Flashback Friday-Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter Edition

October 29, 2010 By 10 Comments

October is a really rough month for me as my dad’s birthday is smack in the middle of it, so today I am taking a break for the dad stories to bring you a flashback from my days as a Navy wife.

I am pretty sure you all know, but if you don’t, my husband served six years in the Navy.

Which means I served six years as a Navy wife, which is no small feat.

Jeremy’s ship was gone more days than it was home and so the community of wives from his ship was something that was needed.

You become friends with people that in any other life you probably wouldn’t be friends with. These women are your lifeline. You knew that you could count on them no matter what because they got it, they understood, and they were always there.

When the ship was on one of its deployments, a group of us gals decided to have weekly dinners together to drink lots of wine let the kids play and have some laughs.

One particular dinner we were at my friend Sally’s* house for pasta night.

The jar of sauce was stubborn. We smacked it, ran it under hot water, tapped the top of it with a butter knife.

No matter what we did that stupid jar of sauce would not open.

All of the sudden a lightbulb went off and I asked Sally if she had a rubber husband.

All of the room just stopped and everyone looked at Sally.

Sally’s face was red. Her jaw had dropped. She started to stammer out words that we couldn’t quite understand.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity she said very sternly to me, “Heather, I just don’t see how that is any of your business and how this relates to this at all!” as she gestures to the whole kitchen filled with women.

I was shocked and I am sure that my jaw hit the floor, you know after I realized what she was talking about.

I happened to look down into the open drawer next to me and lo and behold…..the rubber husband!

I grabbed it out of the drawer, snatched the jar of sauce from another friend’s hand, opened the jar and proclaimed, “THIS is a rubber husband!” and walked out of the kitchen laughing so hard.

As I walked out of the room I heard a roar of laughter and poor Sally defending herself.

You learn lots of things when you are lumped together with people from all over the country, but none was ever as funny as learning that little tidbit of information.

P.S. This is a rubber husband
This is a Rubber Husband

*Sally’s name really wasn’t Sally, you had to know that when I put the * next to it…right?

Filed Under: flashback friday, laughing about my life, the navy days

Christmas Cards for Me and You Too!!!

October 27, 2010 By 2 Comments

I admit that I don’t faithfully send out Christmas cards each year. I try to get one sent out every couple of years so I don’t become black listed on some friends and families list because I really love getting all those cards in the mail.

The past couple of years we have sent out photo cards because it was just so much easier to go that route and my hope was that all my hard work wasn’t just going to get tossed in the recycling bin when the holidays were all said and done.

I have always had a couple of issues with sending photo cards though. One being my husband who had some very strong feelings about not sending out glossy photo cards like everyone else and Two being that even though I am a photographer, getting a great family photo of us is no small feat.

I finally got the husband on board by agreeing to send out a 5×7 card that was not glossy and so it wouldn’t look like “everybody else’s” card, I designed them myself.

They aren’t too bad, you can see them here and here.

But there are little things about them that bug me. Like the text the one year was a bit too small so the following year I made the text bigger only to have the husband complain that there was too much black space because the photos were too small.

In short I had pretty much decided against sending cards out this year.

Enter Shutterfly and their holiday cards.

When I was contacted to give a review of the cards, I wasn’t expecting to be impressed or wow’ed in anyway. I figured the choice would be easy and I would probably just settle because free cards are free cards.

I was totally wrong!

I was amazed at their selection. Along with having Christmas cards, they also have Hanukkah cards and even New Year’s cards!

Now I am not sure what card I am going to pick as we haven’t done our photo yet & it will need the husband’s seal of approval, but for now I am leaning towards these three.



I love that they don’t look like traditional photo cards and they are designed by designing professionals so everything will hopefully be up to my ratio crazed loving husbands standards.

But wait there is more!

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Filed Under: photography, the holidays are just around the corner

Twelve Weeks of Christmas-Travel Time

October 23, 2010 By 70 Comments

During the holidays we do seem to spend more time in the car than normal.

Those long trips to see the family that we don’t live so close to or just traveling places that we don’t normally go.

Having an organized vehicle will make those trips oh so much easier for this holiday season and beyond.

First make sure that you always have small, quiet things that you can do in the car with the kids. I used to get the shoe boxes from the dollar store and fill them up with things I thought each girl would like to play with. Also make sure these are new to them toys. Nothing is going to get the “I’m bored” quicker than toys that they play with all the time.

Also, invest in some headphones and a splitter for each child. That way if they are playing video games or watching a movie they can do with out you having to hear what they are doing. Trust me, they may seem very far off in that third row but when the movie starts blaring you will feel like they are watching it inside your head.

Batteries. Make sure you bring them. Because no matter how well the battery life is on that toy or game at home, when you hit the road and are in the middle of no where, they will run out. And they will run out quick.

Trash bags. Have lots of them. I like to make sure that I have some plastic bags available for the girls to throw stuff away. I always keep extras so that we can toss out the bags often.

Drinks and Snacks are a great thing to have in the car. It is cheaper in the long run and you won’t have to worry about the dreaded “I’m hungries” or the infamous “I’m thirstys.” My only hint here is to make sure that whatever it is is non staining and won’t make your kiddo hyper.

Plan your trip out so that you get to stop at least every couple hours to stretch out. You will be amazed at how much better everyone will be with each other if they just get 10-15 minutes of down time out of the car when traveling.

First aid kits are a must when traveling around town and on the road. You will be amazed at how often I have to replace the stuff in that little kit as my girls get at it whenever they need something. You don’t have to buy a kit, although this is pretty nice because you can replace as needed, but you can make up your own and keep it in a plastic container in the car.

And lastly always make sure that you are prepared for the emergency. Make sure your phones are charged, that you know the names of the highways you will be traveling on, and that you have an Emergency Road Assistance Kit.

What? You don’t have a kit? Well you are in luck. One lucky commenter will win this 42 piece AAA Roadside Emergency Kit

Product Features
Flashlight with batteries
Keep in your car
8 gauge heavy duty booster cable
Compact storage bag with handles
Most trusted name in travel

To enter just leave a comment with a travel tip or suggestion of your own and I will use random.org to draw a winner on Friday October 30th. That’s it!!

Good luck and Happy Traveling!!

Disclosure I was provided one Emergency Roadside Kit to giveaway on my blog.

Filed Under: 12 weeks of Christmas

Flashback Friday-No I certainly was not playing charades edition

October 21, 2010 By 5 Comments

Growing up I was a Girl Scout. Like my entire childhood was me being a Girl Scout & my mom being our scout leader.

Cookies….I sold them. Patches….I had them.

But this post isn’t about scouting or patches but about something I learned when our troop got first aid certified at the American Red Cross one Saturday morning.

One of the things that we learned was what the universal sign for choking is.

Do you know it?

Fast forward to the next day and a picnic at my parent’s friend’s house.

The parents were inside laughing, talking, drinking…you know things that parents do at these sorts of things.

The kids, and boy howdy was there a lot of us, were in the backyard. Running, playing, shoving chips into our pie holes…..you know doing what kids do at these sorts of things.

I was generally dorking around and eating chips when all of the sudden I couldn’t breathe.

I tried to ask for help, but no sound would come out.

I used that universal sign for choking but all the of the kids were so busy dorking around that no one was paying attention to me.

I decided since I was starting to get light headed that I should go into the kitchen where the adults were and let them know I was choking.

I walked into the kitchen and all of the adults stopped talking and looked at me.

“What do you need, Heather?” “Boy, she’s quieter than usual.” “What is she doing with her hands around her neck like that?” were all things that I heard from different adults.

“Wait!” my dad exclaimed, “I think she wants to play charades!”

Let me be clear in the fact that we had NEVER played charades in our house or anyone elses like ever

“Larry why is her face turning blue?” another person in the room asked.

“Holy shit! I think she is choking!!” someone else exclaimed.

In a matter of miliseconds my ten year old body was being flipped upside down as someone grabbed a hold of my ankles and my dad started feverishly whacking on my back while I tried to keep my head from hitting the kitchen floor.

In what seemed like an eternity, finally coughed up that chip.

“You know, Heather, if you were choking you really should have said something. Things could have turned for the worse pretty quick,” my dad told me after I was placed back on my feet.

“Dad, this is supposed to be the universal sign for choking. I did tell you,” I told him as I demonstrated the sign once more.

My dad chuckled, patted me on the back and asked me if I wanted some more chips which made all the adults in the room roar with laughter.

I left the room, totally pissed off that the lady at the American Red Cross and vowing to never play Charades.

Filed Under: flashback friday

Girls Night Out

October 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

While there was a brief break in the plague that was running a muck in my house I was contacted to see if I would like to preview the latest Katherine Heigl move “Life As We Know It” before it actually came to the theatres.

We hardly ever go to movies and since it seemed age appropriate for both of my girls (ages 12.5 and 15.5) and they both expressed an interest in seeing the movie, we decided to trek to the theatre that they were showing it at in our area.

We laughed.

We cried.

We laughed some more.

As far as movies go I can see us watching it again when it comes to DVD as it was that good.

The story line flowed well and both girls understood what was going on.

There was a sex scene but aside from the kissing most of it was implied and I felt comfortable with my twelve and a half year old watching it.

The movie dealt with some big issues that we talked about on the ride home, like where are we going to go if something should happen to you and dad.

It also brought up other issues with the girls, like how come she can have a bouncy house at her first birthday party and I haven’t had one at all.

But I think the biggest issue of all was that the girls didn’t get any popcorn. There was mention of it when I was contacted, but because we got there late (just in time to see the movie) I didn’t ask about the popcorn.

I would highly recommend going to see this movie. The tears you shed will be perfectly balanced with the laughs you enjoy.

So let me know have you seen it?

If so, let me know if you enjoyed it!

Disclosure

I was given complimentary passes to see Life As We Know It but the opinions that I have shared about this movie & the experience are completely my own.

Filed Under: fun things I get to do because I have a blog, girls night out

Overwhelmed

October 19, 2010 By 5 Comments

I know that when I last left you I claimed that the children were trying to kill me.

When they didn’t succeed in the typical sharing of the germ fashion, they conspired to bring back our wonderful friend Mono.

Because killing your mother with worrying is much more funner than colds, creeping crud in the lungs or the flu.

I can’t remember if I blogged about Giggles having it back in July and honestly I am too exhausted to check if I did.

But The Chicken then came down with it the day after my little sister’s wedding.

You know because doing this looked like a lot of fun….or something.

IMG_6697

IMG_6698

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Her fever was very high for nearly two weeks. I couldn’t leave her side.

Having a feverish, clingy twelve year old is not unlike having a colicky baby.

She was both

Then I decided to forget to refill my meds last week because subconsciously I must have thought I would enjoy an adventure.

Thankfully I remembered today after over a week of no meds.

Here’s hoping the roller coaster that is my brain lets me off soon.

So bear with me as I get back ‘into the game’ so to speak. It truly feels like I have been gone forever.

You all have been on my mind lots and I am thankful for each one of you.

So tell me, what have you been doing since I’ve been gone.

And just like that I have a Kelly Clarkson song stuck in my head, if it happens to you….I’m sorry

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Filed Under: a day in my life well really over two weeks, sick kids are no fun