Happy Birthday America!

RAGGED OLD FLAG






THE DRAMA MAMAS SALUTE YOU!

AMY AND LADY DI

Is this a Joke?

I am so NOT laughing.

Whew, it's Hot.

Apparently we moved to the surface of the sun. Can someone send me some ice water?

I am a little parched.

Tuesday Blog Party Here

Kristin's Custom Creations

Need or WANT a Mother's Day gift?

I have the perfect site of you. Oh boy do I!

Check it out and then if you are a MAN go get something for your wife! If you are a WOMAN go TELL your husbands what you want because if they are anything like MR. Man they are just waiting for you to DO just that. Trust me.

Go check out her blog as well. You won't be disappointed.

While your are at it and if you are feeling lucky go over to my bloggy friend Amy's and enter her giveway. Click here. I will let her tell you all the details.

A Poem

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this........

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy" But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.....and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy....and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away......because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But.....if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things.....

about Holland.

It's Spring and Music Monday

Happy Spring from the Drama Mama's to you! We hope it brings you much happiness and new beginnings.

I (Amy) for one am looking forward to what I hope spring has to offer. I am ready - How about you? Are you doing anything fun for Spring Break? The school here doesn't take a lot of time so I have no idea what we are going to do.

I am visiting all our followers this week and while cruising I found this: Music Monday over at Keeping Up With the Kelly's. So fun. This weeks theme is H.S. days. Originally I, before I went to the Tara's (the hosts) sight, I looked up Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter because for some odd reason it takes me back to my Senior year, 1996. But when I clicked on Tara's page she had posted it. So funny. So instead I picked a song that is both relevant to me and Lady Di because No Doubt was Lady Di's most favorite band back then and she introduced them to me. So it is perfect. Here you go:

Yuck

*Shiver - Cough - Sniffle, Sniffle - blow nose* ** repeat**

This Drama Mama has caught the FLU! and it was my birthday yesterday. I think I am going to cry right after I spray my entire house with Lysol.

So I ask...............

What do you do when you are sick? Do you turn on a movie for the kids while you sleep? Do you just say screw it and let them run feral and hope they don't burn down the house? Do you suck it up and just grin through the pain while making them waffles, bacon and eggs and play play -doh?

I have a HEADache (amongst other things)

See this shovel?

WE had WORDS! Then there was a little BRAWL and the shovel won. It knocked me out for a second but I am back to my senses, a little wounded and embarrassed but THERE will be another round and I will WIN!

I hope to high heaven no one was watching except for the heavens themselves and I hope their view was obscured by the clouds. I am positive someone was watching and got a great LAUGH. The kind of laugh that will hit them even days after when they pass my house.

See I have some OCD tendencies and my driveway was driving me CRAZY. I couldn't stand it any longer. The SNOW, the ICE it was bad. The HUBS and I just are not used to this whole snow thing and let it get out of control. So yesterday the weather had warmed up a bit and I thought what the heck I will go out and try to clear my driveway. Well - once I got started I wasn't about to give up. It was coming OFF. I started at 10:00, took a couple of breaks to make lunch, pick up kids, etc. and around 3:30 my driveway was looking pretty nice.

You have to picture this: Me the Arizonan in tennis shoes, yoga pants, a light sweatshirt, snow shovel, a hammer, a tea pot and soup pot. A tea pot and soup pot, you ask? HOT WATER of course. What I was determined and some spots were stubborn.

Anyhow now that you have a clear picture. There I was on the last few spots, using all my might to get some stubborn FROZEN ice. I was kicking the shovel with the bottom of my foot when WHAP!! It (the shovel) took its first punch. Honestly I am not even sure what the heck I did, seriously I blacked out for a split second, but I am pretty sure that my foot came down on it wrong and flipped the shovel handle up and it got me right in my neck/jaw. HARD! I gasped grabbed my throat and started walking towards the house. I cried. I cursed the stupid shovel, the snow, my house. EVERYTHING. Somewhere in all this I also go a fat lip. I think that when I kind of blacked out the shovel came back for another hit and got my lip. Stupid shovel.

I look like I got in a pretty bad scuffle. The bruising, the swelling - its ugly. I am going to think of a great story to tell people, not that I got attacked by a snow shovel.

However THIS made me feel a tad bit better. If your having a bad day it will make you feel better too.

O Where is She?

Here is a random thought:

Where o WHERE is my best good friend Lady Di?

Did she go to the Zoo,

kiss a Giraffe

and catch the flu?

Did she go to Sea World

scare a whale

and go to jail?

Where o WHERE is our Lady Di?

Perhaps she stopped off at the Wild Animal Park,

stayed after dark,

got eaten by a lion

named Ryan!

On Monday, I missed her the most

because she forgot her post!

O Where o where could she be?

Should I call the National Guard, the Army or

maybe the President and have him send some jets?

O what shall I do? Does any one know where she is?

If you see her - have her drop me a line

and I will be just fine.

Just leave me a comment

but make it rhyme!

I will forgive her in the end,

thats why she is my dear best good friend.

Just One Of Those Days!

I KNOW you have had them too!

Awards and Yummy Treat Winners

So Lady Di didn't do Mama Drama Monday this week because................ well she was having what else but DRAMA! Something to do with a sick husband and a hamster. So she promised Monday was going to be filled with exciting drama. She PROMISED! Then I had planned on doing some posts and The Hubs stole my computer. STOLE it and used it ALL DAY! Needless to say - no posts!

Anyhow while we were distracted we got some awards:

The ever so lovely One Lovely Blog Award came from Angela at This is Just Me and My Little World Her blog is cute - go check it out.

Thanks Angela we really appreciate the love. I/we have so many awards to pass off and as promised I/we will get to them soon. Such procrastination - I swear I have been busy and cold. Did I mention cold? Like -22 degrees cold. It has been an interesting week for us Arizona transplanted in Montana people.

Next we got this cute Lemonade Award:

from Always a Mom. Thanks ever so much! So the rules with this one are as follows:

1. Thank the giver of the award and link their blog.

2. List 5 Things about yourself

3. Link 5 new recipients and notify them.

5 Current things about me:

1. I love the holidays and can't wait to get my chores/unpacking done so that I can enjoy it a bit more.

2. I love to bake and miss my old kitchen tremendously.

3. I believe that pie really does fix everything! A homemade one does anyway. I have a new one that most surely fixes everything. I hope to post that one soon on Eat Your Peas.

4. I don't like having dog hair in my house and my OCD about cleanliness is getting worse because of the dog hair in my house. I am going INSANE.

5. My current favorite accessory item - Hats! Love them. Cute little newsboy hats. I just started making them and I love them.

So now I must pass this on. So I think I will go ahead and just do that right now

I pass this little Lemonade Award to:

Angela at This is Just Me and My Little World

A new bloggy friend and her blog has my current favorite colors

Amy at Where a Woman Shakes her Tablecloth

such a cute blog name and I love her name too!

Unknown Mami

I love her Sundays in My City and She has something new go check it out at:

Short Mama at Family of Shorts

another favorite of mine. Love her open letters

Being Me at Mothers Always

A new find.

So there's that and then there is this: Our winners of our very yummy treats just because we love you - so exciting. I say winners because I had so much fun picking one that I decided to pick another.

So Amy at Keeping Up With the Schultz Family and Lisa Anne at Smell The Coffee Lisa You Won! Just our little way of saying Thank you for sticking with us these past few months while we have not been ourselves. I am so so excited and can't wait for you to get your yummy prizes. Email me (Amy) your address.

Have a wonderful day from the Drama Mamas!

Oh I almost forgot! One more shout out. My GRANDMA started a blog. So funny! She is a great writer and I thought she needed a place to write and vent so I hooked her up. She is very Sassy and VERY opinionated, especially about the government. I enjoy reading what she has to say and figure she has been through more than the average person and has seen pretty much everything and has earned her right to be heard. Anyhow would you do me a favor and pay her a visit and leave her some comment love, The Old Lady Rants. Check it out. ~Amy~

Crazy Busy Frazzled Stressed and Something for You for Being You!

Wait. I'm kidding. Don't leave. Not yet anyway!

I found this on google images and thought I would share because it's funny and most of us are mom's and stress just comes along with the job. I know Lady Di is feeling the same way these days. I haven't talked to her much *boo* but I'm feelin' her vibes.

A Prayer for the Stressed!

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I cannot accept {Which, btw, are many right now},

and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had

to kill today because they pissed me off. {not really}

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on

today as they may be connected to the hiney {it didn't say "hiney" but you get the drift} that I may have

to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100% at work.......

12% on Monday

23% on Tuesday

40% on Wednesday

20% on Thursday

5% on Fridays {ya right - never happenin'}

And help me to remember...............

When I'm having a really bad day,

and it seems that people are trying to piss me off {they don't have to try real hard},

that it takes 42 muscles to frown and

only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me! {I would NEVER do that!, really I wouldn't but Lady Di would. :0)}

Amen

On another note, a happy yummy one, if you have commented on a post in the last two months, well since things just got crazy busy around here - so maybe three, you have been entered in a giveaway - a very 'yummy make you happy all day' sort of giveaway. Are you not happy already? For each time you have commented you get an entry and if you follow you get two more. Winner will be announced on Monday Mama Drama. If I say it is so it will happen {clear my throat **wink wink** Lady Di}

Well have a fabulous day! I feel better already.

Sunday in the Land of Nowhere: Sunsets

It's Sunday. Doesn't feel like Sunday but then again I am in one of THOSE moods. A little Melancholy today. However, today is Sunday's In My City, Hosted by Unknown Mami. That always cheers me up. This does too:

and this flower isn't from the Land of Nowhere but I put it up here because I am going to plant them when we move, or find them to put in a vase, or print out this picture in a big 8x10 and put it in my kitchen (we move in just a couple of weeks) to remind me of the beautiful sunsets and my time here in the LON.

On another note..............

The Drama Mamas are in the kitchen. Eat Your Peas is our new cooking blog, well an old blog of mine moved. Lady Di and I love to cook and bake and eat, especially eat. So I think, I hope, I hear that Lady Di is posting a very very yummy potato recipe (her hubs is a Potato farmer in case you didn't know) so she could be considered the Potato Queen. LOL. I think that is what I will call her from now on The Potato Queen. Anyway, The PQ promised a post. A not so healthy but oh so yummy Potato dish. Check it out, CLICK HERE. Maybe I will have The Hubs pick up some potatoes and cheese (oh you know your mouth is watering) on his way home. I am need of a good comfort dish. Happy Sunday all.

Where Were You?

We Were on our way to work. At that time The Hubs and I were in college and worked at the Fresno State Dairy. I was the calf manager and I was running behind that day. We heard it on the radio and just couldn't grasp was was happening. I will NEVER forget that day.

Since today is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks I am doing something a little different. Instead of my traditional Friday Five I am doing 5 things I felt that day:

I felt:

1. Disbelief

2. Scared

3. Sadness

4. Anger

5. Sorrowful

I will never forget what happened and will always remember how I felt that day. God Bless the people who lost their lives that day. God bless their families. God Bless the service men who have fought and lost their lives and those who continue to protect our country. We love you and thank you.

Where were you? How did you feel? God Bless.

I'm Such a Dork

Wait, scratch that I am not a dork. Apparently I did not know the definition of the word. See I typed 'Dork' into google to get some images to use for this post (thank the good lord above I didn't look at the images ) I was about to hit the word images when my sweet little innocent eye caught the word 'Penis'. What? {double check to see I typed 'dork' and not DEE EYE SEE KAY} nope I typed 'dork'. OH MY WORD. I use the word all the time. NOT ANYMORE!!!!

I clicked on the Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia link to find this as the first definition:

1. Vulgar saying for the word 'Penis'. Can I type that on here? {I'm blushing}

Ok. so maybe I want 'nerd'. I'm a nerd! {let me check } Nope! A definition of a nerd is a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. NOT ME! If I was a nerd maybe I wouldn't have done what I did.

Geek, perhaps? Nope! Pretty much the same as nerd. So I guess I'm just 'Stupid'! Lacking in intelligence. Yep today I was just plain stupid. Do they have pictures of that on google images.

{wait I will go check}

This will work:

See - We got another award. Yipee! However I couldn't get it to post on our sidebar where I want it. For some reason Blogger won't let me move that stuff around over there anymore. It's frustrating. So I put all the awards on Photobucket and posted them from there as html codes. I transferred all our awards and signatures to a new album, posted our awards and voila, I'm a genius! At least I thought I was. Until I went back to our blog and see this everywhere our cute little signatures were:

Oh NO! $*%!.

I knew exactly what I had done. So I spent the rest of my lovely Sunday afternoon copying and pasting signatures into about 75 posts. Great times. Well I have filled my stupidity quota for the year. If there was a easier way to fix it - don't tell me. Please just keep it to yourself.

Pretty please.

Smiles All Around

Lisa from Smell the Coffee Lisa gave us this:

plus some nice words. So so sweet and it did put a smile on our face. Thanks Lisa!

The Spreading the Smile originated from Vicki at Frugal Mom Knows Best. According to Frugal Mom "there are no rules or expectations, just the hope that you will pass this on, to however many people you want. The hope that we all have at least one nice thing to say to a least one person. One genuine, nice thing that might make them smile. Or even maybe something to thank them for. Let's spread the smile to as many faces as possible."

Sounds like a good idea to me! So were a passin' it on. We just love smiles, don't you?

Helen at Feeding Five for Fifty, Theta Mom, blue violet at A Nut in a Nutshell, and Unknown Mami all get smiles from me(Amy) for making me smile recently with there comments. You gals are sweet and I thank you so very much for your lovely words. I needed them.

What the heck? There are no rules so if you comment on here often -take the smile. Pass it on. Because all our commenter's are special. You rock! WE LOVE YOU! and since I am on a roll, if you follow us: TAKE THE SMILE. Spread the cheer!! because we love you too (and because I need to visit you so this gives me a reason to make the time.) Lady Di probably has some nice words to say but she is busy getting JD boy ready for his first day of second grade today. I am sure it is a little chaotic over in her neck of the world. It would be at mine that is why I homeschool. I don't have to be up at a certain time, I can stay in my jammies, no need to do the hair and makeup, no need to get the girls dressed and ready. Just walk into my family room flip on the computer and start school. Yeppers! It is just that simple.........................................yeah right? who am I kidding?

FOCUS! AMY!

As I was saying: Lady Di and I appreciate every one who visits, who follows, who stops by unexpectedly. We think your great. We started this blog, well for many reasons, but mainly to have a place of our own, shared. We never expected to find such wonderful supportive woman. We never expected to make such great friends and that is what you all are: great friends. We look forward to what you have to say and we enjoy reading your posts as well and try really hard to let you know that. So thank you - you bring a smile to our face. Have a wonderful Tuesday and spread the smile................................

&

The Snort is Out

I'm home. I'm home. I'm home! And don't you think I don't know what has been going on around here! I saw Lady Di's post, All Hail the Queens Of Awe- Summness? She let the snort out of the nose and I should defend myself but all I have to say is, Yes I snort! I snorted when I read Lady Di's post. I snorted the other day while watching The Ugly Truth, in a theatre full of people. I snorted. I can not deny it. The best part is that Lady Di thinks it is hilarious. It's my thing, my signature. I am proud of it. I embrace it and I learned the other day that I come by it honestly - my mama snorts too. Hee, hee.

I also have to say that I agree with her Awe-Summ picks and I do believe that Lady Di is pretty awe-summ herself, well I did before she told all of you about my snort. Paybacks are fun and let me tell you I just happen to have some great college photos of Lady Di that are PRICELESS. Thanks to my mama who just gave me an awesome picture scanner/printer they WILL be making an appearance on Mama Drama. Oh yes they will.

Also - 20 years! That is scary! Seriously - Denny's shirt? What? Why? Why would she tell you something like that? It has to be a lie. I deny it! (I think is was turquoise - yikes!) If I do remember correctly Lady Di was sporting some crazy whacked out hair do. Yep she had a fro. I do love her though (warts and all) and am thankful that our mamas made the connection.

Oh and I almost forgot. I must say Lady Di was a bit dramatic on the whole 9lb. 6oz. baby thing. JD boy was big, don't get me wrong. He also had a huge head. I know this because I was there. Yep watched the whole thing and let me tell you she might as well squeezed out a lemon. She has no problem giving birth to big babies. I think she pushed for like 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES and he was out. RIDICULOUS. The OP was 7lbs. 4oz. and I pushed for 3 HOURS and they still had to break out the vacuum. Lady Di is AWE- SUMM when it comes to delivery don't let her fool you.

Well as I said, I am home and in a few weeks I will be homeless. Some big changes are coming my way. My brain is seriously about to explode. The hubs, princesses and I are making a move. I think. I don't think I have mentioned that I am not a huge fan of change or decision making. Stay tuned. I just might need some advice.

It's good to be home. A little part of me is going to miss the Land of Nowhere.

Doggone Cute

I might just be crazy but I just can't resist! Guess what I am doing today? I am going to pick up this little cutie.......................................

Isn't she just so so adorable? I have had my heart set on getting another dog for the last couple of months. We lost our Winston in February and we all miss him so.

For some reason I wanted an English Springer Spaniel - so I have been searching. My search is over because this is her
the newest member of our family. I just new it when I saw these pictures that I had to have her. The princesses are so so excited. Now I just have to think of a name. Any suggestions? I like Graycie but am open to mostly anything. However there are a few rules: these are the rules for naming our children as well. They can't sound the same and they have to have a Y in it. Since you don't know my kids names you will be safe if it does not end in an A, N, or IE. I am however breaking the rule with Graycie but there my rules so I can break them.

** Hi hubs - I hope you like her. Hubs is learning about our newest addition via blog at the same time as every one else. Thank goodness he is so wonderful, fantastic, loving, forgiving, understanding. Just an awesome guy, husband, Daddy!

I am brave and did I mention a bit crazy. Yes I think I did.