Eat Cake

I went to bed last night

(the same way I always do)

except this time,

 when I awoke,

I was

40.

For Real.

And the funny thing is

I am happy,

loved,

and so blessed.

Eat Cake today

and be happy!

Keeping it Real

My Dad always says,

 "You have to suffer to be beautiful,

and you are going to have to suffer a lot in your life!"

I don't want to suffer alone anymore....

I think that you all should suffer too!!!

*Insert evil laugh here*

This is the face of an

Un-Natural Blondie.

You are welcome to use this photo to scare the mice away from your garage or basement.

The Nielson Peeps!

We finally got our family pictures taken.

In our last picture we only had 4 kids.

I Know! Bad Lola!

Here we are!

Lola and Lego hair man.

Jessie, 15

Smith, 12

Macy, 9

Brig, 7

Tay, 6

and Danny, 3.

I love my little herd. 

I never really thought I'd have 6 kids,

but now I can't comprehend living without any of them!

Pictures by Amy Harrison Photography.

Amy was super to work with too.

Punishments

Why.
I, in and emotional moment today, told the kids that tomorrow we will be cleaning all day
and they can't have friends over,
or play on the computer..
or do anything else that might be fun.
And I am sure we will eat Non-sugar cereal for breakfast,
and have the off brand of Mac-N-Cheese for lunch.
And we will probably only get to watch PBS,
and listen to easy listening radio.
And I will not use fabric softener in the laundry so their towels will be scratchy
and I'll take a long hot shower before bed so that theirs will be luke warm.
Then I'll lick my lips before I kiss them goodnight...ew!

all because they said Mom
in that tone of voice
too many times today.

Why did I punish myself.

Crisis Averted

Dear Friends,
Do you remember last year when I thought I was turning 40,
and my sister commented on my blog to tell me that I was only turning 39? 
That was funny huh?

NO!  It wasn't!  It was the first time I realized that I was losing my mind.
ALREADY!

MID-LIFE had arrived, and I didn't even know it!

Crisis set in!

And I have taken full advantage of it!
All year long, whenever I have done something crazy, strange, or a little off..(frequently)

I have blamed it on my Midlife Crisis, and people seem to accept it.

It has been very empowering to do things that I have always wanted to do,

( but never dared, )

and fall back on this mid-life scape goat.

So, in the year before I turned 40 I-

-Bought jeans that are NOT "Mom" jeans.

-Worked on Building my dream business, and learned to allow myself to succeed, and more importantly- how to fail....and keep going.

-Dyed my hair, Bleached my hair.

-Fell in love with pretty shoes....bought them, and wore them!

-Loved my Family even more.

-Made new friends and finally met old friends.

- and 100 other equally important (yet much less interesting) things.

I'm NOT afraid of 40! 
I'm happy!
My life is very blessed, and I am VERY thankful!

Thanks to all of you that have become such a big part of my life.  Thanks for the laughs, encouragement, and your support through the hard times.
I love you!

A Brady at last!

via http://www.astronomy-pictures.net/cool_space_pictures.html

A long long time ago...In a galaxy far far away
I was a little girl, and I loved to watch The Brady Bunch.

Because I am the youngest of 3 girls ( I have 2 little brothers too)  I always imagined that I was Cindy Brady.

She was so cute with her little pig tails, and her Kitty Karry-all doll (remember her?)    She never got into trouble.  That was me!


When I got a little older I could relate a little better with Jan Brady.

Poor, tortured Jan. 

The goofy middle child that never got any attention because of her older sister Marcia.  MARCIA (say it like Seinfeld says, "Newman")  I even had the long blonde hair.  To this very day I still can't stand the chick that played Marcia.  (Blows a raspberry with tongue!)

Happily, I have grown up, and I dont' have time for such nonsence.
Why, I would never spen hours trying to compare myself to someone on TV? So silly!

 But...If I were to pick a TV Mom to be....

It wouldn't be Michelle Duggar.  I have long since forgotten the fine art of  Big Bangs. 

 I don't think I could wear Denim jumpers every day, and Jim Bob gives me the heebie jeebies.

I wouldn't Be Kate + 8.

                                       
That is some bad hair right there!  I know that I wouldn't have survived 6 kids that were all the same age, and I would have murdered John early in season one because of that stupid look he has on his face all of the time.

I thoughtfully considered being Mrs. Partridge.

 She has stylin' clothes, funky kids,

 and the worlds most AWESOME van.

  But...she also had Mr. Kincade. EW!

So, of course, I would be Mrs. Brady.

 Carol was the height of fashion.

  She had 6 kids but she also had Alice to do the cooking, the cleaning, and to say all of the funny lines.  Carol got to go to the amusement park, and Hawaii. 

She also got to wear pretty flowing nightgowns, and sleep in the lt blue master bedroom with the funky Cosmic wall paper.  

     Pretty sure I could be Carol

What do you think?

(Thanks, Happy Zombie!  Your Photoshop skills have me the woman I always wanted to be!)

A Dollah

It's Summer! 

(Photo that has nothing to do with this post, but isn't it cute? It is me meeting Happy Zombie and Pam Kitty Morning at market!  I love them!)

.....anyway, Summer! 

We started our Memorial weekend with a tooth pulling.

 Tay, my 6 year old, insisted!

 The tooth wasn't loose, but there was a tooth growing behind it (weird). 

I had tried pulling it with my super strong pincher fingers.

No go.

So Dad tied a string around it and tied the other end to the door knob. 

Smith (12) slammed the door and.....

the string broke!

EPIC tooth pulling FAIL!

They tied another string to the tooth.  Dad stood in the corner, holding Taylor securely in place. Smith slammed the door.

You could hear the tooth ricochet around the entry way.

Tay said "ow".

At 5 am the next morning, Memorial Day (a day for sleeping in) Taylor came running down the hall and into our bedroom,

"Dad, da toof fairy brought me a dollah!"

She really brought 2, but it's hard to count at the OH MY HOLY CRACK OF DAWN!

What did you do to kick off Summer?