In A Blink of an Eye... A Decade in Time

Tomorrow is a very special day for me. 

It marks a decade of being with the hubby!

It is so hard to believe that a whole TEN years has flashed before us and most days it seems like only yesterday we were chatting it up as friends and other days it seems like a life time.

We met at our work place and became instant friends. To be honest though I have always thought he was out of my league and there was now way he would desire a freshly divorced single mom of two.

After some time we finally became an offical couple and it things flowed naturally between us. We never had to force our relationship to blossom and that was just a relief to us both. 

Before we knew it he was moving in with me and my girls one article of clothing at a time and we never looked back.

Now I am not going to feed you a bunch of crap and tell you it was blissful the whole way through. We have had our fights, our arguments and our differences. Hell we have even broke up a few times. But what matters is that we never truly gave up on one another.

We have gone through many trials and triumphs together. We have faced deaths and have witnessed life being brought into the world. We have witnessed marriages and divorces and then we have gone through some things that normal couples starting off dont have to deal with. 

After 10 years together we can honestly say that we are so very blessed to be the parents to our three girls and to have not killed each other yet. ;) (JUST KIDDING) 

To be honest my life would not be the same without this man. I will always stand by and say he saved my life in so many ways. 

No he isn't perfect but neither am I. 

No we dont always get along but we always work it out.

Yes our lives can get stressful and we could take an easy way out but we choose not too.

We stick together and help each other through the rough patches.

We are a team.

Ant: Thank you for loving me and my girls. 

Thank you for the last 10 years.

Here is to the start of another 10 years! 

♡ ya babe! 

Tips and Tricks Thursday: My Top 10 MUST Have Items to Run My Life

Not only am I a mom of three, a wife, a business owner, a student a baby sitter, a freelancer through the news paper but I am also a full time overnight associate. Needless to say my life is a chaotic mess the majority of the time.

There are a few things that I MUST have in order to function and to feel somewhat control of my life. There is no special order of these things but needless to say they are things that are used on a daily bases.

Here is my list of must haves:

1: A Planner

I carry one with me at all times this is the one thing that keeps me straight on appointments, school functions, paper assignments, homework assignments due along with other things.

2: Cell Phones

Thank goodness for technology. I will be honest this is my life lone for so many reasons. This is the main communication source between my husband, kids, baby sitter, newspaper business and of course everyone else. With me being on a completely different schedule than the rest of the world it is to me one of the most important things I utilize.

3: A To Do List:

This was a habit I did daily when I was first working and for some reason I stopped doing it and boy let me tell you what I can see the difference. I think it is helpful to have the daily "goals" in writing for me to see. I am usually good about getting everything accomplished and then some when it is written down and in my face versus if I try to remember it all.

4:Calendars!

These bad boys are EVERYWHERE in my house. Since I work nights it is easy for me to loose a day or two or even a week at a time. With one located in each of the kids rooms, the kitchen, my desk, and on every phone, computer, and tablet in our home I have found it a life saver!

This is also a great way I can keep the hubby informed of appointments, birthdays and other important events that is happening for the month.

5: Coffee

Do I really need to say more about this?

 I usually wake up at noon to start my day after getting at the most 4 hours a day of sleep. I am usually good until about 9pm.

Then it is coffee time usually I run off to the best friends and spend a few minutes to catching up on the day we have had.

6: Red Bull Red Edition

I am not a huge energy drink fan but this is the only one that I can handle. I love the cranberry flavor and the fact that it is just enough to get me through the slump when I am dragging.

7: Chalk Board

 

I got this beauty for my birthday this month from my best friend in California and I am IN LOVE with it! This is perfect to remind the girlies of things they need to get done before school since they are home with the baby sitter. Since I have used this for them mornings have ran so much smoother for them and the baby sitter. So worth it!

 

8: Music

 

This is a daily must have for me. When I say daily I do mean at night. having music play keeps me steady at work and efficient. I LOVE all genres so it is helpful to be able to pick and choose they type for my mood.

 

9: My Hubby

 

 

No matter what me and him have faced in the last 10 years we have gotten through it. We have put each other through hell and yet we stay true to one another. He is one of my biggest supporters and though our time together is few and far between now days and our stress levels are at an all time high with everything that we are currently facing we are still able to be goofy together and at the end of it all we firmly believe we will conquer what is in front of us.

Our marriage is not perfect by no means, we fight, we argue. We do not always agree. We are COMPLETE opposites but this man has had my heart from the very beginning.

I believe we make a good team.

I know he will probably not read this but I will say that if he was not in my life I would not be able to do half of what I do.

Having the daily support is one thing that drives me to be a better woman, wife and friend to him. My other motivators and MSUT haves are...

 

 10: My Girls

Starting on March 9th 2002 at 3:01 am this became the reason I breathed in life. These three brats are a must in my life, yes they drive me bonkers, yes they are a lot to handle and yes they always keep me on my toes but I would be so very lost without them. They are the reason I am everything I listed in the beginning.

 

 

What is something that you a MUST have in order to function on a daily basis? Let us know!

 



Holy Candy Batman!

Aww Halloween the holiday that we love so much incorporating costumes, trick or treating, festivals and of course... Candy!

As a tradition my bestie and I have started putting candy bags together for all of "our" kids meaning. When I say started I mean I recently joined in with her to help and contribute since last year and when I say "our" kids we mean neighborhood(s) and our count this year was 24...

What can I say we have ALOT of ghouls and monsters in our lives. ;)

Last night during her jammie birthday party celebration we combined our wine night (it's weekly yes... dont judge us) and our candy bag prepping into one.

What we were thinking adding this all into a few short hours?  We havent figured that out but it was a success and the birthday girl had fun so thats all that matters. 

Anyways...

I was in charge of the bags and this is what I came up with. 

This was really simple and I will be honest I found EVERY material needed on clearance at my local Target. WIN!

I also recruited my kids to do the stickers ;) 

DDOUBLE WIN! 

Tracy and I have bought candy and goodies off and on for the last month for the candy bags and we ended up with this...

Yes you see that correctly a tote slam full! I cocouldn't lift it so it was drug clear across my house to the living room lol

We always seperate the candy and divide it evenly amounts the count of the year... my living room floor was a candy factory by the time we were finished.

The fun began as I counted and divided to make it even then handed it to Tracy to distribute... 

A little over an hour later we were finished! 

I honestly LOVE doing this for the kids every year. Honestly I love the whole process! The shopping the prepping the stuffing the decorating all of it. The best part you ask?

The smiles on thier faces and the bright look in thier eyes of excitment when they get them! 

Do you have a Halloween tradition? 

Tattooed Tuesday: The Ink of Love

8 years ago my hubby and I celebrated two years together with a special and permanent gift. 

We took the plunge and got a tattoo together. We decided to get each others initials on the left side of our necks. Completely on a whim! 

This was very frowned upon from our families but we were excited about them and loved our new ink!
STATS: 

Location: Screamers Tattoo located in Daleville,  Alabama. 

Artist: Dave

Shop: Open still but in new unknown location

Location of Tat: Left side of neck veins run closer to your heart. :) 

Pain scale for the Hubby: 2

Pain scale for myself: 2
Cost: $80 for both
Time in chair: 15-20 minutes each

THE STORY: 

The night we went to get our ink we sat down and decided to do each others initials to forever show our love and impact that eaxh other had in our lives.

We picked a simple script since my neck couldn't handle a BOLD one like the others that we had liked so much but we wanted one that was "unisexed".

I will be honest I was nervous to do something so bold (and we all know I am a rebel at heart) with something so life long and such a noticable place. 

All of my ink work up until this stage was where I was able to cover them up for work purposes and this one was in YOUR face! 

The agreement was I paid for his and he paid for mine BUT he had to go first. See I am not TOTALLY stupid. ;)

Having him go first was a mistake or a blessing depending on how you look at it because he messed with me the whole time! He made it out to seem like it was the worst tat ever and he has one on his stomach! (more on that one soon) The faces he made had me so scared that it was going to hurt and that I would whimp out and cry the whole 15 minutes it took to sit there. By the time I got to the the chair I will be honest I was scared shitless.

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised it didnt hurt as bad as my loving ass made it seem. ;) 

Saturday November 1st this loving ass of mine and myself will be celebrating a decade together. Our tats are now 8 years old and we love them as much as we did the moment we decided on them.

Was this a traditional gift? No of course not.

But we pride ourselves and are teaching our girls that it is ok to be different, odd and a little weird. Life would be so boring without people like that. We embrace our uniqueness and when it comes to our ink we are proud to be sporting it.

We do tease each other on what they will stand for if anything was to happen to our marriage and or our relationship and here is what we decided on:

AMJ: American Made Jackass

&

SDJ: Stupid Dumb Jackass

You HAVE to laugh in life ;) 

So what is the most untraditional gift you have received for a special occasion? Comment below...  

A Spooky Weekend

This weekend of the Halloween Spooky fun full fledged!

Since I am the worst procrastinator Thursday and Friday was the day I hunted down costumes and accessories for the ghouls in my live. 

I will NOT be doing that next year since the kids had to choose through a lack of choices and we ended up only buying one for Boo and the other two barrowed one or utilized stuff at home.

Saturday night our town hosted thier 9th annual Spook City event. We have gone to this event every year since moving here because it is a safe alternative to the traditional trick or treating (though we do that too). Our town gathers up small buisnesses, churches, politicians and other groups to set up booths and hand out candy to the thousands that flock to this 3 hour event. 

This year my bestie Tracy joined us with a friends little girl and we are so glad she joined us. 

Between Batman, Elsa, Anna, Ronald McDonald, and a TON of Star Wars characters the kids were thrilled with the meet and greets and the photo opts. They bounced in bouncy houses, gathered candy and smiled next to Chewbacca! 

We always look forward to this and the kids LOVE it! 

The ghouls at Spook City! 

Sunday afternoon the youngest girls had thier fall festival at thier school so we dressed up again and walked over for another two hours of halloweeen fun! 

We love events like this since it benefits the school directly.

We had two hours of games and candy, cake walks and  more.

Ready to go!

This is again another tradition we have continued to do since our move. 

Though this was at the new school the kids were thrilled and loved it. 

We still have so much more Halloween fun planned this week as we count down to the spooky night on Friday including: Ds middle school band dance, trick or treating, a Halloween party with friends and our Wine Night this week will be celebrating Tracys bday by having a jamma party and stuffing candy bags for all the mosters and ghouls that we hold near and dear to us! 

I will share with all of this with you guys! 

Hope you had an amazing weekend! 

A 3rd Year Celebration!

Today marks 3 years since we have made our move from Alabama to Arkansas.  So much has happened, so many news in our life's and so very many blessings. 

Here is a recap of our top 5 blogs from the last 3 years! 

5: Bubble Busting Brats

This blog I shared how much they have grown who my ring leader is and who will have this skill perfected before to mich longer.

4: Hidden Treasures

With a recent move and and older home we have some goodies that are hidden in our new old home! 

3: Tatted Tuesday: A Friendship Tat

With our new series in full swing we shared a small tat with a huge impact

2: Our BIG Announcement

We officially announce HUGE news for our family! 

1: New Year New Us

In this blog we all set our new years resolutions! 

There has been so much more that has happened in the last three years that these 5 are only a bread crumb! 

We have been so blessed with our move and our lives are Bette because of it. Though we are always secretly homesick we are 100% pleased about our move and looking forward to the rest of our lives here in the Natural State! 

Little Old Bag Lady D

I am sure she will hate me for this post for years to come but I just CAN'T help it.

My oldest is a little old bag lady! 

Seriously!!!

She carried not one or two but 5 bags! 

Count them with me...

1. Backpack

2. Lunch Box

3. Pencil pouch

4. Purse

and 

5. Clarinet...

I mind you this kid is less than 70 lbs and hauls all this mess with her. 

I dont know why she does it...

Or how for that matter but I have come to realize she is even known at the school for being the girl who carries all these bags! 

SMH...

what will I ever do with her...

And of course i forgot the book thats is ALWAYS embedded in her hands. 

If i was not there when she was born I would think she was born with it in her hand..n

Does your kid have a quirky habit?

Lets here it.

As for the weekend here we dont have huge plans as of yet. I of course will work but besides that I am hoping for some quality family time. :)