Cozumel...

Pics and posts coming soon, just recently got the photos transferred off the laptop to this machine. I promise to get pics out in the next couple of days!

Amazing end to my day!

So if you read the previous post, you know most of my day yesterday involved cutting away that freakin' vine! I promise, I won't get started again! But after that whole fiasco, my day just got better and better! Hubby came home with a small chain saw, a new weed eater (ours died about a month ago) and lo and behold... a NEW garbage disposal! Ours pooped out after a thunderstorm knocked our power out! I think the stupid thing would still work, but the power surge did something to blow the GFC? Either way, it's not working and it costs less to buy a new one than it is to have someone come out to look at it and then tell me I need a new one! (I hate this by the way, how disposable everything in this world is, we really should strive to fix things and use them as long as possible, but it's unfortunately it's not financially feasible... alas, another post, another time!) Then, as if this wasn't all good enough, Big Daddy and the kiddos took me out for burgers so I wouldn't have to cook after slaving over evil vines! Nothing like a good burger to make a girl feel better!

After dinner I came home and was overcome with a need for some "Trina-time"! I went out to the garage, set up my easel, found an appropriate canvas, cracked open the paints for the first time in MONTHS, dug out my boom-box, plugged in my iPOD and set about painting something for over my fireplace. I opted to open the garage door to hopefully get a cool breeze and much to my delight a storm started rolling in! It was a good, hard rain with little wind, so I was able to keep the door open. Ironically, I went in to get a drink and when I came back out, it was raining like hell and "Riders On the Storm" was cranking out of the iPOD, that was so cool! So there I stayed for hours, listening to the storm and some great tunes, smelling the clean fresh air, enjoying the breeze and actually exploring one of my favorite hobbies! The painting, of course, isn't done yet, but when it is, I'll post a pic. But for now, I am just happy I had the opportunity. Sometimes I forget what it's like to be in my own space, alone in my own mind, especially when I have the constant chatter of children in my head all the time. Just what I needed and I REALLY need to make time for this kind of stuff more often!

Seeing red...

Anyone with a delicate nature or who is easily offended by use of excessive profanity need not read any further.

Whoever thought it was a grand idea to plant invasive grape-like vines all along the perimeter of my backyard fence was a SICK, SADISTIC, COMPLETELY PIECE OF SHIT HUMAN BEING! I have lived in this house for exactly 3 years and I have cut back these fucking vines at least twice a year. The problem being that they are so big and so invasive and the trunks and root structure are buried beneath a very rickety fence. Now if I had the cashflow to rip the fence down altogether, I could probably eradicate these damn vines, but at this time, that amount of money isn't floating around my bank account. So I cut these damn things down as far as I can go without damaging the fence. Then they grow back, bigger and faster than before! It's like they are some sort of crazy mutant vine that intends to take over the planet! And from what I've seen, if left unchecked, it would do just that! Block out our sun and destroy life on the planet as we know it (so you all should be thankful and praise my name that I am saving you AND the planet from certain death and destruction)! And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if this damn thing actually produced SOMETHING. I don't know, a fruit, a melon, hell, I'd even be happy with a flower, but NOOOOO!! It is a big, stupid, ugly, worthless bit of organic matter and a waste of carbon dioxide and I want it to fucking die! I mean seriously, you have to know this thing is a bitch if I, Queen of the Tree-Huggers, want to rip, maim and otherwise mangle this horrid thing! Not only did I just spend hours in the hot Texas sun ripping that thing off the fence, I had to tackle the Hackberry tree that was felled by the storm a couple of weeks ago. So a double whammy! Now that I have most of it cut down, I'm now trying to figure out how the hell to get rid of it. I swear, I'm going to hunt down the evil succubus that used to live here and dump all this shit right on her front lawn and let her deal with it! Then I'm gonna punch her in the neck and let my dog shit in her yard!

We're BAAAAACK!

Hola Everyone! We are safely back in the US of A from our wonderful little excursion to Cozumel. I wish I could say I was glad to be home, but it's hot as shit here, my toddler is crabbier than ever and there is no view of the ocean from my balcony. Hell, I don't even have a balcony! For six days I had someone to cater to my every need. May I have a pina colada? Si! May I have fresh towels for the pool? Si! May I have 3 helpings of dessert AND a Mexican coffee? Si! I think about the only time I was told "no" was when I lost my camera bag and I asked if anyone had turned it in.

I am trying to figure if the vacation was so wonderful because of the beautiful scenery, the snorkeling, the swimming, and the wonderful meals and service, or was it just the fact that I had almost an entire week where I didn't have to cook, do dishes, clean bathrooms or change diapers! I thought I would have some trouble adjusting without the kids and the stress that I'm used to, but as soon as the plane lifted off from Houston and we were flying over the Gulf of Mexico, I left it all behind. I was confident that the kids were in good hands with the grandfolks, so what was there for me to worry about? I dove into this with reckless abandon, fully intending to enjoy every minute!

We ended up not doing quite all the things I had wanted to do, but I don't regret it. We wanted to make it to the mainland to see Tulum, and although the excursion would have been free, it was just a LONG day, on the ferry by 7am, back after 6pm. So I decided that I really wanted to try to actually RELAX some this vacation and opted out of such a long day. We did rent a Jeep and explore the east side of the island and the San Gervasio ruins. Other than that though, it was alot of snorkeling, laying by the pool, drinking pina coladas, eating good food and shopping for goodies for the kids. It will take me awhile to get my photos in order, but I will regale you with tales throughout the week!

Adios Amigos!

We are off to Mexico tomorrow, so I will not be posting for an entire week! But when I get back I will regale you with tales and photos! In the mean time, just picture me with my toes in the sand, a fruity drink in my hand and a big smile on my face!

We might have some success!!!

As the old saying goes, "A watched pot never boils", it must be true for gardens too! I have been so obsessed over my veggie garden. I have mulched and fertilized and watered and worried and fussed, Big Daddy thinks I'm nuts! He says we should have another kid, it would be less stressful for me. Haha! Anyway, I have tried to let go a little, realize that if it's gonna live and yield it will, if not, I'll try again in the fall and winter. So yes, I've watered on occasion, but I have tried to not go out and fuss with it. Much to my surprise, we were out Sunday evening letting the kids play in their little shark pool and I decided to just go see how the garden was doing and lo and behold, my jalapeno plant has several peppers, almost ready to harvest and my Sweet 100 tomato plant has around 8 little tiny tomatoes! My cantaloupe plant is growing rapidly, no buds or fruit yet, but the plant looks healthy, my bell peppers are starting to bloom and put on new foliage and the other tomato plants aren't putting on fruit yet, but they are rapidly growing foliage as well. I may end up with a half-way successful garden after all. Yee-haw! I'll be especially glad for the tomatoes since we are having a HUGE tomato recall in Texas. Salmonella contamination! Henceforth why I'll be happy to eventually master my garden space, you can't trust store bought food anymore! Tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, everything is contaminated with Salmonella or E. Coli. Sucks! Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my soon to be fruitful garden!

Jalapenos!

Sweet little mater!

Now ain't that a bitch!

For some reason, my body and I have not been friends this year! Between that stupid virus, the cavity I need to go have filled, a weird lump in my knee and lately my stinkin' big toe, I have been a medical mess. The damn toe started a couple of months ago when I took off my nail polish and noticed a white spot in the middle. I immediately panicked thinking it was a fungal infection and raced to the doctor. She said she thought it was an injury and to leave it be until we get back from Mexico. She said if it still looked bad or worse, I should go to the podiatrist once I was back. Well, the toe was getting progressively worse and over the weekend I started to get unnerved when I could literally see space between my nail bed and the nail! And it was hurting! I bucked it up and made a podiatrist's appointment today. Figured I should get to the bottom of this crap BEFORE heading out of the country. To my great relief, this was NOT a fungal infection (hooray, no Lamisil for me!) but was an injury. An injury that had cracked the nail way back down beneath the cuticle. Anyway, I had two choices, I could wait around for Mother Nature to do it's job and basically have the nail fall off or get knocked off somewhere in Mexico (she assumed it would happen in a week to 10 days) or she could remove it. Since I didn't want to be pussy-footing around and worrying over a stupid toenail in Mexico, I told her to just yank the damn thing! Now I have a disgusting little nail-less nub! Here I go out and get my hair cut and colored, my eyebrows waxed, I've got cute clothes for Mexico and a beautiful dress for the wedding but none of that matters because I'll have this nasty, freakish toe with NO NAIL!!! I am so grossed out at the moment I can hardly stand it! And I know, vanity at it's worst, but seriously... the timing of this could NOT have been worse! Nothing makes a girl feel more sexy and alluring than a troll toe! So I get to spend the entire summer, when I'm normally parading around in flip flops or sandals with beautifully painted toenails, wearing closed toed shoes hiding my freakish deformation! Nice.

Perplexed!

Big Daddy is in a new band, and because of this we have been on a mission to find a cool name for the band. I've come up with some jewels, but unfortunately they have already been taken! Bummer! The search has now turned toward common phrases used in the 20th century and slang terminology. So I was browsing the slang dictionary and very quickly began to panic. I could not understand most of what was written on that page! For instance... aaf, g2gb2wn, icgaff, s.i.n.g.l.e or s2bu. OK, did any of you understand any of that? It is obvious that the invention of text messaging and online chat rooms have opened up an entirely different language. I mean I was aware of the stupid things like, lol or ttfn and the such, but seriously??? Oh yeah, and in case you were wondering, here are the definitions of above examples:

aaf--as a friend
icgaff--I could give a flying f**k
g2gb2wn--got to go back to work now
s.i.n.g.l.e--stay intoxicated nightly, get laid everyday
s2bu--sucks to be you

I am all of a sudden feeling very old and out of touch! I guess very much like my grandparents must have felt about rock-n-roll! I'd rather just stick my head in the sand and ignore it, but at some point, with kids, I'm gonna have to delve into it. You can't ever let the little buggers get a jump on you!

So I'll just be simclmao while you try to figure out what I just said!

TTFN!

Who's my good dog???

Seriously, I have the best 'ol doggy on the planet! He's super mellow, great with the kids, good on walks and I'm pretty sure would take anyone out that threatened the family! Not to mention he is one heck of a good lookin' dude too! I LOVE that dog!

Andy the Two-tailed Anole

We have a little friend that Monkey Man has lovingly named Andy the Anole. Andy has two tails, we don't know if he was born that way or if part of his tail fell off and he grew two back. Either way, it's pretty freaky! I see him almost everytime I take the trash out, he's almost like a pet and we all look forward to seeing him!

Mrs. Jeckyll and Mama Hyde

I have to laugh at times when I sit and think about my life. I had never intended on marriage and family (especially family). I have always been the wild child to a certain extent. It's not that I have done terrible things or been arrested, I was just never good at conformity! I was the girl with a pierced nose or pink hair! I drove the car with a "PARTY ANIMAL" sticker on the back! I was always the free-spirit and free-thinker. I got good grades, I graduated from both high school and college with honors, but I was not that stereotypical straight-A student. I worked hard, but always played harder! I wore leather jackets, ripped up jeans, hippy skirts, combat boots and short shorts. And although motherhood softened me to some extent, I'm sure all of you that know me, also know that I'm not your average mom either. I might be able to give June Cleaver a run for her money when it comes to being a dedicated mother and wife and maker of cookies but the similarities would definitely end there! I have a healthy love for rock-n-roll, racy literature, abstract art, serial killer movies and tattoos.

So... what does a mild-mannered (wink, wink) mother do an a Saturday afternoon? She drops her kids off with friends and she and the hubby head to a tattoo shop on the wrong side of the tracks in East Austin. I already have one tattoo, I got it years ago, back in the day when girls only got tattooed on the shoulder, the ankle or the small of the back. I got the typical sweet, little thing on my right shoulder. I have always enjoyed it and was proud to have it. Then awhile back I began considering another. Not one for sheer decoration or adornment, but one that had meaning to me. Almost 2 years ago, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter and was overjoyed! It was the beginning of a new life and the end of a long hard struggle. Between my son and my daughter, I lost two babies. Granted, both miscarriages were at the end of the first trimester, so I lost them pretty early, but it didn't mean that it hurt any less. I was sick to death of people telling me I should be thankful that it happened sooner than later, and that I was still young and we could try again! I know they were only saying what they thought would be comforting, but it wasn't. Unless you've been a woman whose lost a baby, even in the first trimester, you wouldn't know the pain. For me, the moment I peed on that stick and it turned pink, it was a baby! A very wanted baby! I had hopes and dreams for that baby. I imagined whether it would be a boy or a girl, would it have dark hair like me, or blonde hair like it's father? Would my son adore it and be a wonderful brother? What would we name him or her? So many things run through your mind in those short twelve weeks! And then to have to put those hopes and dreams aside not once, but twice in a row was awful! Luckily for me, third time was a charm and all those hopes and dreams came to fruition the day the Piglet was born, but it has never dulled the pain that I felt for the two that never made it.

I had an idea about a year and a half ago to get a tattoo in tribute of the children I have and the memory of the two that never made it. As you will see in the pictures to follow, I have two beautiful, full-bloom lilies which represent the children I have... full of life, in full-bloom and filled with innocence and purity. There are two lily buds which represent the two little lives that were never able to bloom, all entwined with forget-me-nots as I will NEVER forget the two that never came or how lucky I am to have the two that did, and the butterfly, well, my son is a big fan of butterflies! I love this tattoo, it will a gorgeous piece of body art once it is finished. At this point outlining and shading has been done, but I have to go back in July for the color. A woman can handle only so much pain in one day! Big Daddy and the kids love it too! Like I said earlier, June Cleaver I'll never be, but one thing you cannot deny is when I commit to something, I commit in a big way! Whether it's 14 years of marriage, my kids, homeschooling or tattoos, no one can ever accuse me of doing anything half-assed!