Pancake Fun...on a rainy Saturday morn...

Usually their daddy is the pancake master...but he was busy getting mom's oil changed...so it was up to mommy to save the day! The girl's love making pancakes...and although I'm not a huge fan of pancakes (I seriously have to be in the mood for them), I ate them! They were delish!!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Xmas party, Dec. 1999

A fun tradition at the Union Street house...some pretty awesome parties!!!!

FAKE IT!

Today I had my 5th suspicious freckle removed, in the past 2 years. It was on my neck, and it HURT when he removed it. I will find out in 2 weeks the results (gulp). Trust me when I say, my past experiences with the sun were bad ones. I thought that the tanner I was, the better I looked. Well, take it from this very fair-skinned Irish girl, who didn't tan easily, that I didn't care.

After HS, I made it my mission to make myself tan...and I eventually won. Tanned everyday...tanning beds were my friend. You'd occassionally find me up on top of my parent's roof top, just to be closer to the sun!!! Sure, I'd burn first...but eventually I would tan a nice golden color, which ironically I thought made me look healthy!

But let's skip back to my childhood where my parents didn't put sunscreen on me, until AFTER I burned...I can't tell you how many times I had sun poisoning on my body or my FACE.

Now I don't even BOTHER to tan...haven't been in a sun bed in YEARS. I prefer to fake it...spray on tan, of self tanners are now my friends. My body is nothing but freckles and moles! Not as bad as Lyndsie Lohan, but close enuff!

I found something interesting at my docs office today. He said even those who DO tan easily, are just as (if not more) susceptible to skin cancer. I know a girl who had beautiful skin, no freckles and tanned very easily...in her early 20's, she found out she had skin cancer. I was shocked because she didn't present to be a candidate. Almost like someone who never smokes gets lung cancer...they DO...so listen up and cover up. Skin cancer can come at any point in your life. I'm taking the extra precautions to get myself ck'd out every 6 mos (after Summer.) Have YOU?

Just Shoot Me....

I had to blog about a very embarrassing experience that happened to me last Friday. When I pulled up to my house, there was a County cop sitting next door at my neighbors house. I pulled into my garage and told Haylee to go grab the mail, as I got Ash out of the car...the cop came up to me and asked me a few questions about my neighbor - turns out her home alarm went off and she was not home. Anyway, after a few seconds of chit-chat, Haylee returns from grabbing the mail, and (again, if you don't know Haylee, she is VERY outgoing), she proceeds to say "HI" to the officer and exclaims "I got the mail..." as she holds up the Frederick's of Hollywood magazine...oh dear God, make it go away...why not just show him my underwear while you're at it!!!! I just wanted to DIE of embarrassement!!!! Hands-down, the most UNCOMFORTABLE moment to date! The officer gave a quick smile and nod to Haylee, and he walked away...suffice to say, he was speechless!

Fun Day Off...

Being a Holiday (Vet's Day), our bank had off, and so did the schools...so, I decided to make the most of our 'girl' time and have some fun. First agenda of the day, Haylee's 9:30am 2nd dose of the flu mist...but we get there and THEN they tell us "we ran out!".....grrrr...hello, do you know what a PHONE is people?? It would have been nice if you called and told me this before I came in?!? So, they 'might' have some in at 3:30pm today, so they will call...then off to Border's Books where the girls really enjoyed the kiddie section. They were so good, and I allowed them each 2 choices. Then off to Dunkin' Donuts for some good grub. Next stop, the park...but, on our way there, Haylee says her belly "REALLY" hurts...so, just to be safe, I came home. She is not feeling too well for now, so she's laying on the couch, and they are both watching a new Bratz movie. I could tell when she woke up today, she didn't seem herself, so I pray she is not getting some tummy bug!!!!

*side note-Haylee is feeling 100% better, I think the milk at DD was too much for her belly*

**side note 2-Haylee's doc called at 2pm, and said her mist meds were in, and so we were there by 2:30pm, and all is complete!**

G.N.O

A much needed girls' night out! So much stress over the week, it was a night to just forget about it all and have FUN! Great time!!...poor Kim felt the affects of the shots the next day...poor girl! Need to groome that girl for St. Pat's!!! LOL!

SMART!

I must say, this stuff IS GREAT!!! My kid's literally look forward to brushing at night and in the mornings now, just because they love this stuff!!! It's geared for kids, and they like that they get to squeeze the bottle until the fluid gets to desired line, pour it into the cup...then it's gargle and spit...and you should see any gunk they missed while brushing! They use it EVERY time, so we ran out fairly quickly...so, it's been 2 days and mommy's been slacking and hasn't bought a new bottle yet! Boy are those girls harsh on ME..."did you buy more wash yet?"...yes, they call it "wash"...it's 'RINSE' girls, not 'wash'." So TODAY, I promised I'd get it today...god help me if that Acme doesn't have it!!!! Ah, the price I pay for just a little extra protection!!! So worth it!

South Park funny...

OMG, I don't usually ever get into spoof's but I found this hilarious! (and no disprespect to you BO fans)*also, ignore the first and last advertisement vid, I couldn't seem to get rid of it*
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6199252

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Ryleigh and Haylee, Easter 2005

Ry and Haylee

Cutie Ryleigh

Oh to look at these pics and remember how young they were...just too cute!

My Funk...

Today I'm in a funk (more like this whole week!)...maybe it's the weather, the world crisis, my loss of $20K in my 401K, conflicts with loved ones...just simply put, I'm miserable! So, if you know me, everyone knows I love CHRISTMAS...my most favoritie time of the year! Hence the reason I braved a Nor'easter to get married late December...but it was still gorgeous! Anyway, when I'm in a bad mood, what better way to get me out is to listen to Christmas music. I heard 97.5 has started playing it...darn-darn, can't seem to access it on my car radio. OK, next best thing, get on line and go to B101, they have it on-line...DAMN it, Chase...they've BLOCKED that sort of 'access' as well...! It's just not the same to put on a CD...when it's on the radio, it just seems better. So what I thought was going to get me out of my funk, actually just added to my funk! Next best thing will be a glass of red wine when I go home I suppose! Gotta do whatcha' gotta do....:(

It COULD Happen to YOU...part II

Another sad and unfortunate incident happened about 10 years ago, and it involved a co-worker. Marcus was a little too pushy. He wouldn’t take NO for an answer! He worked in the payroll department, and I worked in HR. Back then we didn’t have on-line payments nor were we paperless. So every time I needed a check request, I had to go to HIM. It got to the point where he would see the check request was from ME, and then he’d cut the ck, and bring it up to my desk personally! Luckily word got out that this guy stalked me, and as soon as my co-workers would see him enter our floor, it was like a chain buzz from person to person to get me to HIDE in an empty office until he was gone!

That solved my work run-ins, but then I’d soon start seeing him at the bars I’d frequent…and he would always talk to me and ask if he could ‘give me a ride to work or home’ since he knew where I lived…ahhh! HOW did he know where I lived?? Eventually I’d see him at the bar and immediately turn around and exit the bar and go to another one! Well, he finally got the hint and moved onto his next work victim, Jen…but she blew the whistle on him and went to security about his stalk-like tactics…AND, she used MY NAME as a victim as well, to strengthen her own case! So, in walks security to my desk and drills me about Marcus. They told me he was getting fired but they needed ME to file a complaint against him. WHAT?! There was NO way I wanted to have anything to do with him getting fired! He wasn’t bothering me anymore!! But eventually security wore me out and I gave in. Gosh, I never wanted him to get FIRED! What ever happened to giving out WARNINGS??!

For weeks I was petrified to go anywhere, for fear of running into him. Surely he was told that I was one of the Narks resulting in getting him fired! What would he do to me? Would he freak out…stalk me even MORE to get revenge? YEARS passed and I never ran into him…until a couple weeks ago…at the grocery store, frozen foods aisle. I felt someone’s eyes on me, but I wouldn’t make eye contact. Then he approached me and I was caught off guard…he walked right up to me:
Marcus: “Maureen? Right..?”
Me: (Looking confused)….”Yes, do I know you?” (I felt that eerie feeling all over again)
Marcus: “YES…remember, I used to work at FUSA, payroll…until they fired me!” (he laughs…ME? I want to cry…)
Me: “Ohhhh, right….sorry to hear about that.” (hoping he has no idea I had anything to do with it)
Marcus: “I just want to say thanks…they told me you didn’t want me to be fired.”
Me: (gulp….speechless….I think my heart was in my throat! I’m thinking to myself, they said they wouldn’t tell him names?! WTF??)
AWKWARD SILENCE
Marcus walks away…he says “c’ya around”….and that was that!
I felt relieved, yet sort of freaked out…wait…he said “c’ya around”….why would I see him around?….is this guy really over it? Uhhhh, I’m just paranoid! So this blog as my witness…if anything happens to me people, you got this as proof…LOL!

Missing....

So, I go into Ashlee's room to ck-in as I usually do before I turn in for the night, and she is NOT in her bed...GASP! I go into Haylee's room...and, well, there she was, in Haylee's bed, both fast asleep...:) It's never happened before where they've wanted to share a room, let alone share a bed. But it's nice to see they can do it w/o killing each other!

Happy 7 Year Anniversary, Rob & Jody!!

At the "7 day countdown party" I hosted at my townhouse.

Quite possibly one of the most gorgeous days ever for a wedding...just beautiful and so much fun! Even the AFTER party at my mom's was a blast (just ask my hubs!) Me and Staci had such an experience getting our hair done...we told them we were not bridesmaids so don't do a fancy hair-do...but instead it turned into a disaster hair-do...they slicked so much hair goo in my hair I could have waxed 3 cars!!

Hope you guys enjoyed your day (yesterday)...sorry it's late...I'm getting forgetful in my old age!

Carving Pumpkins

This past Thursday, daddy and the girls carved thier pumpkin of the season...they were so proud!!

Sleepover fun!

Ash and Liam chill out!
A tuckered Ashlee zonks out at dinner...
The fun crafts







What a gorgeous Fall day for November...just perfect weather. Kids had fun with all their crafts (thx Aunt Staci!) And good ole' Raegan pulled her best bartending moves and made a kazillion different mixed drinks...then it was off to SHOTS of GM and a slew of other crazy shooters...we ate a ton, sat by the fire pit, and all spent the night!! No hangovers here!