Spa Day

While her brother was sleeping over with a friend, I indulged my youngest child. She wanted to do a spa day. I encouraged her to write down all her ideas and we would try and do as many as we could. That one should read “foot rub” but it could have just as easily been “fat rub”. Maybe she’s even aware that mama is trying to shed a few pounds. Wonder if she was going to rub that fat right off me?

We started with a homemade avocado honey mask. And she insisted I cut up cucumbers for our eyes and to snack on. Because relaxing makes you hungry, I guess?

Back rub time! She might have a future as a masseuse if I totally fail at homeschooling her.

 

Then a friend dropped by and she got the Stella Spa Treatment as well.

To finish it up I let two giggly, wiggly little girls paint my toenails. Just be glad you’re not seeing a close up of that.

Hi!

I honestly didn't intend to go so long in between posts. So quick catch up!

 

I went trail running. But its been a few weeks ago. The sunrise is especially

 awesome in the woods this time of year.

 

We did the whole Halloween thing. We hardly ever do this. My kids

can't eat the candy anyways so we usually avoid it. This year they were more

about the dressing up part. Stella had never ever had makeup on before. I think that

was her favorite part.

 

Vampire Princess and Harry Potter.

 

Naturally.

 

Maggie and I dressed as twins. Yep. We are dorks.

 

I took this picture in an attempt to show my sister that I do

indeed have chickens with sexy hair.

 

We went hiking with the dogs and this happened on the way. Allie is

a neurotic car rider. Boss just doesn't care.

The woods were extra beautiful on top of Rich Mountain.

 

We traversed the trail down to a late 1800's stone reservoir that once

serviced Queen Wilhelmina Lodge.

 

 

I'm telling you the colors were amazing.

 

And once you got back up to the top, the sky was pretty amazing as well.

 

 

Stella and I bundled up to watch the last soccer game of the year.

Can I get a hallelujah?

 

I got an early birthday present from Warren. I love real wood products.

 

There were numerous moments over the last few weeks that I have been

ever grateful for the opportunity to homeschool my children.

 

And we are just almost done with the kitchen. It just needs grout and then I can

share the full transformation.

 

Girls night! Stuffed shrooms!

 

My crazy friend Emily, whom I adore.

 

And man oh man! It is cold in Arkansas right now. We're talking tights, flannels, and woolen

socks with coffee in hand at all times cold.

 

See? Cash insisted on doing his math lesson bundled to the max.

 

 

Okay! You are officially caught up.

 

 

 

 

It's Good To Be A Girl

I've been thinking a lot about a post I wrote little more than a year ago. This post right here.

It's cold out. Finally. I've been waiting for a chill in the air since the last cold snap of the previous spring. The kids are sleeping, the wood stove is emanating heat to every corner of my snug little house. And what am I doing? Staring into the depths of my monitor, connecting with people I don't even know. Blogging for myself and for the feedback. Hoping to reach people I'll never meet, whilst ignoring those folks within my reach.The Internet is my friend. My only friend besides my husband and children.

Yes, I am one of those women. Women who don't have the time, the patience, or the know how to maintain a female friendship. I've made attempts, albeit failed attempts, but I've tried none the less. I have women I call my friends, but I wouldn't even think about picking up the phone, pouring my heart out to them, yet it comes so easily here. Oddly enough, with you, the anonymous, I am comfortable. Put me amongst a bunch of women and my skin crawls, literally. I feel like an amoeba on a slide under the microscope. Being judged, scrutinized, made fun of. Here, in the vast universe of blogdom and women bloggers, I feel like finally I fit in.

I've often envied relationships perpetrated on television. Carrie and Miranda. Kate and Beth. Lauren and whoever she calls her BFF right now. Witnessing these kinds of female companionship in the real world is even harder. College girls who would do anything for their sisters. Friends for life, since Kindergarten, still in touch in their forties. What have I done wrong? What about me says, “This person is incapable of a lasting female relationship so don't bother.” Why do I choose the anonymity of the web over real, concrete, face to face friendships?

My mother thinks its genetic. She too, is one of those women. I can remember one friend of hers, a gorgeous, fun loving girl she met in college, but today they don't speak. After spending the last 10 years as close pals. Granted, she has had her cocktail buddies, her work colleagues that email and bring her gifts (mainly because she is the boss), but aside from that she maintains relationships with no one but family. On many occasions she has sadly observed that I am the same way. I'm traveling the same friendless road.

Maybe she led by example, or maybe I have just never had that connection, that spark it must take to like another woman so much that you share your life, day by day with her.Maybe there is a prototype for friendless women. Some probably just get along better with men. Some are probably too catty and backstabbing to maintain friendships. Others are mostly loners or too shy to make a pal. Some women are so consumed by their mothering and family duties that they neglect that enriching part of their life. I like to think I fall into the latter. Family being my first priority and any spare time I have is spent here. But I could just be in denial, having made the conscious choice years ago to not let another woman too close. Out of fear, fear of rejection, fear of hurt, fear that I'm just not that cool. What I crave is a place to use my words to communicate without sending mixed signals with my expressions. Truth be told, I'm intimidating in person, and women just don't seem to like me from their first impression.

I would love to know your take, my blogger friends, on your real life female friends. How long have you had them, is there any underlying issues you've overcome, did you meet them online? Or are you like me, your best friend is your husband, your emotional support group is your kids and your mother, your confidante is your grandma, and your best girlfriends are only a screen name and a picture.

At the time, every word of that post was true. It was how I felt. Isolated. Alone. Friendless.

But in the past year things have changed.

I have friends y'all!

No joke, honest to goodness in real life friends.

I have a good friend Dessie, who comes and sees me a few nights a week just to chat and have a beer.

I have my close close darling friend Jodi, who lives a mere three miles away and is there anytime I should need her. Day or night.

My new friend Dala. Who is the the most down to earth, humorous one I've met. I like that girl. A whole lot.

My old friend Tara, who hopefully I'll get to see more of.

Another new friend, Celeste. Who is kind and witty and always makes me smile.

I now plan Girl's Nights. You know...with actual women, that I like. I don't feel uncomfortable or standoffish. We have at last count 13 coming to our Mexican Margarita Fiesta on Saturday. Used to that many women in a room would make me say YIKES! Now it just makes me want to raise my glass in a toast.

A toast to girls. Really cool ladies who aren't catty, backstabbing, or jealous. Maybe a little crazy, a little country, a little loud where the alcohol is involved. But fun. And funny. The laughs never cease with these chicks and I absolutely love being with them.

So a lot of those commenters were right. Friendships are vital. So very important to our well being. They fill that gap. The one we all have but most often won't admit. I had it. I knew it. But I figured I was fine the way I was and to hell with everyone else. I was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And I'm glad to have these friends. That I will admit.

Here We Are. Just You And Me. Alone. All Alone.

Well hellllllooo there friends!

Welcome to our new more private place. Some of you have asked about the back story on White Trash Barbie. She really is nobody important and hasn't caused me any problems, but she has caused a world of trouble for my sister. So this going private thing isn't so much because of her but more stemmed from some New Years Resolutions. One of them was to be more unplugged. I can't promise I will write everyday or every week even. But I know you guys will be here to listen when I do and I really do appreciate that.

So lets do a quick recap of the last few weeks.

Christmas came and went. The kids got mounds of toys. No pictures because my memory card crapped out and I'm too lazy, er broke, to buy a new one. But just imagine happy smiling SugarBritches babies surrounded by mounds of shiny wrapping paper. There you go. Good.

I got a gorgeous necklace with the babes names on it from The Vintage Pearl. I also got my bedroom remodeled. That one is still in progress. It is currently a lovely shade a grey and awaiting a new bed frame and light fixture. I'm sure the window treatments will be hung next week. Hopefully. Please lord let him get them up cause I'm tired of having to wear clothes in my room. I like being in my birthday suit.

New Years came and went. This we have a few pics of thanks to my friend J. I pilfered these off her Facebook page. This was the first New Years Eve night we've gone out since Cash was born. It was great fun as indicated by my glassy eyed state in the following photographic evidence.

And yes, that is a cigarette in my hand. I smoke when I drink, but no other time. I don't want to hear a word about it folks!

I'm still running. Not as often cause in case y'all are living in the tropics and don't know...baby its cold outside! I'm doing the treadmill as much as I can AND... AND...we got a Wii and Wii Fit for Christmas! Thank you so much GG! I've been doing the Wii Fit every day and I didn't gain a pound over the holidays and I'm now below 155lbs which hello! is a damn miracle. So the exercise and eating healthy is going well and I'm pleased to say that my resolutions are just as doable as last year's were so I've got a pretty good chance of succeeding. Maybe I'll share them with you. More on that later.

Okay so we've got another Girl's Night coming up weekend after next. This time it's a Mexican Margarita Fiesta! Tacos and tequila. Here's hoping I get my ass in gear and secure a new memory card so I can record all the fun for ya.

Also SUMS is having a birthday and I'm trying to plan a surprise party. We'll see how that goes.

Until next time....love ya, glad you're here, don't get mad if I don't post often enough. Also, remember when I'm private I won't show up in your reader so you might just have to come here and check in to make sure I'm alive. Make sure to check in on Friday nights cause that's when I get all tipsy and think I'm a brilliant blogger and one funny biotch. Which I'm not. But I think I am. So there.

A Little of This, A Lot of That

Every morning we drive to school down a road with lots of leftover tornado damage. You might remember me mentioning the F4 twister that devastated our town back in April. If not, the short of it is that over 300 homes were damaged, a quarter of those had to be completely demolished, and we're missing a whole lot of trees.

Friday morning as we were headed to school, Cashman looked over at some of the still standing but completely wrecked houses and said, "Mom, our planet is a mess!" I agreed and told him he had no idea how true that statement was.

******

I hosted our first ever Girls Night on Friday evening. This one was the November 09' Wine Potluck. Because we're classy like that. No wine tasting for us, we're gonna do it up right. In our defense the appetizers were amazing, and the two desserts were downright sinful. I want to thank all my ladies for coming and making it so much fun. We've already got another one planned and I'm hoping this becomes a regular thing. All of us are moms and we need to make it a point to get out and hang out with other women. I'm thinking Mixed Drink Buffet for the next one.

******

And this weekend we added a new member to our family. We've had such rotten luck with dogs since Truk died. Remember Jack, Bruno, and JoJo? Well Jack had to find a new home with other dogs, Bruno ran away and hasn't been heard from since, and JoJo went to live with my friend after she barked for 4 days straight and went and got snakebit and died. Very sad. So our rotten luck with dogs was getting kind of depressing. Super Ultra Mega Stud and I had discussed it a lot and finally agreed that even though we both like big dogs, preferably shepherds, that we probably needed a small house dog. I really didn't want a small house dog, but whatever we just wanted a good dog. After scouring the Internet and the shelters for weeks and coming up with nothing, I got a good lead. I called a lady about a Shih Tzu and after speaking with her we determined that I did not want her Shih Tzu. She also had a King Charles Cavalier (just like Charlotte's Elizabeth Taylor!) but she said that with the kiddos being the ages they are she wouldn't recommend that dog either. Then she mentioned she had a puppy that wasn't advertised but she wanted to tell me about. I went with Sugarbaby to see the puppy and we brought her home. She has been here since Friday and is so calm and low key and sweet that I couldn't be happier. I think that bad dog bad luck streak has been broken.

Meet Roxy, a 4 month old Frengle. I'll give you a moment to check out what the heck a Frengle is. Our Roxy comes from a brindle colored French Bulldog daddy and a Beagle mommy. She's so ugly she's cute. I kid. She really is cute and the kids adore her.