Disaster!

I am in the middle of a DISASTER!!!

With no end in sight!!!

I get these crazy urges for a project,

I drop everything,

I even know it's not likely to turn out how I imagine it will.

I have a history.

I called Jeff en route to the paint store and told him to talk me out of it.

He didn't.

I want to paint my entertainment center off-white and the accent wall behind it a different color (still undecided).

Before:

(In case you were wondering, I was watching my dance recital DVD.)

All primed:

Two coats later and

I HATE THE COLOR!!!!

It's not off-white.

It's freaking electric-blue/gray/white!!!!!!


Not only that, but it looks SOOOO amatuer.
I have no idea what I'm doing.

I have to start over.

9 1/2 hours and I have to start over tomorrow.

And I haven't even begun the accent wall.

This is all Jeff's fault.

Celebrity Golf Tournament

This was just plain fun.

And I didn't think it would be.

We walked up to the very first hole just as a trio of Yankees baseball players were teeing off. 

They came to putt 10 feet from where we stood.

My boys thought they had died and gone to heaven.

We walked around for 4 hours following our favorite celebrities and trying to get autographs.

Most of the celebrities were so nice and accommodating, but there were a few jerks. (Michael Jordan and Deron Williams)

What the heck do they expect at a charity golf tournament?????

It took my boys a while to build up the courage to ask, and the first person they asked, Greg Maddox, said, 

"No, kid.  Not while we're playing."

I burned and fumed for the rest of the day about that.

So, then we thought maybe you weren't supposed to ask for autographs.

But at the next hole we saw the good ol' Yankees players just signing away and taking pictures with everybody.

So we followed them for a few holes and my boys got all 3 autographs.

Andy Pettitte and David Wells (Yankees)

Not pictured:  Goose Gossage

Ray Romano

"Kevin" from The Office

Jimmer Fredette

(He came in dead last place--hahaha!)

Jimmer signing for Jake

The back of Charles Barkley

Waiting for Charles Barkley's autograph

Taking a break.

Sam snarfing down a hot dog.

6 hot dogs cost me $51.00!!!!

Painful!!!

Funny story:

The caddy for Wes Welker (wide-receiver for the Patriots) came over to the sidelines and asked us if we wanted his hot dog (unopened and uneaten, of course).  He didn't have time to eat it and he was sick of carrying it around.

We said no, we just ate ($51 darn dollars worth of hot dogs!).

So he called to Wes Welker, "Hey Wes!  Come here and sign this."

Wes came over and signed the tinfoil on the hot dog.

The caddy said, "I bet you'll take my hot dog now."

We did.

Josh still has the foil.

Random Thoughts

1.

Remember that menu I printed out and put on my fridge?

Yeah?

Well, that was a total bust!

That stupid menu just mocked me.

I felt like it was telling me what to do and bossing me around.

Well, I won't be told what to do so I rebelled and we had take-out or frozen dinners all week long.
And all that money spent on fancy ingredients?
Wasted.
I did try one recipe:  Pad Thai Chicken wraps.  They were disgusting.  Absolutely disgusting.  
I give up on cooking.

2.

I finally figured out Pinterest

(Let me know if you want an invite.)

I'm addicted and spending way too much time on the computer.

3.

I'm already super excited about the holiday season, which, for me, starts September 1st.

That means I start planning and preparing around July 1st.

I've already found these lovely decorating ideas (on Pinterest) and can't wait to get going.

4.

This is also the time of year I like to clean things out and get super organized.

Here's some inspiration to get me going:

5.

Summer rainstorms are my FAVORITE kind of weather.

Love. Love. Love.

6.

I have an overwhelming urge to rearrange my family room furniture.

This happens every few months.

I usually spend a good hour moving things around, decide I don't like it, and move it all back to the way it was.

I'll post pictures if anything changes.

7.

Do I really want to paint all my bedroom furniture white/off-white?

I mean really?

Is it worth it?

It's fairly new (3 years) and pretty nice so I can't get new stuff, but I am sick of the heavy black.

Anyone want to paint it for me?

I'll pay you.  :)

8.

My baby starts pre-school 4 weeks from today.

I'm devastated.

I'm not ready to have all my kids in school.

I want to have a young child at home with me always.

I don't want to run out of little kids, and the imaginary play, Santa Claus believing, Disneyland excitement, Halloween costume-wearing, cartoon watching, park playing, stroller riding, lap-sitting, snuggles, bath time,  putting-to-bed, and hand-holding that goes along with it.

9.

I really don't know how to dress myself.

I need fashion lessons.

I never vary from knee-length denim shorts or jeans with a simple, fitted top.

Never.

I also NEVER wear flats.

Ever.

Occasionally I will wear a necklace or bracelet.

Why can't I break from this fashion rut?

10.

Our first ever garden is a success.

For lunch today I had fresh peas and tomatoes (with cottage cheese).  It was delicious!

These are just the random things that have been occupying my thoughts lately.

Along with the 1,001 worries that are normally housed there.  :)

More Lake Tahoe

Ummmmmm..........Jeff?

Do we really need to bring your bike?

I think we're packed pretty tight.

 Next time we're getting a roof rack.

Except I KNOW we will forget that the bike is up there.

Just like my brother did with 2 bikes on top of his car.

He got a lovely welcome home with a big crash and scrapes on his garage, bikes, bike rack, and car.

Ooooouuuuuuchhhhhh!!!

We literally lived in the forest. 

Way up in the mountains.

Elev. 6500-7000 feet

(Ha!  Julie, the sea-level-dweller nearly fainted twice when trying to run around at the park!)

 There were explicit instructions regarding bears and food.

Comforting, huh?

All garbage cans outside are made of metal, locked, and need a key to open.

We were not to leave any food in our car and make sure our doors were locked  (bears can open them.)

We were not to leave any food out in the cabin.  All leftovers needed to be put in fridge or wrapped up tight in a garbage bag.

Here's our cabin that all 18 of us shared.

The kids played.

Hard.

And they slept.

Hard.

 (Jake was already awake when I snapped these pics.)

And just had a great time hanging out with cousins all week.

(We missed you, Jack!)

Paddle Boarding

We are back from a fabulous trip to Lake Tahoe.

I had never been there before.

I have to admit that I wasn't thrilled about a trip to a lake.

It's no secret that my number one fear is drowning (me or my kids or a loved one).

It's so bad that I fork over lots of money for private swim lessons for my kids. 

I don't like the regular swim lessons where one instructor is trying to watch and teach 5-7 kids at once.

And I especially can't stand it when all 7 kids hang on their arms while the instructor swims to the deep end of the pool.

But I KNOW my kids all need to learn to swim so I have arranged for private swim lessons past, present, and future for all of them.

(Lucy starts hers tomorrow.)

Back to the vacation.

Like I said, I didn't think I would enjoy the lake at all.

And I definitely wasn't going in myself.

I'm still trying to figure out how to organize all my (150+) photos and put them into different posts, but for the time being, I will post about my proudest moment of the week:

Paddle Boarding!!!!

I actually got in and tried!!

And I let all my kids try too!!!

We rented a bunch of boards (which look similar to surf boards--just a little bigger).

Here are Dave and PJ having the first go at it.

And shocker for everyone of the whole vacation:

Here I am!!!!

 Josh's turn

 

And Jakers

Lucy was too small to try, but I got really brave (and confident in my paddle-boarding skills) and sat her on the front while while I paddled around.

And funniest moment(s) of all were watching Jeff.

He tried and tried and tried to stand,

But for the life of him, he could NOT do it.

I barely got this picture of him standing before he toppled off.  

Again.

And that water is COLD!!!!!

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

My sister, Stacey, and I laughed so hard that we couldn't breathe.

My low expectations for this trip made for a very pleasant surprise.

Paddle boarding ended up being the highlight of my trip.

There is so much to do in Lake Tahoe, and the scenery is beautiful!

We have it on our list of  must-go-back-and-visit-again vacations.

More posts to follow.

Favorites

I'm on Pinterest.

Even though I don't quite get it.

I don't know how to organize everything, but I sure like looking at all these lovely pictures.

Here are some of my favorite pins.

Enjoy.