Oh What A Day! I Miss Home!

So, it is windy and 81 degrees here to day and as I put on my tank top and flips this morning (Yes, shorts, too, don't worry) and walked Little Bug to the bus, I realized how much I missed Kansas.  It is never windy here except maybe a tiny bit at the beach and  today really reminded me of a early day in May.  You can smell the rain in the air and I just washed both cars so I know it will ran this afternoon.

It made me think how I get so wrapped up in making Holidays soo special when really it should be everyday that is special.  I have so many loving friends and family and I never take the time to really see how they are.  A note here or a cute email there but I really don't take the time to say, "Hay, how the hell are you?"  Let's chit, chat. 

I do like to make special days a little more special and I think that I will keep doing that, too.  We did have a great Valentine's Day.  Cupcakes, pancakes and even a little gift to say, Whoo Loves You.

Dessert after dinner...

You can't go wrong when you start off the day with

 pink, heart-shaped pancakes and turkey sausage.

A little gift to wrap up the night so no matter how the day

 went you still know that someone loves you every much!

And in return, just what every mother hopes and dreams for is love from your little bugs.  This is the love I get...

"What is this, will it make me poop pink?"

A little joke to let me know she cut my heart-shaped pancake in two. 

I do love the little notes and misspellings I get from the bugs.  It makes me laugh.

What a flattering picture of Bug at breakfast.  I know she will truly

love me forever when she sees this.  We do have to teach humility. 

It is every parents job.

Garrett and I went out to a steak dinner and to see One For the Money the weekend before and I did get roses.  But we weren't talking to each other at that point because I was stressed about surgery the next day and the house buying and he was too so it was a not so typically Valentine's Day for us.  But my new motto is "Life is NOT Perfect. It is REAL" 

'Til the next adventure...



Our Own Piece of Southern Charm?

Garrett and I finally agreed on a house and so we put in an offer.  After much negotiation with the seller, we have come to an agreement and are now under contract for a house in Rincon, GA.

There is no more Texas star on the front but it sits on a 1.4 acre, corner lot in the beautiful subdivision of Silverwood.  The even funner part is it is down the street from our toddler friend, Anna and her baby sister, Ali. We will have to work on bicycle safety with Little Bug as her friend from school will be just down the street too.

We are looking at closing in March and moving in late April but we will have to see how it all pans out.  As you all know, buying and selling houses have lots of steps and we just have the first two down. House inspection, septic tank inspection, bug inspection, blah, blah, blah...


'Til the next adventure...

Just a warning... it is going to be an expensive year this year so the travel budget might be cut back... You just might have to come see our piece of Southern Charm yourself...

Tottally Tired...

I can't believe it has already been a month since my last blog and I did not even touch on half of what we did during our Christmas Trip.  Maybe I will get around to it sometime, hopefully soon.  I have been so tired since last week and can't really seem to recover.

I have been eating better, kind of, I have been working on cutting down my carbs and caffeine.  It is not that I don't like them, it is that I have a tendency to go over board and not be able to stop myself with the carbs. As for the caffeine, I gave up Diet Pepsi and all Pepsi Co products because I don't agree with some of the things they are doing as a company. Enough of my soap box.

Things here have been pretty normal.  Little Bug started soccer for a new team.  She will be playing for The Savannah Soccer Academy.  It is a little more advanced then her last team but she likes it so much more which I find so funny.  In fact, we have longer practices farther away but I get no complaints.  She has made so many friends and loves her coaches.  Maybe this team will work for both Garrett and Little Bug.  Her team name is '01 Storm and she is playing with U10-U12 so it could be interesting.

http://www.savannahsocceracademy.com/

Bug has been doing normal Bug things.  She has her piano and has been working out but most of her focus has been on babysitting and trying to earn money.  She has her heart set on a new purse by Vera Bradly and I am a mean mom because I won't get it for her. I spend $78 on a new purses for me all the time. At least she will know how hard it is to earn money and she does put half of everything in savings.  We will see.  She just has some expensive taste.  Wonder where she gets that, Nana, do you have any ideas?

http://www.verabradley.com/product/Category/Handbags/Chain-Bag/1001414/defaultColor/Camellia/pc/638/c/0/sc/641/p/1001414.uts



Garrett and I have been trying to decided what to do about housing in the next year.  We have been looking at houses and thinking about building, thinking about just buying... the one thing that he did win me over is on the neighborhood.  He really likes a neighborhood called Silverwood.  They have lots of trees, large lots and very nice, friendly neighborhood.  We will just have to see what happens.  I try not to get too excited about anything because I don't want to be emotionally invested.  It is really hard.

http://www.silverwoodhomeowners.com/

Then there is me.  I have been working on my next 5 K run.  It is Friday night and I am really worried about it for some reason.  I haven't had my groove back since the last 5 K I did that was such a disaster.  Hopefully this one will be better.  I did ask Garrett and the girls to come for the first time so I am feeling a bit more pressure.  I just need to relax about the whole thing.  I know that I will finish, I just want to run the whole thing without walking and I have yet to do that.  Then I think, What are you worried about last year you could not even walk 1/2 mile so cut yourself some slack. I have worn out my first pair of tennis shoes ever because of over use.  So, breaking in a new pair for the race.  We will see how it all goes.

http://www.critztybeerun.com/

Well, that is a link for each of us and now, I can go read my book.  I am trying to finish up the last Sookie Stackhouse book so I can move on to another series of something.

'Til the next adventure...
 

The Tradition Continues Once Again...

The Fritz Bowling Invitational is one  of my family traditions that has grown over the years.  When I was younger, much younger say 12ish, my mom and dad were tiring to find fun things that we could all do together on Christmas Day.  They wanted to spend the day as a family with out all the bitchin' "Why can't I go play with my friends, just cause its Christmas", "I am so bored", even after they spent hundreds of dollars on presents we would be our ungrateful selves.

After a little bit of research, Mom found out that the movie theater and the bowling alley were both open on Christmas Day.  So we started going to a movie and then bowling.  After a couple of years other Fritz families were invited to come with us.  After a while, we could never agree on a movie that everyone wanted to see so we focused on bowling.

Eleven years ago, my brother-in-law, Jamie, decided it would be a funny gift to give my dad a trophy and hence the Fritz Bowling Invitational was born...

The original trophy (right) and the new addition (left)

 since we have out grown the original.



 Bug resting between frames.  Nana in the background is helping

all the little ones at bumper bowling. She has claimed this as a new

job so she doesn't have to bowl anymore.

Little Bug enjoying the thrill of a great ball.

If you are lucky enough to be invited to participate in the Invitational, we get two see quite a spectrum of bowling techniques... there is the "Single Hop" by Jerry Fritz, the "Special Squat" by Lora Fritz, the "Tip-Toe Ballerina" by Lynn Duncan and you can't for get the "Super Spin" by Ryan Fritz.  Now don't think you have to be a perfect bowler by any means, for the two game series the top score was by David Conner with a 402 and I don't even know what the winning low is I guess I will have to look next year.

The winner does get to have their name engraved on the trophy and keep it for a year until it is needed next Christmas.  This year was a repeat with Little Bro, Ryan bringing it home once again!

Uncle Ryan won again for a repeat.  He is striving for a 5 peat. 

We will just have to see how that goes!

Great Job!

'Til the next adventure...

I Can Hear It Now...

I figured that I better give some of my loving friends and family a bit of time to adjust to the fact that...

I got a new tattoo.

I love it.  It is on my right shoulder blade and is a bit more visible then my other tattoo since I wear a lot of tanks. but it can be covered up if I need to and I don't see many strapless or spaghetti strap dresses in my future. Garrett just shook his head as he does more often now.

My friend Traci at the apartments helped me by coming up with a design that looked like this...

I really like it. The only thing that it was missing was my loops in my "L" which then got me thinking.  I wanted something that was a bit more classic but still represented me and my Bugs. I kept the vines that tie us together but lost the flowers as I did not want it to be so busy. I am thinking about adding a honeybee for Garrett but I haven't decided on that yet. It would sit right on top of the loop protecting us. Charlie, Ms. Sarah's husband is a tattoo artist on the side so he did it for me.  I really do love it.

I might have messed up a bit because I told Garrett he could get a motercycle if he got a tattoo. He just gave me the big onery smile that shows his dimple.  It could be a long summer next summer. 

'Til the next adventure...

Let me just say...

The Bugs need nothing. But since I got the request of what the Bugs wanted for Christmas, I decided to post their lists as I got them misspellings and all.

Little Bug

• Easy Bake
• Jewelry Boutique
• Littlest pet shop
• BRATZ
• Monster High (dance of the down)
• xbox 360
• wii Wipeout (game)
• Ipod touch
• Lap top
• Speed staks

Note- She did say "I didn't put my Zoo Pal on the list cause I know Grandma Georgia always gets that for me.  If she doesn't know- I want an okapi this year."

I do love the ( ) to help clarify what she really wants.  Garrett and I did not get her one thing off the list as I was done shopping when I got the list. No, she doesn't have high hopes for Christmas. 


Bug

• JC Penny Gift Card
• Hobby Lobby Gift Card
• Gaboon Viper Zoo Pal- but I don't think they have that one since my mom made the list limited. If not, I'll keep Moose. {King Cobra}

Note- Bug said, "Don't know what else.  I have to try stuff on cause I'm shaped weird so I guess we have to do gift cards."

Note 2- Bug could not think of much but somethings she always asks me to buy for her are below...

• The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book- Cabin Fever
• The 39 Clue Books - Vespers Rising, The Medusa Plot, The King's Ransom
• N.E.R.D.S. by Michael Buckley
• Middle School- The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
• Duck Tape in colors- Black, White, Skulls
• Wii Games
• Board Games (mostly trivia)
• DSI Games

Hope that helps...

'Til the next adventure...

Always to the extreme...

One of the things that I have really started to understand about myself is that I am an extreme person.  I am sure you are glad to be sitting down as I know that might have really blown a lot of you off your feet. But I never really see myself as extreme until I start to really look at the things that I do. 

I can't just bake a cupcake, it has to be beautiful with the icing in a fun swirl and matching liner and sprinkles.  I can't just scrapbook, I have to have every kind of tool and every color paper but don't use it because you don't know when you will need it.  I can't just exercise, I have to go to the gym six days a week.  I have to swim a mile in open water, I have to run a 5K.  I can't just clean, it has to be perfect.  Everything in it's place, it has to smell clean, a mixture of Pine Sol and bleach.  I can't just put clothes away, it has to be color coated and categorized. 

This was the scene this weekend at our house.  I was tired of feeling like I was doing everything so since we did not have soccer, run club, boot camp or anything I figured we can just all clean together like we did in Wichita and then the Bugs would have to work, too.  I have gotten bad about not making them help but I know they need to or they will take it all for granted.

So, we slept in and then Garrett made breakfast and I turned off the TV at 11 for everyone to get to work.  We paired off.  Little Bug with Garrett, as I did not have the patience to deal with a procrastinator, and Bug with me.  Bug and I took the hard rooms;  kitchen, both bathrooms, Bug's room and living room.  This left the loafers to the dining room, Little Bug's room and our room.  I even took all floors.  Everything to the extreme.  There was a lot of bitchin' but not by me. I just worked and yelled.  Same ol', same ol' until...

I had a bit of an accident with the mop handle crashing into the pendent light over the sink sending glass flying into my face.  Lucky, I only got cut on my chin but man, can it bleed.  Bug goes "Mom, you have an upside down chicken footprint on your face!" What is with her and chickens?

Not too bad, but here is the close up...

It matches the cold sore on my lip that I was tring to

hide with lipstick and the lovely snot in my nose.

'Til the next adventure...

PS-  I did get my clean house after two breaks and piano lessons.