asian or not asian- that is the question

little miss thing here cracks me up. last night while watching tv together i asked her if she was asian. she said yes so i asked her what is asian. she said that its someone who goes around... then she gave me an i don't know. it was totally cute.

our conversation this morning:

me: am i asian?

her: yes

me: is ham asian?

her: yes

me: is daddy asian?

her: yes

me: are you sure?

her: yes

me: are you asian?

her: no

me: are you sure?

her: yes

hmm....maybe we need to start discussing the different cultures around here.

weekend/on my mind monday

via: me! taken last summer

1. friday i went and got an x-ray taken of my lower back. its been aching for a few years now. waiting to hear back with the results. hope nothing is seriously wrong yet i hope they find something. know what i mean?

2. also got the rover back. drove it for an hour around the country roads and the rear end lowered itself like a cowardly dog. again. so back to the shop it went this morning.

3. husband is on "staycation" for the week. him and one of his bff's went golfing.

4. trying to get back into routine again with the house cleaning. so far the only thing that's back to normal is me procrastinating. i did get all 3 bathrooms cleaned and floors semi- swept. {husband takes care of his own bathroom}

5. havent heard from my friend who is in scotland. hope everything's ok and she's just having too much fun to email me.

6. saturday we had friends come over again. we ate steak + shrimp fajitas, stuffed mushrooms + stuffed jalapeno peppers and brownies for dessert. later for dinner we made pizza hot pockets + pudgie pies over the fire pit. they were yummy!

7. i totally want the curtains in the second picture. i would hem them so i could use them in my bathroom windows and use the remaining fabric for the window in the front entry + for some pillows. *sigh* i can't find them. they're from pier 1.

8. a friend and i are going to the shipshewana flea market on wednesday with no husbands or kids!

9. i still do not want to go up to mike's folks house for 4th of july. i plan on doing some crafty projects i got floating around in my head and starting hamilton's baby books. i got 2 years before he graduates!

10. watched bedtime stories last night. cute movie! i think kaylee was too tired to get into it though.

hip hip.....

hurray!according to kelly is doing it again. its easy + great fun- so go and sign up already!

dislikes/likes

on with my list making posts:

not liking:

1. horrible dreams. had one this morning when i woke up around 6am and fell back to sleep.

2. how easily i lose my patience

3. how much i sound like my mother and hearing it again as my kids speak

4. my rover being in the repair shop

5. me having no motivation to start exercising. i just need to tone up, not lose weight.

me loving:

1. family time. last night the four of us ate dinner together and afterwards we all watched mike dink around ham's car to set up 12" speakers because the ones that came in the car are not loud enough.

2. my very handsome son + most gorgeous daughter

3. riding my bike around the neighborhood.

4. making old acquaintances into new friends

5. finally finding some inner peace

on my gangsta mind tuesday

1.  i'm sleeping in tomorrow.  later than normal too- i'm really really tired.

2.  the rear suspension on my rover still isn't at normal height so when i drove it, i felt like snoop doggs asian sister.  it was so bad that it felt like i had a really bad case of the hiccups. hurt my stomach. 

3.  got ham's car back.  another 500 bucks.

4.  found out from ham that he had 3 friends sitting in the back of the rover that totaled over 700 pounds and that he might have gone over some railroad tracks a little faster than he would have had he been in his own car.

5.  mike thinks i'm stupid and don't know my own son.  sunday we argued that ham walked, yes, walked! to his friends house. mike said it was because of girls- every thing according to mike is about girls or sex.   i said it was because he was bored.  he never walks-anywhere. ever.  ham told me that nobody could pick him up and that he was bored.  no girls were over at his friends house at the time.  i had to send mike a booyah email.

6.  remember  buttface #2?  our lawyer called and said we had to make up our minds today on what we want to do.  i asked my parents for advice and my dad said offer to settle and give her 1000 bucks.  {she's asking for $2000.  $1700 in damages and $300 in lawyer fees} life is too short for stupid stuff like this from stupid people.  so we agreed to pay for half of the plumber's bill only- maybe 400 bucks and see what she does.  while stupid plumber might of gotten her money he ended up losing a lot more.  my parents fired him from doing any of their plumbing in their 3 restaurants. {made me feel a heck of a lot better when i heard this}

7.  if you love candles, host a scentsy party.  i got a little over 400 dollars in sales, had maybe 7 people here + 4 outside orders.  i ended up getting 3- half priced items and 70 bucks in free goodies.  that's a lot of smelly goodness.  need a consultant? send me an email and i will give her your info.

8.  loving the hot weather.  just need a pool to go along with it.

9.  kaylee + i got squirt guns today at target.  we surprised attacked mike right when he got out of his truck.  it was fun + very funny.

10.  on a blog today, a mom who has twin girls and triplet boys still manages to be crafty  {she just threw an awesome 2 year old birthday party} + she wears dresses.  like everyday.  and i mean, she's put together.  how?  how is that possible? 

weekend recap

while we had company over yesterday, ham took my baby to a friends house to go river rafting.  this is my baby after said river rafting.  see the back end?  its much lower than what  it should be.  trying to fix it so we don't have to tow it or have it in the repair shop.  anyway, mike wanted to grill out and fish for father's day so we invited kevin + holly over.   the guys fished, the girls played through the sprinklers, on the jammin jeep, swing set, dress up and fished while us mom's shopped through the scentsy catalog, gossiped and watched he's just not that into you.  we grilled chicken, chicken kebobs and hot dogs.  i ended up making whatever i could find:  pasta salad, spiral appetizers, other mini appetizers, fruit salad and kevin brought over some strawberries + shortcake for dessert while he was out getting hot dog buns.

ended up being a great time again.

saturday while mike and kaylee went to a birthday party,  a friend come over so she could show off the house to her daughter.  then i went over to a friends house for dinner and got a chance to kayak on the river.  it was much easier than i thought and it was so peaceful and calming to be floating in the middle of the river with the sun shining down. 

friday was a crazy day.  my computer wouldn't work and i was preparing for the scentsy party.  i ended up making a veggie pizza, fruit salad, mini cheesecake and pecan toffee mini pies.  {will share the recipe soon} i do believe the party ended up being a success.

happy travels

groyne + sea aberdeen scottland via ray smith photography

my sweet , beautiful, funny + very brave friend is getting ready to leave for scotland right now- with two kids! {one is 2 years of age and the other is 3 months}  i wish her a safe, happy, everything goes right, kids behave travels.  can't wait to hear and see photos of scotland!

on my mind thursday

via good long while

1.  love this look and want to do this to the wall that you see from the front entry into the family room.  love the shelving on each side. love the hard wood floors.  (would i have to crown mold the rest of the house?)

2.  love my etsy goodies i bought from elizabeth bentz. {she blogs good long while}  i need to get a nice shot of what i did with the tea towel.  love how it looks.  and my two pouches are holding my goods in my purse.  my pesky cat loves his cat nip treats too.

3.  went and did a small retail therapy session yesterday. i feel good.

4.  though i'm still hating my short, unruly, hard to maintain hair.  its funny how i think others see me as {those that don't know me}  i see them seeing me as your typical chinese girl.  i am not typical nor am i chinese.

5.  ham wanted steak,  mashed potatoes and mac-n-cheese for dinner so that's what i made last night.  except no mashed potatoes, just potatoes.  my hand mixer broke awhile back.  {the meat guy gave me a discount on his meat- ha! a dirty funny.  he gave me 3 pieces of the good meat for the price of 2 and took another buck off too}

6.  104/72.  that's my blood pressure.  yep, i got myself a tough life.

7.  you must go over to tara whitney's blog.  i want family portraits like hers.  especially the one of them jumping in the fields.

8.  cleaning the house and getting it ready for my scentsy party tomorrow.  should be fun getting together with a bunch of girls- hanging out- munching on some goodies + drinking

9.  ham's car is broken. again.  supposedly something with the power steering?  need to get it towed to the repair shop.

10.  i miss 80's music like this.  they're still hot + playing over in europe.  whats wrong with us americans?

doctors appointment +lil' bit of kaylee

so yesterday i had a doctors appointment.  it was mostly to check out the doctor, to see if i like her since my old doctor decided to move once i decided that i liked her.  i had my allergies and aching back checked.  she gave me some nose spray to try and some exercises for my back.  she also suggested i get an x-ray done just to make sure its nothing serious.  i do wish her office was closer to the house instead its super close to mike's office.  kaylee loves visiting her dad at his work. we went and had lunch at the south side soda shop {they were on diners, drive-ins and dives}. even though i have lived super close to the soda shop, this was my first dining visit that i can remember.  i've been inside when they sold candy for about 10 cents- remember those days?

monday i bought kaylee a ballerina outfit {clearanced at hobby lobby} and she's been wearing it every day now.  here's our little ballerina baseball player wearing rain boots and our fishing ballerina.
  

and one day last week, she asked for breakfast in bed. haven't a clue on where she got the idea from but thought it was really cute till i found myself sleeping on crumbs.

bakerella

bakerella does it again.  how cute are these?  i really really wish i had the patience to make these.  they would be awesome for kaylee's birthday party.

saturday fun

so the husband came home friday with some much needed mulch and asked if we were doing anything on saturday.  i said no- no plans so he asked if he could invite one of his guys that works for him over.  i said why not so he did.  they came over around noon.  the dads + the girls went fishing and later, the girls rode their bikes around the pond. we grilled out hot dogs, hamburgers and brats.  i also made cheese dip, crunchy asian salad and pineapple pudding cake.  

i'm not sure how much of a loser this makes us but they ended up staying for 12 hours.  we had nothing else to do so we welcomed it with arms wide open.  we ordered a pizza from columbo's for dinner and had a fire going in the pit.  later we did s'mores and the girls got to do some sparklers. we all had a great time that it made our sunday quite boring.  {pics will be added later}

on my mind friday

image via here

1.  i've come to terms with the fact that i might not find out who i am or who i want to be and that's ok.  i just know that i got to keep searching.

2.  my baby is sick.  hope he gets better really soon.  nothing worse than having a sick kid. ok, he's a teenager but always my baby.

3.  i've been sleeping in!  go to bed by 12am and out of bed by 8:30.  NIIIICCCE!  {just so you know, i do wake up a few times in the am}

4.  have a few projects up my sleeve that i would like to do.  {always need to keep myself busy with something}

5.  drama with buttface #1 is not as high.  he still owes us money but we got it taken care of where he should be able to make payments and we are still trying to sell his bike.  drama #2 is still going on.  can't wait to get this one behind us.  please continue to send good karma my way

6.  i want to go antique shopping.  like up to harbor country. maybe a weekend getaway for me?

7.  no big plans for the weekend.  except for a niece's birthday party on sunday.  hoping to get a little "me" time this afternoon once the husband is off of work.

8.  got some time?  check out all the cool photography talents on flickr.  just type in whatever your interested in and i'm sure some amazing work will pop up.

9.  i loved all the rain we got yesterday.  its so pretty to see all the different shades of green.  i have an amazing view out the front yard and back.

10.  i love having ham and his buddies hang around the house.  the other day there were about 10 of them out fishing in the pond.  poor ham, he was sick in bed that day.

a hobby?

while i try to find who i am, i thought maybe i should take on a hobby.  i first saw these on alexandra hedin design and thought they were really cute.  they are a bit pricey but they come with everything to make them.  i really love the hug + kiss one.  you can find them and other designs on emily peacock tapestry etsy shop.

on my mind wednesday

1.  i'm having a bit of an identity crisis.  can i hide here till i find myself?

image found here 

2.  been craving to watch october road again.  wish sucky abc would bring it back.

3.  in-laws are back from hawaii.  rightfully bummed.

4.  my mind has been occupied lately with this:

 is ham's curfew too late, will he give in to peer pressure? i don't want to be his best friend yet i want him to have a fun + happy teenage life so unlike mine. he's a good kid, give him the benefit of the doubt. he's smart. what if he tries pot or alcohol, drugs- yikes i need to quit watching A+E 's intervention, i hope some slutty girl isn't trying to warp ham's mind.  i've always told him girls are nothing but trouble till you get out of college, will he listen to his mom?  is he driving safely?  he's innocent till caught......

5.  i want to go to mackinaw island or traverse city.  road trip!

6.  took ham's car in for repairs- which we knew when we bought the car. 800 smakaroo's instead of the 500 they guestimated.  and that's with a discount on labor.  *sigh*  hopefully this is the end with car repairs for awhile

7.  loving this etsy shop- kahili creations

8.  can't wait to get my goodies from this etsy shop- elisabethbentz

9.  a friend of mine is leaving for like a month to go back home- scotland.  i'm so jealous.  and i'm going to miss her and her boys.  

10.  funny that i got "accepted"  to see a doctor.  i had to fill out an application and the doctor said i was approved to be seen.  yep- what the h***?

today

today was our 6th year anniversary.  today sucked.  more later. gator. 

10 on friday

via: simple +pretty

1.  we took advantage of the fantastic weather today and went up to new buffalo. ate at one of my favorite shops- the stray dog and got to walk around.  i also got a new sweatshirt- its thin for those cool evenings and mike got a new swim soup- as kaylee calls it. so much for being the responsible one over the budget.

2. kaylee stayed with her granny +pops and got to swim with a few of her cousins.

3.  i found a new clothing line that i love. see #1.

4.  now that its summer, i don't see ham much and i'm starting to miss him.  he usually sleeps till about noonish, eats breakfast then leaves till about 12:30.  he has to let us know where he's at at 11:00pm.

5.  mike's running the half marathon tomorrow at sunburst.  he hasn't been training so it will be interesting to see how he does.

6.  watching/listening to monster-in-law.  love this movie. wish the husband would say the right things like hottie michael vartan's character.  wish i had jennifer lopez's characters clothes.

7.  after the race tomorrow we have one of my old bosses 50th birthday party to tend to.  i've known them since i was 16 years old.  it's been close to 17 years since i saw them again and they took me in with arms wide open.  they are just THAT cool. {his wife was like a big sister/cool mom to me}

8.  need to have garage sale soon

9.   all these photos of flowers is really making me miss my camera.  stupid car repairs + unexpected expenses!

10. won some bath products from another  blog contest.  i took a long hot stress relieving shower last night and tried one of the products- an aroma elixir and it was heaven.  the smell was light and clean and not over-powering. perfect. 

to one of my classmates

the other evening while walking around the pond, i saw an old classmate of mine.  we even went to elementary school together and lived in the same neighborhood at one time or another. her kids were fishing.  she had to explain that she wasn't trespassing, she knew the people that sold us our house and she still knows some of my neighbors. {like i was going to turn her into the trespassing police}  we did the small talk like always and then i asked her how her husband was doing.  she said he left her. about 2 weeks ago.  he left her with 3 kids. he left her with debt. and gambling debt.  i asked how she was holding up.  she seemed to be handling it much better than i would.  her kids are in therapy.  i found this image on with love & such the other day.  i'm dedicating it to her.

life, blog+etsy love

the week is going by fast but my days seem to be going in slo-mo.  is anyone else having that problem?

 yesterday i was suppose to stay in and clean. maybe. well, i stayed in but all i did was work on my craft room.  the no cleaning the house came and bit me in the butt later.   ham came home with some friends- yes, there were some girls too, and they were getting ready to build a fire in the fire pit.  boy was i embarrassed even though no one came inside.  i hid all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, even the stuff that's not suppose to be in there, did a quick wipe down on two of the bathrooms and had kaylee put away all of her stuff that was in the family room.  it looked presentable once i finished. and once i finished i saw everyone leaving. go figure! ham said he didn't want all those kids there and be too loud in our neighborhood. (we must live in a retirement community or something) there were only 5 kids when i was out there but once word got out, 15 more kids showed up. so they went to some other kids house to be all loud.  {i really wouldn't of minded, i want to be that hang-out house with me baking cookies and ordering pizza's}

this morning i found this  on a new- to- me blog {with love and such}.  ain't that the truth, some of the time?  and i'm waiting patiently for elizabeth bentz to fill her etsy shop with these.

     i love everything in her shop and plan on buying a butt-load of goodies.  just don't tell mike. {i kid. he doesn't mind.  it's just a game we play.}  ok, off to clean the house, for realz.

a sea swap

another swap hosted by the gypsy mermaid.  here is her information:

Hey chickadees! I got biten by that swap bug again! I am hosting a 20 person swap! Simple and chic. I will end the sign up date on June 9th. Find out the details about this magical swap here: http://gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/majestic-sea-swap.html

 

 

I hope to have you but dont wait only 20 peeps wil get to join in on the fun! Who ever joins I am going to host a giveaway at the end of the sign up date! So come on join in on the fun and spread the word!!! Big mermaid hugs

 

toodles-

Sarah

http://gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com

tuesdays 10

1.  happy that today is the last day of school.  i don't sleep in really late but just knowing that i don't have a set time to wake up is like sleeping in.

2.  sad that today is the last day of school.  just means 2 more years and ham is off to college and 1 more year kaylee starts kindergarten. *sniff* 

3.  i need a good kick in the ass, again.  seriously. i need an attitude adjustment.  i need to be nicer. to everyone. i need to share and to share gracefully.  good karma cant come in if  its not going out, right?

4.   i called buttface #1, the person who owes us money.  talked to him a bit.  he actually came through and brought us some cash.  not all of it but its a start.  {is calling someone a buttface nice?}

5.  while i'm trying to remain positive i cant help but worry that we will have to shell out some cash to buttface #2.  just remembering all that we had to go through and pay in order to get her moved in makes me nervous. {and i mean buttface in the nicest way. seriously}  

6.  please send good karma my way.

7.  today is a good day to stay inside and clean. maybe.

8.  got some time? must check out sundance catalog.  its been one of my favorite catalogs for years now.

9.  found a new magazine that i might have to subscribe too- food network.  picked up the june/july issue and i love it. love their recipe index page- photos of every recipe and everything is categorized into appetizers, salads, sides etc...

recipes look easy to do too and its got recipes from all my favorite tv chefs.

10.  on the way home from laporte saturday a familiar song came on the radio so i asked kaylee who sings it.  her reply with full confidence- "its Barack Obama".  i had to ask again to make sure i heard her right.  again, "Barack Obama."  mike and i busted out laughing.  it was kid rock singing all summer long.  ah that kaylee, she's a funny one.

better

via: simple song

ok. i'm done feeling sorry for myself.  made some phone calls, took a shower and realized that i still have it good.  the first image is the one with the jacket i've been looking for all morning.  its from jcrew capri photo shoot.  i've come close in finding it but it was either the wrong length, no split in the sleeves, not enough buttons or the collar was all wrong. i'm still searching.....

rambling fool

at this moment, i've got a number of emotions running through my little head.  i was awake at 1:45am this morning and decided to get out of bed at 5am and just surf the internet for awhile.  i was looking for a cute yellow jacket by jcrew and of course i cant find it anywhere!  went back to bed at 8:15am and just woke up a little bit ago.  kaylee, my dear little sweetie, woke up at 6:30 and went back to bed around 7ish and is still sleeping.

why all this rambling and mixed emotions?  well more drama pursued on friday.  as of right now, the only thing i can say is that we are being sued by the house buyer of our old house. yep, thought we were done with that bitch but here we are.  she thinks she's getting another penny from us she has another thing coming. she can take us to court all she wants but we will make sure she knows that if we win, she pays for all court costs including our lawyer fee.  and the other mixed emotion is from our old neighbor kid owing us money for his motorcycle.  found out he got another harley from his grandparents on top of it. instead of asking them for the money to pay off this loan, he suckered them into getting him another bike.  can i scream UGGGGGGGGGGG! on this thing?  hello?  anyone there?  good god i hope not because i am a rambling fool today who doesn't deal well with drama.