true. We slept a few hours on the floor using rolled-up towels as pillows and in the morning we somehow ended up back at my car alone in Westport and I offered to give him a ride back to his place so he could shower before work. When I dropped him off at work, he gave me his number and the rest is ... well, it was not an easy road, friends! There is a lot more to come, and I have to save that for the Aron + Kerrie = Love Untitled Love Story I started working on months ago.

This stuff is hard to write from memory and try to make it interesting, and I don't have the brain power to drag out all my old journal pages from the basement. Plus I have to edit certain things to clean it up, of course! But soon I will so we have a nice record of our love for us and for our children.

All I have for now is a picture of our wedding day, which was about 3 years after we met. We don't have a scanner so when I start working on our love story again for the blog I'll take pictures of old pictures and put them on here!

If any moron wants to ask "who is she?" I will beat your butt. Just ask the last person who did it. I was 27 years old then. I am 41 now and have had 5 children and a normal marriage, which means some stressful times. I don't WANT to look to like that again. I want to look like ME, now. I love the way Aron looks NOW and I will still think he's adorable when he is 90 years old.

This is why I gripe about him being out of town. Because I actually LIKE him and enjoy his company, even when he is grumpy about the unclean house or what the kids eat or how much time I spend writing. I love him more everyday, and I never thought something like was possible, but it so is. Everything I went through before I met him was worth it, and I would do it all again.

Edited to add: I found my old journals!!! I sat on the phone with my man tonight reading him my first impressions of him, to be saved for future posts! He recalls the night we met and that he told me I have nice legs. I don't remember hearing him say that, but he swears he said it.

Freaking Friday: Flo-rida the Gecko?

So this blog post is mostly for my husband because he doesn't know about this yet.

Um, sweetie, we have something to tell you. We have added another tiny little family member. Her/his name is Flo-rida because he/she came from Florida. Well, you see, honey, you know how my mom works at a florist? Well, the other day she called and said that they got some plants in from Florida and there was a teensy little lizard or something or other on one of the plants.

It's not like they can ship it back there you know, the poor wittle orphan. So I'm sure you know what's coming and this is the part where I butter you up and tell you how handsome you are and how in love with you I am and how happy I am to have made 5 spawn sweet sweet children with you.

So yes, we have adopted a new baby. I thought Freaking Friday would be the perfect place to announce the arrival of Florida the gecko/lizard/chameleon. Joel has already been researching how to care for it, so that counts as homeschool science, right? And I have made it a little sling so we can carry it around.

Just kidding on that last part. Trying to make you laugh. And I probably won't breastfeed it.

So here is a picture of the little sweetie. She/he is very happy in the small terrarium downstairs so far. Thanks for being so cool and understanding. Small pets are good, right? Now, about that dog we're thinking about getting in the fall. We're thinking of downgrading to a cat, maybe a little easier to care for? Can't wait to see you when you get home, whenever they LET YOU COME HOME to us and then hopefully  you will be home for weeks!

Florida, born maybe in early July 2012. About an inch long not counting the tail. Might be a gecko that changes color.