two birthdays, one day

I guess January is the month... for double birthdays!

Today you turn 8, Nick. I remember my 8th birthday like it was yesterday...

I'm sure you hear this all the time, but I can't believe how fast you are growing up! you may be the youngest, but you are not a baby anymore... and you haven't been for a long time.



You bring so much spirit and life to our family, I can't imagine us without you...



You are so handsome and such a good boy. I pray that you will grow up into a good man and that you will learn to love Jesus the way that He loves you...



I hope that you're having a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa while they're down visiting :)

I love you very much Nick Bean!

Love,

the big 6-OH

Even as I write it, I"m wondering if it's acceptable for someone other than my mom to be referring to today as the...

big 6-OH.

hmmm... I'll get back to ya on that one.

As for the rest of this post, it's goin out to you, mom :) Happy Birthday

I have been saving these pictures for such a post as this for quite some time now. Remember when we went out for ice cream back in August and then sat on the porch to eat it? and i kept taking your picture... hahaha well here they are!



















Mom, I'm so privileged and glad to have you as my mom. I know that when you had me you could not have imagined that 24 years later we would still be living in the same house... i swear, i'm not a failure to launch :)

I'm so glad for the time i have with you, and the time that I will have in the coming years. I don't know what I would do without you...

I'd flounder around far more than any person should (more than i do already that is ;)

When I look at pictures like these, I realize that you will truly always be young... it doesn't matter how many years go by. you are young at heart, and it's such an inspiration to look at you and know I have someone to model my life after. Thank you for who you are and all you've become, Mom.

I love you!

random picture challenge

I wanted to join Brittany's random picture challenge last week, but I wasn't home all day and while I had my laptop, I am unable to keep files past the last 2 or 3 months as there are just too many! So today, I am at home with my external hard drive and am able to participate!

So, today's random picture is coming from November 2007, 44th picture.



ahhh... alicia. she's going to love me for posting this... maybe she'll never find out... doubtful

anyways, this was taken at mendon ponds last year and we took many goofy pictures that day. this one is relatively benign compared to the rest ha!

If you want to join, or see some other random pictures, go over to 4 little men and join up.

but officer, I swear, I was only going 79!

oh, if only that had been the case lol!

I sit here today to tell you the tale of what happened to me just the other day as I was on my way to a consult. I decided to cross from one main route to the other on this horrible road that is 35 the entire stretch, even though it's like a serious back road.

Just as I started out, a cop pulled out of the fire station and was behind me. Not because i had done anything wrong... yet.

I was going all of about 40 (in the 35 mind you) and the cop was tailing me. and i got nervous, because i have in fact had cops pass me in situations like that. this was my line of thinking (wrong as it may be) "maybe since he's TAIL-GATING me, he isn't concerned about the speed and has somewhere to go."

At this point, I eased up to 45, thinking very conciously, I will not go faster than this!

Well, dontcha know, his lights came on. I pulled over and instead of pulling up behind me, he pulled up next to me. he rolled down his window and said to me, "are you aware this is a 35 and not a 55."

I chose my words carefully so as not be come across as rude or anything and said yes, I'm sorry about that, i know i was going 45...

and with that, he says this, "well! i was on my way somewhere, but if you're going to argue with me like that, I'll just pull over and give you a ticket!" (feel free to insert an attitude in that tone of voice)

He came up to my window and asked for license/reg etc and I apologized saying that I was not trying to argue and I'm sorry that it came across disrespectful, that was not my intent.

He continued to speak with a raised voice at me and state that if i had just said ok, and chosen not to argue with him, he wouldn't even need to be standing here right now. But since I was looking for a fight, he was gonna make me pay the price (meaning the ticket)

He very rudely suggested that i "put my car in park" as I had forgotten to do so and was sitting there with just my foot on the brake...

It was about this point that I realized he was indeed about to write me a ticket. So I wanted to clarify what exactly he was writing it for. If he was claiming that I was going 55, I was not going to take that without a fight. So i asked sir, are you going to put 55 on the ticket? He stated YES.

I said, i'm sorry sir, I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative, but I have to disagree with that claim. I was going 45 at the most and I can't see how you could catch me going 55 since I just wasn't going that fast. (fyi, I'm pretty sure that 15 over in nys is a misdemeanor, so i woulda been in a wholelottatrouble for a 20 over ticket)

He said i was going 55 because he was going at least that to catch up to me. riiiiiiiight. and anyone who has any brains in their head knows that you have to go faster than the person in front of you to catch up. HELLO?!

Anyways, it was so odd. I could not for the life of me figure out why he was being so rude to me. I've personally found cops to be very formal and non-personal, but i felt very attacked. In fact, had i now known better, I would have probably gotten out of my car just so that I could stand up because he was making me feel so puny.

Finally, after a minute or two of exchange like this, where I am apologizing etc and him calling me argumentative and belligerent he decided not to give me a ticket but suggested that i DRIVE SAFE TODAY (in a very patronizing tone)

ugh. I wish i could look back on this post and say, "now amanda, really. you don't have to exagerrate in this way to get your point across"... but honestly, this is not an exagerration. He followed me for awhile before I finally turned into one of the school's to just get rid of him already having thought of a legit reason to go in there in case he wanted to follow me further.

I was thinking about this all day and wondering if maybe that cop never intended to give me a ticket to begin with. That the whole thing was a show to intimidate me? I wonder if cops use this kind of "warning tactic" to just scare people into driving safer without having to hassle with tickets and courts etc.

Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else?

25 random things

So, I've been tagged no less than 4 times for the same meme on facebook, so i decided I would do it... and then i decided to post it on here. Besides, i'm interested to see if i actually CAN come up with 25 things about me... and still keep it mildly interesting...

1. i hate (and when I say hate, i mean LOOOOOOOOOOOOAAATTHHHEEEE!) cold weather

2. i don't feel the need to use proper punctuation, or capitalization when emailing, blogging, or anything related to the internet. i will use commas if i want, and if i don't feel like it then gosh darn it, i won't

3. im a nanny and i very often think to myself that i do not want to have kids of my own... but then i'll be putting one of em to bed and as i lay down for a little cuddling, i realize that all the whining and annoying things they can do are totally erased with a little reminder of how precious they are... i will totally be having kids one day... maybe just not one day soon :)

4. we have propane space heaters in a few rooms in my house. so instead of cranking the thermostat, i shut myself in one of the rooms and turn on the heater. last night the final resting temperature before i left for my cold bedroom was 95 degrees

5. with that said, i was born for a tropical climate

6. i always wanted to be good at playing a musical instrument... turns out i'm not

7. i like things to be in order. and if they can't be in order, then it ends up being mass chaos. i'm trying to learn how to find a middle ground

8. i have 3 brothers, 2 sister-in-laws, 3 nieces, 4 nephews, 2 parents, and no more living grandparents

9. i love getting phone calls. even from people that call me all the time

10. I've been to 4 foreign countries in the last 2 years

11. i don't know how to drive a stick and i don't care to learn

12. I have had my hair many different colors over the years, but this is the first time i have liked a color enough to actually maintain it by doing my roots EVERY 4 WEEKS! ps i do it myself because going to a salon to get it done would be KUH-RAZYYY!

13. i love eating black olives straight out of the can14. same with garbanzo beans

15. when i was little, my mom didn't trust me with chapstick because i would eat it

16. i learned how to type with a typing program when i was little but never got any good at it until i got email when i was 13

17. i like photography. but only a little bit

18. my favorite color is the rainbow

19. i hate hannah montana. but i like miley cyrus

20. i always have wished that i could have traded places with my brothers and been born first so i would have baby brothers and sisters... but then i realize i would be like 38 and i'm ok with 24 right now...

21. i love stuff that has turtles on it. but i don't so much care for actual real live turtles

22. i want to learn more about middle eastern cultures, that part of the world fascinates me

23. i've never been one to shower everyday... and i probably never will

24. i love dvr's, they save SO much time. i feel like my tv watching is far more purposeful wen i can watch a pre-recorded show... no stupid commercials!

25. i think that i would secretly like to be an interior designer

you had your chance...

now it's time to vote! There are 4 names in the sidebar from the suggestions that I received in this post. I have a favorite, but i'm not telling what it is.

So go ahead and VOTE! Let me know what you think... my fishy is starting to have a complex about the no-name thing. At least it's started eating again...

13 years ago...

our family changed forever.

And although it happened sooner than we would have liked, the fact remains, today is their birthday.

The idea of having twins in our family was one of the most exciting things I could think of. The word twin simply defines the relationship between two people born on the same day. Little did I know that each of these two babies born that day would become so very unique and individual.



To think that they are 13 today makes me kinda freak out on the inside a little! I now have 2 teenage nieces and 1 teenage nephew... should I feel old? They are older than I was when they were born after all... :)

Raelynn, you are a sweetheart. I wish so much that I could see you more often, but the time we get together is more than I could ask for.



You are a beautiful girl with so many amazing talents inside of you. I pray that you will know God and let him help you as you go through the rest of your growing up years and beyond.



Robbie, I'm so thankful to have had you in my life for so many years. One of the best parts of becoming an aunt so young is getting to grow up with you :)



You are such a good boy and I can tell that you are growing up to be an amazing man. That's right! You have a heart of gold and that's hard to find. Don't ever forget how special you are to me and this family.



I love you both so much! I hope you have a wonderful birthday with all of your friends... now that the house is clean ;)

Love,

I am so special

I've never been one to claim super-powers or have esp. However, it's always been in the back of my mind... an uncanny ability i've never talked much about. I've been working on this gift for years and finally, i've perfected the art to a point where I am not ashamed to announce publicly that...

I am a Jedi Master.

Ok, well maybe not a master, but surely, a Jedi.

Let me explain.

Today, I went to lunch with Melissa and she ordered ahead of me. I have an extreme aversion to buying soda. Like, I never have been a big soda drinker, I will drink it every now and again, but i feel like it's such a waste of money. Especially when you can buy a 2 liter bottle for less than a "large" at most restaraunts.

But i was thirsty, and I am afraid I have a small caffeine addiction, but it's not like i have to have it every day or something. Every once in awhile I'm just like, man i need a mocha, or a latte... usually I don't want the soda form. But today, the thought of spending $5 on a gourmet coffee was not appealing, so I chose soda.

Being the soda cheapskate I am, I looked at Melissa's drink, which was a large, and hesitantly decided that I could go with just a small.

That's right, a small.

This is where it all begins. Remember I said that I hesitantly decided that i would like a small... Well, in that moment of hesitation, I jedi mind-tricked her.

She charged me for a small, I paid, and as she turned and reached for the small cup her hand eased around the stack and picked up a large.

Ohhhhhh!

and that my friends, is how I know that I am now a Jedi. booya!

name that fish

A couple weeks ago, Andy really wanted a fish. So they bought him a very pretty betta. Well, I loved the vase the fish now lives in so much that I decided I wanted one of my own.

Yesterday, I went out on a mission. Find a fish.

Buy everything that goes with a fish.

I found me some bamboo and a vase that I just loved, but I didn't buy any rocks because I knew that I had enough things like that at home that would work really well.

And when I got home, I dug out this:



This is the sand that I stole from the island of Hawaii like 6 years ago. That's right. We were at Waimea bay on the north shore and the sand was unlike any i'd ever seen before. It was fine, but at the same time as if each piece was it's own stone. Anyways, I loved it so much that I brought a bucket back to the house and then packed it in my suitcase in about 4 layered ziploc bags.

I have used some over the years, but sparingly as I had yet to find the perfect application. This was it! I just love the way it looks in the new fishy house.



Speaking of which, there he is! The new little guy. He's very pretty with that spikey tail thing goin on. And pictures don't really do the color justice. He's a beautiful iridescent blue-green.



So, now I have to come up with a name. But I don't wanna just name it for the heck of it. I have had a lot of fish in my life, and usually the names are just given without much thought.



I decided what I would do is pick out the names I like best (hopefully from some suggestions from you!) and put them all up on a poll to see who likes what.



So leave a comment with a prospective name for my new little fishy :)



I put him in there last night, and he hasn't moved from this spot... I kinda feel bad, cuz i don't know why he isn't moving around. He was very hungry yesterday when I got him home. I think he was being starved. Maybe even a case for fish malnutrition. I cut him off after 10 pieces of food, cuz honestly, enough was enough. I didn't want 'im to explode or something!

Hopefully tonight when I get home he will be a bit happier. I heard you can train bettas to do simple tricks... hmmmm... we'll see about that

Anyways, I wanna know what you think! Who does he look like to you?

what does the inside of a charge-port look like?

Just in case you've ever asked yourself that question, well this is the post for you.

I have the answer. Since I have indeed seen the inside of one. As of last night.

You see, the last several weeks, the battery on my beloved chocolate phone. I have had horrible luck with the chocolate family. I first lost the most beautiful white chocolate phone on a plane coming back from Brazil, which was replaced by the original chocolate. I am currently writing about my 6th replacement chocolate phone. They are junk, don't ever get one! (however, it's my favorite phone to date, still. I love the phone, if it only worked well!)



Day after day, the battery drains... and each day, the amount of time that takes gets shorter and shorter. I have been recharging a couple times a day up until the last 2 weeks. Where I have been recharging multiple times a day as I am no longer able to make a phone call lasting not even 10 minutes on a full charge before it dies.

Honestly, this was really ok. We are up for an upgrade on february 10th, so I figured just stick it out til then and I'll get a good deal on a new phone. However, there is another problem.

Last night I noticed that when I put the charger in the phone, it wasn't making contact and charging. Upon further inspection, I realized that the entire contact that is supposed to be inside the phone was actually attached to the charger and no longer in the phone. So I took it off and attempted to replace it inside the little port hole.

No dice. It still wasn't working. I kept messing with it and moving it around, until finally, I got it back in. But it was in too far. So now, not only does the battery not hold a charge, but I can't even charge it to get the short amount of life it does hold!

I called the store up today to see if they would let me upgrade sooner, but they said I would be forfeiting my $100 credit... so i decided to just wait til the 10th. Thankfully, my good friend Jim just got the new enV2 and had a spare phone which he is so kindly allowing me to use.



So now, I have a phone that works yay! and I am very excited about getting a new phone in a couple weeks. hmmmm... what should i get?