Angry like Claire Huxtable

Does anyone remember when Claire Huxtable in the Cosby Show would get angry and just be able to immediately start ranting and raving in Spanish? I would really like to be able to just start yelling in Spanish every time I got angry. Why?

1. It would be awesome.

2. No one would know that I was calling them a poopface and I was going to throw Poptarts at their head.

3. I should have said that in Spanish, maybe I would have sounded a little less like a crazy person.

4. It would just feel better being able to say everything without hurting anyone's feelings.... unless they knew Spanish. There's a hole in my plan, but it's still a pretty good plan.

I'll be spending the rest of my night trying to find my high school Spanish books. Good night, buenos noches people.

Happy Friday!

Good morning and happy Friday! I just wanted to remind you to shoot over to a shared blog I'm contributing to with my friends Kate and Ginna. We'd love to have you!

http://threelittlearmywives.blogspot.com/

Funny Face

My friend Ash Hill told me that I didn't take a normal picture. I lost the argument, here's the evidence. To whom it may concern: I'm sorry if I've broken your camera.

My older brother is the sane one.

I dance better with my mouth wide open. Something about the aero..errrr...dynamics

My sweet friend Neely- why she puts up with me I'll never know

This one seems normal to me, is that weird?

I think this was my response when Grace told me that coffee had stunted my growth.

Have a great weekend everyone, don't take yourself too seriously and make some funny faces!

Wisdom from Grandma B

“The best way to ride a horse is the way it is going.”

– Grandma Bennett

My Grandma is a hilarious and strong woman. She is the mother of eight children. That’s right folks, eight children! Ocho, Ocht, Octo, Huit! She loves sweets, food, and wine. She loves to travel and take her family with her on those adventures. She has the driest sense of humor. She is so generous and has an indescribable amount of patience. This is a piece of wisdom that my Grandma has shared with us. I can’t help but think the horse is a metaphor for life. Sometimes it stinks, sometimes it is breathtakingly gorgeous, sometimes it makes your eyes blurry and itchy, and it’s always powerful. I’m not sure how many of you have ever been on a horse when it’s ready to run. If you try and force your way without being in harmony with the horse, you’re in for a very…very bumpy ride.

We grew up going to my grandparent’s farm most weekends. I spent a lot of time on a horse. There was one day that I wanted to go on a nice trot around the ring and let’s just say “Mulligan” (the horse) wanted to go a bit faster. As much as I dug my heels into its sides or pulled on the reigns, that horse was going to run. I was fighting it tooth and nail. The next thing I know I’m looking at the errr...undercarriage of ole Mulligan and my head and upper body are flailing around as if I was at a KISS concert. Mulligan finally stops after an ample amount of dirt, leaves, and manure have filled every orifice on my body. I slowly plop down onto the ground trying to catch my breath.

There was nothing scary about the horse wanting to go faster, I would have been safe. I had galloped before. And I definitely wouldn’t have been coughing up hay for the next week. Life will go faster or go down a different path that you might be wanting. Hear Grandma’s words, “The best way to ride a horse is the way it is going.”

Grandma with her 8 children... and horses...and dog. She was tired.

But not too tired to kick some tail in pool.

And definitely not too tired to be gorgeous!

A great weekend

We had a great weekend at Bald Head Island as Sam's sweet brother got married to an amazing girl. I'll write more about this later but just so you get an idea of how exhausted I am, Roy has decided to do his best impression of me.

Something is missing...

*Warning: not a male-friendly blog post*

I may or may not have reached a new level of scatter-brain on Tuesday. I had a lot on my mind and despite getting up early, having my coffee and some QT on the porch, getting dressed with plenty of time to spare… I forgot something.

I was walking across the parking lot to work and something felt different…off…. nonexistent. MY BRA! I FORGOT TO PUT MY BRA ON! MOTHER OF PEARL I FORGOT TO PUT MY BRA ON!

I was already late to work and had to leave right at 4 for a doctor’s appt so I knew I couldn’t run home and get it. I began thinking of all the ways I could construct a bra in the office: paperclips, duct tape, printer tape, you name it, I was trying to build-a-bra. (Parents-this is NOT the same fun game as build-a-bear)

So I walked around the office the rest of the day like an embarrassed 13-year old with her arms crossed across her chest. I was certain that no one would notice. Afterall, I’m not that well endowed. Well at around 1:30 I was taking the trash out and a dear coworker of mine decided to spark up a lovely conversation. Of course I was trying to maneuver the trash bag to hide my flippy-floppies while this coworker who will remain nameless (starts with an M and ends in -ary) says in front of a group of fellow workers, “Your boobs look saggy today.”

True Story. The end.

Epiphanies and Smores

This past weekend we went to the mountains for some hiking, fishing, sleeping, and oh yeah… smores, lots of smores. The weather was gorgeous and I felt like Fall was just tapping me on my shoulder the whole time. It was 65 degrees and everywhere I looked I was reminded of how beautiful our world can be.

On Sunday I got up before everyone and meandered around the house cleaning dishes and wiping everything down. I finished cleaning and no one stirring so I looked down at the dog and decided that he and I were going to go for a hike. I grabbed my two essentials; my phone and my coffee. I grabbed my phone in case I ran into Smokey the Bear on the trail and needed to send a picture message to the hubby so he’d believe that I could indeed outrun a bear. I grabbed my thermos of coffee because… well, Smokey would run away from me if he had to deal with me without my coffee.

We walked up to the top of the mountain just enjoying the scenery along the way. When we reached the top there was a bench overlooking the breathtaking horizon with too many mountains to count. I sat down and just soaked it all in. It was a bit cloudy out but I noticed there was a small patch of sun on one of the mountains. The entire mountain range was dark except this one bright spot of sun. I stared at that bright spot and thanked the Lord that even though our life can be full of darkness, He still can give us a bit of hope, a little bit of light to keep us going.

I sat and watched my dog run strategically through the grass making sure to spook up any birds along the way. It was one of those moments in life that made me realize how blessed I am. All of the darker things that were on my mind when I began my hike were replaced with the lighter things. I was grateful for so much. I was on top of a mountain, I had a healthy body to get me up to the top, and I had a belly full of smores from the night before… ok fine, I may have had one for breakfast as well. I looked out at the mountain range again and noticed that the light spot had taken over the entire mountain. There was no more darkness. I chuckled to myself because I felt like God and I just shared an inside joke.

So I hiked back down and rewarded myself with another smore.

Excuse the camera work, all I had was my camera phone!

When life hands you a barrel roll...

Yeah you heard me. When life hands you a barrel roll... you say YEE HAW!

I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life last Friday. There was an airshow that came through town over the weekend. The company that I work for was sponsoring it so a few of us got to go "ride in an airplane" on Friday. So we walk onto the air strip all bushy eyed and bright tailed... wait, I got that wrong. Anyways, we get to ride in the T6 WWII Aeroshell planes. We approach the pilots and I looked at their chest (get your mind out of the gutter). Right there on the right side of their uniform is a badge that says, "Aeroshell Aerobatics Team".

That's strange. Oh well, they must have earned that in boy scouts.

We introduce ourselves to the pilots and we crawl.. yes crawl... into our planes. Now, I grew up flying with my father in his biplane so I was not scared of this joyride. We took off, things were all as it should be. I was able to gaze down at the ground and really soak in the experience. I felt peace wash over me. Then over my little radio I hear the pilot say, "Hold on girl, the tricks are about to start."

I'm sorry, what now?

"The tricks, hold on."

The next thing I know the plane starts to nose dive towards the ground only to immediately pull back up and... wait for it.... FLIP UPSIDE DOWN!!!

I did not get the memo that we would be doing air tricks. We were flipping, doing log rolls around each other, the three planes were freakishly close, and every time I thought we were evenly leveled, we would do another flip or roll.

My brain hurt. I was unprepared but you know what, in the middle of that first flip I was given a choice. I could vomit... believe me it was an option, the sushi I had for lunch was a terrible idea. Or, I could yell YEE HAWWWW and enjoy every minute. I decided to holler YEEE HAWWW at the top of my lungs several times over. I was laughing hysterically because I thought we were going on a quiet little flight over my hometown when unbeknownst to me, I was a part of an aerobatics airshow. I loved it.

Life is that way. We can choose to roll with the punches and ride whatever crazy ride life has thrown at us OR we could live in fear of losing control. Lets embrace this lack of control shall we? When life hands you a barrel roll...

That's me!

September 11

Good afternoon friends, if you'd like to see my post on September 11, visit

http://threelittlearmywives.blogspot.com/

Gone for the weekend

I came into the living room one morning and this is what I saw. Roy was really committed to dreaming about basketball.

I'm headed out of town for the weekend for some R&R! But don't worry, you'll be on my mind.

Are we there yet?

A girlfriend and I were talking about how difficult it can be when you’re making a decision for your family. The difficult part is the communication and the infamous waiting process between you and your spouse. (I really wish I could have played scary music while you read waiting process).

Let’s just say that patience is a virtue I’m working towards… ok fine, daily. AM I PATIENT YET?! I digress, I heard the funniest thing the other day that my friend Andrea told me. We both almost bought a lifetime supply of Depends because we were laughing so hard we thought our bladders were conspiring against us. “Women are DSL while men are dial up.”

I’ll let you laugh a bit more.

I know, I’m sorry you can hear my cackling all the way from where you are.

It’s funny because it’s true! When I think I have the right answer for our decision or I have a desire on my heart, I’m ready to go! I’ve already made the list, planned the escape route, planned my outfit, and planned for spandex to wear during my escape route.

Meanwhile, hubby is taking his sweet time doing ridiculous things like praying about this said desire or decision. Hmmm.

I am a firm believer in communication in general, but especially between husband and wife. So, I of course, voiced my desire to sweet hubby. He listened. He heard me. He asked me to trust him.

24 Hours later…. I voice my desire to hubby again. He listened. He heard me. He asked me to trust him.

12 Hours later…. I thrice (is that a word?) voice my desire to hubby. He listened. He heard me. He gave me the stank eye and told me I needed to trust him.

I realized that while I say I’ll follow my hubby anywhere and I trust him completely, my actions were not a great depiction of my vow. I had to unclench my fists that I had tightened around my plan and my desires and let them go. I have to trust that he is leading our sweet, weird family consisting of a crazy woman and a hyper dog down the right path.

And let me tell you, a quick way to a miserable marriage is to think I can manipulate him into agreeing with me or that giving him the cold shoulder will make him agree with me. Of course I have never tried such terrible tactics, I’m just guessing. You believe me right?! Right!?

Plllleeeeaaaase agree with me!!!!!!

(this tactic is also a no-go... again, not that I've ever tried it)

Stress Relief

Did you know venting to a friend about a problem is a huge stress relief? It can be about something serious or why they decreased the size of my favorite pumpkin candy corn... ok the latter is my serious problem.

I vented to a friend today and immediately felt the stress slide away as she encouraged me and yelled, "I HATE THAT TOO!"

Vent. Even if you have to skype your sister or brother to do it. If that doesn't help... eat an incredibly small bag of pumpkin candy corn (I don't care what they say, anything less than a pound does me no good.)