Jon OR Kate Plus 8

First, I admit I am an avid watcher of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" ... I recommended the show to my friends and hooked Torrey on the fun. And, then came Monday's announcement. They were done. Not with the show. That would have been the right thing to do. No. They are done with the marriage. Ten years. Eight kids. I guess they didn't think there was reason enough to stay and fight.

And, the funny thing is, I knew it was coming. Blogs have been commenting. It has been on the news. Late night talk shows have been discussing it for weeks. You can't even check out at the grocery store because it is there. They have been everywhere. Except where they need to be. Fighting for their marriage.

It hasn't gotten past me that this was announced the week of our anniversary. Dean and I celebrate 17 years this Saturday. 17. It felt like not so much on Sunday. On Monday it felt like a big deal. On Monday it became something to be extremely proud of. On Monday it became something to brag about.

I told Dean last night I felt responsible for Jon & Kate splitting because I have watched the show. Maybe if we all stopped they would have taken out the cameras and they wouldn't be where they are today. Maybe 8 kiddos that we have come to love wouldn't be another statistic. Maybe.

Sometimes the price for having the latest and greatest or going on fantastic vacations is higher than you should have to pay. Jon and Kate kept saying they do everything for their kids (um, maybe that is the problem ... you need to do everything for each other first), but I am sure if you ask the kids they wouldn't have wanted this or anything else. They didn't need the Hawaii vacation, the big house, the toys, the cute clothes, the dogs, the play houses, the nannies ... all they needed were their parents. In love. Together. That is what they need. That is all they need.

And, so Jon and Kate, I say farewell. I can not watch anymore. I am done. I will enjoy my own life with my own family doing our same old same old boring things ... but, truly loving each other in the same old same old.

It may be a boring life, but it's our life. (I had to update to add that ... I woke up in the middle of the night with that on the tip of my tongue. I, of course, did not rush to the computer to write that down. Because sleep is important. And, my sleep is very important. Just ask my sisters.)

Wordless Wednesday

Do Not Take Torrey Shopping With You!

Because this is what will find its way in your cart ... Sour Patch Kids, Charleston Chews and tubes of balloony things that I used when I was a kid. Maybe I will leave her at home next time!

Why I Need a Gun ... Seriously

Our dogs have gotten it into their heads that they are "guard dogs" ... and their only job is to guard the house and backyard. Especially the backyard. We often joke that Zack even patrols the air space above the backyard ... nothing ... and I do mean nothing ... is allowed in "his" backyard.

I say that, but it goes without saying that they wouldn't know what to do with an intruder if they should happen upon one. Oh, yes they do. They would wag their tail and run over and wait for said intruder to pet them. Well, not Zoey ... she is shy. But, definitely Zack.

All that to say that we have been having a bit of a problem in our backyard. And, that problem started about two weeks ago with the arrival of one pesky duck. He seems to enjoy sitting on top of our fence. Our 8-foot fence. Which causes the dogs to completely lose it and bark like fools. We are good neighbors and really, really try to keep our dogs from barking, so we of course run outside to stop them ... and we do because we shoo away the duck. We are at our wit's end. Um, so are our neighbors.

Well, you can imagine our annoyance when we discovered this on top of our roof tonight ... Can you guess what they are? And, just as a hint .... they aren't chimney sweeps from "Mary Poppins" ... need a closer look?
Four. Four ducks. Four. Can you believe it? Dean said they were fine. But, I beg to differ. They are not sitting up there for a duck convention. They are up to no good. They know full well we can't get them down. Which is the reason why we need the gun. Because getting them would be easy because they are ...

"sitting ducks"! (I so wish I could do the drum thing you do when you say a really funny joke. You must know that I totally cracked myself up. It doesn't take much!)

Memorial Day 2009

I am aware that Memorial Day was almost a month ago. In a normal world I would have gotten these on my blog before the end of May. But, truthfully, I am just glad I got them up before the end of 2009!

Linda and Paul have the "summer holidays" (we get the winter ones ... you know the ones that require tons of cooking ... hmmm ... maybe we should invest in a pool after all! Seriously, I do love the winter holidays and all the cooking that comes with them and would probably fight Linda to the death to keep Thanksgiving and Christmas!) ... so we headed up to Pinehurst to spend the day.Paul was playing golf, so we spent the first part of the day waiting for him to get there because we were starving ... we thought about just cooking the burgers and hot dogs ourselves, but thought better of it.

While we waited, there were quite a few chips consumed and several pictures taken ... and, Torrey got in the pool.
Here is a cute picture of Torrey and Gram. Our girl is growing up ... sad but true.
Torrey and her new "cousin", Hattie. Hattie is a sheepdog and she probably weighs more than Torrey in this picture. She is cute ... but such a puppy!
Torrey has been waiting (not so patiently) to be able to swim with Hattie. Hattie has a big sister, Gussi, who does not like to swim at all. We have tried to throw her in one time too many and now Gussi steers clear of the pool! Hattie is quite the swimmer though.
Torrey enjoyed the pool. She made the mistake of proclaiming it was cold when she first got in ... which meant I was not getting in the water. I am a 90 degree water girl! Torrey did look pretty relaxed ... I became her pool boy and had to bring her a drink and snacks. She has water in one cup holder and carrot sticks in the other!
Just when we thought we would starve to death, Paul appeared! I don't even think we said "Hi" to him when he walked in, but rather, "start cooking!" No one can crunch a bun like Paul! Paul and Linda were in charge of most of the food ...
and I was in charge of the corn on the cob. I bought it from the farm stand with a little window cut out of each ear so you could see what was inside. Not a kernel was harmed in the cutting of the window. How in the world did they do that?!
Dean enjoyed playing with Linda's bug swatter for most of the day. It is electrified ... it was kind of gross to hear him get a little fly because it went "zzzzap"! And, just so you know, the bug swatter does not know if it is hitting a bug or a person ... I tried it with a cup to see if it would still zap even if it wasn't a bug (I almost smacked my leg ... good thing I used my brain!) and it gave the cup a pretty good zap. Maybe it would also work on intruders .... hmmm.
Guess who had a blast in pool? Not just Torrey ....
Dean did too! Thanks Linda and Paul for another great summer holiday! Can't wait until the 4th of July!

Success!

Do I really need to say more? She loves it! (And, thinks her parents are the best ... bonus!)

Since Torrey Has Been Gone for 5 Days ...

Torrey has been at camp for the last 5 days. Dean just left to bring her home. We sure have missed her ... but, we have been busy, busy, busy since she has been gone!

Torrey's room has been "yuck" for quite awhile. When we moved to Texas 3 years ago, we had her room painted blue ... not because it was her favorite color, but because it matched her bedding. And, I was still in charge of telling her what she did and did not like. Ahh, the good old days!

Torrey turned 12 and realized she had "signature colors" ... and they did not involve blue. At all. Which led to perhaps one of our biggest decorating disasters ... painting her room pink ... because pink and green are her signature colors. It was so bad, I never took a picture of her room ... no one needs to see that!

We knew we were going to repaint her room ... especially once we decided we weren't moving. (WHAT?! I forgot to tell you? That is it's own post ... ) Somehow I convinced Dean that it would ONLY be a couple of gallons of paint. HA!While we were in Florida, Jennifer and I visited a scrapbook store where I found this paper and knew right away that the colors would be perfect ... since it featured Torrey's "signature colors". I couldn't wait to show her ... and, was thrilled when she agreed.

Now, to find bedding ... for half of a millisecond I actually toyed with the idea of making it myself. I have been looking for something (anything!) pink and green for about a year and hadn't found anything I loved enough to bring to Torrey for final approval (oh how I miss the days of me actually being able to tell her what she likes!) And custom bedding is CRAZY expensive. As everything was falling into place I went back to this website and found this ...
(Insert the Hallelujah Chorus here.) The perfect bedding to go with her walls. Which are painted the perfect green. I wanted to cry when I brought the bedding up last night ... Where were you, perfect bedding, last year before the pink paint of the summer of 2008?!

Now, just so you know, the back wall was supposed to have a really cool harlequin pattern painted on it, but we quickly realized that instead of going up one shade to a darker paint we should have gone up 3 or 4 ... there wasn't enough of a contrast so we nixed the idea. It just may have sent Dean and I over the edge anyway!
Here is a close up of her perfect bedding. The perfect amount of pink. The perfect amount of green. Teenagery for Torrey. Grown uppy for Mommy. Perfect!
We have had these letters from Pottery Barn since Torrey was 4. I love anything with her name on it ... partly because her name is hard to find and partly because I love her name.
I found this desk at Target. It matched her other furniture and was the right size. So love the fact that Target has made it its mission to knock off Pottery Barn Kids! HA! (We have a little pink and white stool on order from Target.com ... it will go perfectly with the desk and her room.)
Even her closet got a face lift. Had to ... there was pink paint in there as well!
And, it appears that Daisy Mae enjoys her new home as well. Torrey and Dean came home with this mammoth cage about 2 months ago (I cried ... not because of the size, but because it meant the hamster was staying!) and it was so big it was sitting on her floor. Dean and I picked her up a little shelf while we were at Target ... it is the perfect size and it is able to hold her food and bedding.

So, I guess it cost more than a few gallons of paint ... because when we started this odyssey, Torrey had a twin-size bed. Somehow little girl wound up with a queen-sized bed (that is so so so comfortable!), new bedding, a new desk and a new shelf for the hamster I don't like. We still need to find a few pink thingys to finish out the room ... but, I think she is going to love it!

Which brings me to the reason Dean and I are the best parents EVER ... she has no clue she is coming home to a brand new bedroom. She knows she is getting a new bed and she knows we are going to paint her room and she knew about the bedding (had to get approval ... remember?!), but we told her we would do it when she goes on her Mission Trip to San Antonio next month. Can't wait to see the look on her face ... I will try to get a picture!

She's So Good ... Maybe Not

So, tonight Zoey was looking so adorable and I commented to Dean that she is such a good dog ... and, then he reminded me how "good" she is. Let's see ... she has eaten (EATEN!) my Pottery Barn rug in the dining room, she has peed and pooped on same rug, barked like a banshee at her own shadow, melted down at a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, eaten (EATEN!) the wall (oh, you read that correctly ... she has eaten more than one wall in our house ... right through the dry wall), she leaves her toys spread all over the house, she has chewed 3 electrical cords (she got shocked the last time ... and ruined a lamp in the process ... here's hoping a lesson has been learned!) and enjoys tormenting her brother by standing right beside him while he eats (and growls) ... oh, she is so good. So good. It's a good thing she is cute!

UPDATE: Our "good" dog was caught chewing our coffee table. She was sitting at our feet happily gnawing away. And, we couldn't be prouder. Not sure if she is all cavalier or part goat ... my vote is for part goat! Who knows what mischievous tomorrow will bring. Anyone want a dog/goat?!