The 5th Anniversary of my 33rd Birthday.

Today is the 5th Anniversary of my 33rd birthday.
33 is My number.... so I plan on staying 33.

Anyway...
One of the things the Man-of-My-Dreams and I do most years is attend the Texas Renaissance Festival.

A renaissance festival is a fabulous place to go if you enjoy to "people watch".
I love to people watch.
Especially when you get to see such... um... "colorful" characters.

You get to see kings and Queens.

Fairies making beautiful art with colorful sand in the dirt.

Happy people who you want to hug.

Studly Santa'ish Barbarians who make ladies weak in the knees and beg you to take their picture with them.

odd kinda spiky leathery guys who you do NOT want to hug.

Then there were these guys..
They put on a very funny show involving a mud pit.

This fella ate and then spit mud all over the place.
Ok... It doesn't sound that funny..
Trust me, it was!

Especially when THIS happened!

This other muddy fella ran into the crowd.
He vowed to find the biggest and toughest man in the crowd.
Guess who he chose??

Yep!
The Man-of-My-Dreams!

This was not exactly what I had in mind when I told him I wanted to go "people-watching" at the Renaissance Festival!

If there was ever a time I was thankful I had my camera handy,
This was it!

It was a great day.
I got to watch lots of people.
We got to eat lots of food.
And the Little-Foreman-in-Pink hitched a ride back to the truck.

We were all happy.

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Wife Swap Re-Run ALERT!

For those who asked to be told...

Our Wife Swap episode will re-run
This Friday (11/27/2009) at 2pm Eastern Time
On Lifetime TV.

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Just when I get used to my title and shiny crown, it's all being taken away!

The Man-of-My-Dreams has been home and off work for about 7 weeks.
During his time home, I have earned a new title...

"World's Greatest Slacker"

You should see my shiny crown and robe! It's awesome!

He wakes in the morning raring to go!
He's emptied the dishwasher and folded the clothes before I finish half of my coffee!

The toilets are clean, the hard water deposits have been scrubbed off the shower walls.
The tub has bright new caulk.

The closet is organized.
The dust bunnies are out from under the couch.

You've never seen such a purdy pile of perfectly split firewood!
He even cleaned out the fridge!

Now, don't get me wrong...
I want to do these things...
No, really..... I do.

But he doesn't give me a chance.
So what have I done while he is working up a sweat on his handsome manly brow?

Ive tried on all the clothes in the closet that didn't use to fit me.
I watched hundreds of Hot Air Balloons take flight.
I've colored my gray hairs.
I've Tweeted.
I've lost 46lbs.
I've kept the fire going outside and sat and watched it for hours.
I've painted my nails.
I started a new Blog.
I've cooked food.
I was banded.
I've gone to bed every night before 9pm.
I even took a nap or two.

Much to my dismay, I'm fixing to have to give up my title of the "World's Greatest Slacker"
Because....

He's going back to work!
In Mississippi!!
9 hours away!!

What am I gonna do?
What if I forgot how to wash clothes?
What if I forgot how to wash dishes?
What about the dust bunnies???

Who is gonna do all this stuff?
Do you KNOW how much work there is to do around here?!?!?

Oh...
Never mind...
The kids are all staying here....
whew...


Oh... that silly child labor law isn't still on the books.
... right? RIGHT??

... help!

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What Did She Do Now?

She looks a little too triumphant....
She looks a little too proud of herself...

Did she finally succeed in stealing her brothers Hot Wheels?
Did she gulp down the last precious gulps of my coffee?
Did she lock her Daddy out of the house?... again?
Did she snitch on her brother and get him in trouble?... again?

Maybe she turned off NASCAR and turned on Dora before she hid the remote from her Daddy?
Maybe she ate the last cookie from the cookie jar undetected?
Maybe she flushed the cat down the toilet?

Never-mind....
I don't think I even want to know!

I'll just let her experience this uninhibited moment of pure glee while I remain clueless.... again.

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It's The Little Things....

I mentioned last week that things have been pretty hectic around here.
I have found myself in quite the "funk".

When I find myself in a funk,
I grab my camera and take a walk...

It helps me to see the world around me from a different perspective.
It's amazing how much better it makes me feel!

Instead of a dormant for the winter, half-dead tree,
I see the contrast of the cool Fall against a beautiful blue sky.

I couldn't help but giggle at these silly buds who obviously don't know what time of year it is.

Who could walk by this fluffy & cuddly ball of fur without snuggling with him and smiling?

Even something as simple as leaves from my banana tree,
begin to look glorious, with that brilliant blue sky as their backdrop.

Then I heard this fella calling to me.

He made it possible for the Little-Foreman-in-Pink to become the envy of every other girl in her Kindergarten class.

Because she actually DID get a pony for her birthday.

After walking around the farm for awhile looking at it through a new set of eyes, I begin to notice the little things that I may have just walked by the day before.

Like this fiery-yellow fall leaf.

Oh, how I love Fall!

I'm envious of the fat barn cat who rolls up against the bottom of an Old Oak tree, soaking up his sun-beam.

What a life!

Even looking at something as mundane as the fire-wood pile.
The Man-of-My-Dreams and the boys worked so hard clearing, cutting, and splitting it for the winter.

Seeing a full wood pile makes me feel safe and secure and ready for anything.

I realize I don't have to wait for Thanksgiving to be thankful...

No matter how bad things seem,
I have everything I need, and more that I could ever want.

This guy tho?
Um....
He's got about another week to walk around the farm.
He'll be our guest of honor for Thanksgiving.

He better get to it!

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I Want That Wednesday!

It's been awhile since I did an "I Want That" post.
The Holidays are coming and I have found soo much cool stuff that I want!

I thought I'd share my "wants" with you....
you may find something to make your gift-giving list a little shorter.

Or.... something to ad to YOUR I want that list! :)

Lasagna Pan

How cool is THIS???
You can make three different lasagnas!
The Man-of-My-Dreams can have super-spicy sausage.
The Little-Foreman-in-Pink can have triple cheese.
I can have lots of Ricotta cheese.
etc etc etc...

The really cool thing is that each section is made to fit a standard lasagna noodle perfectly!
BRILLIANT!!

And......
It comes with it's own non-stick spatula that fits it perfectly!
Ooooooh I want one!! Or two.... Or Three!!!

And.. who says you have to use it just for Lasagna??
Can you say BROWNIES???
huh? right?
RIGHT???

I found it HERE

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If I don't find the snooze button for my internal alarm clock, I may have to shoot someone.

Yes, I know we all turned our clocks back over a week ago.
Yes, I know that people often have a hard time adjusting to the time change.
Yes, I know it messes with lots of peoples sleep patterns.

But... I also know that MOST people get over it!!

Me? Not so much.
The Little-Foreman-in-Pink? Not so much!
Guss the Pug? Not so much.
The Man-of-My-Dreams and workers #1 - #4?...
Sleeping like babies!! the JERKS!, darlings.

Each and every morning I find myself laying in bed with my eyes wide open at 4 am.
I try rolling over and squeezing my eyes shut, to no avail. I simply cannot go back to sleep.

If I ever did manage to drift back off,it would be short-lived because the darling Little-Foreman-in-Pink would be in my room at 5am looking for breakfast, or asking how to turn on the TV, Or telling me she is alone and wants to talk to me.

This means that I am ready to go to bed around 7pm each night.
This does NOT go over well with the My-Sleep-Pattern-Is-Not-Messed-Up members of the house.

I've tried staying up late to reset my clock.
That doesn't do anything except make me MORE tired!
I've tried going to bed at 7pm hoping the rest of the house can survive bedtime rituals without me.
That just makes the following morning MUCH more chaotic when we are looking for missing backpacks and lost socks before school.

The Man-of-My-Dreams tried his best to do the bedtime thing....
But Dads don't do it right! Sorry, fellas.... you simply are NOT Mom!

The lack of sleep has made me a tad bitchy cranky.
The lack of sleep has made me deal with stress with very little Grace.

And this week has been a Stressy Ball of stress-covered Stress!

Between the Man-of-My-Dreams being laid off from a job who promised him they would NOT be laying him off -- some pretty serious Stupid-Teenage-Boy stunts -- Army recruiters -- legal documents -- Police officers -- Recovering from Surgery -- school meetings -- class reunions-- bills that demand to be paid -- broken heater thermostats -- Jr High Bullies -- First heart-breaks -- NO DIET COKE -- a Pug who refuses to remain house-broken -- and car wrecks.
-Not to mention my inability to control when and where I decide to randomly inject a Capitol Letter into my Post!

- I consider anyone and everyone who has come within my reach Lucky to be alive!


So, my wonderful readers friends.... Bear with me while my posting has become a Jumbled mass of few and far between bunch of rambling nonsense words , tad sporadic.
(boy! does that sporadic word look spelled wrong or what?!? I looked it up and everything! ok nevermind... I really DO need more sleep ya know!)

Know that I will be back to normal.... Someday.... Maybe..... When the time changes again at least!

Love,
The Crazy Woman,
formerly known as - Dana (the Homesteading Housewife)

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I Wanna Try YOUR Recipes!

My cooking site www.CravingComfort.com has been kinda quiet this month due to my surgery and following liquid diet.

Things are getting back to normal in my kitchen, and the recipes are starting to flow once more..
But I'm looking for YOUR recipes!

Would you like to submit a recipe to be featured on Craving Comfort?
For all the details...
Take a look! www.CravingComfort.com

I can't wait to see what YOUR cookin!

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It ain't getting easier

When I had my first child,
The endless nights with no sleep as we went through colic were hard.
The sleep deprivation was hard.
The constant worry, wondering if I was doing everything right was hard.

As my children got older...
The teaching was hard.
The dealing with snarky attitudes was hard.
The worry as they gained some independence was hard.

Now that my oldest is 17, I am realizing that this parenting thing doesn't get any easier.
As a matter of fact, this newest challenge may be one of the hardest so far.

See this cute couple?

This is Worker #1 and his girlfriend of 2+ years "M".
They are young and in love.
They spend every waking minute together or at least thinking of each other.

They are adorable together.
They make a really sweet couple.
As his mother, I couldn't have hand picked a better girl to be his first love.

But today, they are both devastated.
You see...
Today "M" moved to Pennsylvania.
It was a very sudden change of events.
They found out Thursday afternoon that she would be leaving on Sunday.

It's been a very difficult few days, filled with sadness and tears, promises, and good-byes.
We are all sad and will miss "M" deeply.

But...
I am realizing that trying to comfort your child through his first heartbreak is one of the hardest things I have had to do as a parent thus far.

I miss the days when My magic kiss could make things all better.
I miss being able to "fix" things.
I miss the days when my love was enough to bring him joy.

When my mother told me things like, I wish it were me hurting and not you....
She meant it!
I would gladly have it be my heart broken than his.

I have no words to make him feel better.
My hug isn't enough.
Only time will help heal this wound.

This parenting thing stinks sometimes!

Add one more thing to the list of
"Things they didn't tell me when I had a baby!"

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