B8-I23-N35-G48-O72...BINGO!! BINGO!!

Tonight was a fun and interesting night. It was one I will never forget. The night I lost my Bingo Hall virginity. And it was epic.

My friend Cassandra & a new friend Amanda all went out to dinner, sans kiddos (hallelujah!), at Casa Mexicana where we indulged ourselves with fajitas & a couple of margaritas....EACH. They weren't those little wussy ones either so we were feeling p-r-etty giggly & excited going over to the bingo hall across the street.

Well, we walk in, are directed to where we needed to obtain our 'hard packs' (a.k.a. game sheet stacks) & our free Dauber (a.k.a. ink blotter) for being first-timers. Woo-hoo! We just arrived & already 'won' something!! Well, we got something for free...almost the same thing, right?! Anywho...we're happy and obnoxious to all of the people already present and enthralled in a (come to find out) somewhat serious game of Bingo. So, we are lucky enough to find seats by a sweet African-American woman by the name of Lovely, and that's exactly what she was.

She tutored us on the different games & helped us along on our first Bingo journey. She was a professional Bingo-er. She had 24 games going at the same time, while we were only playing a measly 6. Yet, she would still occasionally notice when one of us missed a number and was sweet enough to Dab our spots for us. Then, we quickly caught on and were on a roll. About 7 of 15 games in, Cassandra was lucky enough to win one. She was looking at the monitor & the next number comes up so that people like Lovely who play so many cards at once can stay a little ahead of the game. The announcer then announces the number on the screen & THEN it's okay to yell Bingo if you have it. Well, she was excited as she saw the last number she needed pop up on the screen & prematurely yelled it out. Lovely then sweetly put her hand on Cass' shoulder and said "you can't yell that yet..." as we all gave it a good giggle & our cheeks turned red. As soon as the announcer got "I-22" out, Cass took full advantage of her luck & yelled it out again with valor. We were so excited for her and couldn't stop giggling until the people finally stopped looking our direction. The 'money-man' came over and paid her her winnings. It was great, or at least that's what all 3 of us thought.

Turns out the veterans of this bingo hall had a different feeling & so did Lovely. Since Cassandra won on a little '1-game piece', we think Lovely got a little jealous that she hadn't won anything yet. She didn't talk anymore. She didn't help Dab anymore. And she overall was a bit more reserved & concentrated on her bazillion game sheets. Amanda & I kept our hopes up to maybe get lucky & win one, but to no avail. I think that satisfied Lovely a bit. It's unreal the amount of money some people will pay for these games in hopes of barely doubling their money. Nuts, people... just nuts! Well, we had a good time anyway. Next time we go, we'll know to carry ourselves with a cooler demeanor and not be so 'kid's first time to the ice cream shop' excited.

Overall, we had a great time & are now just a little more cultured. I guess we have to go back...my pink Dauber still has plenty of ink!! :)

p.s. I did get pictures, but I'm too tired to post them right now. And I think I might leave that up to Cassandra once I get them to her. She's good at that. :)

Word Vomit & Moose-heads

My goodness...where to start?! I guess we will begin with 'we have been busy', again. I promise I don't skip out on blogging because I don't care about ya'll, it's just that I'm lazy & tired & busy. Sometimes it's just more fun to just sit back & watch t.v. while holding your hubby's hand. We all know holding hands is hard while your typing, and if you haven't ever tried it, well, there's a lot of logistics & wrong letter-hitting that goes into it. On another note...

Hubs, K-bug, & I are all temporarily relocated to the Natural State. And if you're no longer familiar with useless 5th grade U.S. trivia, we're in Arkansas. We have rented a home from a single man who is in the Air Force & who came to AR from a tour in Alaska. He lives in a log cabin house which he calls the Moose Lodge & has filled it to the brim with dead-animal memorabilia of many different types. He has stuffed/mounted ducks, a HUGE moose-head, 3 bear skins & even duck wishbones hanging from his chandelier...OVER THE KITCHEN TABLE. Gross, much?! Well, the house is truly beautiful in it's own way. Not to say that a woman's touch wouldn't be accepted and appreciated. It is made of solid wood, has a wrap-around porch, 2 sweet Golden Retrievers (Aly & Rusty), & a very natural setting where we are surrounded by woods & cozily set back from the road & all other civilization. We have made ourselves pretty comfortable here & Kennady is LOVING the puppies. She barks ('ruf-ruf') regularly and randomly thoughout the day. While we have been here, we have played outside, gone to the park, gone to church, eaten sno-cones (K loves her Ice ('Ishe')), & gone shopping. It's been fun so far, but we have been told to visit the fresh market on the river & to visit The Wonder Place for kiddos before we leave, so we'll definitely have to find some time to fit those in.

And just to throw things off, I'm going to bullet the rest of this post:

*I have decided to focus on getting fit for summer so I ran on Saturday & did an Insanity workout today....I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a 'sore' day. But it felt good to get my butt off of the couch.

* I also laid out today in hopes of gaining a little bit of color in all of my extremities. My stomach & legs always have the hardest time getting tan, so I'm going to try my best to at least achieve a basic tan before the real summer hits. We'll see how that goes.

* There is a HUGE moose head dangling over my own head right now...kinda freaks me out a bit. Maybe I'll shift to the right on the couch just in case his 400 pound head decides to drop.

* Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there. Your stories & experiences as mothers has helped me many a time as we all go through very similar things & often need each other's help. You are all so good at being a mother and I hope your day was made special.

* Chad bought me a real Coach purse when he was in Las Vegas with his brother. I was really appreciative, but ended up sending it back for a couple of reasons. 1. It was the newest seasonal pink flowery one & I felt its design was a bit limiting for use. 2. I only carry fake ones so that I don't feel bad when I get it dirty, spill K's drink in it, let a yogurt raisin melt in the bottom of it, etc. 3. I never go anywhere or do anything WITHOUT Kennady, so there weren't many instances in which I thought I would get much use out of it. 4. I would never carry a real one with little miss sticky fingers/miss tear things up around. It would be a wasted investment in 3.0 seconds if she got a hold of it. 5. I want to use the money he spent to buy something I've wanted for a while now...a new camera. A nice one...one that captures things in motion & presents things in their true beauty. Any suggestions, throw 'em at me! And that's it for my 'for 3 very short days, I owned a real Coach purse' story. The end.

* In the past couple of nights, Chad & I have taken advantage of an early 'ny=ny' time for Kennady and have capitalized on it with cuddle-on-the-couch with a Redbox movie time. We saw Black Swan (kinda freaky, but interesting), Love & Other Drugs (cute love story, but lots of Anne Hathaway nakedness), & Casino Jack (which we barely got a 3rd of the way through before we returned it). It's been fun. Gotta love those $1 a night rentals...unless you're like us & drag it out for 4 or 5 days...but hey, they have to make their money off of somebody right?! Let it be us, I guess.

* It's bedtime. :) Ny- Ny.

'Eventful' is an Understatement

Whew!! What a whirlwind of events that have gone down in the past 2 weeks! We have been going-going-going since I last posted & we have had so much fun!

The first weekend, we were in Fort Worth in prep for the Warrior Dash. We had a group of 11 people competing together which was comprised of 9 girls and 2 boys. We all had a blast dressing up in our 80's garb & decided to start and complete the course as one unit, so it was a really good time. The Dash wasn't exactly what I had expected & was definitely not as intimidating as I had made it out to be, but it was really fun challenging myself with some new physical obstacles that I had never done before. Don't get me wrong, it was still challenging in it's own little ways, but I really didn't have any trouble getting through it. Maybe that says something for my hidden abilities to 'just get through it', because we all know I didn't train a lick for this thing (or that half-marathon we somehow survived). We got all kinds of dirty & smelled a little funny when we got back to the hotel, but it was a blast. We finished in 50 minutes, which isn't by any means a 'competitive time', but we enjoyed ourselves as we stuck together, went through the obstacles all together, & sang 80's jams at the top of our lungs while we ran. Some pretty awesome pics were taken, but I have yet to post them. Apologies. :)

From there, Kennady & I left for Orlando on Sunday & had a stinkin' blast with Nana & Pop-Pop. We did everything from playing at the park, to going to Downtown Disney, eating at a wine bar, petting puppies, swimming in their pool, & best of all, spending a whole day at the beautiful beach of St. Petersburg. It was too much fun. Kennady LOVED the waves & playing in the sand. Her biggest focus was attempting to push her new rainbow stroller into the ocean. She never made it all of the way because we stopped her, but she sure tried over and over and over. More precious pics can be seen here. We were there until Friday when we flew back & met up with Chad in Dallas.

From Dallas, we drove to San Angelo by way of Abilene to pick up a few Easter weekend essentials we had left behind. We spent the weekend with my family, playing Joker (our latest favorite family board game) & pitching washers, & celebrating Easter in full traditional style. We colored boiled eggs & dyed them hot pink, made Rice Krispie treats with M&M's, had an Easter picnic at the park, & found eggs in our Easter basket that the bunny left at the back door of Mimi & Paw-Paw's house. She had a blast and was really good at finding and shaking the eggs (to make sure there was something in it worth having, lol). Church was really good Sunday morning & Kennady actually behaved herself enough to remain in the sanctuary the whole time. I also found out that one of my best friends & her husband (whom I 'set up' some 5 years ago) are pregnant & I am so happy for them! Very. Good. Day.

Saturday night I said 'Happy Jesus' Resurrection Day' to my sister to which she quickly responded..."Thank God He Did!!" I know it's a cheesy joke & we were probably delirious as it was about 1:00am, but we thought it was HILARIOUS. I'll leave you with that & the statement that Our God is an Awesome God. Happy belated Easter everyone!

Mickey Mouse, please!

Last night my hubby spoke to his parents (who haven't seen Kennady in person since Christmas when unfortunately she was sick) & they all came to the realization that the 3 of us probably wouldn't be able to get to Florida until late August (because of Chad's upcoming J-school training in AR). So, after a quick phone conversation to see when they were available & a little bit of logistics talk, I bought a ticket for Kennady & I to visit Nana & Pop-Pop in Orlando this coming week. Chad will be with his brother in Las Vegas to celebrate Chris' college graduation & Chad's upcoming Master's graduation, so we will be playing with Mickey Mouse while hubs is gambling our savings away (jk...he better not!! :)).

Soooo, now I must wrap my brain around the idea of a crazy Warrior Dash weekend directly followed by a 6-day trip to the beautiful and fun state of Florida. I'm not gonna lie & say that I'm not nervous to tackle traveling with a 16-month-old by myself. All she wants to do these days is go (run) in every direction she's not supposed to. Keeping up with her while keeping up with a stroller & carry-on bags, etc. is already zapping me of energy just thinking about it & we are still 3 days from flying. Ha. My anxiety is so high that while at Wal-Mart today, I actually (for a very quick second) considered purchasing a leash for my child. You know, one of those leashes that they creatively mask with a soft & fluffy monkey or dog. They only add the plush animal so that the parents that buy them feel like they aren't treating their children like pets. I have seen children at the zoo with them on & they were being laughed at by other kids behind them. It was sad. Anyways, I didn't buy one, but I have to admit, the idea of her being 'attached' to me did make me feel a slight bit of relief.

Then, I snapped out of it & decided I'm a good enough parent to manage it all & control my baby at the same time. Please pray that we have safe & uneventful travels...& that she's a well-behaved little lady. Flights with a child on your lap are always challenging., so please, wish me luck!

Dash to become a Warrior

Hey everyone! As you might have assumed from my previous posts, I have been working out frivolously & getting my body prepped for what's going to prove to be a very treacherous & physically demanding experience this weekend, the Warrior Dash...MU-hahahah...I'm a liar. I haven't done a thing...except for my nightly 100 crunches prior to going to bed, but that's not going to help me at all when it comes to bear-crawling, rope climbing, tire trekking, haystack climbing or hiking. AHHHHH. I'm so nervous! Check this out...wouldn't YOU be?!

It's going to be a lot of fun though, or at least that's how I'm talking myself into competing/participating in such a crazy and challenging obstacle course. If I hadn't already paid & committed to a team, I would probably choose not to put myself through this. Ha. I think I am a little bit intimidated since I have seen some of the obstacles on their site, but I'm sure at the end when I'm jumping over the ring of fire, I'll be so happy that I participated & finished yet another physical challenge. Plus, even though we are competing as a group, we don't have to stick together the whole time, so if need be, Chad & I can go at our own pace and just finish the thing. That's the part I'm looking forward to...a nice run/obstacle course experience to share with my beloved hubby. Fun stuff.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that since costumes are highly encouraged at this event, our group has decided to go dressed in 80's attire...if anyone knows me, you would know that that's one of the best and most desired themes for this lady. It's going to be wild & so much fun. I haven't had a theme party in like 6 months which is far too long. :)

Well, that's all I have for now. Wish us luck & hopefully I don't die on this course. If I do, it's been nice, Blogger. :)

Daydreamin'

This is my 'goal picture' for this summer. This picture was taken in the Spring of 2005 at a 70's theme party in college (so much fun, by the way). When I'm working out or thinking back to my 'feelin' hot' days, I think of this picture. Rock hard abs, a slight tan, & a young & confident spirit to go with it. Those were the days that I would love to see again. And yes, MAYBE I was sucking in and flexing at the same time in this picture...but there's no reason to judge me. :) I guess I'll go continue to daydream my abdominals back into shape...Adios.

Bennie!...and the Jets

So sorry for this post being all one continuous paragraph...if anyone knows how to fix this when Blogger refuses to insert breaks, I would love to know! Thanks! This post is for anyone who saw American Idol on Wednesday night and has had Elton John's Bennie & the Jets in your head ever since like I have. Just like the famous scene on 27 Dresses where Katherine Heigl & James Marsden are making up and blurbing words to this song, I have found myself doing the same these past couple of days. So, just in case you are like me, Katherine, & James, I decided to post the lyrics to the song so we could all see how silly they really are: Hey Kids, shake it loose together The spotlight's hitting something That's been known to change the weather We'll kill the fatted calf tonight So stick around You're gonna hear electric music Solid walls of sound (Refrain) Say, Candy & Ronnie, have you seen them yet they're so spaced out, Bennie & the Jets Oh, but they're weird and their wonderful Oh, Bennie, she's really keen She's got electric boots, a mohair suit You know I read it in a magazine B-B-B-Bennie & the Jets Hey kids, plug into the faithless Maybe they're blinded But Bennie makes them ageless We shall survive, let us take ourselves along Where we fight Our parents out in the streets To find who's right and who's wrong (Refrain) I have realized after reading the words that I have been SOOOO off in what I say. Haha. If I didn't change it every time I hear the song, I would try to write my version down for you, but I just have no idea what I say. I'm great at the chorus, though those are often made up words too. Anyways, totally boring post, but NOW YOU (and I) KNOW. B-B-B-Bennie & the Jets (begin piano solo)...:)