Where Has It All Gone?

I don't normally "do" sappy posts around here. I try to keep them light and funny and as tear-free as possible.

But as I thought about what I wanted to write about in my 2010 wrap-up post, I realized that I was getting emotional.

This year has completely changed my life. It has handed me ups and downs and kicked my ass every time I turned the corner.

This time last year I was very pregnant, and very sad. I had just lost my grandfather, and I wasn't sure how to handle that while I was nine months pregnant. His passing has made for a rough year. With each milestone that Baby Butterbean accomplished and each holiday that we celebrated, it broke my heart a little to know that Papa wasn't there to witness them. I missed him so much. But, as these things do, my heart lightened a little with each passing day. I came to believe that he was watching over Baby Butterbean, and beaming with pride every time she did something new. A couple of months ago, she began to talk more and babble less. She started to recognize and identify things by their name, or, in some cases, their made up name. She knew who momma was, and who daddy was, and who Gigi was. She knew who the cat was and who the dog was. She had even learned to point out the horse. We were playing in the floor one day when she looked up at me and said, "Papa." I asked her to repeat what she said, and again she said, "Papa." I like to believe that he was there with us that day, and that she knew it. I know that she couldn't ask for a better guardian angel than her Papa.

Papa and cousin Cason Thanksgiving 2009

But, 2010 wasn't a totally horrible year. Sure, I had to have emergency gallbladder surgery, despite not having insurance at the time. And the hubs was laid off, which led to me temporarily freaking out. And we had to move to Pundunk, TX and leave my beloved Austin behind. But, 2010 also gave me amazing friends. I met Baby Butterbean's Godmother of Badassness, Becky this year, as well as B, who has become one of my best friends. I also met some amazing local bloggers, as well as some insanely funny people on twitter. Like, Andy, Jen, and, my newest BFF, Julie. I had some of my favorite bloggers guest post for my birthday week, and I even got to guest post for other bloggers! 

2010 also gave my Bama boys a National Championship (Roll Tide!) and my Saints a Super Bowl win (Who Dat!?).

But, the best thing that 2010 gave me was my beautiful daughter. Baby Butterbean has changed my life in so many ways. I'm a different person than I was one year ago today. My views, beliefs and priorities have changed. Everything shifted when I heard her first tiny cry. When I held her in my arms and she looked at me for the first time, I knew that nothing would ever be the same. She became my life, right then and there.

My everything

The only bad thing is she has grown so fast. This year has flown by. One day she's my sweet baby girl, and then? The next thing you know, she's practically a toddler. It breaks my heart.

But as much as 2010 pushed against me, I pushed right back. I can honestly say I've grown more in this year than I ever have. I've learned more and experienced more than any year before. No matter how many bad cards 2010 handed me, it'll always be the best year ever.

Where am I?

I'm not here today, but I am somewhere. Wanna know where I am? I'm here today. So come on over and show a little love!

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Daily Truth

Today's daily truth: every girl needs a sassy gay friend. 

You are so welcome. Have a great weekend lovahs!!

If This Leads to Divorce, Steve Jobs is Footing the Bill

Remember a few days ago when I professed my love for iBooks? And I so casually mentioned that when I got my new iPhone, the hubs got one too?

Yeeeeaah, that? Was a huge mistake.

He has downloaded every irritating app that he could find. Want a farting app? He's got it. An app that has a guinea pig that repeats what you say? Yup, he's got that too. Shotgun? Check! Zippo Lighter? Most certainly. 

And every single app either makes noise or plays music. And mind you, apparently he doesn't know what "TURN THE DAMNED VOLUME DOWN YOU MORON!" means. I've been a little bitchy since he got it last week.

I just don't understand how a grown man of 28 turns into a boy of 10 every time he unlocks his phone!! 

And I'm not sure how long I can keep from throat punching him.

I mean, I get it, it's new, and exciting, and waaaaay better than his old P.O.S. phone, and he wants to find out all that it does, but why, oh why, oh WHY, must he irritate me in the process. He knows that I'm very easily agitated, so why would he push his luck!? For Heaven's sake, his breathing gets on my nerves sometimes, doesn't he know what a loud noise making machine will do!? Just turn the volume down, or plug in the ear buds, or go in the other room if you have to, just get away from me if you're going to play with your damned whoopee cushion app. Yeah, he's got that one too. I made such a good choice when I picked him to be my husband, didn't I?

Anyvajazzle, I'm trying my best not to lose my cool, because I know that this phase will pass. Maybe I should just plug in my ear buds and blast Florence and The Machine at full volume. Maybe that will drowned out the engine revs when he's playing Crash Kart Bandicoot.

How The Hell Do They Do It

Lately I've spent a lot of time thinking about this whole "unplugging" thing that everyone seems to do every now and then. Mostly because the hubs has been bitching about how much time I spend reading blogs and tweeting scanning the CNN website. He says we don't "spend any time together" and that I should "put down the laptop and watch Criminal Minds." Apparently sitting on opposite ends of the couch and silently watching tv is spending time together and if I have my nose stuck in the laptop I'm messing it up. Whatevs. He just doesn't get that I can blog, tweet, watch tv, eat hot wings, drink wine, and converse with him, all at the same time. I'm a mom, dude, I can multi-task like no one's business.

Anyvajazzle, like I said, it's really had me thinking about taking an hour or two a day and stepping away from anything technological. Just to, you know, re-group, or whatever.

And then? I realized I was talking all crazy and that I should probably see someone for that.

There's no way on God's green earth that I could do that. I would have withdraws after the first 30 minutes!! I mean, I could go a day or two without reading any blogs, but go without twitter? Not a snowball's chance in hell. My iphone is pretty much attached to my hand, and I'm checking twitter at least every 15 minutes. I have to stay in the know. I'm not 100% sure what I did before I twitter came into my life.

So, until scientists can find some way to filter tweets straight from the site into my brain, you can bet your ass that I won't be "unplugging" from it anytime soon!

Now I'm off to check twitter, I haven't refreshed it in seven minutes and I've probably missed some pretty important tweets! 

Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen

When we first moved to this podunk little Texas town, I surveyed the scenery and determined that this town was half white trash and half non-white trash. And oddly enough, everyone was sort of mingled in with everyone else. There were nice houses right next door to run down houses and no one seemed to mind. 

Mind you, I'm not used to this, so of course I turned up my nose at our neighbors who had bedsheets for curtains. I make no apologies for being a bitch sometimes.

Anyvajazzle, we have mainly kept to ourselves since moving here in April. We've only met one of our neighbors and she lives three houses down from us. And although I don't think I mean to, I've always felt a little superior to the other neighbors around us.

All of that changed this morning.

The hubs called about seven this morning and said he'd forgotten to feed the horses because he was running late, and would I mind running out and feeding them. I had just gotten out of the shower, so I was wearing pajama pants and an old fire school shirt of the hubs that had at least five holes in it, and had another old shirt wrapped around my head to dry my hair. Sexy, right? Since it was so early, I figured that our crackhead neighbors weren't up yet, so I'd just run out and feed really quick. Did I mention that I didn't have on a bra? 

I could tell that the wind was crazy wild outside, so i grabbed a cardigan out of the closet and ran out the door.

Oh, wait, I also pulled on cowboy boots and tucked my pajama pants into them. I'm so stylish.

After I'd been out there long enough to go into the shed, pour up the feed, and come back outside to grab the feed buckets, I got the feeling I was being watched. It was then that I realized that my crackhead neighbors were indeed awake, and were sitting on their back porch watching me. And they had guests.

I closed up the shed and ran back into the house as quickly as I could with my head down.

So much for feeling superior. I've spent the last half hour researching how to live my new white trash lifestyle. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be hanging out on my back porch with a Virginia Slim and a 40 oz while Baby Butterbean runs around in nothing but a diaper that's sagging down to her knees.

daily truth

and now for today's truth

you can be too old for side pony tails, tutus, and jelly shoes.

 but you can never be too old for popsicles, bike rides, and teddy bears.

happy tuesday loves!

thank you apple

y'all, i'm an addict.

my drug of choice?

ibooks.

let me back up a bit here, up until last week, i had a second generation iphone, and, even though i hated it most of the time, i couldn't live without it. ever since i downloaded my first song from itunes, i was hooked. there were times when we'd fight, and i'd think of leaving my beloved iphone for a blackberry (gasp!), but i'd always end up realizing that i'd never leave my it, even though it wouldn't update or do a backup.

and then? out came the iphone 4.

and oh man, i was in love.

but, then there was a problem. the hubs was in dire need of a new phone. his old piece of crap was pretty much shot. and to make matters worse, he wanted my new object of affection. do y'all know what that means? we were going to have to spend $400 on phones. which is pretty much a joke since we have baby butterbean. do y'all know how much butt cream and formula i could buy with 400 bucks!?

so, i cuddled up with my beloved second generation iphone and cried myself to sleep.

skip forward to last thursday.

i was cruising the twit, when i saw someone that i follow had retweeted something about best buy giving away iphones!! and i was all, "crazy tweep say whaaa!?" so, i click the link and it takes me to this seedy little blog that's talking about best buy giving away the 8 gig 3gs for free if you're a new at&t customer or if you're eligible for an upgrade. now, mind you, it wasn't the squeaky new white 16 gig iphone 4 that i wanted, but it was better than what i had, and it was still an iphone! so, come friday morning the hubs and i were both sportin new phones.

  now, since i wasn't able to do an update on my last iphone for about the last year and a half, i knew *nothing* about ibooks. i was completely oblivious to this wonderful little thing. so when i signed into the app store and my new shiny toy asked "do you want to download ibooks for free now?" i was all, "hells yeah!" and then i heard my bank card screaming from my wallet.

in the last 4 days i've downloaded 7 books. 7, y'all. i'm not even finished reading the first one and i've already downloaded 6 more. i think we're gonna have a problem.

anyvajazzle, i'm reading bitter is the new black right now and lemme tell ya, you need to read it! like, now. like, go to your nearest library, book store, target, something and pick it up, now! it's genius. pure genius! 

ok lovahs, hope all of you are having a wonderful tuesday! go buy the book. and download ibooks if you've got an iphone. your credit card will hate it, but you will love it!

e'erbody loves the green

i'm a leetle late to the game, but there is an ah-maz-zing giveaway (a $500 gift card!) going on over at fantabulously frugal right now.

bad news? it ends tonight! 

so i'm scooting in right under the wire, but at least i'm in there, right?

anyvajazzle, i'm supposed to write about my biggest purchase regret, so, we'll make this quick and easy. here goes:

my biggest purchase regret has to be the truck that i bought right after high school. 

my mom bought me a brand new car the summer before my senior year, but i decided i need a 13 year old pickup instead. 

after shelling out way too much money, i drove off with a loud, piece of crap that eventually become known as "the beast."

it held up for less than a year.

so what about y'all? what is your biggest purchase regret?

daily truth

no matter how old i am, i will always be my daddy's girl.

hope y'all are having a good wednesday!

hawt daddy

i know i said i was only going to post my daily truth, but then? i saw this. and this? made me drool. see for yourself:

that's twilight's cam gigandet and his daughter. apparently this was a while back, and as always, i'm late to the game, but i figure, it's never too late to swoon over a hottie.

anyvajazzle, the reason this is so hot is he's wearing his absolutely precious daughter. i've never, ever, ever, never seen a man wear their child, in fact, i don't know many women that do. most men i know think this isn't "manly" enough. pfft, whatevs. this makes cam a very hot dad in my eyes. i mean, he's hot on his own, but add an adorable little girl in a sling, and you've got yourself a bona fide stud. roawr. need further proof?

you can't deny it, hot dudes are even hotter when they're good dads. lawd have mercy.

so what do y'all think? what makes for a hot dad?

daily truth

i'm not feeling as productive today as i was yesterday, so i'm just banging out one post, but, at least i'm posting something right?

anyzajazzle, on to today's truth:

no matter how bad a day you're having, all your worries are forgotten, if only temporarily, with a good book, a warm fire, and a big cup of something warm. (hot chocolate in my case!)

happy tuesday loves, and don't forget to drop by this post and give me your ideas! 

daily truth

did you see the pigs fly by? well, you must have, seeing as how i'm posting twice in one day!

anyvajazzle, in my quest to make this blog into something more, i figured i'd start something new. i'm sure i'm not the first to think about it, but we'll just say that this was all my idea, 'kay?

i'll try to post a "daily truth" every day. i can't promise that i'll post everyday, because, come on, we all know i'm a busy woman. who likes to nap. and i'll probably forget every now and then. but the point is, that i will try. "a" for effort, right? ok, on to today's truth:

hope everyone has a great monday (ha!) and be sure and let me know what you want me to blog about!

smorgasbord

good news folks, the funk has been semi lifted. i'm still a little grinchie, but it seems that i've caught a little bit of the cheer.

i even woke up this morning thinking "i think we need more christmas lights on the house." so, either my mood is changing or the hubs is medicating me. either one will work.

take with good food and plenty of alcohol

anyvajazzle, i've been thinking a lot lately about where i wanna go with this blog. for the longest it's just been something that i use to throw random thoughts into the universe and get opinions on them. now, don't get me wrong, i love that idea. i love being able to ramble on about random things and getting y'alls input, but this blog just doesn't seem complete to me. there are so many things that i'm interested in writing about. i love fashion, and i'd love to write about what i'm currently loving. i also love to cook, like, loooooove love to cook, and i'd love to post recipes or pictures of food that i think is simply gorgeous. but, just the same as i don't want to strictly be a mommy blogger, i also don't want to be a fashion blogger, or a food blogger. 

the reason that i'm rambling on about this, is because i want to know what y'all think. i love every one of my readers, and i want y'all to find my blog interesting.

so, i'm asking y'all, what would YOU like me to write about? a little food here and there? a little dab of fashion occasionally? the wonders of justin bieber's hair? (seriously, he annoys the crap outta me, but how the hell does he keep his hair like that? and how does it stay so shiny!?) i wanna know what y'all are interested in. would y'all mind if my blog was one big smorgasbord? a mix and match of total randomness? or would you rather come here for one thing? like, to discuss just how hot ryan reynolds is?

why, yes ryan, i will marry you and have your babies!

i wanna know what my readers want. (besides more pictures of a shirtless ryan. roawr.) so, email me, leave a comment, send a carrier pigeon, something! just somehow let me know what y'all are interested in reading. because i'm ready to jump head first back into the blogging thing, and i really wanna know!

pictures via