New piercings.

My two oldest children got their ears pierced while they were young, very young. Ana's was done at just one month old so she doesn't remember a thing about it. Lani was eleven months old when I did hers and she doesn't remember the experience either. Poor Trista, I think we wait too long for her to forget that she just lived through a sharp rod being jammed into her ear lobes. She is two and a half and I think she is going to remember this trauma for the rest of her life and hate me forever. She tells me every morning when I go to clean them with the alcohol, "DON"T TOUCH MY EARS!" So sad.

Jim feeling a little left out of the piercings fiasco decided that he as a man should also get an earring to show Trista that it does not hurt. That worked out well because anyone who knows Jim knows that he is a wimp. He flinched when she wiped his ear with the alcohol swab ha ha. But he struggled through it and it is done. One gold earring in his left ear, I hope that's the right one to do that in. So for Christmas Jim would like a skull and crossbones for the new earring go ahead and get it for him since I will not be buying that ha ha ha.

New hair cut.

So, If anyone remembers when I joined the Navy eleven years ago I cut my hair clear past the tops of my ears. I cut it that short so I never had to have a Navy hair person touch it. Thank God I did because they couldn't cut hair in a straight line with a ruler. I have not cut my hair again since then. After 11 years my hair was pretty long, past my rear and I could sit on it if I let it down out of the pony tail. I used to wear the same pony tail to EVERYTHING. I got really tired of doing that because I could not style my hair it was just too long. Without the permission of my husband I took the plunge and cut my hair. 17 inches off in total. My hair is now just below my chin and barely touching my shoulders. I LOVE it, it feels so light and free and I can STYLE it amazingly enough, I finally get to use that hair dryer my husband bought me years ago! Plus I do not have to use ten gallons of shampoo and conditioner, I can just put a dime size amount and it washes just fine! Talk about saving money. I will post a picture of the after but I forgot to get a before shot sadly enough.

P.S. if you are worried, I did donate the 17 inches to Locks of Love. Maybe I won't wait another 11 years to cut my hair again ha ha ha.

Dear Bad Driver

When there are two lanes on the road it usually means that two cars can pass by each other with ease. It does not mean that you must straddle the double yellow lines with you car and force me off of the side of the road. Please feel free to flip me off when I honk my horn like I was in the wrong because I enjoy explaining to my kids what that means!

Did I mention that I hated school? Part Duex

Well. I failed the test. Sucks, but I "missed it byyyyy THAT much." I actually missed it by six points which made it even worse. If you pass this test it only tells you that you passed. When you fail it gives you a score. Why can't they just show it in bright red letters the word FAIL and leave it at that?

Did I mention that I hated school?

So as everyone knows I hated high school. I mean I despised it. I graduated by the skin of my teeth and joined the military just so I wouldn't have to go to college.

I told you that to tell you this. On Saturday I take part one of a three part exam. I have been studying for two years and I still feel like I know nothing about taxes. This exam will allow me to practice in front of the IRS and prepare taxes professionally. Anyone can prepare taxes but not everyone can stand in front of the IRS. As much as I dislike the IRS as everyone does, this will also give me a raise at work if I pass all three parts. Anyway, I am going to take this test which cost me $100.00 just to take the first part. Yes, my company reimburses me for this but I have to pass all three parts first. I guess I will let you know how it goes.

Secondly, I have enrolled in a REAL college this time. Not just a technical college but a real honest to god college. I was accepted. I start in January and I will be taking cyber crime technology courses. Whoda thunk it, that I would be a computer geek?

Biltmore

Monday I called in sick to work and headed off to the Biltmore Estate. For those of you that do not know this is the LARGEST house in the US. The place is huge! If you click on the title of this post it will take you to the website and you can read all about it. You see this home on the travel channel, in movies, and other things. To see it live and up close is just amazing. To feel its grandeur and immense size just makes you feel small in comparison. Pretty amazing for a guy that only had one child!

One of the many gargoyles outside.

View from the ground up to the 3rd and 4th floors.

You are not supposed to take pictures on the inside of the house but this little cubby was irresistible. I had my mom stand behind me while I took it. This is the front of the house from the 3rd floor.

Even their rain gutters are fancy!

The view from what we would call a back porch. What I would call the freaking amazing patio! All that you see (except the mountains) is owned buy the Biltmore Estate.

This is the winery. I was allowed to take pictures here. They did not start making and selling wine until 1985. I bought a bottle and it was AMAZING, just like everything else. This is the ONLY wine that I did not have an allergic reaction to.

The fermenting tanks.

The wine kegs.

The greenhouse is even bigger than my entire property.

Great Grandpa comes to town.

My grandfather finally got to meet the younger two babies Lani and Trista. Lani's middle name is Rae named after her great grandfather Raymond. So my Grandmother used to call her little Ray. They had never met before Grandma died so Pepere (french for father) decided to come and visit one last time (at 88 years old traveling gets to be a drag) he also brought my Aunt Irene as well who had never met any of the kids. I do believe they both had a wonderful time with the kids and he would spoil them rotten if given the chance. We decided to have a great family dinner and we invited my mother, and my inlaws. It was nice and Jim kicked butt making dinner for everyone!

Bear Zoo

Hey everyone. I know its been waaaayyyy too long since I have written. What was I thinking. I am arrogant enough to know that you look forward to hearing from me daily so here is what I have been doing for the past few days/weeks on the next few posts. On the 7th of this month we decided that we needed something to do since we were stuck in the house all weekend. So off we went to Cherokee (a little indian reservation with a casino...Go figure). In Cherokee I have always wanted to see the "Bear Zoo" so off we went.


The kids loved the bear zoo because there we got to actually feed the bears. Here are some pics of them feeding goats and donkeys, they loved getting close to the animals. Fortunately we were not this close to the bears when feeding them.








Ana feeding a goat.









Trista feeding a goat.









Trista climbing the fence to see the goats who were ignoring us until they saw us buy the 25 cent food.







Some monkey that didn't like us.







Finally, the bears. They would do tricks and clap their paws all for a little piece of apple. This one was lounging.







This one was playing with a tire.









"Mom! I found a MA MA Bear!"

You could get your picture taken holding this white Bengal tiger...I didn't see the sign and Jim didn't tell me until we were leaving so I wasn't able to do it. Next time I think.

Iguanas.

How intimidating is the Grizzly?

Or these?

This one was stuffed...Scared the kids LOL.

Things I do not want to hear before 7am.

--Moooommmmm, Trista is NAAAAAAKKKKKEEEEEDDDDD! (from small child) (soon after from smaller child) Mom! I poopy!

Yes, this happens almost every morning.

--Mom......(Small childs finger jammed into a sleeping eye) Mom...Mom...I awake.

Again, this is a daily routine. Someone explain to me...

Why they cannot wake their father?

--Mooooommmmm, the dog pooped in the house again! (from first grader) (Long pause) I think Trista is playing with it!

--HEY! What are you doing in here! (from large angry husband) Get your hand out of the toilet...ANA! You need to FLUSH!

--Mom. (from small child) I cut your hair now okay?

--Mom...mom....mom...mom...mom...mom...(from any child).

-- Mooooommmmmm....Trista broke it! (from any child)

My question...Why is it ALWAYS Trista's fault? And why are you always calling for mom? I never hear Daaaaaadddddd coming from anyone.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!

Well, much to our insane relief, my mother is going home (her own home) as I type this. She will no longer be taking over every aspect of our lives. I could have hugged the surgeon when he told her that she could drive. I wanted to bow down and kiss his expensively covered feet. He must have read my mind...from the waiting room.

Lani gets her bed and her room back. I get my clean house back. My dogs get their food back. My husband gets his wife back. My Ana gets her rational, loving, non-screaming, mommy back. My family gets their sanity back. Oh what beautiful days are on the horizon.

My mother and I are better off without each other. We simply cannot be in the same room together for too long as a fight is bound to erupt. I like things my way in my house and she likes things her way, she seems to forget that it was MY house she was living in though.