Anniversary

Do you know my Blog anniversary came and went without any acknowledgement??? I started this blog February 19th of last year. I do not recall what prompted me to do so, on blogger that is. I started with a Myspace profile, and I started getting strange friend requests, so I tried to steer clear of it. I still have my profile there, but I seldom visit it.

You can read my first blog entry HERE.

My husband was very leery of the blog world, it's difficult for him to understand the concept of talking to strangers and giving them a peek into your personal life I guess. I love it though, and am completely addicted. I have met wonderful people, and always appreciate anyone who comes to visit!!

On that note, I really must go. I've been miserably sick for the last 2 days and right now I'm actually feeling a little normal, so I probably need to get some work done.

How I spent my Mardi Gras by Vajana

Last night we went to a Mardi Gras party at the good ol' Knights of Columbus.

I drank, ate, got Thousand Island dressing spilled on LP's pants by the waitress with no apology, drank some more, threw Velcro balls at the person to your left, drank bad wine (with ice in it, ew), caught my purse on fire on one of the candles on the table (completely got burnt up), took a shot of Green Apple pucker, danced to a SUCKY band (Note to band: Dude, "Refugee" by Tom Petty has never been, or ever will be, a dance tune), drank some more but did NOT have one of the vodka-soaked cherries, had some girl attempt to lick my chest, had a lengthy discussion on cock rings and dildos, and finished the night off beating two other ladies in arm wrestling.

And in poor blogging taste, for Hoss, I will ask, How did YOU celebrate Mardi Gras???

spfriday

spfriday
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

It is Friday again and I am able to play. Both my girls are sick at home so I have more time to get things done, like SPF! The categories this week are:

*Your favorite lamp

* Your nightstand drawer

* Good books you have read

And away we go.....

lamp

lamp
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

This is my favorite lamp. We do not have many lamps in our house, but with the remodeling we pretty much replaced every light fixture in the house. I will do yet another shameless plug right here for Lowe's, they kick ASS in the light fixture department. Gawd they really should start paying me for all this advertising.

drawer

drawer
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

You get the top drawer...NEVER the middle!!! I didn't even know what was in the top drawer...I'm always opening the middle!! (okay, nuf said)

So in the top drawer we have: the Tao te Ching and Paul Harvey. Both full of wisdom, g'day!

books

books
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

grr, I hope this doesn't show up sideways...well, great books would be anything from Tom Robbins. Jitterbug Perfume of course my all time favorite book, hands down.

As far as a current book I've read, I would say go check out "Time Traveler's Wife". Pretty good.

You can see these books have been re-read and re-read!!

ack

ack
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Okay, and lastly, is it not the coolest thing that my kindergardener came home with THIS on her graded paper? Bill the Cat! How excited would Bill be knowing he was the prize for knowing how to add numbers.

And if you are unfamiliar with Bill, he is, as Rug says, "a dirty Garfield". Couldn't have said it better myself.

I heart 80s icons

Circus Kelli's comment made me think about the dream I had the other night. She said she dreamt she had a relationship with John Stamos. I always thought he was a little too pretty myself, I was more of a C. Thomas Howell gal myself. (Hello? Soul Man?!?! Touched me.) And of course the Ricks, and I had a bout of Corey infatuation as well.

But I never, ever had it for Tom Cruise.

Oh, my friends were SO in love with him. Posters on their walls, "I LOVE TOM" on their folders, buttons, iron on transfers, the whole bit.

Not me.

Back then even, I knew he was a bit off. He just struck me as being, an alien I guess.

And look, I was right! He is an alien, at least according to John Travolta.

I had this dream that we were at the movies, and he and I had been dating for a few weeks, and I remember just feeling gushy about him, about how excited I was to be with him, that he was just the coolest thing since sliced bread. After the movie, his PARENTS picked us up to drive us home (which, even in dream state, I thought was a little kooky). He walked me to my door to give me a good night kiss, and he starts jumping up and down, "OKAY, I love you. I am so in love with you. I just love you!" Literally freaking me the hell out, even in my dream. I was so conflicted, being really excited because I was thoroughly attracted to him, but then he had to throw that Love word out there, which, in my real life, I don't say to anyone until I am absolutely sure about them, and just then POOF I woke up.

I guess it freaked the real Me out so much I had to get the subconscious Me the hell out of that situation.

But now, when I see pictures of him, I almost feel nostalgic for that one night we spent together that was so nice, and sweet, the night Tom Cruise loved me.

It could've been To-Jana, ya know. Or Jom. Or TomaJana.

Cruiseana?

I know he's been a good friend of mine

Last night I was curling Rug's hair, because they have no school today and she was bored. I was downstairs, and LP runs to the door and says, "Uh, you had better get up here, right away."

"Why?"

"Just, get up here."

Well, of course I immediately thought something was on the news that was bad, you know, something got bombed or something, and he didn't want to scare the girls. But when I walked into the den, THIS GUY is who I see, on our brand new big screen television, ALL in HIGH DEFINITION.

Oh, we watched the whole thing. It certainly made up for the insomnia the other night.

And even though LP continued to make 'witty' remarks throughout the program, I enjoyed every last Bop till you Drop moment of it.

Oooh, I knew we bought that TV for a good reason. Yowza!!!

It's on again tonight for an encore appearance, because well, you know, he's very popular with the HD crowd, I'm sure. (if you do have HD and can see this, seriously, look at his fan base. It's all soccer moms--seriously I saw maybe one guy in the whole audience.)

http://hd.net/op_concertseries.html

Insomnia

Mood: Frustrated.

Why? I can't fucking sleep that's why!! It is 4:00 in the morning and for NO reason at all I am awake, and running out of things to do. It is snowing outside, that usually makes for a restful sleep. No, not for me. Dammit.
Gawd. Maybe I'll download some pictures for you all to enjoy. That should take up a few more minutes before I go back and lay down and try to fall back to sleep!!

This is me in Central Park, NYC in 2003. This is the picture every man should look at before they get married, because THIS is the look they will get when their spouse is a wee bit frustrated with them that he hasn't taken the picture ALREADY. Geez!

Annnnd this is a picture of baby Jesus made entirely out of Legos. And I thought the same thing you are, that is why I took a picture of it.





This is Rug riding the Tilt A Whirl. Love her face.
Here is AL tapping her cleats for a select soccer team. I'm not sure why they do it, but I think it looks so...professional when they do it. Sigh...did I mention she had a 9 o'clock soccer game so I really need to GET to BED????

Remember

Four years ago today my grandpa died. I can't believe it's been that long. I am surprised sometimes at myself, because I will remember him in very odd moments. Last week, I was at the dentist, and they were watching the "Price Is Right" and it instantly made me think of him, but it didn't make me sad, it made me...well, it was a bittersweet memory. I know those moments are what it means when someone stays with you and lives on with you in your heart. So I'm not sad today, I am happy that I can think about all the fun times we had together. He would be embarrassed if there was any kind of fuss about him, that's how he was.

LP and I apparently have a new channel on our Dish programming called "Doc" which is a channel full of documentaries, and we came across a doc on Ray Davies, the lead singer from the Kinks. It was very interesting, and I gained a new respect for their music. He played a song that never became a huge hit in the U.S., but is so hauntingly beautiful it has been tattooed on my brain since I watched that:

"Days"

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I'm thinking of the days, I won't forget a single day, believe me.

I bless the light, I bless the light that lights on you believe me.
And though you're gone,
You're with me every single day, believe me.

Days I'll remember all my life,
Days when you can't see wrong from right.
You took my life,
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me,
But it's all right,
Now I'm not frightened of this world, believe me.

Sheesh! Isn't that just gorgeous? To be able to write a song like that. Wow.

And I stayed up last night to watch "Cold Mountain" and although I cringed at the fact that Nicole Kidman's makeup was flawless even when she was in the woods and her hair, although artsily tousled, was perfect, it was a pretty decent flick, and Renee Zellweger was fantastic in it, but above all, I have got me a new pretend boyfriend in Jude Law. My god that man is hot. How come this have never come to my attention?? Was I so blindsighted by David Beckham and Rick Springfield that I failed to jump on the bandwagon of what is called the Hotness of Jude Law??? I usually choose lesser known how guys to have crushes on (i.e., Wes Bentley, uh, yeah Rick Springfield isn't so much considered for People magazine anymore) but there is no way I can deny Jude's credibility. He is gorgeous.

Sorry, the Ricker has officially been replaced. *swoon*
















Dee-lish.

Forward march

Yesterday was an odd day. I felt alone in my giddiness on Valentine's Day, as pretty much everywhere I went, everyone else was telling me I should not be happy on this day, because it was a made up holiday. I even got some flack from relatives, saying they couldn't believe I'd actually been married 9 years, as they didn't think we would have made it past one!! (thanks for the vote of confidence!) Then I had to bring snacks to Al's V-day party...and do you remember how I somehow end up the brunt of some sort of odd occurrence or mishap?? Well it has happened again. (ah, that reminds me to tell of the rat story...got to do that!) Yesterday at the party, they made these Nerf-like Oriental Trading crafts that had a rubber band on the back and looked like shuttles (with a cute teddy bear attached of course). Well. One of the kids in her class thwoked his STRAIGHT at my EYEBALL. Full force. I literally saw stars, and realized he had knocked my contact lens out!! I couldn't see anything. I searched around the room, and on my clothes, and I went to the bathroom to see if it was caught in my eyelid (where it usually ends up), and it wasn't...so then I had another mom look and she found it in the other corner of my eyeball...yeah, it stung a little bit.

But after all that, I was able to drink a glass of wine and have dinner with LP, and can I just tell you, wine sometimes really, really takes the pain away. LP of course had the surf and turf, and I had a filet mignon I could barely finish.

I went home and watched "High School Musical" with my daughters (Cat! Have you seen this? It's all the rage at their school...show tunes galore!) and had a good laugh about it. Good times, good times.

Today I talked with one of my friends about getting a bunch of us together to go to Holiday World this summer!! Remember, this is the place we went last summer for a quick weekend getaway in August with the rough looking Santa. We are saving up $$ for next year's Las Vegas extravaganza (and hopefully Disney again) so this year will be low key, but I went to their website and they are building a new roller coaster, and it looks lotza fun!! How does this look for stomach-churning goodness!!! (from their website):
I expect a lot of screaming on that one. AAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEIIIII!!!!!!! Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Decade

Yep, 10 years ago today I walked into a bar not knowing my life was going to change. 10 years ago, I went to play darts with my friend. When we got to the dartboard, you and your roommate were there, playing darts, on 'our' dartboard.

10 years ago you and I were not at all interested in each other. But my friend and your friend were, so I followed you guys home.

After about a week of them seeing each other, and us having to tag along, we started to realize how much we had in common. And then you cooked me dinner! Tortellini, it was delicious. After that I knew you were a keeper.

10 years ago I had no idea what I was getting into. I just wanted to go out and have a good time. I didn't know I was going to get the best 10 years of my life.

9 years ago I married my best friend. Throughout everything, all the fights and all the stress, and all the turmoil, you still are my best friend. You make me laugh when I don't want to, and when I least expect to.

Now come here and give me some sugar, baby.

Love you, J

spfriday

spfriday
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Yay I participated this week! I am so happy. This week the categories are:

* Thing you LOVE about your home

* Thing you do NOT LOVE about your home

* Thing you LOVE about yourself

SPF LOVE

* Things I love about my Home.

Well now that we've remodeled the kitchen and pretty much every room in the house, I am loving just about everything about it. But mostly I love my den. It is so comfy and relaxing and exactly where you want to be to snuggle with your family. It's also the place to go when you have extended family over and they're all in the kitchen and you want to get away. All four of us fit on this at once, and we love it!!!



* Thing I do NOT love about my Home:


This is my basement. It is a nice basement. There is more to it obviously, the left door goes to the unfinished part, where we keep our weights and elliptical machines and all my love letters from 5th grade. But guess what is missing? A BATHROOM.
When we bought the house, I thought, feh, that's not too big of a deal, we can just run upstairs. Well, guess what. I did not count on how lazy I am. When you are involved in some serious DDR or air hockey game, who wants to stop to run up the stairs to pee? Not this lazy sucka!

I was also going to take a picture of our driveway, because it is on a hill, so my kids have nowhere to really play on concrete. The backyard is level, but you can't roller blade on grass. I went to take the picture, and there were all these damn BIRDS in my front yard. I started looking for a bald head walking by, and didn't see one so thought I was safe....







*Thing I LOVE about myself:

Always a tough one, because physically, there ain't much going. I do love my sense of humor, and my musical taste and random knowledge of trivia, but I also enjoy that I never take myself too seriously. I am very low maintenance, I enjoy a good laugh. I still get totally freaked out talking to strangers, but I really don't give a shit. Here is my Shit Ass Ho Motherfucker look:


This is me, of course in my sweats, sporting my glamourous Stay at Home 'do and my fancy Prada transcriptionist headphones. Do not mess with me. Word. Well, medical ones anyway.











And this is me, not taking myself seriously. At all.

Have a great weekend everyone. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!!!

(And give Mrtl some good mojo, she needs it! And I want a duck fart!!!!!!)

Almost Famous

First off, let me just clarify, The Ricker needs to pay for his past transgressions, if he was in fact, the pretend boyfriend of more than 3 of us here, then darnit he needs to pretend apologize. I will not continue pretending he was my boyfriend until he officially pretends to do that. Own it buddy.

Next, I did promise a list of the celebrity sightings/meetings I have had in my life. Yesterday was a bit hectic so I wasn't able to get to it, but it's here today.

(Quit staring at him, I know he is mesmerizing but seriously, pay attention.)

1. Circa 1981. Our family went on vacation, where, I cannot remember. All I do remember is that my dad was Mr. Griswold, he always mapped out our vacations to the last minute (and yes, I did inherit this trait from him). He knew, along the way, that Barbara Mandrell was playing at some concert in some field somewhere, so that was an absolute 'must stop' on the way to our destination. I remember a huge field and a stage, so it was an outdoor event, and my dad was saying something about it being way too crowded (if it's too much $$ or too many people, my dad is so outta there) so we were driving back OUT, when, while being stopped in traffic, Barbara Mandrell's bus drove by us, and she saw us and waved. Dad said that was good enough for him, and we drove outta there.

2. 1989. I went with my friend to Orlando with her and her parents one summer. (I will scan those pictures someday--my hair was HUGE) While we were standing in line for one of the rides at Universal, Jason Hervey, the older brother from the Wonder Years (and Pee Wee's Big Adventure star) was walking to lunch from shooting something on the studio lot. I instantly recognized him, yelled his name and took a picture. He waved at me. Woo hoo. He had a huge entourage, and was wearing Ray-Bans. Oh yes, he was very cool.

3. 1991. I have blogged about this before. I was at Lollapalooza, looking at jewelry at one of the stands, when I heard a voice behind me say, "Oh my gosh, should I act star struck?" and when I looked up, Eddie Vedder was checking out the same earrings I was!! He smiled at me, I MELTED, and he walked away to be whisked into a huge throng of people. Yes, I have kicked myself every day since for not at least saying hello. Oh I was so in love with him. Damn social anxiety disorder! DAMMIT!

4. 1994. Senior year in college, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Hootie and the Blowfish played at our college gymnasium. I am a very big Toad fan, and my friend was an usher, so I got to meet lead singer Glenn Phillips before the show. He was SO very nice and cool. I also noticed he wasn't wearing any shoes, and having been the janitor in that gym for 4 years, really wanted to suggest to him putting some socks on. After the concert, same friends and I followed the Hootie band members into their little trailer and hung out for a little while. I got the guitarists' autograph, and went back to my dorm because I was tired, but I know my friend hung out with them for a long time. About a month later "Hold my Hand" was a huge hit.

5. 2000-present: Well, I have also mentioned that Jason Isringhausen and I have the same pediatrician, but not every one knows who he is, so that's not too much of a sighting is it. Jim Edmonds cut me off in traffic before, does that count??

So you see, I have very little contact with celebrity. I wish I had more. I love to hear about them though, so if you have a great sighting/meeting, tell me about it!

And stop staring at The Ricker. He is MINE!!!

I've gotta get my feet back on the ground

Ah I could start today's post with a long whiny whine about how my car didn't start yesterday or how the toilet overflowed or how today someone asked me when my baby was due (granted, I had LP's sweatshirt on, but seriously.) But I will not, I will persevere.

Al is at home sick today, so she will miss one of her soccer games tonight. I will stay home with her cuz Rug's got one too, and since it's a blustery day, this would give me great reason to go ahead and make some brownies, but, as I mentioned, someone thinks I look preggers so apparently I need to shed some poundage. That, is a post for another day. I don't think I'm ready to discuss my poor body image with the Internet just yet thanks.

BUT, I am gonna warm you up for tomorrow's post.

I live in the Midwest, the lonely, farm abundant, Wurstmarkt having, trivia night playing, no sense of style Midwest. Therefore, the celebrities I meet aren't of A-list variety, they're more R and S-list. TV anchors, radio Djs and the like. (P.S. I found this litty ditty about my birthplace, sums it up pretty much!)

My celebrity sighting/meeting list is short. So tomorrow's post about my celebrity meetings won't elicit responses as, "Wow, she met him? So cool." No, it will be closer to the, "Heh, that's funny, she almost met him but was too damned shy to say anything. Dork." And I am OK with that. It's my life, and I love it.

Thursday night, I went to help decorate for the girls school's annual Teacher Luncheon. It was held at one of the churches, and we couldn't decorate until after 9 p.m. due to a 'prior function.' I walked in around 9, and there stood this, this GUY. I walked over to the table of my friends and sat down. One of them said, "Hey, do you remember Steve and Betsy from As the World Turns?"

Did I! The summers of 1982 and 1983 were spent at my friend Amy's house, swimming in her pool and ga-ga-ing over Brian Bloom on "As the World Turns." Are you kidding me? I thought Betsy was the most beautiful girl and Steve was sooooooo hot, he sizzled. He was almost my pretend boyfriend, but that spot was already taken by Sir Ricky Schroeder (and later Rick Springfield but that is another matter **inside tangent--I didn't realize I had such a thing for guys named Rick. Hmm**)

"Yeah, I remember him, why?"

"THAT IS HIM RIGHT THERE."

I turned around, and shore nuf, he was standing at the podium, signing autographs. He was there to speak, I guess he is on some tour talking about Hollywood and God and what not. Of COURSE I was too shy to go up to get his autograph, but I did grab a flyer on the way out.

See, some days, being a soccer mom pays off.

Stuff Portrait Fridays--Play, Play that Game Tonight

Now seriously, how great can a post be that starts out with Kansas, huh???

I was able to play SPF this week, I always feel like this is the only day I *might* get past 10 comments, so to feed my ego here it is....

* Games I play
*Our Family Games
* Our game

I love to play games, board games, video games, drinking games, trivia games, I am there. We have game nights with our friends at least once a month. It's a blast. The most fun we have is when we play the Newlywed game or Pictionary and come up with our own categories. Too much fun. Last time we played the Newlywed game the question was, "What would you get rid of first if your spouse died?" and one of my friends answered, "The evidence!!!" Ha!

Anyway...here's my pics:

* Game I play

I already told you about my obsession with DDR, and I have previously mentioned Gametap, which is what I am playing here. Back in 1982 I was the queen of Burgertime, so I am re-living the glory days. Here is yours truly defeating those walking pickles and eggs and hot dogs. Ew, what were we talking about? Hot dogs and pickles? What is this, a porno?






Here is my face after just being eaten by a pickle:

PEOPLE! Get your mind out of the gutter! I didn't say I was EATING the pickle...I just got EATEN by one. Geez. (and please do notice the stay at home hair, it serves me well yes?)












*Our family Games

We love us some games. We got "Scene It" for Christmas and although it is slow moving, it is fun (and I kicked LPs ass in it, woo hoo!). Yes, that's an Easy Bake Oven on the top shelf. My kids are past the Easy Bake Oven stage, but I can't bear to part with it. We also got the SNL edition of Trivial Pursuit and it is uber difficult. Do not attempt unless you worked as a producer on the show.














* OUR Game

Mexican train dominoes. Soooooo much fun. We have taught all of friends how to play, we even taught our parents how to play and now they play every Saturday night. I am pretty good, but LP is the master (OMG do not tell him I said that.). He counts the dominoes, he totally cheats. I have beaten him though. My friend Beth Ann who is very politically correct calls the game Ethnic Dominoes. She doesn't want to offend you know. I certainly think any Mexican individual would be proud to claim this as their own. It is certainly better than tequila, which has ruined many a marriage. Dominoes brings people TOGETHER.

Alright, there's my stuff. Girls have a half day of school today, so I will be out this afternoon but rest assured I will be going to check out everyone else's STUFF.

Thanks again to Kristine, who is the proud sponsor of SPF and I think the 2006 Winter Games too. Okay, maybe not. Anyway, go over there and check her games out too!

MIA

LP knows I blog, but has never made any menial reference to the possibility that he might READ my blog. So do you think when I post this picture he might mention something to me? We will see!!!

It is January, and January brings Janasayqua-quietness. It brings blah-ness. It brings the mopes. (Not Moops!) I have not had the desire nor TIME to blog or to read any blogs. I can't get my laundry done! Hopefully next week will be cheerier moods and more time to sit and blog!

Yesterday I went to the self-serve car wash and as I was vacuuming out tiny pieces of old McDonald toys, I heard a piercing scream...yes, OVER the sound of the loud, industrial type vacuum cleaner. It was Rug, and she was screaming, "I've GOT A BLOOD NOSE!" and of course blood is spurting out all over my van. Lovely. Guess what?? NO WIPES. NO KLEENEX. How on earth did I fail so miserably as a mother to not have those items in my car??? What was I? A Neanderthal? (Note to new moms out there...Wipes. Everywhere you are. Keep them on hand at ALL. Times.) So I finally found an antiseptic wipe in the First Aid kit, although it was not enough to clean up the entire mess, it got enough to stop her from wailing any more.

I pulled my car up into the wash area, and I started soaping up the car. I headed onto the driver side of the car and...as I start spraying the sliding minivan door...Al OPENS IT UP, and since it is automatic, I can't just grab it and slam it shut...and in a split second the inside of my car AND my daughter are soaking wet.

She gets out and starts crying, and I am LAUGHING because, well, it was pretty funny. I could have been really mad, but seriously, if you saw what a wet little sad puppy she was, you would have laughed too. I didn't want her to keep crying, so I tried to point out how funny it was, and once she got back into the car (first, I do not know WHY she got out, I guess it was wet, and second, yes, she has reached the age where it's "Oh. My. Gosh. I am. SO. Embarrassed.) she decided it was funny enough to laugh.

She had a soccer game last night (Beat select team 7-2 woo hoo! And Al scored a goal!) and she said, "Mom, please don't tell anyone about that. I will be so embarrassed."

After the game she said, "I told everyone. They all thought it was hilarious."

Anything for a laugh babe, anything for a laugh.